The Thirteen Colonies

The Creation of:–The New England colonies–The Middle Colonies–The Southern Colonies

The New England Colonies• Climate

– Long harsh winters and short summers resulted in the shortest growing season of the three regions

• Physical Features– Abundance of raw material

• Lumbar• Fish

– Geography• Mountainous• Rivers• The soil was very rocky and thin (not deep)

New England 1620

• The Pilgrims– Led by William Bradford

– Left English Persecution

– Governed by the Mayflower Compact

• Constitutional Government realizing they were far from England

– Settle in Plymouth (Cape Cod)• Modern-day Massachusetts

New England 1630

• The Puritans– Led by John Winthrop

– Escaped religious persecution from England

• But still wanted to partake in the church of England

– Winthrop was the first elected governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony

Rhode Island 1636

• Roger William– Complained about the political system of the

Massachusetts Bay Colony• Had a problem with the fact that there was no separation

between Church and State

• Was threatened with deportation

– In 1636, Roger William moved south and established Providence, Rhode Island

• The first colony to allow Religious Freedom

Connecticut 1636

• Reverend Thomas Hooker– Another dissenter of the

Massachusetts Bay Colony and John Winthrop

– Took 100 followers and established the Hartford Settlement along the Connecticut River Valley

Dissenters of John Winthrop's Governing

• Anne Hutchinson– Challenged Puritan doctrine

– Questioned the role of church leaders• BANISHED!!!

• Reverend John Wheelwright– Also opposed the Puritan governance

– 1637, 100 followers and Wheelwright leave and settle Exeter (New Hampshire)

Growth of New England

The Middle Colonies

• Climate– Longer Summers than New England resulting in a

longer growing season

• Physical Features– Coastal plains to the Appalachian foothills– Numerous waterways for trade and transportation– Fertile soil for productive agriculture

• Became known as the “breadbasket” of the colonies

• Natural resources include timber, furs, and agriculture

Settling New Netherland

• The Dutch wanted to establish trading relationships in the New World– Henry Hudson explores the present-day

coastline of New York and claims it for the Dutch, naming it New Netherland

– Fort Orange (Albany) is established in 1614

• 1624 – Manhattan Island is purchased from the Mannahata and New Amsterdam (New York City) is established– The Dutch take control of the Hudson

River Valley

New Netherlands New York

• Dutch settle smack-dab in the middle of Britain new economic harvest (the America’s)– King Charles II orders the British

fleet to conquer New Netherlands

– Peter Stuyvesant, the governor of New Amsterdam is very unpopular

• When the British fleet arrives, no citizens join in the fight to defend and Stuyvesant surrenders the colony to the British

New York and New Jersey

• 1664 – after the capture of New Netherland, the King gives it as a gift to his younger brother, the Duke of York.– Gets renamed, New York

• As another gift, friends of the family, Sir George Carteret and William Berkeley get a closely land grant as well– New Jersey

Pennsylvania and Delaware

• William Penn– Son of an admiral and a Quaker (pacifist)

– Penn was given a land grant for repayment of a debt• The king owed his father 16,000 pounds

• Who need cash when you have a whole-lot of land

– In 1681, Penn creates a Quaker colony on his new land and names it, Pennsylvania (Penn’s Woods)

• Delaware is part of Pennsylvania until 1703 when it is granted it’s own right to assembly

Quakerism

• Founded by George Fox• Believed that on could have a personal

relationship with God without the clergy– Sound familiar?

• Believed that everyone was equal– Including women

• Women were able to speak up in assembly

– Pacifist that believed in non-violence and no slavery

Middle Colonies 1702 - 1763

The Southern Colonies• Chesapeake Bay region (Virginia and Maryland)

– Founded and explored with the Jamestown colony (John Smith)– Thick red clay made tobacco growing prominent– Chesapeake geography was not beneficial to town growth like

that of New England• Deep water estuaries (rivers) allowed farmers to export product directly

from their own docks– No deep-water port was needed

• The Carolina’s and Georgia– The plantation system prevails

• Due to a longer growing season (7 months), the cultivation of larger and more diverse crops (cash crops) were available

– Georgia• Debtors colony

– Those that owed a debt back in England were shipped off» Why fill up the English jails when you can get cheap labor?