The Middle and Southern Colonies Chapter 3, Section 3 and 4

MIDDLE COLONIES The middle colonies were made up of: 1. New York 2. Pennsylvania 3. Delaware 4. New Jersey

New york Between the areas controlled by England were lands owned by the Dutch. The main settlement of the Dutch was called New Amsterdam which was located on Manhattan Island. Manhattan Island was bought (from Native Americans) by the Dutch for beads, cloth and other goods. The price was about $24.00 in today’s world. Because it had a good seaport, New Amsterdam became a center for shipping to and from the Americas.

England Takes Control England did not like the fact that the Dutch had settlements between their northern and southern colonies….They also envied the good harbors that the Dutch controlled. In 1664 the English sent a fleet of ships to attack New Amsterdam (Manhattan Island). Because New Amsterdam was unprepared for battle, they quickly surrendered to the English forces.

England Takes Control King Charles gave the acquired colony to his brother the Duke of York (also called the Duke of Yorkshire)…..to celebrate himself he renamed the colony New York.

Pennsylvania In 1680 a wealthy English gentleman by the name of William Penn set up a new colony called Pennsylvania (which was appropriately named after himself.) Little known fact: Pennsylvania is almost the size of the entire country of England!

Pennsylvania How was William Penn able to acquire Pennsylvania? King Charles II of England had borrowed lots of $$$$$$ from William Penn’s family. As repayment he gave William, Pennsylvania. Penn belonged to a Protestant group known as the Quakers. Penn saw Pennsylvania as a “holy experiment” where Quakers could practice toleration and equality.

Pennsylvania In 1682 Penn sailed to America to personally supervise the building of Philadelphia. Even today Philadelphia is known as the “city of brotherly love”. Many people came from Europe to live in Pennsylvania. By 1683 people from England, Ireland, Germany and Sweden all resided in Pennsylvania.

pENNSYLVANIA In 1701, Penn created the Charters of Liberties which granted colonists the right to elect government representatives. In 1704, the southern part of Pennsylvania broke away, and functioned separately as Delaware.

Southern colonies Maryland Virginia North Carolina South Carolina Georgia CLIMATE: WARM AND HUMID

Southern Colonies: In the Southern Colonies large plantations flourished. Plantations grew tobacco, wheat, fruit, vegetables and corn. As colonies and plantations grew, so did the need so did the need for capable workers. Not all people came to work in the colonies of their own free will. Many who came to work in the colonies were English criminals as well as Scottish and Irish prisoners. Others were African slaves brought to America by European slave traders.

Maryland Maryland was founded by a man named Sir George Calvert also called Lord Baltimore. Calvert established Maryland as a safe place for Catholics being persecuted in England.

Maryland Maryland colonists used tobacco as their main crop. Lord Baltimore was a clever fellow. He declared that all tobacco planters had to grow or raise an additional crop or farm item. This included various vegetables, fruit and livestock.

The Mason-Dixon Line For years there was a land dispute between the Calvert’s (Maryland) and the Penn’s (Pennsylvania). To stop the argument, the two families hired two surveyors, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, to lay out boundary stones dividing the land…..this was known as the Mason-Dixon Line.

Virginia While other colonies were just starting out Virginia was expanding. As Virginia began to expand, many settlements became established on Native American land. Many settlers became angry that the government (military) was not protecting them from Native American raids.

Bacon’s rebellion One man named Nathaniel Bacon took matters into his own hands. In 1676, Bacon led angry settlers in attacks on Native American villages. Bacon’s men traveled the countryside killing all Natives that they ran into.

BACON’S REBELLION Bacon was not finished! He actually took his raiders all the way to Jamestown and burned the city to the ground. Bacon soon died of dysentery. The rebellion crumbled quickly without proper leadership

The Carolinas In 1663 King Charles II of England created a colony called Carolina which means “Charles’s Land”. By 1680, however, the people of Carolina would go their separate way creating North and South Carolina.

North Carolina The northern part of Carolina was settled mostly by farmers from Virginia’s backcountry. They grew tobacco and sold forest products such as timber and tar.

South Carolina The southern part of Carolina was more prosperous than the north due to fertile farmland and good harbors. South Carolina’s cash crop was rice.

Carolinas Many enslaved Africans who arrived in the Carolinas worked in the rice fields. Growing rice and tobacco required a great deal of labor from African Slaves. By 1708 more than half the population in the Carolinas were enslaved Africans.

Georgia Georgia was the last of the British colonies to be established. Georgia was founded with two things in mind. English debtors (people in debt) or English poor could come to Georgia and get a fresh start Georgia would be used to protect the northern colonies (military barrier). Spain had colonies in Florida at the time.

Georgia Originally, the farms in Georgia were to remain small and no slavery was permitted. OH NO…..WHAT HAPPENED! It came to be that Georgia ended up with more non- British settlers than any other British colony in the Americas. Soon Georgia had to increase land holdings, allow slavery so the farms could grow.

13 Original Colonies Massachusetts Connecticut Rhode Island New Hampshire New York Delaware New Jersey Pennsylvania Virginia Maryland North Carolina South Carolina Georgia