MARYLAND  the land is given to Sir George Calvert from King Charles I  He envisions a colony where Catholics can practice their religion freely  Calvert dies, leaving his son, Lord Baltimore, to settle the colony  Land grants are given to attract settlers  1649 – Act of Toleration is passed to provide religious freedom to all Christians.

THE CAROLINAS  The northern section is mostly comprised of poor tobacco farmers from Virginia.  Further south, 8 English nobles receive a land grant from King Charles II in They settle in Charleston.  Rice and Indigo become valuable cash crops  Planters import slaves from Africa to cultivate these crops.  1712 – the colony splits between North Carolina and South Carolina.

Georgia  1732 – James Ogelthorpe establishes the colony as a safe haven for debtors.  First settlement is Savannah.  Originally, slavery was forbidden, and farms could be no larger than 500 acres.  Plantations and slave labor are later allowed, allowing the colony to prosper.  England hoped that Georgia would serve as a buffer between the Carolinas and Florida.

Tidewater Plantations  Rich farmland located along rivers and creeks of the coastal plain.  VA, MD, NC: major tobacco growing areas.  SC, GA: rice and indigo.  Slaves do most of the work on these plantations.  Only a small percentage of white southerners owned large plantations, yet these planters set the Southern style of life.

The Backcountry South  Rolling hills and thick forests located at the base of the Appalachian Mts.  More democratic, people are seen as equals.  Tend small fields of corn or tobacco  Close knit families who work together to husk corn or build barns.

The Growth of Slavery  By 1700, Southern plantations rely on slave labor.  Some are skilled workers, such as carpenters or blacksmiths. Some work in the Great House as cooks or servants.  Slave Codes – laws passed to regulate slave behavior and deny them their rights  Viewed as property, not human beings.  Planters viewed the black Africans as being inferior to the white Europeans. This belief that one race is superior to another is called racism.