1. The Middle Colonies

2. Land Fertile soil Rolling hills and valleys
Forests and deep and wide rivers
Otters, raccoons, fox and bear live in hardwood forests
Appalachian Mountains
Piedmont
Line of waterfalls called Fall line – waterfalls powered sawmills and gristmills throughout the colonies- also separated Piedmont and Coastal Plains
Coastal Plains

3. Climate

4. Settlement Regions
Piedmont- region of rolling hills - Scots-Irish settlers moved
to the Piedmont where the land was cheaper
Coastal Plains – English and German settlers came here
Backcountry – Scots- Irish moved here, it was the unsettled
or the wilderness part of the colony beyond the fall line- farms here were rough, people lived
in log cabins and planted crops among the trees in the woods –
In more settled areas people lived in houses and farmed land in
open fields

5. Farming Farms were various sizes
In New York English landlords and Dutch patroons owned up to a million acres
Small farmers rented land from these large owners
In Pennsylvania and other places – self sufficient
Farmers (yeomen) owned their land
In all other places the poorest people worked on
other people’s farms
Fields were devoted to growing grains like wheat,
corn, and barley
MC were known as the Bread Basket Colonies
Farmers took grain they grew to mills and turned it into
flour
Some mills were built along the fall line to be powered by river water ands some were powered by wind
In the backcountry some farmers raised just enough wheat or corn to feed themselves (subsistence farming) - in some settled areas farmers grew enough grain to feed themselves and export – they provided flour for American towns, Caribbean plantations and English cities

6. Industry/Commerce
Trappers traded pelts of otter, raccoon, fox, bear and beaver-
this was the first industry in MC and beaver was most valuable
Philadelphia was an important port city and center of trade for
Pennsylvania, Delaware, western New Jersey
Delaware River –Boats brought sugar and molasses from the
Caribbean, wine from Europe, cloth and metal goods from England – settlers
from the backcountry paddled down the river to trade beaver pelts
Furniture, newspaper and book printing, merchants, artisians, brick makers
New York – trade, apprentices made shoes, clothing, furniture, books , grain,
Fur, cheese came down the Hudson River, import elephant tusk, lime juice and
more

7. Native Americans Pennsylvania – Penn called his colony “Holy
Experiment” because he wanted to create a new
society where all people were included especially the
Leni Lenape Tribe (The Delaware)
Penn showed his friendship to the Leni Lenape by learning some of their language
Penn also tried to work out treaties that everyone could agree on
Native Americans from other areas moved to Pennsylvania because of Penn’s reputation for fairness
Penn had a walking treaty with Leni Lenape
Penn returned to England and his sons tried to get more land – the Leni Lenape were forced to move west

8. Slavery Enslaved Africans came to MC against their will
By 1740 enslaved people made up 10% of the population in MC
Many slaves in Philadelphia and New York worked as house servants or in shipyards
Slavery was not common in the countryside except for large farms

9. Religion In New York and New Jersey they wanted
to encourage settlers to come and so the
Proprietors offered all Christians religious
toleration – the freedom of everyone to practice
their religion as they wanted to
Pennsylvania – Quakers tried to live according to
the truth within their hearts
Ministers did not lead their church services – instead men and women spoke in the service whenever they felt they were called to do so
Quakers opposed war and believed in religious toleration
Quakers had a colony where they could practice their religion freely
Penn said that Pennsylvania would be a “free colony for all mankind”
Some religions in the Middle Colonies were Presbyterian, Quakers, Anglican, Lutheran, Baptist, Catholic, Congregational – see page 192 for chart

10. New York Duke of York sent war ships into New Amsterdam Harbor and the
Dutch surrendered without him having to fire a shot – The English got all
the land that had been New Netherland
Duke of York was proprietor of the entire colony he called New York
It was a peaceful turnover
Offered religious toleration
Sat on a harbor – where the Hudson River flowed into the ocean
It was not a planned city
The streets were crooked , narrow and busy
Diverse city
18 different languages were spoken
Africans made up 12% of population – many were artisans or ship laborers

11. New Jersey
Duke of York gave some of his land to two proprietors Lord Berkely and Sir George Carteret – they named the land New Jersey
The proprietors rented land to colonists
Land here was fertile and good for farming
Offered religious toleration

12. Pennsylvania
Founded by William Penn in 1682 because the King Charles II had owed Penn’s father money – so Penn asked for Land
Pennsylvania = means Penn’s Woods
Quakers lived here as did many groups because Penn wanted all people to have a voice even Native Americans ( Leni Lanape)
Penn’s Holy Experiment – holy because it was governed by Quaker’s beliefs and an experiment because Penn wanted to create a new kind of society
Philadelphia – was built with a plan , Penn designed the city on a grid pattern – had paved streets and trees lined the streets – did not have walls to protect them because Penn expected colonists and Native Americans to live in peace – wooden buildings were replaced with brick buildings
Penn had advertised the colony of Pennsylvania in newspapers all over Europe -Germans, Scots-Irish and even settlers from other colonies came into Pennsylvania

13. Delaware Founded in 1682 by Peter Minuit because of trade and farming
Part of Pennsylvania – Penn’s Woods