1. The Economy and Government of the Middle Colonies
By Annalise Sands, Daniel Kim, and Ben Siesser

2. Why the middle colonies were founded
New York was found after the British took over New Amsterdam.
New Jersey split from New York because of a royal charter.
Pennsylvania was found after William Penn purchased land from the Lenape.
Delaware was originally found by Peter Minuit.

3. Servants or slaves?
The Mid-Atlantic farms were not as large as the Southern plantations, and the Middle Colonies had more industry than the South. THerefore, the Middle Colonies relied on only a few slaves for economy. All of the slaves were treated in a humane way as required by law.

4. What type of charters?
New Jersey was formed with a royal charter. New York, Delaware, and Pennsylvania were all proprietary charters.

5. Natural Resources
The middle colonies’ had a rich and diverse arsenal of natural resources. Mid-atlantic colonists had a rich supply of wood, iron, pig iron, and fertile soil. Major rivers allowed the colonists to mill because of water wheel power.
The soil in the Middle Region is fertile, unlike New England’s rocky soil. Thanks to the soil’s fertility, the Middle Colonies were known as the “breadbasket” of the 13 colonies.

6. General industry facts
The middle colonies were filled with skilled artisans that manufactured goods. William Penn encouraged German craftsworkers to set up shops in Pennsylvania. A visitor reported that the shops made “hardware, clocks, watches, locks, guns, flints, glass, stoneware, nails, [and] paper.” Colonists that lived in the Delaware River valley relied on deposits of iron ore. The iron was used to make nails, tools, and gun parts.
The Susquehanna, Delaware, and Hudson Rivers were utilized by the Middle colonists. Fur trappers traveled on these rivers, and mills were powered with water wheels located in the three rivers.
New York City and Philadelphia were two major port cities in the Mid-Atlantic colonies. The large amounts of wood in the Middle Colonies contributed with the development of shipbuilding.

7. Additional Notes on Industry
In Pennsylvania, many products were made out of pig iron. Pennsylvanian colonists manufactured long-barrel rifles and conestoga wagons.

8. Balance is Power
The middle colonies have the most balanced economy of all the regions of the thirteen colonies. The middle colonies’ farming is superior New England’s but inferior to the Southern Colonies’ farming. The middle colonies have more industry than the southern colonies, but New England trumps the middle colonies in industry. The middle colonies have a balanced population density, along with the second-largest area of all the regions.

9. Delaware-Agriculture
Food in delaware consists of meat and cash crops. They herded cattle, and pigs, and chickens. Out of the 3 animals they get: beef, pork, bacon, leather, butter, pig skin, chicken, eggs, and milk. In the crops section the colonists grew wheat, rye, barley, and tobacco. These are considered “Cash Crops”. Cash crops are crops that are worth a lot of money. Tobacco is a popular cash crop that has an additive property. Anyone who tried it would be stuck to it like a fat man to his cupcake.

10. New Jersey-Agriculture
In new jersey they grew corn, wheat, barley, oats, and garden vegetables. They also fished. They had cattle and pigs and hunted deer as well. The people also grew flax which was not used for food but for cloth.

11. New York-Agriculture
The colonists of new york had pumpkins, squash, corn, apples, peaches, peas, carrots, cherries, plums, and lettuce. In their meat section they had deer, wild turkeys, ducks, geese, partridges, oysters, clams, lobsters and FINALLY crabs. That is a lot of food.

12. Pennsylvania-Agriculture
Quakers had an abundant amount of land in Pennsylvania. As part of the breadbasket colonies, Pennsylvanians produced beef, dairy, honey, poultry and eggs as major crops. Colonists thought that Pennsylvania’s rich land was “inexhaustible”.

13. General Government All forms of government in the Middle Colonies
-elected their own legislature
-they were all democratic
-they all had a governor
- governors court
-court system
Most colonies in the Middle colonies were proprietary but the New York colony began as a royal colony.
Royal Government: The Royal Colonies were ruled directly by the English monarchy (king)
Proprietary Government: The King granted land to people in North America, who then formed Proprietary Colonies. They were allowed to keep this land as long as they paid the yearly fee to the king.

14. Government-New Jersey Separates from New York
New Jersey was founded when the Duke of New York decided it was too big to govern. He gave it to his friends Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret.
Set up a proprietary colony named New Jersey in 1664.
In setting up this proprietary government, the king gave land to one or more people in return for a yearly payment.
Proprietors were free to divide the land and rent it to others. They made laws for the colony but had to respect the rights of colonists under English law.

15. Government-New Jersey Cont.
In 1702, NJ became a royal colony, which meant that they were under the direct control of the English crown. The colony’s
charter protected religious freedom
and the rights of an assembly that
voted on local matters.

16. Government- Delaware
By 1775, the Delaware colony was being governed as a proprietary colony. Delaware was governed as a part of Pennsylvania from 1682 to 1701 when a independent colonial legislature was petitioned for. Pennsylvania and Delaware had the same governor until 1776 when the Delaware assembly voted to break ties with both England and Pennsylvania and become their own state.

17. Government- Pennsylvania Colony
Pennsylvania- founded in 1682 by William Penn and his fellow colonists as a proprietary colony.
Penn and his friends drew up the the “Charter of Privileges” as a framework of government.
The “Charter of Privileges” declared religious freedom for the residents of his colony.

19. The first Duke of the York
Richard Nicolls was the first governor of the New York colony. Nicolls served in the Royal Army during a civil war in England. Richard Nicolls also took over New Amsterdam and renamed it New York. Richard Nicolls was the first Duke of York.

20. William Penn
William Penn was the Quaker who founded Pennsylvania. He encouraged many economic activities that made Pennsylvania stand out from other Middle Colonies.

21. Important facts
The Middle Colonies are also known as the Mid-Atlantic colonies.
The Middle Colonies had the most balanced economy of all of the three regions of the 13 colonies.
New York and Philadelphia were major port cities in the Mid-Atlantic region.

22. Study Tool

23. WORKS CITED for Daniel Kim
"About The Duke." The Duke of York. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Jan
"American Colonial Government." Usahistory. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Jan
"A Short History of New Jersey." The Official Web Site for The State of New Jersey | A Short History of New Jersey. N.p., n.d.
Web. 18 Jan
Davidson, James West., and Michael B. Stoff. The American Nation. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall in Association with
American Heritage, Print.
"Farming in the 13 American Colonies." Farming in the 13 American Colonies. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Jan
Kelly, Martin. "Delaware Colony - History and Information." About. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Jan
"Life in the Middle Colonies." Life in the Middle Colonies. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Jan
"Mid Atlantic Colonies." The Thirteen Original Colonies. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Jan
"Pennsylvania " Ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association, n.d. Web. 18 Jan
"Richard Nicolls | Biography - English Governor." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 16 Jan
"The Economy of the Middle Colonies - Boundless Open Textbook."Boundless. Boundless, n.d. Web. 12 Jan
"The Middle Colonies." The Middle Colonies. Radford University, n.d. Web. 14 Jan

24. Works Cited for Ben Siesser
"Farming in the 13 American Colonies." Farming in the 13 American Colonies. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Jan

25. WORKS CITED- ANNALISE
Davidson, James West., and Michael B. Stoff. The American Nation. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall in Association with
American Heritage, Print.
"Middle Colonies." ***. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Jan
Fradin, Dennis B. The Delaware Colony. Chicago: Childrens, Print.
"The New York Colony (Thirteen Colonies (Lucent)) Library Binding – March, 1988." The New York Colony (Thirteen Colonies (Lucent)): Dennis Brindell Fradin: : Amazon.com: Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Jan. 2015
"The New Jersey Colony." Google Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Jan
Fradin, Dennis B. The Pennsylvania Colony. Chicago: Childrens, Print.
"Brief History of William Penn." Ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association, n.d. Web. 16 Jan