1. Unit 2 (ch. 4.1) Notes
COLONIAL ECONOMY

2. I. Commercial New England
A. Agriculture
Long winters, thin rocky soil = difficult for large- scale farming
Subsistence Farming: NE practice = producing enough to meet the needs of their families, with little left over to sell or trade

3. B. Roles Depended on children for labor
Whole family = spinning yarn, milking cows, fencing fields, sowing/harvesting crops
Women = made cloth, garments, candles, and soap

4. C. Industry Mills for grinding grain & sawing lumber
Used waterpower from streams to run mills
Blacksmiths, shoemakers, furniture makers & gunsmiths
Shipbuilding
Lumber = used for ships came from region’s forests
Floated lumber down rivers to shipyards
Linked Northern Colonies to Southern Colonies
Fishing (even whale hunting for oil and whalebone!)

5. II. The Middle Colonies A. Agriculture
Fertile soil & milder climate = farmers
Plowed/planted large areas = big harvests
NY & PA = wheat & cash crops
Crops that could be sold easily in markets in the colonies and overseas

6. B. Ports Farmers sent wheat & livestock to NYC & Philadelphia
Became busy ports
By 1760 New York (14,000 people) & Philadelphia (19,000 people) = two largest cities in the colonies

7. C. Industries Home-based crafts Carpentry & flour making
Larger businesses
Lumber, mills, mines, ironworks, small-scale manufacturing

8. D. European Diversity Attracted Used European agricultural methods
Scotch-Irish, German, Dutch, & Swedish
Used European agricultural methods

9. III. Life in the Southern Colonies
A. Farming
Rich soil & warm climate
Planted in large areas
Produced large harvests of cash crops = tobacco & rice

10. B. Industry Little commerce & industry
London merchants (rather than locals) managed trade

11. C. Plantations
Located in the Tidewater = flat, low-lying plains along the seacoast
Planters built on rivers so they could shop their crops to market by boat
Like a small village
Fields with cabins, barns, stables, carpenter & blacksmith shops, storerooms, kitchens, chapel, & school
Small plantations = fewer than 50 enslaved workers
Large plantations = 200 or more enslaved workers

13. D. Backcountry Between tidewater & the Appalachian Mtns.
Region of hills & forests
Grew corn & tobacco on small family farms
Some had one 1-2 enslaved Africans
Backcountry farmers outnumbered large plantation owners
Plantation owners were wealthier & more powerful controlling the economic & political life of region