Chapter 4 Lesson 1: Colonial Economy
EQ:What factors allowed each colonial region to grow and prosper?
Life in colonial America was based largely on agriculture.
Most colonists farmed or made their living from farm related businesses. (Milling flour)
Geography plays a vital role because the colonists had to adapt to the climate and terrain of the region where they lived.
Commercial New England
Long winters and thin, rocky soil made large-scale farming difficult.
Most farmers practiced subsistence farming
Subsistence farming: producing enough to meet the needs of their families, with little left over for sell or trade.
Children depended on for labor.
Everyone in the family worked—spinning yarn, milking cows, fencing, and sowing and harvesting crops. Women made cloth, garments, candles, and soaps.
New England had many small businesses
Most towns had mills for grinding grain or sawing lumber (water from streams used to run mills).
Large towns had skilled craftspeople such as blacksmiths, shoemakers, and gunsmiths.
Shipbuilding important in New England
Lumber for ships came from the regions forests.
Coastal cities served as centers of the colonial shipping trade, linking the Northern & Southern colonies and also America to the rest of the world.
Fishing was also important
Fishermen would hunt whale far out at sea for the oil and whalebone.
The Middle Colonies
Most people were farmers
The region enjoyed more fertile soil and a milder climate than New England
Farmers planted larger areas of land and produced bigger harvests than the New Englanders.
NY & PENN: farmers grew large quantities of wheat and other cash crops.
Cash Crop: crops that could be sold easily in markets in the colonies and overseas.
Farmers sent their wheat and livestock to NYC & Philly (became busy ports).
- By 1760, NYC (14,000) and Philly (19,000) were 2 of the largest cities in the colonies.
The Middle Colonies also had industries
Some were home based—carpentry and flour making
Some were larger businesses—lumber mills, mines, ironworks, etc.
Middle Colonies attracted many Scotch-Irish, German, Dutch, and Swedish settlers.
They used agricultural methods from Europe and became successful farmers.
Gave the Middle Colonies cultural diversity.
Life in the Southern Colonies
Southern Colonies had rich soil and a warm climate well suited to certain kinds of farming.
Farmers could plant large areas and produce large harvests of cash crops, such as tobacco & rice.
Most settlers made their living from farming
Little commerce or industry developed in the southern colonies.
London merchants rather than local merchants managed southern trade
Most large plantations were located in the Tidewater.
Tidewater: a region of flat, low-lying plains along the seacoast.
Planters built plantations by rivers so they could ship their crops to market by boat.
A plantation was like a small village
- Fields stretched out around a cluster of buildings, including cabins, barns, and stables, as well as carpenter and blacksmith shops, storerooms, and kitchens.
- A large plantation may have its own chapel and school.
- Small plantations had fewer than 50 enslaved workers
- Large plantations had around 200 or more.
The Backcountry
Backcountry: region located between the tidewater and the Appalachian Mountains .
Settlers grew corn and tobacco on small family farms with one or two enslaved Africans.
Backcountry farmers outnumbered the plantation owners but plantation owners were wealthier and more powerful. This means they controlled the economic and political life of the region.
Tobacco and Rice
Tobacco was the principal cash crop in Virginia and Maryland
Growing tobacco and preparing it for sale required a lot of labor.
At first, indentured servants were used. When they became scarce and more expensive, southern planters began using enslaved Africans.
Slaveholders grew wealthy by growing tobacco.
Most of it was sold in Europe.
When there was a surplus of tobacco, some planters switched to other crops like corn and wheat.
Rice the main cash crop in South Carolina and Georgia.
Due to geography.
- In low-lying areas along the coast, planters built dams to create rice fields called paddies. Planters flooded the fields when the rice was young and drained them when the rice was ready to harvest.
Work in rice paddies was hard.
- Involved standing knee deep in the mud with no protection from the sun or insects.
- Because of this hard labor, rice growers relied on slave labor.
Rice proved to be more profitable than tobacco. Prices rose as rice became popular in Europe. By the 1750s, South Carolina and Georgia had the fasting growing economies in the colonies.
The Growth of Slavery
By the time Europeans came to the Americas, slavery was widely practiced in West Africa.
Many West African Kingdoms enslaved those they defeated in war.
Slave traders from Arab lands bought some of these people. Others were forced to work in gold mines or farm fields.
Europeans in the Americas created a huge new demand for enslaved workers.
Colonists needed a large workforce to work on the plantations.
West African slave traders met this need.
They sold captives they gained through wars and raids.
Slavery became a major part of the colonial economy.
The Middle Passage
The trip across the ocean was called the “Middle Passage.”
This name came from the fact that it was often the 2nd or middle leg of the 3 part route known as the triangular trade.
Middle Passage:middle leg of the triangular trade route that brought captured Africans to the Americas to serve as slaves.
- It was a horrible ordeal.
- Slaves were chained together for more than a month , prisoners could hardly sit or stand. They received little food or water. Those who died or became sick were thrown overboard.
Triangular Trade:complex system of transatlantic exchange of slaves, rum, sugar, and molasses.
The Life of the Slave
Some slaves did housework but most worked in the fields.
Overseers or bosses were hired to keep the slaves working hard.
Slave Codes: rules governing the behavior and punishment of enslaved people.
Some said enslaved workers could not leave the plantation without the slaveholder’s written permission.
Some said it was illegal to teach a slave to read or write.
Punishments ranged from whipping to hanging to burning to death
Many Puritans refused to hold slaves.
Quakers in Penn. Condemned slavery.
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