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Regional Colonies: Geography & Culture

New England Colonies (MA, CT, RI, NH): Founded by Puritans seeking religious freedom and economic opportunity. Small towns, close family ties, and town meetings (Mayflower Compact). Economy- subsistence farming, fishing, trade, shipbuilding. Lots of high literacy and education (e.g., Harvard 1636). (Rocky Soil).

Middle Colonies (NY, NJ, PA, DE): Diverse colonies made up of English, Dutch, Germans; Quakers in PA. Fertile soil -> wheat & grain -> “breadbasket” colonies. More religious and ethnic tolerance.

Chesapeake Colonies & Southern Colonies (VA, MD, NC, SC, GA): Jamestown (1607), cash crops (tobacco, rice, indigo). Plantation economies -> indentured servants -> later African slavery. Hierarchy made up of planters > poor whites > slave. Anglican Church dominant. (Fertile Soil)

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European Motives & Competition

England: Mercantilism- raw materials & markets. Permanent, family-based settlements. Protestant -> less missionary than Spain.

France: Primarily due to Fur trade, and alliances with Natives. Very sparse population, and mated with natives for trading reasons.

Spain: Missions & Forts in southwest & Florida. Conversion & ultimate control of the Natives. Resisted by Pueblo Revolt (1680).

Dutch: New Amsterdam (New York): Massive hub for trade and tolerance. Alliances with Iroquois.

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Labor Systems: Indentured Servants & Slavery

Indentured Servitude: Europeans who worked for 4-7 years in exchange for a passage to the colonies, since it was very difficult and expensive. Headright system (50 acres per servant). Declined after the infamous Bacon’s Rebellion (1676).

African Slavery: Increased after 1676 -> racialized, hereditary. Slave codes legalized lifelong slavery through family slavery. The dreaded Middle Passage; a brutal trans-atlantic journey that killed many slaves in the process. Triangular Trade: Europe -> Africa -> Americas.

Note: Because of Bacon's Rebellion, colonists started to fear future potential uprisings from indentured servants, and figured that African slaves would do the job better and without any trouble.

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Colonial Society & Culture

Religion & Ideas:

First Great Awakening (1730s-40s):
Emotional and Religious revival of faith.
Main preachers include, Jonathan Edwards (“sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”), and George Whitefield.
Challenged church authority -> more diversity.

Government

VA House of Burgesses (1619), Mayflower Compact (1620), NE town meetings.
Salutary neglect -> self-government flourished.

Culture

Literacy high in NE -> newspapers and pamphlets. Colleges like Harvard, Yale, Princeton.

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Conflicts & Native Relations

Native Relations

-Tension as English expanded land westward. Powhatan Wars (VA): early 1600s -> reservations. Pequot War (1636-37): NE settlers destroyed Pequot tribe. King Philip's War (Metacom's War): Wampanoags resistred NE -> thousands killed, tribes were devastated.

Note:The further westward the settlers expanded, the more conflicts arose.

Imperial Rivalries

- France & Britain competed for Native allies, while Spain faced lots of resistance in the Southwest.

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British Imperial Policies & Colonial Resistance

Mercantilism: Colonies served British economy -> Navigation Acts restricted trade mainly to British ports.

Salutary Neglect: Britain preoccupied with European wars -> colonies self-governed themselves and adopted the identity of independence from Britain. Many colonists validated this by stating that since they are on an entire separate continent, Britain should leave them alone.

Colonial response: Resentment of British interference grew because of Navigation Acts and other interventions.

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Key Vocabulary

Jamestown (1607): First permanent English colony.

Powhatan Confederacy: Native group interacting with Jamestown settlers.

John Smith: Jamestown leader enforcing discipline.

John Rolfe: Introduced tobacco cultivation to Virginia.

Headright System: Land grants to attract settlers.

Indentured Servants : Contract labor for passage to colonies.

House of Burgesses: First representative assembly in America.

Puritans: Religious reformers founding Massachusetts Bay.

Separatists/Pilgrims: Established Plymouth for religious freedom.

Mayflower Compact: Early self‑government agreement.

City Upon a Hill: Puritan vision of a moral example society.

Anne Hutchinson: Banished for challenging Puritan orthodoxy.

Roger Williams: Founded Rhode Island for religious freedom.

Pequot War (1637): Conflict between New England settlers and Pequot tribe.

King Philip’s War (1675–76): Major Native resistance in New England.

Middle Colonies: Diverse economy, religious tolerance, break basket

Quakers / William Penn: Founded Pennsylvania with liberal policies.

Chesapeake Colonies: Tobacco economy, plantation system.

Bacon’s Rebellion (1676): Frontier revolt against colonial elite.

Stono Rebellion (1739): Slave uprising in South Carolina.

Navigation Acts: British mercantilist trade laws.

Triangular Trade: Exchange of goods, slaves, and raw materials.

Middle Passage: Transatlantic slave transport.

First Great Awakening: Religious revival (Edwards, Whitefield).

Jonathan Edwards: “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”

George Whitefield: Traveling revival preacher.

Salutary Neglect: Loose enforcement of British laws before 1763

Fundamental Orders of Connecticut: Early written constitution.

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Key Historical Thinking Skills

Causation

Economic opportunity, religious freedom, and mercantilism drove colonization.
Labor shortages -> indentured servitude -> African slavery.

Comparison

New England: Puritan religion, mixed economy.
Middle Colonies: Diverse religion/ethnicity, grain farming.
Southern Colonies: Plantation economy, slavery.

Continuity & Change

Continuity: English political traditions (representative assemblies).
Change: Rise of African slavery as dominant labor force by 1700s.

Effects

Conflicts with Natives (Pequot War, King Philip’s War).
Slave codes institutionalized racial slavery.

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