It's been quite some time since we have studied the 13 colonies. This post will hopefully serve as a crash course and will go over information that may be asked on the AP Test.
New England Colonies:
Massachusetts: Puritans! Mayflower Compact in 1620.
Rhode Island: After being exiled from Massachusetts for advocating the separation of state and church, Roger Williams set up this colony. He also believed in freedom of religion.
Connecticut: Fundamental Order of Connecticut (1638) -- first written constitution
New Hampshire
With the most diverse economy, New England featured lumbering, ship-building, fishing, and subsistence farming. For the most part, people were very educated and had high literacy rates. Harvard was also founded in 1636.
Middle Colonies:
New York
New Jersey
Pennsylvania: Founded by William Penn in 1681. Established for Quakers, but was open to different religions.
Delaware
Trade centers and wheat farming comprised much of the economy.
Southern Colonies:
Virginia: set up the House of Burgesses (1619) - first legislative assembly of elected representatives in North America
Maryland: Lord Baltimore created the colony (1634) as a haven for Catholics; Act of Toleration is later passed in 1649 to further protect Catholics.
Carolinas: specialized in cash crops
Georgia: founded in 1732 by James Olgethrope -- buffer zone between Spanish Florida and haven for British debtors
These colonies built their economies around cash crops such as Tobacco, Indigo, and Rice. Slaves and indentured servants worked the large plantations.
This post is only a skeleton of what is needed to understand the important points of the 13 colonies. If you feel I've left something out (which I probably have) please comment below.
New England Colonies:
Massachusetts: Puritans! Mayflower Compact in 1620.
Rhode Island: After being exiled from Massachusetts for advocating the separation of state and church, Roger Williams set up this colony. He also believed in freedom of religion.
Connecticut: Fundamental Order of Connecticut (1638) -- first written constitution
New Hampshire
With the most diverse economy, New England featured lumbering, ship-building, fishing, and subsistence farming. For the most part, people were very educated and had high literacy rates. Harvard was also founded in 1636.
Middle Colonies:
New York
New Jersey
Pennsylvania: Founded by William Penn in 1681. Established for Quakers, but was open to different religions.
Delaware
Trade centers and wheat farming comprised much of the economy.
Southern Colonies:
Virginia: set up the House of Burgesses (1619) - first legislative assembly of elected representatives in North America
Maryland: Lord Baltimore created the colony (1634) as a haven for Catholics; Act of Toleration is later passed in 1649 to further protect Catholics.
Carolinas: specialized in cash crops
Georgia: founded in 1732 by James Olgethrope -- buffer zone between Spanish Florida and haven for British debtors
These colonies built their economies around cash crops such as Tobacco, Indigo, and Rice. Slaves and indentured servants worked the large plantations.
This post is only a skeleton of what is needed to understand the important points of the 13 colonies. If you feel I've left something out (which I probably have) please comment below.
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ReplyDeleteOne thing I think is interesting to know is the general order in which the colonies were founded. For example, Virginia became the first of the 13 colonies in 1624, following the success of Jamestown.
ReplyDeleteJamestown was the earliest permanent English settlement in the New World. It was founded in 1607, and although at first was very unstable because English gentry weren't prepared to farm and work hard for their living, eventually grew in prosperity.
Source: American Pageant Textbook
Nice little crash course of the 13 colonies, but it's nice to remember that Virginia and Maryland utilized a lot of indentured servants for their tobacco cash crops.
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