Unit 2 The 13 colonies
New England Colonies (North): Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire
Cities: Boston, Hartford, Plymouth
Middle colonies: New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware
Cities: Philadelphia, Wilmington
Southern Colonies: Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia
Cities: Jamestown
Who were among the settlers at Sagadahoc? English convicts
Who was their leader? George Popham
What happened to the colonists at Roanoke? Disappeared
What happened to the colony at Sagadahoc? Arguments, fights with natives, harsh winter good shortages, went back to england
When was Jamestown settled? 1607
When did “starving time” end? 1610
Why did the settlers go to Jamestown? Make money & find gold
Why didn’t the settlers get along with neighbors? Neighbors took land
Why did Jamestown nearly fail? Colonists didn’t like too many strict rules, food problems, disease
Where was Roanoke? Island on North Carolina
Where was Sagadahoc? Near the Kennebec River
Where was Jamestown? Near James River on virginia
How was Jamestown saved from failure? John smith told people to work
John Ralph invented tobacco which they started growing
Joint Stock Company - companies backed by investors, people who put money into a project to earn points
Jamestown - the first permanent English settlement in honor of king James
Indentured Servant - men and women who sold their labor to the person who paid their passage to the colony after working a number of years, they were free to farm or take up a trade of their own
Charter - a written contract, issued by a government giving the holder the right to establish a colony
John Smith 0 a soldier and adventurer that made colonists work
House of Burgesses - first representative assembly in the American colonies
Bacon’s rebellion - rebellion started by Nathaniel Bacon complaining over high taxes
First group of colonists came back to England after much hardship. Walter Raleigh made a second attempt to start a new colony on Roanoke, taking a mixed group of men, women, and children from England
John White was the governor of the second colony and kept a record of the colony through his drawings.
New York
Dutch settlers founded New Netherlands
Included - Hudson R, Long Island, & Delaware
Jewish settlers, African slaves
Got its name from Duke of York
Pennsylvania
Started by William Peenn
Religious freedom & equality for all
Wanted Natives to be treated freely
Wealthiest of American colonies
New Jersey
Duke of York gave part of claim to New Jersey
Encouraged settlers to come by promising religious freedom grants of land, and representative assembly
Georgia
James Oglethorpe founded Georgia for refuge for debtors
English wanted to use as military
War between English and Spain
English, German, Swiss & Scottish colonists settled in Georgia
All religions were welcome
Oglethorpe set up strict rules which upset colonists & it became colony
The Carolinas
English settlers built Charleston
Became a refuge for Huguenots, Protestants, seeking religious freedom
Wars broke up & rules were overthrown
Was divided into North/South Carolina
Maryland
Established by Lord Baltimore for Catholics fleeing persecution
Promised religious freedom
Was based on tobacco economy
Most came as servants or slaves
Three distinct regions
New England Colonies, Middle Colonies, Southern colonies
Back Country
Ran along Appalachian Mtns through the western part of other regions
Important features of each region
New England - long winters & rocky soil
Middle Colonies - shorter winters & fertile soil
Southern colonies - warm climate & good soil
Backcountry - climate & resources varied, depending on latitude
Subsistence farming
Food for yourself & having extra for trade
New England’s valuable trade good
Fish & timber
Triangular trade
Gold and cargo, sugar & molasses & rum & iron were trade
Immigration acts
Made sure England made a fair amount of $$ from colonists
Slavery was uncommon
Less work, slaves weren’t needed; slaves are bad for economy
Puritan religion started to decline
Economy was successful & less people cared for relion
Religion had competition with economy
Summary: England’s colonies were getting started. Economy was a big deal because the economy took over religion & they passed Navigation Acts. Slaves were no longer used because they were bad for the economy. Triangular trade & subsistence farming led to an importance of trade.
King Henry VIII broke England’s ties with the Catholic Church and established the Church of England (also called the Anglican church) in the 1500’s
Separatists were those people in Englade who wanted a total break from the Church of England (thought it was too Catholic still)
One group, the Pilgrims, were being attacked by King James and so they fled to Holland (which is another name for Netherlands). But since they didn't want to adopt Dutch culture, they asked the Virginia Company for permission to to settle within their boundaries on the east coast of North America
So in 1620, the Mayflower set sail and arrived off the coast of Massachusetts/ The colonists named their settlement Plymouth
Obviously the land was nowhere near Virginia, so before disembarking the ship, the colonists signed the Mayflower Compact, which established the idea of self government, majority rule, and obeying laws.
Just like Jamestwon, the Pilgrims at Plymouth experienced hardship at first (disease and death). Fortunately, the colonists met up with two Indians named Samoset and Squanto, who spoke English!
A peace treaty was signed between the Pilgrims and Native Americans, and the Indians taught the Pilgrims how to farm, hunt, and fish. They even traded with the Indians for furs and began to send lumber back to England to make a profit.
In the fall, the pilgrims took part in a Native American celebration, giving thanks for a good harvest. This lasted for 3 days and was the first Thanksgiving.
The small success of Plymouth encouraged others in England to follow, especially those seeking religious freedom.
Between 1630 and 1640, a religious group called the Puritans left England for the Americas. These people were different than Separatists because they only wanted to reform or “purify” the Anglican Church.
This emigration of thousands of Puritan families is known as Great Migration and about 20,000 of them landed in New England
Puritan merchants had invested in the Massachusetts Bay Company (another joint stop company) and they received a charter to settle in New England. Compared to Jamestown, the Puritans were better prepared and did not have to suffer through a starving time .
John Winthrop was the Massachusetts colony’s governor and he made the colony into a commonwealth, a community where people work together for the good of the whole
Connecticut was started by Thomas Hooker in 1636. This colony wrote the first constitution called the fundamental order of Connecticut. It expanded voting rights, limited the power of the government and expanded the idea of representative government.
New Hampshire was another colony … this one based on settlements at Portsmouth and Exeter.
Roger Williams was a minister that opposed colonists’ taking land away from Native Americans by force and opposed the government's authority to regulate religious behavior. He was forced to lead the colony.
Williams headed southward and founded the colony of Rhode Island where the first Baptists church was created. This colony became a place for religious freedom and a separation of church and government.
Anne Hutchinson was a young woman who taught that people could worship God without the need for church, ministers, or even the Bible! She was considered a heretic (someone whose teaching goes against church beliefs) and the fact that she was a woman speaking these things made it worse. She was brought to trial, banished from Massachusetts, and fled to Rhode Island.
Another religious group living in New England were the Quakers. They challenged the Puritan way by claiming that people could experience/know God for themselves through an “Inner Light.” They also treated Native Americans fairly, very different from other colonists.
With a growing number of colonists in New England needing land, conflict with Native Americans over land was bound to happen
1675-1676, Puritan colonies fought Indians in King Philip's War, named after “King Philip” (the English name of the Wampanoag tribe’s chief, Metacom). Thanks to an alliance with other tribes, the Wampanoag were able to raid Puritan towns, burn buildings, and kill hundreds of colonists
But in the end, the colonists had superior weapons and were able to defeat the Indians. Those Native Americans who survived became laborers and the tribes lost pretty much all their land.
In the town of Salem, Massachusetts, a group of teenage village girls were told witch stories by a black female slave. Pretending to be bewitched, the girls falsely accused a group of older women to be witches.
What followed was a witch-hunt in Salem with mass panic all over. More than 100 were arrested and put on trial and 20 were found guilty and killed. Eventually Salem came to their senses and after a few years, the Massachusetts government gave pardons to the families of those who were killed.
The people of Salem saw this witch craziness as God’s way of calling them back to a strict Puritan lifestyle, since religious enthusiasm was on the decline. The trials also reflected social issues in New England since the teenage girls were from lower classes and they accused women from the upper class.
Middle Colonies
Immigrants from all over Europe took advantage of land
Longer growing seasons
Grew cash crops(raised to be sold for money)
Gristmill - place to crush grain
Ate a pound of grain each day
Lots of diversity
New England Colonies
Most were English Puritans
Indian taught them how to farm, hunt & plant
Importance on land ownership
Mostly male held position in church
Middle Colonies had a climate of tolerance
Quakers believed diff beliefs could live together in harmony
Immigrants wanted land so they came
Large Cash crop grown in Middle Colonies affected development of the region’s cities
Cash crops were grown because of the region's good soil and weather.
Port cities grew because crops were sold for money
The triangular trade was a cruel system connecting Europe, Africa, and the Americas. It involved three key stages: European trades exchanged goods for enslaved Africans in West Africa, transported these slaves across the Atlantic in the Middle Passage, and then sold them in the Americas to work on Plantations. The Middle Passage was famous for its harsh conditions, where slaves were confined in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, leading to high mortality rates. In America, slavery reduced people to property with no rights, deeply affecting society on both sides of the Atlantic.
In Virginia free Americans were restricted to certain counties
If you were African American (free or slave) you couldn’t have education, own property, move about freely.
By the start of the 18th century, through law, it became clear that people are becoming property.
Of the original 13 colonies, Carolinas (north and south) was where slavery was the center of economic activity.
Most white immigrants came from Barbados to the Carolinas
The more slaves people bought, the more land they received.
Before succeeding with rice, cotton and indigo failed in the lower areas of Carolina
Many slaves that came to America were former soldiers who were sold into slavery by rival tribes in Africa
When slaves were brought to Africa’s coast, they were most afraid of being eaten
The expansion of slavery was an essential part of the expansion of capitalism
Ancestors helped sustain slaves at their weakest point
In the eyes of a slave trader, holding slaves was like keeping goods until they reached full market value
Two most valuable types of slaves were men and women younger than 20
The number one thing on the minds of slaves, almost all the time was How do I get out of here/free
When slaves arrived right away in America they were waxed down with oil, fed a good meal, and put on auction
Even if slaves didn’t speak the same language or were traditionally rivals back home, there would have been a spiritual bonding among all them.
African men did not normally do agricultural work
There was a law for white men to carry guns to church because sunday was slaves day off and ppl thought at uprising might happen
Slaves would be free in Fort Mosa in Florida, so in the Stono Rebellion Slaves wanted to go to Florida
The South had great soil and a year-round growing season, which was ideal for plantation crops such as tobacco and rice. So much was grown that they served as cash crops for the southern colonies.
Transportation was easy in the South because of the many waterways.
Plantations were self-sufficient meaning that everything needed was produced on the plantation. Therefore large cities were rare (the only exception was Charleston).
As the plantation economy grew, the need for more laborers grew as well. Near the end of the 1600’s, southern plantations began to turn to Africans.
In the first half of the 1600’s, there were very few Africans in the southern colonies, but starting in the 1660’s, as indentured white servants began to leave the plantations (looking for land, wanting to start their own farms). Also after Bacon’s rebellion, plantation owners worried about using white servants as their laborers.
Since Native Americans could die from European diseases or possibly run away, plantation owners turned to enslaved Africans. As a result the number of people of African descent grew rapidly (by 1750 there were 235,000 slaves in America and 85% of that number lived in the South).
African slaves made up 40% of the South’s population.
Slave labor allowed plantation farming to expand into South Carolina and Georgia (specifically the ability to grow rice).
Slaves had to drain swamps, rake fields, burn stubble, and break ground before planting. Then before the harvest, they had to flood, drain, dry, hoe, and weed several times. Since this took a lot of skill, planters sought out slaves from West Africa who knew how to grow rice.
In higher ground areas, planters grew indigo (a plant that produces a deep blue dye), which was introduced to America by Eliza Lucas.
Slave labor allowed plantation owners to become very wealthy, so it was not long until an elite planter class emerged. They had the money or control to buy the most slaves, and with the large labor force, they could produce the most tobacco, rice, or indigo to sell.
Small planters could not compete so many of them moved South, which gave the planter class the best land along the coast.
Even though the planter class made up a small part of the population, they had the most political and economic power in the South. They were often compared to the upper class in European countries.
Although some planters were “responsible” in their treatment of slaves, most of them were tyrants who held complete authority and frequently used violence to enforce their will.
On plantation, slaves worked in groups of 20-25 under the supervision of overseers. Slaves could work up to 15 hours per day. If the overseer felt that the slaves were not working as hard as they could, slaves could expect to be whipped.
Slaves lived in small one room cabins and received very little food for the week (some planters would allow slaves to raise their own food as long as it did not interfere with their plantation work).
Despite harsh conditions, Africans preserved many customs and traditions from their homelands. This included music, dances, stories, and religion. This helped keep slaves close even when families were separated.
Often slaves did their best to fight against their enslavement. They worked slowly, damaged goods, purposely carried out orders the wrong way, or pretended to not understand directions.
Sometimes anger and frustration led to rebellion. The most famous one was the Stono Rebellion in 1739 (in the Carolina colony) where slaves used guns as they tried to march southward to be free in Florida. However, a white militia met up with them and defeated the slaves.
Rebellions like these led to the passing of more strict slave codes that made it so slaves could not leave the plantation without permission, and illegal for slaves to talk to free blacks.
A. Plantation Crops
The fertile land and mild climate in the Southern Colonies made it possible to grow cash crops
Key cash crops: tobacco (Virginia, Marland), rice (Carolinas), indigo.
Enslaved Africans (from West Africa) were essential in rice farming
B. New Slave Trading
1698: England allowed all English merchants to trade slaves.
Chesapeake region → shift to enslaved Africans; 1770: Africans = large portion of pop.
By 1750: 40% VA, 50% SC African American; 90%+ enslaved.
Summary: Southern Colonies’ climate favored cash crops like tobacco, rice, indigo. Post-1698, reliance on enslaved Africans grew, making them a significant part of the population.
A. Wealth and Class
Wealthy planters = large land & slaves → high profits.
Social classes: Rich planters lived like European nobles.
Work: SC → specific tasks; Chesapeake → longer hours, overseers.
B. The Backcountry
Backcountry (PA to Carolinas): Self-sufficient settlers.
Built log cabins, farmed, hunted, less slave use.
Women worked in fields, homes, & carried guns.
Summary : Coastal planters vs. backcountry settlers: wealthy planters = distinct class, while backcountry folks were self-sufficient & less reliant on slaves.
A. Living Conditions
Harsh conditions: long hours, abuse; basic housing (1-room cabins, dirt floors)
Enslaved grew extra food
Maintained African culture.
B. Acts of Rebellion
Resistance: work slowdowns, running away, revolts (e.g., Stono Rebellion 1739).
Stono Rebellion → harsh SC slave code; restrictions increased.
Some learned to read/write, and shared their stories.
Summary: Enslaved Africans faced severe conditions but kept their culture and resisted through various means. Rebellions led to stricter slave codes but also highlighted their resilience.
New England Colonies (North): Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire
Cities: Boston, Hartford, Plymouth
Middle colonies: New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware
Cities: Philadelphia, Wilmington
Southern Colonies: Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia
Cities: Jamestown
Who were among the settlers at Sagadahoc? English convicts
Who was their leader? George Popham
What happened to the colonists at Roanoke? Disappeared
What happened to the colony at Sagadahoc? Arguments, fights with natives, harsh winter good shortages, went back to england
When was Jamestown settled? 1607
When did “starving time” end? 1610
Why did the settlers go to Jamestown? Make money & find gold
Why didn’t the settlers get along with neighbors? Neighbors took land
Why did Jamestown nearly fail? Colonists didn’t like too many strict rules, food problems, disease
Where was Roanoke? Island on North Carolina
Where was Sagadahoc? Near the Kennebec River
Where was Jamestown? Near James River on virginia
How was Jamestown saved from failure? John smith told people to work
John Ralph invented tobacco which they started growing
Joint Stock Company - companies backed by investors, people who put money into a project to earn points
Jamestown - the first permanent English settlement in honor of king James
Indentured Servant - men and women who sold their labor to the person who paid their passage to the colony after working a number of years, they were free to farm or take up a trade of their own
Charter - a written contract, issued by a government giving the holder the right to establish a colony
John Smith 0 a soldier and adventurer that made colonists work
House of Burgesses - first representative assembly in the American colonies
Bacon’s rebellion - rebellion started by Nathaniel Bacon complaining over high taxes
First group of colonists came back to England after much hardship. Walter Raleigh made a second attempt to start a new colony on Roanoke, taking a mixed group of men, women, and children from England
John White was the governor of the second colony and kept a record of the colony through his drawings.
New York
Dutch settlers founded New Netherlands
Included - Hudson R, Long Island, & Delaware
Jewish settlers, African slaves
Got its name from Duke of York
Pennsylvania
Started by William Peenn
Religious freedom & equality for all
Wanted Natives to be treated freely
Wealthiest of American colonies
New Jersey
Duke of York gave part of claim to New Jersey
Encouraged settlers to come by promising religious freedom grants of land, and representative assembly
Georgia
James Oglethorpe founded Georgia for refuge for debtors
English wanted to use as military
War between English and Spain
English, German, Swiss & Scottish colonists settled in Georgia
All religions were welcome
Oglethorpe set up strict rules which upset colonists & it became colony
The Carolinas
English settlers built Charleston
Became a refuge for Huguenots, Protestants, seeking religious freedom
Wars broke up & rules were overthrown
Was divided into North/South Carolina
Maryland
Established by Lord Baltimore for Catholics fleeing persecution
Promised religious freedom
Was based on tobacco economy
Most came as servants or slaves
Three distinct regions
New England Colonies, Middle Colonies, Southern colonies
Back Country
Ran along Appalachian Mtns through the western part of other regions
Important features of each region
New England - long winters & rocky soil
Middle Colonies - shorter winters & fertile soil
Southern colonies - warm climate & good soil
Backcountry - climate & resources varied, depending on latitude
Subsistence farming
Food for yourself & having extra for trade
New England’s valuable trade good
Fish & timber
Triangular trade
Gold and cargo, sugar & molasses & rum & iron were trade
Immigration acts
Made sure England made a fair amount of $$ from colonists
Slavery was uncommon
Less work, slaves weren’t needed; slaves are bad for economy
Puritan religion started to decline
Economy was successful & less people cared for relion
Religion had competition with economy
Summary: England’s colonies were getting started. Economy was a big deal because the economy took over religion & they passed Navigation Acts. Slaves were no longer used because they were bad for the economy. Triangular trade & subsistence farming led to an importance of trade.
King Henry VIII broke England’s ties with the Catholic Church and established the Church of England (also called the Anglican church) in the 1500’s
Separatists were those people in Englade who wanted a total break from the Church of England (thought it was too Catholic still)
One group, the Pilgrims, were being attacked by King James and so they fled to Holland (which is another name for Netherlands). But since they didn't want to adopt Dutch culture, they asked the Virginia Company for permission to to settle within their boundaries on the east coast of North America
So in 1620, the Mayflower set sail and arrived off the coast of Massachusetts/ The colonists named their settlement Plymouth
Obviously the land was nowhere near Virginia, so before disembarking the ship, the colonists signed the Mayflower Compact, which established the idea of self government, majority rule, and obeying laws.
Just like Jamestwon, the Pilgrims at Plymouth experienced hardship at first (disease and death). Fortunately, the colonists met up with two Indians named Samoset and Squanto, who spoke English!
A peace treaty was signed between the Pilgrims and Native Americans, and the Indians taught the Pilgrims how to farm, hunt, and fish. They even traded with the Indians for furs and began to send lumber back to England to make a profit.
In the fall, the pilgrims took part in a Native American celebration, giving thanks for a good harvest. This lasted for 3 days and was the first Thanksgiving.
The small success of Plymouth encouraged others in England to follow, especially those seeking religious freedom.
Between 1630 and 1640, a religious group called the Puritans left England for the Americas. These people were different than Separatists because they only wanted to reform or “purify” the Anglican Church.
This emigration of thousands of Puritan families is known as Great Migration and about 20,000 of them landed in New England
Puritan merchants had invested in the Massachusetts Bay Company (another joint stop company) and they received a charter to settle in New England. Compared to Jamestown, the Puritans were better prepared and did not have to suffer through a starving time .
John Winthrop was the Massachusetts colony’s governor and he made the colony into a commonwealth, a community where people work together for the good of the whole
Connecticut was started by Thomas Hooker in 1636. This colony wrote the first constitution called the fundamental order of Connecticut. It expanded voting rights, limited the power of the government and expanded the idea of representative government.
New Hampshire was another colony … this one based on settlements at Portsmouth and Exeter.
Roger Williams was a minister that opposed colonists’ taking land away from Native Americans by force and opposed the government's authority to regulate religious behavior. He was forced to lead the colony.
Williams headed southward and founded the colony of Rhode Island where the first Baptists church was created. This colony became a place for religious freedom and a separation of church and government.
Anne Hutchinson was a young woman who taught that people could worship God without the need for church, ministers, or even the Bible! She was considered a heretic (someone whose teaching goes against church beliefs) and the fact that she was a woman speaking these things made it worse. She was brought to trial, banished from Massachusetts, and fled to Rhode Island.
Another religious group living in New England were the Quakers. They challenged the Puritan way by claiming that people could experience/know God for themselves through an “Inner Light.” They also treated Native Americans fairly, very different from other colonists.
With a growing number of colonists in New England needing land, conflict with Native Americans over land was bound to happen
1675-1676, Puritan colonies fought Indians in King Philip's War, named after “King Philip” (the English name of the Wampanoag tribe’s chief, Metacom). Thanks to an alliance with other tribes, the Wampanoag were able to raid Puritan towns, burn buildings, and kill hundreds of colonists
But in the end, the colonists had superior weapons and were able to defeat the Indians. Those Native Americans who survived became laborers and the tribes lost pretty much all their land.
In the town of Salem, Massachusetts, a group of teenage village girls were told witch stories by a black female slave. Pretending to be bewitched, the girls falsely accused a group of older women to be witches.
What followed was a witch-hunt in Salem with mass panic all over. More than 100 were arrested and put on trial and 20 were found guilty and killed. Eventually Salem came to their senses and after a few years, the Massachusetts government gave pardons to the families of those who were killed.
The people of Salem saw this witch craziness as God’s way of calling them back to a strict Puritan lifestyle, since religious enthusiasm was on the decline. The trials also reflected social issues in New England since the teenage girls were from lower classes and they accused women from the upper class.
Middle Colonies
Immigrants from all over Europe took advantage of land
Longer growing seasons
Grew cash crops(raised to be sold for money)
Gristmill - place to crush grain
Ate a pound of grain each day
Lots of diversity
New England Colonies
Most were English Puritans
Indian taught them how to farm, hunt & plant
Importance on land ownership
Mostly male held position in church
Middle Colonies had a climate of tolerance
Quakers believed diff beliefs could live together in harmony
Immigrants wanted land so they came
Large Cash crop grown in Middle Colonies affected development of the region’s cities
Cash crops were grown because of the region's good soil and weather.
Port cities grew because crops were sold for money
The triangular trade was a cruel system connecting Europe, Africa, and the Americas. It involved three key stages: European trades exchanged goods for enslaved Africans in West Africa, transported these slaves across the Atlantic in the Middle Passage, and then sold them in the Americas to work on Plantations. The Middle Passage was famous for its harsh conditions, where slaves were confined in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, leading to high mortality rates. In America, slavery reduced people to property with no rights, deeply affecting society on both sides of the Atlantic.
In Virginia free Americans were restricted to certain counties
If you were African American (free or slave) you couldn’t have education, own property, move about freely.
By the start of the 18th century, through law, it became clear that people are becoming property.
Of the original 13 colonies, Carolinas (north and south) was where slavery was the center of economic activity.
Most white immigrants came from Barbados to the Carolinas
The more slaves people bought, the more land they received.
Before succeeding with rice, cotton and indigo failed in the lower areas of Carolina
Many slaves that came to America were former soldiers who were sold into slavery by rival tribes in Africa
When slaves were brought to Africa’s coast, they were most afraid of being eaten
The expansion of slavery was an essential part of the expansion of capitalism
Ancestors helped sustain slaves at their weakest point
In the eyes of a slave trader, holding slaves was like keeping goods until they reached full market value
Two most valuable types of slaves were men and women younger than 20
The number one thing on the minds of slaves, almost all the time was How do I get out of here/free
When slaves arrived right away in America they were waxed down with oil, fed a good meal, and put on auction
Even if slaves didn’t speak the same language or were traditionally rivals back home, there would have been a spiritual bonding among all them.
African men did not normally do agricultural work
There was a law for white men to carry guns to church because sunday was slaves day off and ppl thought at uprising might happen
Slaves would be free in Fort Mosa in Florida, so in the Stono Rebellion Slaves wanted to go to Florida
The South had great soil and a year-round growing season, which was ideal for plantation crops such as tobacco and rice. So much was grown that they served as cash crops for the southern colonies.
Transportation was easy in the South because of the many waterways.
Plantations were self-sufficient meaning that everything needed was produced on the plantation. Therefore large cities were rare (the only exception was Charleston).
As the plantation economy grew, the need for more laborers grew as well. Near the end of the 1600’s, southern plantations began to turn to Africans.
In the first half of the 1600’s, there were very few Africans in the southern colonies, but starting in the 1660’s, as indentured white servants began to leave the plantations (looking for land, wanting to start their own farms). Also after Bacon’s rebellion, plantation owners worried about using white servants as their laborers.
Since Native Americans could die from European diseases or possibly run away, plantation owners turned to enslaved Africans. As a result the number of people of African descent grew rapidly (by 1750 there were 235,000 slaves in America and 85% of that number lived in the South).
African slaves made up 40% of the South’s population.
Slave labor allowed plantation farming to expand into South Carolina and Georgia (specifically the ability to grow rice).
Slaves had to drain swamps, rake fields, burn stubble, and break ground before planting. Then before the harvest, they had to flood, drain, dry, hoe, and weed several times. Since this took a lot of skill, planters sought out slaves from West Africa who knew how to grow rice.
In higher ground areas, planters grew indigo (a plant that produces a deep blue dye), which was introduced to America by Eliza Lucas.
Slave labor allowed plantation owners to become very wealthy, so it was not long until an elite planter class emerged. They had the money or control to buy the most slaves, and with the large labor force, they could produce the most tobacco, rice, or indigo to sell.
Small planters could not compete so many of them moved South, which gave the planter class the best land along the coast.
Even though the planter class made up a small part of the population, they had the most political and economic power in the South. They were often compared to the upper class in European countries.
Although some planters were “responsible” in their treatment of slaves, most of them were tyrants who held complete authority and frequently used violence to enforce their will.
On plantation, slaves worked in groups of 20-25 under the supervision of overseers. Slaves could work up to 15 hours per day. If the overseer felt that the slaves were not working as hard as they could, slaves could expect to be whipped.
Slaves lived in small one room cabins and received very little food for the week (some planters would allow slaves to raise their own food as long as it did not interfere with their plantation work).
Despite harsh conditions, Africans preserved many customs and traditions from their homelands. This included music, dances, stories, and religion. This helped keep slaves close even when families were separated.
Often slaves did their best to fight against their enslavement. They worked slowly, damaged goods, purposely carried out orders the wrong way, or pretended to not understand directions.
Sometimes anger and frustration led to rebellion. The most famous one was the Stono Rebellion in 1739 (in the Carolina colony) where slaves used guns as they tried to march southward to be free in Florida. However, a white militia met up with them and defeated the slaves.
Rebellions like these led to the passing of more strict slave codes that made it so slaves could not leave the plantation without permission, and illegal for slaves to talk to free blacks.
A. Plantation Crops
The fertile land and mild climate in the Southern Colonies made it possible to grow cash crops
Key cash crops: tobacco (Virginia, Marland), rice (Carolinas), indigo.
Enslaved Africans (from West Africa) were essential in rice farming
B. New Slave Trading
1698: England allowed all English merchants to trade slaves.
Chesapeake region → shift to enslaved Africans; 1770: Africans = large portion of pop.
By 1750: 40% VA, 50% SC African American; 90%+ enslaved.
Summary: Southern Colonies’ climate favored cash crops like tobacco, rice, indigo. Post-1698, reliance on enslaved Africans grew, making them a significant part of the population.
A. Wealth and Class
Wealthy planters = large land & slaves → high profits.
Social classes: Rich planters lived like European nobles.
Work: SC → specific tasks; Chesapeake → longer hours, overseers.
B. The Backcountry
Backcountry (PA to Carolinas): Self-sufficient settlers.
Built log cabins, farmed, hunted, less slave use.
Women worked in fields, homes, & carried guns.
Summary : Coastal planters vs. backcountry settlers: wealthy planters = distinct class, while backcountry folks were self-sufficient & less reliant on slaves.
A. Living Conditions
Harsh conditions: long hours, abuse; basic housing (1-room cabins, dirt floors)
Enslaved grew extra food
Maintained African culture.
B. Acts of Rebellion
Resistance: work slowdowns, running away, revolts (e.g., Stono Rebellion 1739).
Stono Rebellion → harsh SC slave code; restrictions increased.
Some learned to read/write, and shared their stories.
Summary: Enslaved Africans faced severe conditions but kept their culture and resisted through various means. Rebellions led to stricter slave codes but also highlighted their resilience.
