The Middle and Southern Colonies

The Middle Colonies

  • Known for diverse populations and economies bridging North and South.

New Netherlands

  • Founded in the Hudson River area (1623-1624) by the Dutch West India Company for the fur trade.
  • The company neglected the colony.
  • Manhattan (New Amsterdam) was purchased for a small sum per acre.
  • Diverse population with many languages.

New Netherlands Becomes New York

  • King Charles II granted New Netherlands to his brother, the Duke of York, before taking control.
  • In 1664, English soldiers arrived, and Dutch leader Peter Stuyvesant surrendered without resistance.
  • Renamed “New York”.
  • England gained a strategic harbor and control of the Atlantic coast.

Pennsylvania

  • Founded by William Penn, an aristocratic Englishman who embraced Quakerism.
  • In 1681, Penn received a grant from the king to establish a colony, settling a debt owed to his father.
  • Named Pennsylvania (“Penn’s Woodland”).
  • Penn advertised for settlers, attracting immigrants with a liberal land policy.

The Quakers

  • Offended religious and political leaders in England.
  • Refused to pay taxes to the Church of England.
  • Believed all were children of God and refused to treat the upper classes with deference.
  • Pacifists, non-violent and against military service.

Penn & Native Americans

  • Bought land from Indians (rather than taking it).
  • Quakers went among the Indians unarmed.
  • Non-Quaker Europeans flooded Pennsylvania and mistreated native peoples.

Pennsylvanian Society

  • Freedom of worship guaranteed to all.
  • Attracted many different people, including religious misfits and various ethnic groups.
  • No provision for military defense.
  • No restrictions on immigration.
  • No slavery.

Urban Population Growth (1650-1775)

  • Illustrates the population growth in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston.

Shared Characteristics of the Middle Colonies

  • Known as the “Bread colonies” due to grain production.
  • Streams and rivers supported trading, lumber, and shipbuilding.
  • Bridged the gap between New England and Southern colonies.
  • More ethnically diverse, religiously tolerant, and sometimes more democratic than neighbors.

The Southern Colonies

  • Includes North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and the Chesapeake Colonies.

Carolina

  • In 1670, English farmers from the West Indies arrived in Carolina, bringing black slaves and the Barbados slave code.

Crops of the Carolinas: Rice & Indigo

  • Primary exports were rice and indigo.
  • Rice was grown in Africa, so planters imported more West African slaves.
  • Charleston became the most important port in the Southern Colonies.
  • Sullivan’s Island became the entry point for 40% to 50% of enslaved Africans in colonial America.
  • By 1710, African slaves were a majority in Carolina.

Conflict With Spanish Florida

  • Catholic Spain resented the English Protestants on their borders.
  • Anglo-Spanish Wars led to Spanish border raids on Carolina.
  • By 1712, North Carolina split due to being poorer and more independent.

Georgia

  • Founded in 1733, the last of the 13 colonies.
  • Named in honor of King George II.
  • Proprietary colony founded by James Oglethorpe.
  • Later became a royal colony.

Georgia—The “Buffer” Colony

  • Served as a buffer between the Carolinas and Spanish Florida and French Louisiana.
  • Received subsidies from the British government for defense.
  • Initially intended as a haven for debtors.
  • Slavery was initially prohibited but was instituted by 1750.