Middle and Southern Colonies Notes

  • The Middle Colonies included New Netherlands (later New York), New Sweden (part of which became Delaware), Pennsylvania, East Jersey, and West Jersey.

New Netherlands

  • Founded in the Hudson River area between 1623 and 1624 by the Dutch West India Company.

  • Manhattan (New Amsterdam) was purchased by the Company for pennies per (22,000) acre.

  • Home to a diverse population with many different languages.

New Netherlands Becomes a British Royal Colony

  • King Charles II of England granted New Netherlands’ land to his brother, the Duke of York, before he controlled the area.

  • In 1664, English soldiers arrived, and Dutch leader Peter Stuyvesant was forced to surrender without firing a shot.

  • Renamed “New York”.

  • England gained a strategic harbor between her northern and southern colonies, and now controlled the Atlantic coast.

Pennsylvania

  • William Penn, an aristocratic Englishman, embraced Quakerism after military service in 1660.

  • In 1681, he received a grant from the king to establish a colony, settling a debt the king owed his father.

  • Named Pennsylvania (“Penn’s Woodland”).

  • He sent out paid agents and advertised for settlers, attracting many immigrants through a liberal land policy.

The Quakers

  • They offended religious and political leaders in England.

    • Refused to pay taxes to support 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 (didn’t simply take) land from Indians.

  • Quakers went among the Indians unarmed.

  • Non-Quaker Europeans flooded PA and treated native peoples poorly, undermining the actions of the Quakers.

Pennsylvanian Society

  • Freedom of worship guaranteed to all.

  • Attracted many different people, including religious misfits from other colonies and many different ethnic groups.

  • No provision for military defense.

  • No restrictions on immigration.

  • No slavery.

The Middle Colonies – Shared Characteristics

  • Known as the “Bread colonies” due to grain production.

  • Streams and rivers lead to trading, and lumber and shipbuilding led to industry and commerce.

  • Bridged the gap between New England and Southern colonies – less industry than New England and less farming than the South.

  • More ethnically diverse, religiously tolerant and sometimes democratic than neighbors.

The Southern Colonies

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

Carolina

  • 1670: a group of small English farmers from the West Indies arrived in Carolina, squeezed out by super-rich Caribbean sugar barons.

  • Brought a few black slaves and a model of the Barbados slave code with them.

Crops of the Carolinas: Rice & Indigo

  • The primary exports are rice and indigo.

  • Rice was grown in Africa, so planters imported more West African slaves.

  • Charleston becomes the most important port in the Southern Colonies.

  • Sullivan’s Island becomes 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 hated the mass of English Protestants on their borders.

  • Anglo-Spanish Wars.

  • The Spanish conducted border raids on Carolina.

  • By 1712, North Carolina has split – these people are poorer, more independent and less loyal to the King.

Georgia

  • Founded in 1733 - Last of the 13 colonies.

  • Named in honor of King George II.

  • Proprietary Colony founded by James Oglethorpe.

  • Later becomes royal…

Georgia--The “Buffer” Colony

  • Chief purpose of creating Georgia:- As a “buffer” between the valuable Carolinas & Spanish Florida & French Louisiana.- Received subsidies from the British government to offset costs of defense.

  • At first, determined to keep slavery out.- Slavery instituted in GA by 1750.