The colonies, Indians, and slavery. All these names put together one thought, “A young new nation”. The colonies were divided into three parts. The northern, middle, and southern colonies. Slavery widely existed in these colonies. Although it was extremely unreasonable in the north. The origins of the “Great Awakening”, reasons for the French and Indian war, the conditions after the Treaty of Paris, and the American Revolution. These are all important key points in the history of the Colonial times.
The characteristics of the Northern, Middle and Southern Colonies are both very different and very similar. In the North several crops per small farms were considered cash crops. The cold winters and rocky land limited them to these small farms. People made rum, harvested fish, made meat products, and sawed lumber. These were the thriving industries. Colonist also made very large amounts of iron. The colonist built one third of all the British ships by the 1770s. Merchants were considered one of the most powerful groups of people in the North. The northern colonies’ societies were made up of very different people and groups. English, Dutch, Germans, Irish, Catholics, Quakers and Scots just to name a few. Women had very hard working responsibilities. But very little rights. Women had to serve food, clean clothes, sew, make candles and soap, and religion and law kept women under their husband’s control. A woman could not vote, enter into contracts, own or sell property, or keep wages. Only women that were single or widows could run their own business. One thing that sets the north apart from the middle and southern colonies is that there was hardly any slavery.
Like the North, the middle colonies produced many cash crops per farm instead of a single large crop. In New York and Pennsylvania farmers raised animals and many different crops. Such as cattle, wheat, corn and hogs. The middle colonies produced so much food that they sold the extras to the West Indies. Some of the economic activities in the middle colonies were furs, glass, shoes, beer, copper, paper, and trade. Trade expanded quickly in the middle colonies. Thus causing cities to grow. City streets grew very crowded. People walked around on foot and horseback. Firewood and clean water was rare. Diseases and fire spread quickly and easily due to the fact that building were built closely together and garbage and human excrement were everywhere. There was also the problem of poverty. “Children were brought up in Idleness and Ignorance”
In the south everything was about agriculture. IN Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina, planters grew tobacco. South Carolina and Georgia harvested rice and indigo as cash crops. In the south plantations were brought up and developed instead of towns. The south developed mainly as a rural society. They saw no need for bakeries and markets. The south was made up of diverse groups. Germans, Scots, and Irish migrated to the south and raised farms and livestock. Like the other colonies, women had very little rights and it was difficult for them. They were second-class citizenship. Women could not vote, preach or own property. In an average day the southern women cooked, she milked cows, slaughtered pigs, and worked in the garden. She sewed, washed clothes and cleaned the house. The population was mainly made up farmers in the south, but the planters controlled much of the South’s economy. Life was good for many southerners.
In the years from 1700 to 1770, living standards rose dramatically. Due to the fact that export trade grew. A major difference from the south and the north is that slavery widely existed.
By 1750 there were 200,000 slaves in the south. Most slaves worked on large plantations. Slaves worked forcefully without any pay. Raising rice and tobacco and cotton required a lot of labor. So slavery was needed. Huge profits and investments were brought on because of slavery. They didn’t need to be paid and all the hard work was done. In the north however because raising wheat and corn didn’t require much labor, northerners didn’t really want to turn to slavery as much as southerners did. However racial prejudices still existed against blacks, and blacks had no rights.
The great Awakening lasted from 1740s to the 1750s. The Great Awakening brought many colonists into organized churches. It caused people to question traditional authority and it emphasized aspects against emotionalism and reason. It challenged authority of established churches. Many refused to pay taxes that supported the established church. The great awakening also caused people to become interested in higher education. So colleges such as Princeton, Columbia, and brown were founded. The great Awakening de-emphasized the role of church authority.
France was Great Britain’s greatest rival. French colonies differed from the British colonies. France began its North American Empire in 1534. They established Quebec and penetrated the Heart of the North American continent. In the French colonies there were 80,000 people, and in the British colonies there were more than a million. French developed good relations with the Native Americans because they needed they to trade with for fur. The French empire grew larger and larger until it collided with the British colonies. The French set up a Fort where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers join. But the Virginia government sold that land to a group of wealthy planters so they sent militiamen to order them to leave. After Washington’s militia attacked and took some prisoners. The French counterattacked. This caused the French and Indian War.
The war ended in 1763 with the signing of the Treaty Of Paris. The British government had 10000 troops in their new territories to keep Native Americans and French subjects under their control. They saw this as protecting but the colonist saw it as a standing army that might attack. Maintaining the troops cost a lot of money to Britain. Britain was in great debt. Conditions between Britain and Massachusetts were heating up. The governor of Massachusetts set up a law that allowed British customs to search colonial ships or buildings that they believed were holding smuggled goods. This enraged many people. The sugar act was then signed. The colonies and Great Britain were disagreeing more and more. On things like how they should be taxed. This led to the American Revolution. Colonists wanted to separate.

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