ssush2a & b development of the colonial economy and...

SSUSH2A & B

Development of the Colonial Economy and Society (The New England and Southern Colonies)

Economic Development of the New England Colonies

• New England’s economy was greatly influenced

by a Puritan belief known as the Puritan Work

Ethic, which was based on the idea that God

commanded six days of work a week.

• Agriculture actually played a minor role in

Colonial times because the soil was too rocky

and thin to support many large farms.

• Clearing fields for farming involved removing

trees that produced lumber that was often

exported to England, where it was in short

supply due to their depleted forests.


• However, fishing and whaling were actually

the main supporters of the regions economy.

• New England also had a few factories where

manufactured goods were produced, such as

the Saugus Iron Works near Boston.

• Water power was used as a source of

energy to run the equipment like the large

bellows that kept the wood fires burning .

• Some of the iron was shipped to England,

but most of it was used in colonial

blacksmith shops to make nails and tools .


• Shipbuilding was another big industry

in New England.

• Large numbers of ships manufactured

in New England sailed the Trans-

Atlantic Trade Route creating a

prosperous region trade system.

• The Colonial shipping trade

followed certain, three way,

Triangular Trade Routes

Development of the Triangular Trade Routes


• Ships leaving the American

colonies carried manufactured

goods, such as tools and rum,

to the west coast of Africa.

• In Africa, these items were traded for slaves, gold, and pepper, which

were then shipped to the West Indies (Caribbean) .

The First Triangular Trade Route

• Then, in the West Indies, these items were traded for sugar and

molasses, which in turn were shipped to America and sold for a profit .


The Second Triangular Trade Route

• Ships from the American

colonies sailed to the

West Indies carrying

food products and lumber.

• These goods were traded

for fruit, sugar and

molasses and shipped to

England.

• Then, these goods were traded in England for manufactured goods,

which were then carried to the American colonies and sold for a profit .


The Third Triangular Trade Route


colonies sailed to

Southern Europe

carrying lumber, fish,

meat, and grain.

• These goods were then

traded for fruit and wine

and shipped to England.

• Then, once again, these goods were traded in England for manufactured

goods, which were then carried to the American colonies and sold for a

profit .


• American traders did quite well for themselves using these trade routes

until the British developed an economic policy called Mercantilism.

• Mercantilism was designed to protect English industries from colonial

competition and caused interference with the colonial shipping trade .

• Economic problems arose in New

England when the Navigation Acts

were put into effect restricting

colonial shipping of certain goods.

• As a result, angry colonists in

Massachusetts and Rhode Island

burned British ships.

Economic Development of the Southern Colonies

• Tobacco was the main crop grown in Virginia and most

of the Southern Colonies.

• Most southern farms were not large plantations since

they usually contained only about 200 acres.

• Southern farmers grew tobacco as a cash crop to make

it possible to buy the other things they really needed.

• Although tobacco farming was a very

labor intensive and long process, most

Virginia farmers would have only two

or three slaves


• The tobacco growing season started in January and

lasted until August.

• After the tobacco was

harvested, it was hung in

a tobacco barn to dry.

• After the tobacco

was dried, it would

be packaged in a

wooden barrel known

as a Hogshead.


• Once the Hogshead was full, it

would be taken to town where

an inspector would check the

tobacco for color and smell

• If the tobacco passed inspection,

the farmer would receive a tobacco

note with the type and weight of

the tobacco recorded on it.

• The farmer could then take

the tobacco note to a

merchant for credit towards

goods he wished to purchase.


• Other southern colonies made

attempts to grow:

Indigo

Rice

Cotton

• However, these crops proved to be much more costly and labor

intensive requiring them to be grown on much larger plantations.

• Obviously, the greater need for

labor on the plantations

facilitated the development of

the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade:

Development of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

The Dominant Triangular Trade Route


colonies sailed to England

carrying sugar, tobacco, tea,

and cotton.

• These goods were traded for

textiles, gunpowder and rum

and carried to West Africa.

• In Africa, these items were traded

for slaves and carried to both the

West Indies (Caribbean) and the

American Colonies .


• In 1672, King Charles II granted a charter to

the Royal African Company to engage in the

slave trade.

• Between 1450-1870, an

estimated 10-12 milion

Africans were transported

across the Atlantic Ocean.

• The worst part of this terrible

journey across the Atlantic was

nick-named the Middle Passage.


• By 1705, Virginia had consolidated all its different

slave laws into one singe Slave Code.

• In 1712, South Carolina had followed Virginia’s

example and created their own slave law.

• Most of the early slave laws dealt with the status of children born from

slave parents in the American colonies.

• Maryland’s earliest slave law (in 1664), dictated that

any free-white woman that married a slave was to

serve her husbands master as long as he lived and

that any of their children were considered slaves.

Development of Early Colonial Society

• Because of the wealth generated by

trade, Colonial America developed very

distinct social classes.

• In the south there was a rise of an elite

planter class, or gentry, mostly located

in coastal or tidewater areas where

there was easy access to shipping.

• Northern elites were mostly

wealthy merchants who lived

in cities and towns where they

gained prestige and power.

• While the Western Frontier and Colonial

Backcountry was settled by the smaller

yeoman farmers and former Indentured

Servants.

ssush2a & b development of the colonial economy and...

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