The document summarizes the 13 original colonies divided into three regional groups: New England, Middle, and Southern colonies. New England colonies (NH, MA, CT, RI) were settled primarily by Puritans and Pilgrims with strong religious beliefs. Agriculture was poor due to rocky soil. Self-government developed through the Mayflower Compact. The Middle colonies (PA, NY, NJ, DE) had rich diversity and the most religious variation. Being central made them centers of distribution. Land was more fertile. The Southern colonies (VA, MD, NC, SC, GA) prioritized cash crops like tobacco grown with slave labor. Life expectancy was lowest due to diseases. Plantations dominated the

1. Thirteen Colonies
New England:
New Hampshire
Massachusetts
Connecticut
Rhode Island
Middle
Pennsylvania
New York
New Jersey
Delaware
Southern
Virginia
Maryland
North Carolina
South Carolina
Georgia
New England Attributes:
Population: Primarily Pilgrims and Puritans from England
Strong religious beliefs: Church was mandatory. Blue Laws – Laws based on scripture were enforced.
Children that cursed their parents could be put to death.
Poor agriculture: The New England colonies had rocky soil which was poor for most crops. The
natives did teach the earlier settlers how to fertilize the land with remains of fish.
Self-Government: Due to landing in the wrong location, the Pilgrims had to decide who would rule
them. They decided on self-govnerment and wrote the Mayflower Compact as their charter. They
elected a governor.
Middle Colonies
Rich diversity. English, Sweedes, Dutch, German, Scot-irish, and French settled in these colonies.
Population: The middle colonies had the most variety of religious groups: Quakers, Mennonites,
Lutherans, Dutch Calvinists, and Presbyterians
Distribution Centers: Being between the other two groups of colonies let to heavy growth in
distribution centers such as New York and Philadelphia.
Land: Land in the middle colonies was fertile and easily qcquired in comparison to New England and
Southern colonies.
Southern Colonies:

2. Priority: Prosperity with cash crops such as tobacco, rice, and indigo
Slavery: Slaves were a larger population in the south, due to the labor force needed to maintain all the
frams/plantations.
Life Expantancy: The southern colonies had the lowest life expantancy of the three groups. Yellow
Fever and malaris were two of the worse causes of death in the south.
Plantations: Plantations dominated the south. They created a clear division between rich and poor. The
rich had all the land and money, whereas the slaves and other poor members worked on the plantations.
Georgia: This colony was started as an experiment to move debtors to “new land” and give them a
second chance. It worked for a while, but then failed and became a royal colony.
Explain the effects of (a) triangular trade, (b) the Great Awakening, (c) Enlightenment thinking on the
development of the colonial governments in each region.