Colony Founder Reason Founded Other notes

Massachusetts Plymouth- William religious freedom Separatist- separate from Church of England.
Bradford Founded Plymouth colony. Before landed all
MA Bay- John settlers signed Mayflower Compact in which
Winthrop all colonist will obey and abide by
government laws.

Puritans- wanted to reform church.

Religiously strict; only white men with
property could vote & paid taxes. Anyone
who criticize government was banned from
colony (i.e. Roger Williams & Anne
Hutchinson

Connecticut Thomas Hooker dissatisfied with laws in Upset with voting participation in MA.
MA. Believed all men should have the right to
vote.
Fundamental Orders of Connecticut-first
written constitution in the American
Colonies
New Hampshire settlers from MA Economic opportunities founding primarily for farming

Rhode Island Roger Williams religious freedom Wanted all to worship freely.
& Anne Hutchinson Banned from colony due to heresy
Williams- Believed Puritan church had to
much power, gov’t & church should be
separate, and gov’t should promote peace
but not promote one particular religion.
Hutchinson- believed Claimed that God
spoke to her and revealed to her which
ministers were correct and which wrong
Puritans believed that God only spoke
through the Bible; Hutchinson was
convicted of heresy and banished
 Life in New England
1. Soil thin and rocky, grew food only for
consumption
2. Economy: Fishing & Shipbuilding
3. New Triangular Trade (NE merchants carry
products to Caribbean, trade it for sugar & English
bills, and then sugar to make rum and buy slaves
to trade with southern colonies.
4. “Town meetings” where the entire community
came together and the adult landowning men
elected leaders and passed local laws
5. Women could own/inherit property but once
married they had to relinquish right to land to
husband.
1. Puritans were expected to attend church every Sunday
and Thursday night for religious education; watch over
their neighbors and report immoral behaviors as a
religious responsibility to the community
2. Urban Problems (diseases, pollution, crime)
Class Society Structure
 Top- Merchants (build large home and live luxurious
lifestyle)
 2nd- artisans, carpenters, masons, smiths, tailors, etc.
 3rd- common laborers – people with no property and no
specific skills, who worked for set wages at other
people’s businesses
 Last- slaves
Colony Founder Reason Other notes
Founded

Pennsylvania William Penn Religious Quakers believed equality for all men, no single book or written
freedom for beliefs that all follow
Quakers Also believed paid clergy was unnecessary and that every person
could know God’s will through his or her inner light
Created a frame of “Brotherly Love” or “Holy Experiment”- all
can practice their religion without fear of being persecuted.
Men could vote who 50 acres of owned land.
Treated Native Americans fairly.

Delaware Swedish Settlers Economic Originally Part of PA- Frame of Gov’t attracted all types of
opportunities settlers especially Swedish. Colony grew too big to control- Penn
allowed them to create their own gov’t and granted their own
charter
 st
New York Dutch Colonist Religious freedom & Economic Henry Hudson- 1 to explore region
(Peter Stuyvesant) Opportunity Dutch established colony as a trading
post. All Religions allowed to buy land

Colony taken by English.

Political affairs dominated by wealthy

landowners .

New Jersey Lord Berkley Religious freedom & Economic started out with NY– England gained
& Sir George Carteret Opportunity control from Dutch—King Charles II
gives control to brother James II–
gives land to 2 friends.

Granted religious freedom and large

land grants to settlers
Life in the Middle Colonies
• Most Ethnically diverse Colonies. Nationalities included English,
Dutch, Swedish, German, Scots-Irish, and French
• Allowed to Practice any Religion ( Really bc proprietors were more
concerned with colonist buying or renting land)
• Small Farms and Grew crops (mostly wheat) but other included corn,
barley, pumpkins, rye, potatoes, and peas
• Middle Colonies was a free enterprise. Proprietors did not tell
colonist what to do, they could decide what will earn them the most
money and sell that.
• Girls/women- housework, Boys/men-Build, fix, hunt, & raise animals
Colony Founder Reason Other notes
Founded

Virginia London Economic • Struggled due to lack of skills/organization, food, containment water, conflict with natives.
Co. John Smith helped transform economy “ No work, No Food”
Jamestown • John Rolfe-Tobacco insured survival.
st • Charter revoked due to Company going bankrupt because of Native American attacks.
1
permanent • Conflicts- Bacons Rebellion (Class Conflict): Cause- 1)Poor farmers in Back country upset
settlement about Indian attacks (want protection) and having to pay higher taxes then they wealthy
planter 2) Governor does not deal with problem (conflict of Interest- wants to continue
making money off fur trade)
• Rebellion ends- Nathaniel Bacon is killed! Capital moved to Richmond.
• Effects--- Leads to importation of slaves rather than using indentured servants. Also showed
discontent in colonies.

Maryland Lord Religious King gave his friend Lord Baltimore grant of land north of VA
Baltimore freedom Proprietary colony.
( aka Cecil Established as a refuge for Catholics. However, Protestant outnumbered Catholics.
Calvert II) Religious freedom offered to all Christians ( Maryland Toleration Acts)
Carolinas 8 Lord Economic 2 populations within Colony: 1) Northern- farmers who
Proprietors opportunities grew tobacco and moved from VA; 2) Southern- large
plantations and grew rice and indigo

Need large workforce so they turn to slaves.

1729, King George made the two parts of Carolina separate

royal colonies.

Georgia James Ogle Buffer Zone and Designed to be a buffer colony. Protect American colonies
Thorpe economic from Spanish FL.
opportunities for
Debtors Alternate to English law to help people pay back debts by
coming to America and working rather than being put in Jail
until debt was repaid.
Life in the Southern Colonies
• Plantation system
• Few roads and towns built
• Land 1st worked by Indentured servants
. Many died before contract ended or
forced to become Yeoman farmer.
• Plantation owners who import
indentures, were granted a 50 acre
“headright,”
• Designed for Rich to get Richer.
Wealth=political and economic power
Social Pyramid
1. Planters – wealthy estate owners who
grew cash crops and could afford to own
slaves/indentures
2. Yeomen farmers – free “backcountry”
farmers who owned their own land, but
lacked the resources to grow cash crops or
own slaves
3. Tenant farmers – free laborers who rented
land from others to farm for themselves
4. Indentured servants – Europeans who had
agreed to limited terms of indenture in
exchange for their passage to the colonies
5. Slaves – African or Indians held in
involuntary servitude and used as manual
labor to work the plantations of the
planter class
The (New) Triangular Trade
• New England merchants carried
colonial products (lumber, fish,
southern cash crops) to the
Caribbean sugar plantations
• The Caribbean sugar planters
would then trade sugar, or
simply exchange British bills of
exchange (a form of money), for
the American goods
The (New) Triangular Trade
• New England merchants then
brought the sugar back home to
be distilled into rum and used
the bills of exchange to buy
British finished goods (or slaves,
which could be mostly traded to
the southern colonies)