How did it feel to pack your belongings, board a ship, and sail thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean to a new land? The first English colonists who arrived in North America in the early 1600s faced a dark wilderness of forests. There were no towns, shops, churches, or farms. Survival required hard work and sacrifice. Yet each decade saw more people moving to this new land

HOW DID THE COLONIES GROW?

The population of the colonies in America boomed after 1700. By 1750, about 900,000 Europeans lived in the 13 British colonies that would one day become the United States. A large number of Africans, about 240,000, lived in the colonies by this time.

Some were free people, but most were brought to America as slaves. Native Americans—people who were here long before the colonists arrived—struggled against the Europeans to save their land.

The 13 colonies stretched from what is now Maine in the north to Georgia in the south. The Atlantic Ocean bordered the east, while the Appalachian Mountains marked the west. Over time, colonists created towns, villages, and farms in the wilderness. The colonies developed into three areas, or regions: New England colonies, mid-Atlantic colonies, and Southern colonies.

THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES            

A group of people called Puritans founded the New England colonies of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. The Puritans were a deeply religious people who disagreed with the Church of England. In America, they hoped to worship in their own way. Puritans believed God chose only a few people, called the “elect,” for salvation.

Most New Englanders lived on small farms. Families raised animals and grew enough food for their own table. Puritan parents expected their children to work hard. Boys learned farming skills by working alongside their fathers. Girls learned to spin thread, sew, and cook. Puritans frowned on too much playtime!

THE MID-ATLANTIC COLONIES

The mid-Atlantic colonies included Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware.

The English took over the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam in 1664 and renamed it New York. Scots-Irish, Germans, and Welsh colonists soon arrived. Many cultures and religions were present in the mid-Atlantic colonies. One religious group, the Quakers, founded Pennsylvania. A Quaker believes each person possesses an “inner light” to communicate with God.

Most people in the mid-Atlantic colonies settled on small farms. They grew wheat, barley, and flaxseed to ship to Europe and the West Indies.

THE SOUTHERN COLONIES

Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia were the Southern colonies. Many colonists arrived seeking riches instead of religious freedom.

By the 1750s some families in the South owned large farms, called plantations. These farms covered thousands of acres. The planters grew “cash crops” such as tobacco and rice, which they sold to England for a good deal of money. They built large houses stuffed with fine English cloth, china, and silver.

Wealthy landowners controlled the South’s political power as well as its money. Wealthy people in the South loved dancing, horse racing, and lavish parties. Other people in the South were not as well off. Many were poor. These people worked on the plantations for low wages or for a share of the crops.

The Church of England, which the Puritans had fled, served as the official religion of the Southern colonies.

SLAVERY IN THE COLONIES

All of the colonies used slave labor. Large Southern plantations used the most, requiring thousands of enslaved workers to toil in the fields. African slaves lived on the plantations, forming tightknit communities. They kept African music and religion alive. Many slaves tried to escape from their hard, punishing life. Children of slaves automatically became slaves, too.

WHAT WAS TOWN LIFE LIKE?

Important colonial towns included Boston, Massachusetts; Newport, Rhode Island; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Charleston, South Carolina.

Towns offered shopping, entertainment, and medical care. A housewife could buy bread instead of baking it, and hire a seamstress to help sew and mend clothes. Craftsmen built furniture, made cooking pots, printed newspapers, and sewed sails for ships. Children sometimes worked in their family shop or business.

Merchants rose to the top of town society. They got rich by shipping American materials to England and obtaining goods from England to sell.

WHAT WAS SCHOOL LIKE?

Children learned work skills by helping their parents. Some children learned reading, writing, and math at home. Not many children went to school. For example, most parents believed that schooling wasn’t important for girls, and there was greater need for their help at home.

Education was most emphasized in New England. Puritans believed all people should know how to read so they could study the Bible. New England governments required towns to pay for a one-room school where children were taught. Younger children might learn basic lessons at a neighboring lady's house, called a Dame School.

Of all the colonies, Southern families placed the least importance on education. Wealthy parents hired tutors to teach their children. Some sent their sons to European schools. Many children of poorer families began working in the fields at a young age and didn’t have much schooling.

WHAT WAS LIFE LIKE ON THE FRONTIER?

Some colonists pushed west into the backwoods, known as the frontier. People lived in one-room cabins and worked small farms.

Life on the frontier was hard. The colonists struggled to live off the land. They often clashed with Native Americans. Supplies and medical care were scarce or unavailable. The backwoods colonists also felt ignored by their colonial government. They demanded more law and order and a bigger say in government matters.

END OF THE COLONIAL PERIOD

The colonies began with a handful of English men and women in the early 1600s. As decades passed, people from other countries brought new ideas and different religions to the colonies. By the time America declared its independence from Britain in 1776, the differences had become one of the most notable characteristics of the new people. They were no longer British colonists, but American citizens.

Source: Microsoft ® Encarta

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