1. The
Middle
Colonies

2. 1
3
2
4
Middle
Colonies
1. New York
2. New Jersey
3. Pennsylvania
4. Delaware

3. The Middle Colonies
Main Ideas
• Middle colonies are settled on rich river lands,
making them a farming and mining powerhouse.
• The English created New York and New Jersey from
former Dutch territory.
• William Penn established the colony of Pennsylvania.
• The economy of the middle colonies was supported
by trade and staple crops.

4. Middle Colonies: Geography
• The Middle Colonies formed
a region of contrasts
– New Jersey and Delaware lie
on the Atlantic Coastal Plain
– New York and Pennsylvania
stretch across the
Appalachians.
– Each had different land and
different lifestyles.
• There was a fall line
created as the rivers
dropped from the hills to
the coastal plain. This
caused rapids and
waterfalls.

5. Middle Colonies: Geography
• The middle colonies had
beaver-filled streams,
thick forests and rich
farm land.
• Colonist used the rivers
to transport these goods.
– They were large enough
for ships which
promoted port cities for
trade.
• The fall line was used to
power mills and saws.
– Example: New York City

6. Middle Colonies: Geography
• Climate was cold in winter, mild in summer. Great
soil conditions for farming.
• Small and large farms developed for both
subsistence and commercial farming.
– (subsistence=grow the food that you need for your family)
– (commercial=agricultural products to sell for profit)
– Grain products like wheat, oats, corn were grown and
traded to other colonies.
– Because of location and factors such as rivers and
harbors, trade was conducted with both New England
and Southern Colonies.
• Religious diversity developed and they encouraged
diversity.
– Quakers settled with Anglicans and other protestant groups
and Jews.

7. Middle Colonies: Geography

8. Urban Population Growth (1650-1775)

9. Differences in Middle Colony
Governance
• Middle Colonies = mostly proprietary
– A charter for a land grant given to an individual. The
individual was given power to rule the territory of the
land grant.
– Example: William Penn was the Proprietor of
Pennsylvania.
• New England & Southern Colonies
– A Royal Colony was establish by a charter, land grant
form the king. Granted a person or company the
authority to establish settlements.
– Example: James Oglethorpe received a Royal Charter to
establish Georgia in 1732
– A charter is a written grant for use of land. Given by
the king or the Parliament to a business company.
– Example: The London Company (Virginia Company)
chartered Jamestown in 1607.

10. From Dutch to English
NEW YORK & NEW JERSEY

11. The Coming of the Dutch
• In 1607 and 1608, English
explorer Henry Hudson was hired
by the Muscovy Company and
the East India Company of
England to search for a
northwest passage in North
America to the Pacific.
• Thought that because the sun
shone for three months in the
northern latitudes in the
summer, the ice would melt and
a ship could make it across the
top of the world
Henry Hudson

12. The Coming of the Dutch
• In 1609, Hudson sailed for the
Dutch East Company, looking for
a passage through the Arctic to
Asia, but instead explored the
area that is today Hudson Bay.
• His voyage was used to
establish Dutch claims to the
region.
• Established fur trade via a 1614
trading post
• New Amsterdam on Manhattan
Island became the capital of
New Netherland in 1625.
Replica of Hudson’s ship, the Half Moon

13. Henry Hudson’s Journey for the Dutch

14. Coming of the Dutch
Beginning of New Netherland
• 1621 – Dutch West India Company sets
up a trading company in New Netherland
• 1624 – Sent 30 families to settle
• New Amsterdam – center of new colony
– Located on Manhattan Island
– 1626 – Peter Minuit, governor of
colony, buys land for about $24
• Grows slowly
– No real reason to move there
– Their country was prosperous and
tolerant of religions

15. New Amsterdam & New Sweden
• Recruiting settlers
–
–
–
–
Welcomes all people in New England
Gave large tracts of land to anyone
who brought 50 settlers
Riverfront property
Patroons ran land as they chose;
own laws
• New Sweden established
–
–
–
–
Fur Trade – brought settlers from
Sweden
1638 – New Sweden formed near
Wilmington, Delaware
Dutch view New Sweden as a rival
1655 – Peter Stuyvesant,
governor of New Netherland, seized
New Sweden

16. New Amsterdam in 1664

17. Meanwhile, back in England…
• New English King Takes
Over in England
– Civil War in England
•
•
–
–
Parliament Puritans vs.
Charles I supporters
King beheaded for
treason
Puritans run country for
11 years
1660 – King Charles II
takes over
The trial of Charles I on January 4, 1649.

18. Trouble in New Amsterdam
• New Amsterdam “colonies” = collection of
fortified trading posts to engage in fur trade
with Indians
• Plan never worked well
• By 1640 the colony only held 5000
discontented settlers
–
–
–
Angry at sloppy and haphazard administration
Angry at having most of their profits siphoned off
by merchants headquartered in New Amsterdam
At the same time, English settlers from New
England moved into area and refused to recognize
authority of Dutch administrators

19. English Invade New Amsterdam
• English government recognized problems in New
Netherlands and exploited situation
–
1664 – Charles sends brother, James, Duke of York to
seize Dutch colony.
–
Four English warships anchor at New Amsterdam

20. English Take New Amsterdam
• Governor Stuyvesant
tells colonists to fight
back.
• New Netherland
surrenders without a
fight
• Renamed New York in
honor of James
Peter Stuyvensant

22. English Establish New York
• New York Colonial Government
•
James becomes proprietor of New York
•
Allows Dutch to keep their religion, lands,
and customs
•
Religious freedom to all
•
Colonists had no say in government
New
York
1621
1655
1664
Fur Trade
Eliminate Competition
Control Atlantic Coast
Peter Minuit
Peter Stuyvesant
James, Duke of York

24. Diversity and Toleration
• Because colony included
Dutch settlers, English
authorities were forced to
tolerate ethnic and religious
differences right from the
start
• Policy of toleration made
colony somewhat attractive
to dissatisfied people from
other colonies and from
various foreign countries in
addition to England
Dutch cabin in New York

25. New Netherland 1685

26. New Jersey Separates from New York
•
New Jersey
•
•
•
•
•
New
Jersey
New York too large to manage for James
Gave land to Sir George Carteret and Lord
John Berkeley
Named land “New Jersey” after Carteret’s
birthplace
Kept religious freedom
Developed separately until they became a
royal colony in 1702
1702
New York too large
to manage
Sir George Carteret
Lord John Berkeley

27. New Jersey Land for Rent
• Berkeley and Carteret rented
land for money in New Jersey.
– They offered colonists rich soil and
religious freedom
– Soon all kinds of people were
coming to farm along New Jersey’s
Coastal Plain.
• Colonists in New York and New
Jersey wanted to govern
themselves.
• The fought and won to elect and
assembly, or law making body.)
Lord John Berkeley

28. Trial of John Peter Zenger
• Zenger published a weekly
newspaper called “The New
York Weekly Journal.”
• 1734 - Zenger was arrested
because he published a
newspaper about the governor
being dishonest.
• The trial helped to
establish freedom of the
press in America.
– Truth is a defense against libel
– As long as it was true, you could
find fault with public officials.

29. William Penn and the Quakers
PENNSYLVANIA

30. Rise of the Quakers in England
• In the 1600s, wars in Europe
ruined farms and trade, and
religious clashes caused social
upheaval.
• Religious dissenters named
Quakers arose in England
• Hated by authorities because
they refused to pay taxes to
Church of England, refused to
take oaths, refused military
service

31. Quaker Beliefs
• Founded in 1640s by George Fox
– Real name was Society of Friends
• Most democratic Protestant denomination of the
time
– No church government at all
– Women treated as equals
– Did not recognize superior social status
– Refused to take oaths and were pacifists
– Intense evangelicals
• Suffered great deal of persecution
– Fines for refusing to attend Church of England
– Occasional imprisonment

32. Rise of Quakers in England
• Charles II perceived the
egalitarian Quakers as
dangerous radicals & desired
to export the Quakers to
someplace far from England
• William Penn, a Quaker, was
a close friend of King Charles
II, and Charles granted Penn
a charter in 1681 for what
became Pennsylvania in
exchange for forgiveness of
crown debt.

35. William Penn (1644-1718)
• Born in London into a merchant family, Penn joined
the Quakers, also known as the Religious Society of
Friends, in 1666.
• The Friends believed in direct guidance from the Holy
Spirit, did not recognize the authority of an ordained
ministry, believed in simple dress, and opposed war.
• Pennsylvania (Penn’s forest).
– Penn established the colony in Pennsylvania as a refuge for
Quakers and a place where they could create a government
based on freedom, self-rule, and respect for others.
– He helped planned the layout of the city of Philadelphia for
future development.

36. Pennsylvania, An Instant Success!
• 4,000 Quakers moved to the colony in 1681
– 20 years later population was 21,000
– By 1750, population was 120,000
• Reasons for success
– Rich farmland offered to settlers on generous
terms
• Any man who brought his family over
received 500 acres of land, and paid a small
fee to Penn each year for “taxes”
– Complete religious freedom guaranteed to all
• Could belong to any denomination

37. Land Grant to William Penn

38. Pennsylvania’s Diversity
• Some settlers were
from other colonies or
England
– But the majority
were non-English
inhabitants of the
British Isles
– Scots, Welsh,
Scotch-Irish, and
Germans

39. An early map of “The Improved Part of the Province of Pennsilvania in America.”

40. Scotish-Irish Immigrants
• Descendants of Scottish
Presbyterians who had settled in
northern Ireland in the 1500s
– Militarily beat down native Irish
and took their land
– Created religious and ethnic
hatred that still plagues Ireland
today
• England did not treat them well
and, following a series of harvest
failures in the 1720s, thousands left
for North America
– Their favorite destination was
Pennsylvania
– Over 100,000 came over
between 1720-1770

41. German Immigrants
• Most came from small
states along the Rhine
River
– Some were
Mennonites and
Amish who suffered
religious periodic
persecution
– Others came to
escape heavy taxes
and poor harvests
• By 1776, over 100,000
had come to America
– Favorite destination
were Philadelphia,
New York, and New
Jersey
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

42. A Mixed Blessing
• Scotch-Irish were
mean and
cantankerous, hated
the English, had no
respect for authority,
and were difficult to
keep in line
• Germans also did not
like the English,
resisted English
authorities, and clung
to their own culture
and language and
refused to assimilate
into English culture

43. The Frontier
• Both groups tended to
settle on the frontier, in
clusters of their own
kind, squatting on vacant
land
– Often responded with
violence when
authorities challenged
their claims
• Scotch-Irish were
especially hostile towards
Indians
– Caused headaches for
Quaker officials in
Pennsylvania

44. 1584 - 1762
COLONIAL SOCIAL
CHARACTERISTICS

45. Population in Colonial America
POP (in hundreds of
thousands)
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
1641
1700
1776
YEAR

46. Reasons for Growth
• Immigration cannot explain all this growth
– One historian has estimated that if
immigration had been the only reason for
population growth, the total population in
1776 would have been 400,000—not 2.5
million
• Natural Increase was the most important
source for the American population explosion
– Natural Increase = More births than deaths

47. Larger Families
• Americans had larger
families than their
counterparts back home
– Colonial women married
at a younger age than
European women
• Increased potential
child-bearing years of
women
– Death rate was lower
• Probably due to low
density of settlement
• Also Americans had
better and more
reliable diets than
Europeans

48. The Culture of Alcohol
• Colonists were heavy drinkers
– Average white male
colonist over the age of 15
drank the equivalent of one
quart of 80-proof whiskey
a week
– Believed alcohol was
nutritious and healthy
• Even Puritans drank
– Most popular drinks were
fermented cider in the
north and rum in the south

49. Drunkeness and Temperance
• Most alcohol consumed in small
amounts over the entire day
– Usually with food
• Actual drunkenness was relatively
rare
– But did become more common in
the 1700s
– Caused some to view it as serious
problem
• Some doctors argued it was a
poison
• Quakers and Methodists
objected on religious grounds
• Temperance movement had little
impact on drinking habits of
Americans until the 1850s

50. Hector St. Jean Crevecouer
• “American society is not
composed, as in Europe,
of great lords who
possess everything, and
of a herd of people who
had nothing. A pleasing
uniformity of decent
competence appears
throughout their
habitations. They have
no princes for whom they
toil, starve, and bleed.
They have the most
perfect society now
existing in the world.”

51. American Society vs. Europe
• Although Crèvecoeur
exaggerated, the
American colonies were
a different society from
Europe
– Vast majority of
colonists were
independent farmers,
working land that they
owned
– Not tenant peasants

52. American Society vs. Europe
• Some historians argue
that American colonies
were becoming more
like Europe as time
went on
• A wealthy elite did
develop, but that did
not necessarily mean
that opportunities
were closing down for
ordinary people

53. Planter Elite of the South
• Owners of the great
plantations were among the
richest and most powerful
men in the colonies
– Elegant estates like Mount
Vernon and Monticello
rivaled the mansions of the
English aristocracy
Mount Vernon
• As time went on, it became
increasing difficult for ordinary
men to break into this
privileged circle
– Planter elite therefore
became more narrow and
exclusive and took on many
characteristics of an
aristocracy

54. Northern Society
• Wealthy class also
developed in the north
– Mainly merchants
involved in international
trade
• But it was less wealthy
than southern planter elite
Boston merchant
• It was also easier to enter
– Hardworking craftsman
or shopkeeper could do
it with a little luck, the
right contacts, and a lot
of drive and nerve

55. The Frontier
• Although heavily forested, claimed by Indians,
and far from protection of colonial
governments, it provided the chance to many
to become an independent farmer
• Major reason why the colonies did not become
carbon copies of European society
– Provided a “critical safety valve” for the
discontented and dissastified
– Created American tradition of moving in
order to find better opportunities

56. Women’s Contributions
• Women ran farms
and businesses,
such as clothing
stores, drugstores,
and bakeries.
• Some were nurses
and midwives.
• Most worked
primarily in the
home.
• Married women
managed
households and
raised children.