COLONY COMPARISON PROJECT

By: Zoe Sanchez

NEW ENGLAND COLONIES

Representative colony: Massachusetts Bay ColonySettled by John Winthrop and the Puritans. They left England and founded the colony in order to escape Catholicism and practice the religion of their choice. Their government was dominated by the Puritan church, and only church leaders ran the government. Laws required that everyone attend church, and all taxes went towards the Puritan church. Puritans created a “city on a hill” where they planned for God to reward their faith with peace in America. Although the colony was thriving with religious people, there were also others living in the colony who were not converted. These people were called dissenters. They established their own cities throughout the colony, bringing in wealth and commerce. This was the only reason the Puritans allowed their stay in the colony.

MIDDLE COLONIES

Representative colony: PennsylvaniaWilliam Penn founded the colony of Pennsylvania in 1681. He established a stable government based on religious freedom for the Quakers. William Penn guaranteed everybody the right to vote. The vast and open government that Penn had established attracted immigrants from Germany, the Netherlands and Scandinavia. Soon, Pennsylvania grew into one of the biggest, most important of the 13 colonies.

SOUTHERN COLONIES

Representative colony: VirginiaKnown as “the birthplace of the nation”, Jamestown was founded in 1607 by a group of English settlers. Jamestown was originally established to gain wealth convert natives to Christianity. In 1624 King James I revoked the charter of the Virginia Company. Afterwards, Virginia became a royal colony. Jamestown was mainly used to grow tobacco that was exported to England in exchange for clothing and other resources. Buildings were built out of wood from the trees in the woods, and people were taught to hunt and gather their food.

DIFFERENCES IN THE 3 COLONIES New England Colonies had a colder climate than the others. Soil was very unfertile resulting in little plant growth. In the Northern Colonies fishing, lumbering, shipbuilding, and fur trading were categories in which they thrived in. As for the middle colonies, it was mainly a combination of both the North and South colonies. Large cities were developed on the coast, and tobacco was grown on small plantations. Selling lumber and fish was very important. In the Southern colonies, they relied mainly on the farming of cotton. Cotton was the South’s cash crop, and was grown and very large plantations. Because plantations were so big in size, they needed many workers to help harvest the cotton. This brought up slavery.

SIMILARITIES IN THE 3 COLONIES Each colony was considered a “new society”. They were established to help create something new, as a fresh start for settlers. Also, all three colonies were very religious.

CURRENT DAY CONNECTIONS Massachusetts: As religious as the Massachusetts Bay Colony was, that provided a stable foundation for Massachusetts today.

Pennsylvania: To this day, Pennsylvania continues to be an important state in the U.S. The capital is still Philadelphia, and they continue to show a stable, sturdy government system.

Virginia: Virginia today is still loaded with it’s fertile soil, producing resources used around the world.

WHICH COLONY WOULD I CHOOSE TO LIVE IN? If I had to choose which colony to live in, I would probably choose Pennsylvania. Being in between the two colonies just seems a lot better than being on the end. Because agriculture and other things were influenced by both the southern and northern colonies, everything people did was a blend. Although they did not have fertile soil to grow crops, they had the coast line, where they fished and built ships. Something I would not mind doing.