The Middle Colonies

1607 -1775

By: Alexis, Taylor, and Grace

Founding of the Middle Colonies– Delaware- New Sweden Company

founded in 1638• Henry Hudson and Samuel

Argall• New Sweden Company • William Penn tries to rule

Delaware – New York- The Dutch- 1664

• New Netherlands • Duke of York

– New Jersey- Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret- 1664

• The Duke of York took land between the Hudson and Delaware river valleys New Jersey  

– Pennsylvania- William Penn• Quakers • King Charles II granted land

west of the Delaware River

Delaware River

•Middle Colonies- between Southern and New England colonies

•No big mountains

•some small hills

•Fertile soil- good for crops

•Temperate climate

•A Navigable river- Delaware- good trade

G

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G

R

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H

Y

Government of the Middle Colonies– Delaware

• Proprietary • “levy court”- assessors, justices, and grand jurors met to

discuss laws and taxes– Pennsylvania

• William Penn tries to create representative government• Frame of Government- elected assembly led by a

governor– New York

• Proprietary colony- proprietor- James (Duke of York) – Offered limited self-government and freedom– James did not want to directly rule the colony

governor – New Jersey

• Concessions• Governor, council, and assembly (12 people) made

decisions for the colony

Economy • Agriculture:

• WHEAT- “Bread Basket Colonies” • Fish, oysters, turkey • Cash crop- potatoes, fruit

– To West Indies from commercial centers • Small Scale Manufacturing

– Cloth, clocks, watches, etc. • Not a lot of individually owned land no

need for many slaves

Religion•Middle colonies- very religiously diverse, no specific religion dominated any of the colonies.

•Religiously toleration

Presbyterian 55

Quaker 39

Church of England

21

Dutch Reformed 21

Baptist 19

Dutch Lutheran 4

Seventh Day Baptist

2

German Reformed

2

New Jersey- Church survey in

1765: active congregations

•New York- mostly Anglican (Episcopal)

•New Jersey- religiously tolerant

•Quakers, Baptists, Jewish, Lutheran

•Delaware: very diverse at the beginning

• eighteenth century- mostly British

•Pennsylvania- religious tolerance policy different peoples could assimilate into colony

•QUAKERS DOMINATED

Society • Extremely Diverse:

– France, Germany, Norway, Dutch, English, Swedes – Attracted new people to the colonies- no uniformity – Extremely tolerant– focused on equality

• Religiously tolerant • Socially equal- not a huge social ladder- no slaves• African Americans still no rights • In the Quaker religion- women equal

– Push and pull factors: • Why was there a small population in the Middle Colonies?

– Not much push out of the Netherlands » booming economy and high standard of living » Not many servants or slaves

– Different groups came into conflict over land in Middle Colonies• English took over many Middle Colony lands

– Forced Dutch to surrender land New York

William Penn

– 1644-1718– Quaker– father dies in 1670 – 1677 – took part in colonizing

New Jersey – 1680 King Charles II grants him

Pennsylvania “City of Brotherly Love”/”Holy Experiment”

– William Penn wrote the “Frame of

Government”

Important Document

• Frame of Government-1682

• William Penn

• Religious toleration and equality for all

• Desire for representative government

– People should control the government

– Good people=good government

• desired government:

– Provincial council

– Governor presides over council

– General Assembly- confer on council

• New idea

– People did not accept Penn’s ideas at first

– Redrafted until “acceptable”

Works cited

•Chambers, Al. “American History to 1699.” McAllen Memorial Homework Helper. 15 March 2006. <http://wps.ablongman.com/wps/media/objects/31/32716/figures/DIVI037.jpg>

•Forrest, Tuomi J. “Introduction: William Penn, Proprietor.” William Penn. 1 April 1997. <http://xroads.virginia.edu/~CAP/PENN/pnhome.html>

•Lapsansky-Werner, Emma J., Peter B. Levy, John R. Chavez, Randy Roberts, Alan Taylor, Herman Viola. “ The Middle Colonies.” United States History. Chapter 5. Boston Massachussetts: Pearspm Education, Inc. 2008.

•Mack, Angela and Patricia McCullers. “Middle Colonies.” Home Sweet Home- Far from Home. 26 June 2000. <http://www2.una.edu/geography/institute/teachers_webs/ang_pat/middle.html>

•“Middle Colonies, 17th Century.” Middle Colonies. ABC-CLIO Schools subscription Websites. 2 October 2007. <http: //www.americanhistory.abc-clio.com/library/searches/searchdisplay.aspx?entryid=265923&fulltext=middle+colonies&nav=non&specialtopicid=-1>

•“The Thirteen British Colonies.” The Nystrom Atlas of United States History.•No Author. “The Original Thirteen.” American History. ABC-CLIO Schools subscription Websites. 1 October 2007. <http://www.americanhistory.abc-clio.com/lessons/topics/topicdisplay.aspx?conceptid=71>

•Tooley Art Class Studio. “Church Windows.” Stained Glass and Mosaic Crosses. 16 August 2007. < http://www.church-windows.com/crosses.htm>.

•“Wheat.” World Prout Assembly. Prout Cooperatives. 23 June 2006. <http://www.worldproutassembly.org/archives/2006/06/the_great_grain.html&h=435&w=580&sz=51&hl=en&start=10&um=1&tbnid=jwMF3deZ11KJFM:&tbnh=101&tbnw=134&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dwheat%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN>

•“Equal Sign.” LGBTPM. University of Buffalo’s LGBTPM. 5 December 2002. ://www.smbs.buffalo.edu/polityorg/lgbpm/&h=314&w=309&sz=44&hl=en&start=3&um=1&tbnid=WOleI1zoengjWM:&tbnh=117&tbnw=115&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dequality%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den

•“Penn’s Draft of the First Frame.” Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia. Frame of Government of Pennsylvania 28 May 2007.

•Murray, Bill. “13 Originals: Founding the American Colonies.” The TimePage. 20 August 2007. The TimePage. 28 September 2007. <http://www.timepage.org/spl/13colony.html