Colonial Ways of Life Colonial Ways of Life (Southern, NE, and (Southern, NE, and

Middle Colonies)Middle Colonies)

Ch. 3 sect. 1&2 notesCh. 3 sect. 1&2 notes

1) From the earliest days of settlement, the Southern Colonies developed an economy based on agriculture. The first cash crop of the South was tobacco.

2) The agricultural economy of the South led to the rise of plantations, which were large commercial estates where many laborers lived on the land and cultivated the crops for the landowner.

3) Tobacco was in high demand in Europe during the early to mid 1600s. This ensured a high price for all the Southern farmers who raised tobacco.

4) The geography of the Chesapeake Bay region was perfectly suited to tobacco farming. Numerous inlets and navigable rivers connected to the bay. Farmers who located their farms near the bay had an easy shipping outlet.

5) Many immigrants to the South hoped to become wealthy. However, the nature of the plantation system created a society with distinct social classes. Only a few were able to become wealthy landowners, who were often called the Southern gentry.

6) Most landowners in the colonial South were small backcountry farmers. They were sometimes referred to as yeomen to distinguish them from the gentry.

7) By the latter part of the 1600s the colonial South was a sharply divided society, with a small group of wealthy plantation owners at the top and many poor backcountry farmers, tenant farmers, and enslaved African Americans at the bottom.

8) The governor of Virginia in 1660 was Sir William Berkeley. He was a wealthy plantation owner. Berkeley assembled a majority of supporters in the House of Burgesses and then exempted himself and his councilors from taxation.

9) Governor Berkeley arranged for the House of Burgesses to restrict voting to landowners. These policies angered backcountry tenant farmers who lost their right to vote.

10) The backcountry farmers of Virginia wanted to extend VA’s land into the Piedmont, the region of rolling hills b/w the coastal plains and Appalachian Mtns. These lands were claimed by Native Americans. The plantation owners opposed extending lands into the Piedmont.

11) A plantation owner named Nathaniel Bacon, who owned a large tract of land on the frontier near the Piedmont, took up the cause of VA’s backcountry farmers. He organized a militia and attacked the Native Am’s in order to take their lands in the Piedmont.

12) Bacon eventually went to Jamestown with several hundred armed men and seized power, charging Governor Berkeley with corruption. This event became known as Bacon’s Rebellion, and convinced VA’s wealthy landowners to make land available to backcountry farmers.

13) The Royal African Company was granted a charter by King Charles II to engage in the slave trade. Slaves were obtained from Africa and brought to America to work on the South’s large plantations.

14) The slave code was a set of laws that regulated slavery and defined the relationship between enslaved Africans and free people.

15) The most important issue for the majority of colonists in the 1600s was their ability to acquire land. In the southern colonies this was difficult due to the dominance of large plantations.

16) Backcountry farmers in the colonies grew only enough crops to feed their families, which is called subsistence farming. Backcountry farmers made up a very large percentage of the population.

17) People from England who were willing to sell their labor for a certain number of years for a chance to come to America and acquire land agreed to become indentured servants.

18) The Grand Banks are a shallow region in the Atlantic Ocean with an environment favorable to plankton. They are located off the coast of New England and became the main source of New England’s fishing industry.

19) During the colonial era of American history selectmen were men selected annually to manage a town’s affairs.

20) A town meeting was where residents met to discuss local problems and issues. They became an important part of government during the colonial era. Town meetings became most prevalent in the New England colonies.

21) The three way trade New England merchants established with the Caribbean in order to acquire British goods was an example of triangular trade.

22) Colonists who became wealthy by risking their money buying land, equipment, and supplies and then selling them to new immigrants for a profit were entrepreneurs.