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"Coming To America"

New England Colonies
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Mrs. Boyce's 2004-2005 Class Project Photos
New England Colonies
The Middle Colonies
The Southern Colonies
The Backcountry

New England Colonies:
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode Island

Farming
 
      Farming in the New England colonies was a challenge. Due to the cold, long, and harsh winters, the growing season was very short. The soil was also rocky, so farmers had to take all the rocks out of the ground before planting. Due to these shortcomings, the farmers in the New England colonies only farmed enough for their family, themselves, and thier farm animals.

Slavery In the New England Colonies
 

     Due to the lack of good farming areas, slaves were not needed as much as the other colonies because there was no labor for slaves to do. They were expensive to feed because of the lack of farmland. Most of the slavery in the New England colonies was in large cities, and most people were indentured servants.

Religion in the New England Colonies

     The Angelican Church and the Puritans were starting to lose their power in the New England area in the 1700's. Because of the large groups of diffrent back grounds coming from many different areasfrom many different areas, there were many new religions mixing together in the colonies. Due to the loss of power, the church had almost no say in politics.

 

 

jmstwn.jpg
Picture Courtesy: http://coe.west.asu.edu/students/vlarrison/colonies/process.htm

Making A Living

 
     New England was not a good place for farming. The farmers only farmed enough for themselves, so the people in New England had to find other ways to make money.  The main ways to make money in the 1700 New England colonies was to:
 
  • Build ships
  • Whaling ( catch whales for their oils, etc.)
  • Fish
  • Blacksmith

     Whaling was a very succesful way to make a living if you were able to work well together and catch  whales often. If you did catch a whale, you could get a very profitable item: whale oil. Whale oil was used to make commodities such as soap and candles.

     Building ships was also a good way to make money. The reason it was a good money maker for the New England colonies is because you needed ships if you were a sailor, fisherman, whaler, or a traveling merchant. These colonies also built ships for England themselves.

     Fishing was a very good way of making money in the New England colonies. Due to the lack of good farming soil, fishermen were able to get enough fish to sell and make a living. This made life easier for everybody, because if there was no food, nobody would be able to live in the colonies. 

     Blacksmithing was also a great way to make money. Blacksmithing includes making silverware, locks, and just about anything with iron or metal in the 1700's. The items blacksmiths made often had to do with houses and items to improve your life at home.

     There weren't always enough people for labor forces in the colonies, so many men had to work more than one job. Often, people would have to get together to build more houses, leaving the women and children to do the chores and cook