 The 13 colonies of what became the United States of America can be grouped into three geographic regions: the New England colonies, the Middle colonies, and the Southern colonies. The Middle colonies were made up of New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. They were located south of the New England colonies of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. The Middle colonies were situated north of the Southern colonies of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. The Dutch and the Swedes established the first permanent European settlements throughout much of the Middle colonies. The Dutch settled in what is now New York in 1624 and in New Jersey in 1660. The Swedes established settlements in the areas now known as Pennsylvania and Delaware in 1638. They remained in control until the Dutch took over in the 1650s. In 1664 the English seized all the Dutch territory in America. Parts of New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania became safe havens for the Quakers. Many English, Dutch, Germans, Scots, Scotch-Irish, and Swedes settled in the Middle colonies. They practiced a variety of religions, all of which were freely accepted by others. Quakers, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Roman Catholics, and Anglicans were among the many religious groups found in the Middle colonies. The Middle colonies had a mild climate with warm summers. The land was better for farming than in the New England colonies. The region produced enough wheat, corn (maize), and other grains to feed the colonies, with plenty left to export to England. The colonists also built mills to grind the grain into flour. In addition to fertile farmland, the natural resources of the Middle colonies included iron ore and wood from the forests. Factories produced iron goods, paper, and textiles. Like the grain, these products were used in the colonies as well as shipped to England. Shipbuilding was important as well. The colonists built Philadelphia and New York City into centers of trade. The Middle colonies had a variety of social and political structures. For example, New York had an extensive system of large estates where tenant farmers rented land from the landowner. The manor lords oversaw the tenants, often administering justice and collecting taxes for the manor. This practice ensured that the large landowning families had a great amount of economic and political power. By contrast, Pennsylvania was the most democratic colony. In 1681 Charles II of England gave William Penn the region in payment of a debt owed to Penn’s father. Penn intended the colony to be a refuge for Quakers and other religious minorities. He established a government in which citizens elected representatives to an assembly that made the laws. As a result, Pennsylvania became a diverse and dynamic colony. (See also Middle Atlantic region.) 4. The Middle ColoniesWilliam Penn paid 1200 pounds for the land he purchased from the Delaware Indians. Americans have often prided themselves on their rich diversity. Nowhere was that diversity more evident in pre-Revolutionary America than in the middle colonies of Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware. European ethnic groups as manifold as English, Swedes, Dutch, Germans, Scots-Irish and French lived in closer proximity than in any location on continental Europe. The middle colonies contained Native American tribes of Algonkian and Iroquois language groups as well as a sizable percentage of African slaves during the early years. Unlike solidly Puritan New England, the middle colonies presented an assortment of religions. The presence of Quakers, Mennonites, Lutherans, Dutch Calvinists, and Presbyterians made the dominance of one faith next to impossible. The middle colonies included Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware. Advantaged by their central location, the middle colonies served as important distribution centers in the English mercantile system. New York and Philadelphia grew at a fantastic rate. These cities gave rise to brilliant thinkers such as Benjamin Franklin, who earned respect on both sides of the Atlantic. In many ways, the middle colonies served as the crossroads of ideas during the colonial period.
In contrast to the South where the cash crop plantation system dominated, and New England whose rocky soil made large-scale agriculture difficult, The middle colonies were fertile. Land was generally acquired more easily than in New England or in the plantation South. Wheat and corn from local farms would feed the American colonies through their colonial infancy and revolutionary adolescence. The middle colonies represented exactly that — a middle ground between its neighbors to the North and South. Elements of both New England towns and sprawling country estates could be found. Religious dissidents from all regions could settle in the relatively tolerant middle zone. Aspects of New England shipbuilding and lumbering and the large farms of the South could be found. Aptly named, they provided a perfect nucleus for English America. |
