Early British Colonies

In the early 1600s, Europeans sailed across the Atlantic to explore what was then called the New World.  Their reasons for wanting to settle in present-day America varied, but many were seeking religious freedom and economic opportunity.  The Spanish were the first to explore the New World when Christopher Columbus sailed in 1492.  However, it was England that established the first colony, in Jamestown, Virginia in 1607.The American colonies can be divided into three groups based on their geographic location: New England, the middle colonies and the Southern colonies.  Each region had its own unique climate and social, political and economic characteristics.

The founders of the New England colonies had a mission that was entirely different from that of the Jamestown settlers.  Although they were in search of economic opportunity, their main goal was religious.  Fed up with the ceremonial Church of England, Pilgrims and Puritans sought to reshape society to match what they believed God wanted.

Religious strife in England reached a peak in the 1500s.  When Henry VIII broke with the Catholic Church of Rome and established his own church, religious life in England was upended.  The new church under the king’s leadership was known as the Church of England.  It was approved by the English Parliament, but not everyone was willing to accept it.  At first, bloody battles were waged between English Catholics and the followers of the new church, who were known as Anglicans.  The rule of Queen Elizabeth I brought an end to this bloodshed.  However, the battle waged on in the hearts of the English people.

The Pilgrims, called the separatists in England because of their desire to separate from the Anglican Church, were persecuted.  The Puritans, so named for their desire to purify the Church of England, experienced the same degree of harassment.  By the early 1600s, each group had decided that England was no place to put their controversial beliefs into practice.

To both groups, the New World seemed the perfect place to realize their ambitions.  Children could be raised without being infected by wrongheaded English religious ideas.  The chance to create a perfect society was there for the taking. By 1620, the seeds for a new society, quite different from the one already established at Jamestown, were planted deeply within the souls of a few brave pioneers.  Their quest would form the basis of New England society.

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.  People of English, Swedish, Dutch, German, Scots-Irish and French origin lived side by side.  Algonquian and Iroquois Indians also lived in the middle colonies.  So, too, did a sizable number of African slaves, at least during the early years.  Unlike solidly Puritan New England, the middle colonies were home to an assortment of religious groups, including Quakers, Mennonites, Lutherans, Dutch Reformed, Calvinists and Presbyterians.

The cities of New York and Philadelphia grew at a fantastic rate.  They gave rise to brilliant thinkers, such as Benjamin Franklin, who earned respect on both sides of the Atlantic.

In contrast to New England, where the rocky soil made large-scale agriculture difficult, the middle colonies were fertile.  Wheat and corn from local farms helped feed all the American colonies.

While New England’s development centered on trade, and the middle colonies fed America, the Southern colonies turned to cash crops.  The two most important were tobacco and cotton.

Virginia was the first successful Southern colony.  Immediately to its north was Maryland.  In both colonies, tobacco became the most important crop.  To the south lay the Carolinas, and in the Deep South was Georgia, the last of the original 13 colonies.

The South’s focus on growing cash crops led to the development of a slave labor force that was largely unknown north of Maryland.  Slaves were present in the North but were much more important to the South.  They were the backbone of the Southern economy.

Wealthy Southern plantation owners built elaborate mansions that recreated the great estates of the English nobility.  Many enjoyed a lifestyle they would never have been able to achieve in the old country.