DEVELOPMENT OF THE MIDDLE COLONIES

FOUNDINGPeople, Reasons, & Colonies

• DUTCH – claimed colony of New Netherland; main settlement New Amsterdam on Manhattan Is.; in 1664, Peter Stuyvesant surrendered the colony to the English

• Patroon – wealthy landowners who brought 50 workers to settle

FOUNDINGPeople, Reasons, & Colonies (continued)

• DUKE OF YORK – brother of King Charles II; owner of New York colony; NYC became a large & diverse city

• LORD JOHN BERKELEY & SIR GEORGE CARTERET – friends of Duke of York; proprietors of the New Jersey colony; became a place of ethnic & religious diversity

FOUNDINGPeople, Reasons, & Colonies (continued)

• WILLIAM PENN & QUAKERS – in 1682 Penn received a large land grant; wanted to make a safe place for Quakers in America; designed Philadelphia; helped settle colony, which became very diverse due to tolerance; had own assembly

FOUNDINGPeople, Reasons, & Colonies (continued)

• DELAWARE – in 1703, three lower counties separated from PA, formed their own legislature, and became the colony of Delaware

GOVERNMENTDOCUMENTS, IDEAS, & FIRSTS

• PROPRIETARY COLONY – colony in which the owner (proprietor) owns all the land & controls the government (DE, MD, PA)

• PROMISES TO COLONISTS – cheap land; freedom of religion; trial by jury; representative assembly

SOCIETYFamily, Community, Religion

• QUAKER IDEALS – believed everyone had an “inner light” that guided them to salvation; everyone is equal; tolerant of others; pacifists

• CULTURAL DIVERSITY – a variety of different cultures; Middle Colonies were most diverse of all because of tolerant ideals

ECONOMICSFarming & Other Ways To Make A Living

• CASH CROP FARMING – growing food for a profit

• MAJOR CROPS – wheat, oats, corn• LARGEST CITIES IN COLONIES –

Philadelphia & New York City (b/c of trade)

• OTHER IMPORTANT INDUSTRIES – lumber, mining, trading, fishing, manufacturing

• NICKNAME – “Breadbasket” colonies