While each of the thirteen colonies has an important separate history, parallel conditions often existed in several colonies and sometimes in all the colonies. The colonies were divided into three or four well defined sections;  The British settlements in North America extended from a region of long winters and short summers to a region of short winters and long summers.  They comprehended within their boundaries extensive areas of mountains and high hills and other areas of broad valleys and fertile plains.  There were also differences in the type of settlers who came to possess the various parts of English America.  The plantation area, which included Maryland and Virginia and the colonies to the south of them, came early to be recognized as a section apart.  The colonies of New England, also had an identity of characteristics that drew them together, and at the same time separated them from the rest.  The Middle colonies—New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware—had much in common with the sections northeast and south of them, but were yet different.  Finally to the west of the more thickly settled area of the coast, with boundaries less clearly defined than the other sections, lay the frontier, a region in which new settlements were constantly being made, and in which the conditions of life were apt not to vary greatly even from north to south.

The Plantation Area:

The type of civilization which developed in the plantation area was due in considerable part to the existence there of a wide coastal plain, indented frequently with spacious bays, unnumbered harbors, and wide mouthed navigable rivers.  Near the banks of the rivers a rich alluvial soil made for successful agriculture, although a little distance in from the waterline the soil was not so good

Tobacco became the staple crop in most of the tidewater area, although in the Carolinas rice and indigo were also important products.  In exchange for these products the plantation owner could obtain from Europe the articles he desired to make life agreeable in the New World. 

Tobacco culture led naturally to the development of large plantations.  With no thought of rotation of crops, it was soon discovered that fertile soil was soon exhausted.  More and more acres must therefore be acquired if the yield was to be kept up. The British rule of primogeniture in the inheritance of land, which was applied in Virginia and elsewhere, did much toward keeping together large estates.

The successful southern planter usually had frontage on some winding stream such as the James, York, Rappahannock, or Potomac. The headquarters of each plantation made a little village.  The planter and his family lived in a large home, near which were clustered the workhouses in which the cooking, weaving, carpenter work, blacksmithing, and other activities of the plantation were carried on.  Still other houses served as dwellings for servants and slaves, or shelter to livestock.  Each plantation was usually a self sufficing economic unit. 

In the eighteenth century slavery came to play a more important role in the life of the southern plantation.  Adequate numbers of indentured servants were hard to get and with an inviting wilderness to the West were harder still to keep, whereas Negro slaves were fairly cheap.

The plantation system left little chance for the development of towns and cities in the South.  The life of the South was decidedly rural rather than urban in character.

When it came to the establishment of local political units in the South, the example offered by rural England was followed.  In the plantation area the parish was the smallest political division.  Its boundaries included the residences of all the communicants of the parish church. A county usually consisted of several parishes.  In each county form eight to twenty justices of the peace were appointed by the governor from among the planters. And these justices held county court, not less than four times a year. Orders of the county court were executed by the sheriff and the county lieutenant.

Once every two years the voters of the county assembled to choose members of the colonial legislature.  Property tests for voting were universal, but they did not exclude the small farmer from the suffrage

In religion as in government the plantation area of the South was not unlike rural England, where the strength of the Church of England was always great. 

Schools were a rarity in the South, and only the children of planters were adequately educated. 

The great planters of the south played the principal role in southern history.  They managed the affairs o f their great estates with considerable ability, and they used the talents in political duties.  They were averse to governmental interference in their private affairs, and were quick to resent injustices, especially when the source of trouble lay as far away as England. 

New England

The physiographic conditions had much to do with the shaping the course of development in New England.  The early settlers of New England found the topography exceedingly irregular, with high hills or mountains, rising in clusters rather than ranges, not far from the sea.    The soil, where it could be found, was good.  Rapidly flowing rivers plunged at frequent intervals into the sea and waterfalls furnished the power that one day would turn factory wheels.  Natural harbors dotted the coast line, while heavy forests were everywhere available to furnish naval stores, masts, spars, and timbers for the builders of ships.

The inhabitants of this area were  fairly homogeneous group.  Probably ninety five percent of the emigrants to colonial New England had come from England.  Most of these had been artisans or farmers from peasant villages. In the formative period New Englanders showed little disposition to settle as individuals upon separate farms.   Long standing customs kept the settlers together in villages.  The New England town thus came to be the social and economic unit around which all New England life tended to center.

The town was also a self governing political unit. All matters of importance related to local government were first brought before the town meeting to which all the church members were entitled to come. The levying of taxes, the distribution of land, the establishment of schools, the passing of local ordinances of government, all were brought before this meeting. The town was also the unit form which members were chosen to the lower house of the colonial legislature, and for this purpose ordinarily once each year the voters convened.

Agriculture was a necessity in New England.  Fields were cleared of timber and of stones, and crops of many sorts were planted.  Individual land holdings were early introduced and generally each farmer tilled his own land.  Labor was scarce and small farms were the norm. 

Agriculture was supplemented by fishing and commerce.  The new England coasts were themselves rich in fish. 

Commerce diversified rapidly.  Foodstuffs were carried to the West Indies, not only from New England, but also from ports farther down the coast where the Yankee traders stopped to complete their cargoes.  In return for these commodities molasses, sugar, ginger, and other products were obtained.  From this trade came a good share of the money that found its way into the colonies.  In 1697, the slave trade which had for some time before been monopolized by a few English trading companies, was opened to all British subjects, and an interesting “triangular trade” developed.  Molasses, brought from the West Indies to New England, was manufactured into rum, which was shipped to the African coast, where it was used in the purchase of slaves.  The slaves were then brought to the West Indies and there exchanged for more molasses, which was then brought back to New England to make more rum, to acquire more slaves to exchange for more molasses, and so on. 

Shipbuilding went hand in hand with fishing and commerce.  Skillful craftsmen early contrived to built fleet and sturdy ships which could not only withstand the battering of the elements, but outrun revenue vessels and made an art of smuggling.

Religion played a far greater part in the life of New England than in the life of South.  The theology of Calvin made a profound impression upon the New England character.  The cardinal doctrine of Calvinism was predestination. 

This hard doctrine, morbidly dwelt upon by the Puritans, was driven deeply into the marrow of the thoughtful New Englander. Village life with its intimate associations gave ample opportune for observation to those who wished to scrutinize closely the details of their neighbors’ lives.  The injunction to be one’s brother’s keeper was cheerfully obeyed, and buttresses against temptation were erected in the shape of “blue laws” that regulated closely the behavior of the individual.

Toward the end of the seventeenth century wonders of the invisible world swept the little settlement of Salem, Massachusetts. During the spring of 1692 some Salem children, insisting that certain individuals whom they named had bewitched them, began to act queerly, even having or perhaps feigning fits. Arrests multiplied, convictions were obtained, and by the end of September no less than nineteen persons had been hanged, and many other imprisoned.

The New England conscience that was born of the austere doctrines and practices of the Puritans, endured long after some of the Calvinistic tenets that produced it had lost their binding force..

Education was taken much more seriously in New England than elsewhere in the colonies.  This was due in part to the religious interest which made it seem worth while for every individual to be able to search the Scriptures on his own, and in part to the existence of towns where schools and the means of education could be easily maintained

Middle Colonies:

The Middle Colonies rested upon a geographic foundation that combined the chief characteristics of New England and the South.  Here there was a coastal plain and a piedmont, but the plain was narrower than in the plantation area, and the piedmont was wider.  In New York, the mountains were in clusters, but toward the south, in Pennsylvania, the long parallel ridges of the Alleghenies began to rise.  The rivers of the central area were fewer in number, but they were longer and furnished more convenient access into the interior.  The three rivers, the Hudson, the Delaware, and the Susquehanna, furnished the chief key to the development of the region. 

Dutch Influence:

The Dutch influence left a lasting impression upon the people of the Hudson Valley. 

Dutch governmental practices left some traces upon the English colony of New York.  During the period of Dutch control very little was permitted the colonists by way of a voice in their government.  Except for a limited amount of local self-government permitted in the Dutch villages, the English conquest found the colony wholly lacking in democratic political institutions. 
 

Religion in New York

With respect to religion some Dutch survivals may also be noted.  The Dutch generally adhered to the Dutch Reformed Church, which was as definitely Calvinistic in its teachings as the Puritans of New England . 
Quakers on the Delaware

The Delaware Valley became the seat of a civilization quite as distinctive as was to be found along the Hudson, for it was here that the Quaker influence was preponderant.  Democracy was inherent in the Quaker teaching.  Quakers believed that God spoke to men directly by a voice that reached their hearts, and this “inner light” was denied to no man or woman.  Slavery the Quakers deeply deplored.

Religious toleration

Faith in such democratic principles as these marked the development of the Quaker colonies.  Their tolerance of many varieties of religion, their unwillingness to propagandize in the Puritan fashion, and their generous land terms attracted a large number of settlers.  The valley of he Susquehanna as much as the Delaware was to profit from these inviting practices.  To the Susquehanna came a mixed population, including many colonials from other regions, but in far greater numbers emigrants from Europe, in particular the so called “Pennsylvania Dutch” and the Scotch Irish.

 The Pennsylvania Dutch:

The Pennsylvania Dutch were not Dutch at all, but Germans who had left their homes for many good reasons. For emigrants from this region the Quaker doctrine of pacifism had a peculiar charm.  Economic pressure furnished another motive.  Religious persecution also played a part. Particularly oppressed were the Mennonites, who objected to military service.  Penn’s agents advertised persistently the advantages of America among the distressed Germans, and in 1709 the British Parliament passed a law for the naturalization of foreign Protestants.

German Settlements:

Some German immigration reached the colonies late in the 17th century—Germantown, Pennsylvania was founded in 1683—but the great bulk of the German came toward the middle of he 18th century. They came in such numbers that the provincials began to be alarmed, and the Pennsylvania legislature even passed laws restriction immigration.  But these laws were invariable vetoed by the governors, and the Germans continued to come. Living together as they did, they retained their own language, established their own schools, printing presses, and newspapers, and continued for many years to be a people apart.

The Scotch Irish

The Pennsylvania Germans were not the only immigrants from Europe to enter the Susquehanna Valley, for they were soon followed by the Scotch-Irish, with somewhat similar reasons for migration.  These Scotch-Irish newcomers were from the north of Ireland, but they were really not Irish at all.  Most of their ancestors had been lowland Scots, some of whom had been colonized on lands taken from the Irish during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and King James I, and other on the Irish lands confiscated by Oliver Cromwell during the Protectorate.  The Scotch-Irish troubles in Ireland were numerous. 

The Scotch-Irish Settlements:

Some Scotch Irish colonists reached America before 1700, but the great majority did not arrive until toward the middle of he next century.  Some of them settled in New England, New York, and New Jersey, but most settled into the back country of Pennsylvania by was of the Susquehanna and its tributaries.  Coming a little later than the Germans, the Scotch Irish went a little farther into the interior to find lands. 
Other Nationalities:

Diversity of population elements was an important characteristic of the Middle Colonies.  In addition to the Hudson Valley Dutch, the English Quakers, the Pennsylvania Germans, and the Scotch Irish, there were here French Huguenots, Irish form the south of Ireland, Scots for Scotland, a few Welshmen, and a few Jews. The Middle Colonies were a hodgepodge of races and creeds, and a hotbed for factional polities.  It is no surprise that his region gave rise to a group of astute politicians, quick to compromise and ready to shift their ground as each new emergency appeared.

Local Government

Local government in the Middle Colonies borrowed a little from the New England colonies and a little from the Southern colonies.  Counties appeared after the fashion of the plantation area, but they were usually subdivided into townships that were reminiscent of New England. The combinations of town and county government in the Middle Colonies proved to be of greater than local significance, for it was this example that most of the States of the West were to follow later on.

Education

Public schools existed in the Middle Colonies from an early date, but the chief responsibility for education was left with the various religious denominations. 

The Bread Colonies:

Farming furnished occupation to most of the inhabitants of the Middle Colonies, where the production and exportation of foodstuffs gave rise to the name of “bread colonies.” 

Manufacturing:

Manufacturing sprang up, especially in Pennsylvania and New Jersey after the coming of the Germans, among whom there were many skilled workmen.

Commerce:

The Middle Colonies were not far behind New England as far as commerce was concerned.  Grain, flour, and other provisions were exported in great numbers mostly to the West Indies. Fur trade and shipbuilding were also important.

The frontier.

Interior from the seacoast lay the colonial West.  Its limits were shifting; indeed at some time every settled area in America had been frontier.  But by the end of the colonial period the back country, as the western settlements were then called, could be marked off from the rest.  In the South the piedmont and mountain valleys, in the Middle Colonies the upper reaches of the Susquehanna, the Delaware and Mohawks.  In New England much of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine belonged to the frontier.  Fur traders and cattle growers were attracted to the frontier.

Why People went West:

Colonial families were large, exhaustion of he eastern lands by poor methods of farming, indentured servants, dissenters, immigrants from the Old World, and of course the main reason, the call of cheap western lands had an inviting sound. 

The conditions of life along the frontier were hard.  Practically all the lands were heavily timbered.  Luxuries were unknown. Indians were always present and seldom peaceful. Pioneer life was lonely, and the opportunities for such privileges as churches and schools were limited.

Differences from Coast society.

The society which was established in the back country differed from that to be found in the older and more settled areas along the coast.  It was extremely cosmopolitan in character.  English emigrants from the colonial East met Pennsylvania Germans, Scotch Irish and a variety of other foreigners, and not merely met them, but mingled freely with them.  The frontier thus became the great melting pot out of which a new and distinctively American race was to come. 

Frontier democracy

The genuine equality of conditions that existed among the frontiersmen bred a vigorous spirit of democracy.  One man could not by the very nature of pioneer life be particularly above his neighbors..

Individualism

This emphasis upon democracy in the West was paralleled by n equally marked emphasis upon individual freedom.  Each pioneer was practically a law unto himself, and he came to set high store by the privilege which the wilderness gave him of managing his own affairs in any way he chose.  The interference by government in anything was apt to be met by wrathful opposition. 

Antagonism West and East:

The contrasts between the people of the back country and the people of the coast led inevitably to some antagonisms.  Men of the East still valued class distinctions and were careful to safeguard the rights of property.  Men of the West had foresworn aristocracy, and to them the rights of the debtor were no less a matter of concern than the rights of the creditor. 

Everyday life in the Colonies:

Transportation was difficult.  The colonies were at least six weeks from Europe.  The coast town communicated with one another most easily by sea.  Roads existed between the principal cities, but elsewhere they were rare. 

Colonial Houses

The houses had progressed from the crude thatch roofed used by the earliest settlers, to roomy dwellings usually of Georgian design, except for the frontier where log homes were universal.  Even within the most sumptuous of the houses there were few conveniences. 

Intellectual interests were for the most part confined to the upper classes. Newspapers had come into vogue during the eighteenth century.  Books were far from numerous.   Libraries of semi-public nature also existed. The Bible was everywhere read with much diligence.