Ethnically, the Middle Colonies were more diverse than elsewhere in
British North America and tended to be more socially tolerant.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE [ edit ]
Identify the cultural groups that made up of the Middle Colonies.
KEY POINTS [ edit ]
European colonists included Germans, Scotch­Irish, FrenchHuguenots, Welsh, Dutch, Swedes,
Swiss, and Scots Highlanders.
One­third of Pennsylvania colonists were German.
The Middle Colonies had relatively few slaves.
Native American tribes in the area included the Mohawk, Mahican, Algonquian Lenape,
Wecquaesgeek, Hackensack, Raritan, Canarsee, Munsee, and Minquas, also known as the
Susquehannocks.
In New York's Hudson Valley, the Dutch established apoltroon system which resembled a feudal
aristocracy with vast land grants.
TERMS [ edit ]
Hugenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and
17th centuries. French Protestants were called Huguenots by the 1560s. By the end of the 17th
century, roughly 200,000 Huguenots had fled France during a series of religious persecutions.
They relocated to Protestant nations and also the English 13 colonies of North America.
poltroon
In Dutch colonial New York, vast grants of land were given to investors who in turn rented the
lands to tenant farmers; the large landholders were called poltroons.
Pennsylvania Dutch
The Amish; those people of German origin who settled in the Pennsylvania area prior to 1800.
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Diverse Population
The Middle Colonies tended to mix aspects of the New England and Southern Colonies.
Families generally held and worked plots of between 40 and 160 acres. In New York's
Hudson Valley, however, the Dutch established the patroon system, which resembled a
feudal aristocracy governing vast land grants. The title of patroon was given to some of the
Dutch colony's invested members. Patroons operated very large landed estates and rented
land to tenant farmers. Indentured servitude was especially common in Pennsylvania, New
Jersey, and New York in the 18th century, though few such servants worked in agriculture.
Ethnically, the Middle Colonies were more diverse than the other British colonial regions in
North America and tended to be more socially tolerant. For example, in New York, any
foreigner professing Christianity was awarded citizenship, which made for a diverse
populace. As a consequence, earlysettlements of Germans from many different sects
concentrated in the Middle Colonies region.
Varied Origins of Middle Colonials
German immigration greatly increased around 1717, and many immigrants began coming
from the Rhineland. They were erroneously labeled the Pennsylvania Dutch and comprised
one­third of the population by the time of theAmerican Revolution. The industry
and farming skills they brought with them helped solidify the Middle Colonies' prosperity.
They were noted for tight­knit religious communities, which were often Lutheran.
The Scots­Irish also began immigrating to the Middle Colonies in waves after 1717. They
primarily pushed farther into the western frontier of the colonies, where they repeatedly
confronted Indians. Other groups included the Welsh, Dutch, Swedes, Swiss, Scots
Highlanders, andHugenot. By 1780, in New York, about 17% of the population were
descendants of Dutch settlers. The rest were mostly English with a wide mixture of other
Europeans and about 6% Blacks. New Jersey and Delaware had a majority of British with 7­
11% German­descended colonists, about a 6% black population, and a small contingent of
Swedish descendants..
Native American tribes in the area included the Mohawk, Mahican, Algonquian Lenape,
Wecquaesgeek, Hackensack, Raritan, Canarsee, and Tappan. Munsee inhabited the
Highlands, Hudson Valley, and northern New Jersey, while Minquas, also known as the
Susquehannocks, lived west of the Zuyd Rivier along and beyond the Susquehanna River.
Slavery in the Middle Colonies
The Dutch West India Company introduced slavery to New Netherland in 1625. When the
colony fell to the British, the Company freed all of its slaves, establishing early on a nucleus
of free black in the Northeast. In an early attempt to encourage European settlement, the
New Jersey legislatureenacted a prohibitive tariff against imported slaves, and in favor of
European indentured servitude. Despite Quakeropposition to slavery, by 1730 colonists had
brought about 4,000 slaves into Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania GradualAbolition Act of
1780 was the first attempt to abolish slavery in the colonies and what would become the
United States.
Population, 1700
Estimated Population in the Colonies, 1700