Teaching Point: Why was geography, culture, economics, religion, and politics important to the growth
of the Middle Colonies?
Middle Colonies
Category
Using details from the document as well as your own
explanation prove that geography, culture, economics,
religion, and politics were reasons why people moved
to the Middle Colonies.
Geography
New York has great ports for ships to sail back and
forth to Europe trading goods. “This area had good
coastal harbors for shipping.”
(New York, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania,
Delaware)
New York
Economics
Documents:
Geography
Economics
Religion
Politics
Geography/Economics
The geography in the middle colonies had quite a few rivers. The most known ones being the
Hudson and the Delaware rivers which ran right through the middle of them. These rivers make
the soil very rich and great for planting. The winters here are not harsh like in New England, they
are perfect weather for farming. Pennsylvania has a very long growing season and much very
fertile soil. These combined made Pennsylvania one of the richest American Colonies of all.The
weather did get cold, but not for very long and when it did it wasn't as harsh. This mad the
middle colonies very desirable to settle in. The Middle colonies spanned the Mid-Atlantic region
of America and were temperate in climate with warm summers and cold winters. Geography
ranged from coastal plains along the coastline, piedmont (rolling hills) in the middle, and
mountains farther inland. This area had good coastal harbors for shipping. Climate and land were
ideal for agriculture. These colonies were known as the “breadbasket” because of the large
amounts of barley, wheat, oats, and rye that were grown here.
The partly unglaciated Middle Colonies enjoyed fertile soil vastly different from the nearby New
England colonies, which contained more rocky soil. Because of the large grain exports resulting
from this soil, the colonies came to be known as the Bread Basket Colonies. Pennsylvania
became a leading exporter of wheat, corn, rye, hemp, and flax, making it the leading food
producer in the colonies (and later states) between the years of 1725 and 1840 . Broad navigable
rivers of relaxed current like the Susquehanna River, the Delaware River, and the Hudson River
attracted diverse business. Fur trappers moved along these rivers, and there was enough flow to
enable milling with water wheel power.
Abundant forests attracted both the lumbering and shipbuilding industries to the Middle
Colonies. These industries, along with the presence of deep river estuaries, led to the appearance
of important ports like New York and Philadelphia. While the Middle Colonies had far more
industry than the Southern Colonies, they still did not rival the industry of New England. In
Pennsylvania, sawmills and gristmills were abundant, and the textile industry grew quickly. The
colony also became a major producer of pig iron and its products, including the Pennsylvania
long rifle and the Conestoga wagon. Other important industries included printing, publishing,
and the related industry of papermaking.
The Middle Colonies enjoyed a successful and diverse economy. Largely agricultural, farms in this region
grew numerous kinds of crops, most notably grains and oats. Logging, shipbuilding, textiles production,
and papermaking were also important in the Middle Colonies. Big cities such as Philadelphia and New
York were major shipping hubs, and craftsmen such as blacksmiths, silversmiths, cobblers, wheelwrights,
wigmakers, milliners, and others contributed to the economies of such cities.
Religion
Religion in the Middle Colonies was varied as no single religion seemed to dominate the
entire region. Religious tolerance attracted immigrants from a wide-range of foreign
countries who practiced many different religions. Quakers, Catholics, Jews, Lutherans and
Presbyterians were among those religious groups that had significant numbers in the
middle colonies.
New York
The Dutch were the first Europeans to claim and settle lands between the Connecticut and Delaware
Rivers, a region they named New Netherland. Yet half of the inhabitants attracted to the new colony
were not Dutch at all but people set adrift by post-Reformation conflicts—including Walloons,
Scandinavians, Germans, French, and a few English. In 1664 New Netherland was conquered by
England. The colony, renamed New York, only slowly acquired an English character, one citizen
complaining in 1686, “Our chiefest unhappyness here is too great a mixture of Nations, & English the
least part.”
Religious patterns in New York followed the ethnic configuration of the colony, with geography often
facilitating the colonists’ impulse to form separate enclaves. Wherever the Dutch settled, as in the
Hudson River Valley, the Dutch Reformed Church predominated. An example is the west-bank town of
Kingston, where the Reformed congregation met in a large stone church while the few Anglicans made
do with a “mean log-house.” German Reformed and Lutherans spread out along the Mohawk River
west of Albany. Suffolk County at the eastern end of Long Island, settled by migrating New
Englanders, was the stronghold of Congregationalists. French Huguenots, fleeing religious persecution
after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, established their own town at New Rochelle in
Westchester County, for decades keeping local records in French.
New York City’s religious scene was quite another matter. From its earliest years a port of entry for
assorted newcomers, the city increasingly came to reflect its polyglot heritage. A woodblock of 1771
shows a skyline etched by church spires—eighteen houses of worship to serve a population of at most
22,000.
New Jersey
New Jersey, if slower to develop, also embraced a variety of religious groups. By 1701 the colony had
forty-five distinct congregations; unable to afford churches, most met in houses or barns. And because
clergymen were few, lay leaders frequently conducted services, with baptism and communion being
offered only by the occasional itinerant minister. All denominations in New Jersey expanded rapidly
over the eighteenth century. A church survey in 1765 lists the active congregations as follows:
Presbyterian
55
Church of England
21 Baptist 19
Dutch Reformed
21
Dutch Lutheran
4
Seventh Day Baptist
2
German Reformed
2
and a few scattered others.
Quaker
39
Pennsylvania
William Penn, an English gentleman and member of the Society of Friends, founded the colony of
Pennsylvania in the early 1680s as a haven for fellow Quakers. But Penn’s conviction that in religion
“force makes hypocrites; ’tis persuasion only that makes converts” led him to institute a policy of
religious tolerance that drew other persecuted sects to Pennsylvania. Such groups as the Amish,
Dunkers, Schwenkfelders, Mennonites, and later the Moravians made small if picturesque additions to
the heterodox colony. The most influential religious bodies beside the Quakers were the large
congregations of German Reformed, Lutherans, Anglicans, and Presbyterians. Pennsylvania’s religious
spectrum also included small communities of Roman Catholics and Jews.
Delaware
Delaware, first settled by Scandinavian Lutherans and Dutch Reformed, with later infusions of English
Quakers and Welsh Baptists, had perhaps the most diverse beginnings of any middle colony. Yet over
the eighteenth century Delaware became increasingly British, with the Church of England showing the
most striking gains before the Revolution.
Politics (Government)
New York
This colony was founded by the Dutch and called New Netherland. Eventually, the English acquired it,
and the colony was given by King Charles I to his brother, the Duke of York. The Duke of York kept a
large portion of this land, and renamed it New York. New York was divided into sections on which
colonists could start farms. The Duke of York was the proprietor of the colony, but resided in England.
Because of this, he chose governors. These governors chose a council to help with decisions. The
proprietor allowed colonists to elect representatives to an assembly. These representatives did
contribute to lawmaking, but were not very powerful.
New Jersey
The Duke of York gave some of his land to his friends, George Carteret and John Berkeley. This land was
split into two portions, East and West Jersey. Eventually, these parts were united into New Jersey. Since
George Carteret and John Berkeley lived in England, they needed governors to control their land. As it
was the case with New York, governors picked a council to make decisions. The proprietors still allowed
colonists to elect delegates to represent them. Like New York, the delegates did not have very much
power.
Pennsylvania
William Penn was a Quaker. Quakers were another
group from England who were persecuted for their
beliefs. The King of England owed Penn’s family a lot
of money, but instead, he gave Penn land in the
New World. This colony was Pennsylvania. People
from many different countries moved to the
Pennsylvania, because of the tolerance found there.
Pennsylvania citizens were allowed to vote for
representatives to an assembly. However these
representatives had more power; they could
approve of or reject laws. The Native Americans were treated fairly. Penn made treaties with them
when buying their land.
Delaware
The Duke of York also gave Penn some more land. At first this land was part of Pennsylvania, but after a
while, it became the colony of Delaware