SHORT RESPONSE
Chapter 4 (p.114-126)
Answer the following questions in at 3-4 sentences.
You will have 4 minutes.
How did rapid immigration and economic growth
trigger conflict in the Middle Colonies?
Answer
With the rapid increase of immigration and
economic growth, cultural conflicts as well as
economic conflicts ensued. Immigration led to
increasingly cultural diversity, which caused tensions
around language, tradition, religious beliefs, political
allegiance, and marriage choices. The economic
conflicts stemmed from a lack of land, contested
land titles, and class tension between landowners
and landless families.
Diversity in the Middle
Colonies
Friday, September 2, 2016
Economic Growth, Opportunity,
and Conflict
Tenancy in New York:!
To attract migrants to an area inhabited largely by wealthy
Dutch and English families, landowners granted long leases
and the rights to sell improvements (houses, barns) to
subsequent tenants!
Population grew slowly because migrants desired to own land!
New tools such as the cradle scythe (1750s) increased the
amount of grain produced but not enough to enable quick
profits and land ownership
Economic Growth, Opportunity,
and Conflict
Conflict in the Quaker Colonies:!
Early Quakers had settled in Pennsylvania and New Jersey,
building simple homes and getting by with little!
By the 1760s, wealthy landowners in eastern Pennsylvania
were using slaves and poor immigrants on their farms!
A new class of “agricultural capitalists” was forming out of
men who were landlords, speculators, storekeepers, and
large-scale farmers and whose presence marked the
growing divisions between the social classes in the region
Cultural Diversity
Religious and Ethnic Diversity:!
The city of Philadelphia had more than 12 religious denominations
present in 1748!
Migrants married within their ethnic groups (though Huguenots were
a major exception)!
Large population of wealthy Quakers helped to shape the culture of
Pennsylvania and western New Jersey!
Pacifists purchased land from Native Americans rather than seizing it!
Advocated the abolition of slavery
Cultural Diversity
The German Influx:!
More than 100,000 German migrants settled in the
Pennsylvania/western New Jersey region in the 17th and
18th centuries!
Settled in Lutheran and Reformed communities!
Discouraged from marrying outside of their ethnicity!
Advocated married women having the legal right to hold
property and write wills, as they did in Germany
Cultural Diversity
Scots-Irish Settlers:!
Largest group of migrants came from Ireland, numbering
about 115,000!
Some were Irish and Catholic, but most were Scots and
Presbyterians who had faced religious and economic
repression by the English!
Settled in Pennsylvania region for religious tolerance!
Retained cultural practices.
Religion and Politics
Religious Diversity:!
Orthodox church officials of several religions brought intolerance to the colonies!
In America, religious groups enforced acceptable behavior through communal
self-discipline!
Quaker marriage rules maintained that couples have land and livestock!
Wealthy Quakers encouraged marriage among their children, while the poor
remained single or married later in life!
As Quaker population declined by 1750s, religious groups seeking increased
political power (Lutherans and Baptists) had bitter conflicts raging among them
Short Answer
How did economic developments in the colonies influence the
formation of new cultural identities in this era?