Unit 4: Colonial Life
Lesson 7: The Colonial Economy
Today you’re going to explore the economics of the colonies.
1
5-U2.1.1: Describe significant developments in the
southern colonies, including development of one-crop
economies.
5-U2.3.4.: Describe the development of the emerging
labor force in the colonies, including cash crop farming,
slavery, indentured servants.
5-U2.1.2: Describe significant developments in the New
England colonies, such as agricultural and nonagricultural.
5-U2.1.3: Describe significant developments in the
Middle Colonies, like the breadbasket economy.
2
3
How did the natural resources of the
three colonial regions differ?
4
http://www.history.org/kids/visitUs/colonialPeople/apprentice.cfm
Http://www.history.org/Almanack/life/trades/tradehdr.cfm
5
Raw Materials
The
Colonies
Britain
Manufactured Goods
Navigation Acts
6
Every society has RESOURCES.
NATURAL
RESOURCES
HUMAN
RESOURCES
CAPITAL
RESOURCES
which are used to produce
GOODS and
SERVICES
7
Economic
Activity
Natural
Resources
Human
Resources
Capital
Resources
Fishing in New
England
Wheat Farming
in the Middle
Colonies
Tobacco
Growing on a
Plantation in
Virginia
8
Economic
Activity
Fishing in New
England
Wheat Farming
in the Middle
Colonies
Natural
Resources
Capital
Resources
•fish
•fisherman
•boats
•water
•shipbuilders
•nets
•bait
•barrel makers
•barrels
•good soil
•farmers
•water
•millers
•seeds
•blacksmith
•good soil
Tobacco
Growing on a
Plantation in
Virginia
Human
Resources
•water
•seeds
•lots of land
•warm climate
•plows
•wagons
•sacks
•farm tools
•enslaved people
•drying barns
•plantation owners
•wagons
•indentured
servants
•farm tools
•tobacco cutters
9
LIMITED
RESOURCES
UNLIMITED
WANTS
SCARCITY
SPECIALIZATION
10
Examples of
Specialization
Fishing in New England
Wheat Farming in the
Middle Colonies
Tobacco Growing on a
Plantation in Virginia
11
LIMITED
RESOURCES
UNLIMITED
WANTS
SCARCITY
SPECIALIZATION
TRADE
12
Mystery Source
Just Imported from LONDON
And to be sold by
JOHN GREENHOW, at his Store near the Church in
Williamsburg
for ready money only
13
white calico cloth
linens
blue cotton
handkerchiefs, blue
handkerchiefs, red
blankets of all sorts and sizes
wool cloaks
ready made shirts
fine men’s stockings, blue
fashionable men’s and boy’s hats
low priced hats
fine night caps
feathers for ladies hats
blue feathers
latest fashion aprons, plain
steel scissors
laces of all Kinds
shirt and waist coat buttons
a fancy assortment of paper boxes
baskets
smoothing irons
fine needles and pins
needle cases
silver thimbles
sugar, refined
cinnamon, cloves, and nutmegs
brown sugar candy
white sugar candy
fine chocolate
licorice
horn combs
all sorts of wedding fans
candlesticks
brass desk furniture
candles
toys of various sorts
whistles for children
a variety of children's books
various other books and stationary
slates and pencils
paper of all sorts and sizes
playing cards
pencils
sealing wax
brooms
most sorts of nails
files of all sorts and sizes
chisels
wire
pewter plates and dishes
mugs
iron kettles
polishing powders
crates of earthenware
large, noble and rich Chinese bowls
coffee
oats
coarse salt in bags
sponges
glass bottles
bottle corks
soap
tools of almost every occupation
garden tools
window glass of all sizes
looking glasses of all sizes
14
Colonial Exports
New England Colonies
New Hampshire
Cattle, lumber, fish, and fur
Rhode Island
Cattle, corn, lumber, and ships
Massachusetts
Fish, whale products, fur, timber products,
metals and metal products, raw wool, and ships
Connecticut
Flour, dried meat, fish, rum
15
Colonial Exports
Middle Colonies
New York
Fur, timber, foodstuff, cattle, horses, beer, fine
flour, flax, and iron bars
New Jersey
Cattle, flax, Indian com, wheat, and flour
Pennsylvania
Foodstuff, wheat, corn, apples, dairy cattle,
glass, wine, beer, rope, and bricks
Delaware
Furs, tobacco, meat, grain, flour, bread, barrel
staves, lumber, horses, cloth, and iron
16
Colonial Exports
Southern Colonies
Maryland
Flax, corn, tobacco, fruit, vegetables, fish, iron, lumber, clay,
bricks, beaver, and ships
Virginia
Wheat, flax, tobacco, corn, and iron
North Carolina
Tobacco, wheat, corn, forest products (tar, pitch, lumber), barrel
staves, furs, metals, and for a time even exotic birds
South Carolina
Rice, indigo, beef, silkworms, cotton, lumber, some tobacco,
grapes, wine, olives, raisins, capers, and currents
Georgia
Rice, clay, pottery, cotton, indigo, tobacco, fruit, barrel staves,
and pork
17
raw
materials
such as
trees
The
Colonies
England
manufactured
goods such
as furniture
and barrels
18
19
Mercantilism
• The colonies were supposed to supply raw materials for
England and also provide a market for English goods.
• Like many European nations at the time, England believed
that its colonies should benefit the home country. England
hoped to grow wealthy by exporting manufactured goods to
the colonies.
• This system actively discouraged the growth of American
manufacturing.
20
21
Year
1699
Act
Possible Impact on the Colonies
Declared that wool produced in
The Wool Act the colonies could only be
exported to Britain
22
Year
1699
Act
Possible Impact on the Colonies
Declared that wool produced in The Colonies could not make money
The Wool Act the colonies could only be
by exporting wool to countries other
exported to Britain
than Britain.
23
Year
1699
1732
Act
Possible Impact on the Colonies
Declared that wool produced in The Colonies could not make money
The Wool Act the colonies could only be
by exporting wool to countries other
exported to Britain
than Britain.
The Hat Act
Declared that hats made in the
colonies could not be
exported.
Year
1699
1732
Act
Possible Impact on the Colonies
Declared that wool produced in The Colonies could not make money
The Wool Act the colonies could only be
by exporting wool to countries other
exported to Britain
than Britain.
The Hat Act
Declared that hats made in the
colonies could not be
exported.
The Colonies could not make money
by selling hats to other countries.
Year
1699
1732
1733
Act
Possible Impact on the Colonies
Declared that wool produced in The Colonies could not make money
The Wool Act the colonies could only be
by exporting wool to countries other
exported to Britain
than Britain.
The Hat Act
Declared that hats made in the
colonies could not be
exported.
Put a high tax on all molasses,
The Molasses rum and sugar which the
Act
colonies imported from
countries other than Britain
The Colonies could not make money
by selling hats to other countries.
Year
1699
1732
1733
Act
Possible Impact on the Colonies
Declared that wool produced in The Colonies could not make money
The Wool Act the colonies could only be
by exporting wool to countries other
exported to Britain
than Britain.
Declared that hats made in the
colonies could not be
exported.
The Colonies could not make money
by selling hats to other countries.
Put a high tax on all molasses,
The Molasses rum and sugar which the
Act
colonies imported from
countries other than Britain
It would make it more expensive to
buy molasses, rum and sugar from
any place except Britain. This would
be a problem because the Colonies
traded areas of the West Indies for
these products.
The Hat Act
Year
1699
1732
1733
1750
Act
Possible Impact on the Colonies
Declared that wool produced in The Colonies could not make money
The Wool Act the colonies could only be
by exporting wool to countries other
exported to Britain
than Britain.
Declared that hats made in the
colonies could not be
exported.
The Colonies could not make money
by selling hats to other countries.
Put a high tax on all molasses,
The Molasses rum and sugar which the
Act
colonies imported from
countries other than Britain
It would make it more expensive to
buy molasses, rum and sugar from
any place except Britain. This would
be a problem because the Colonies
traded areas of the West Indies for
these products.
The Hat Act
Declared that no new furnaces
which produced steel for tools
The Iron Act could be built in the colonies. It
also banned the manufacture
of hardware in the colonies.
Year
1699
1732
1733
1750
Act
Possible Impact on the Colonies
Declared that wool produced in The Colonies could not make money
The Wool Act the colonies could only be
by exporting wool to countries other
exported to Britain
than Britain.
Declared that hats made in the
colonies could not be
exported.
The Colonies could not make money
by selling hats to other countries.
Put a high tax on all molasses,
The Molasses rum and sugar which the
Act
colonies imported from
countries other than Britain
It would make it more expensive to
buy molasses, rum and sugar from
any place except Britain. This would
be a problem because the Colonies
traded areas of the West Indies for
these products.
The Hat Act
Declared that no new furnaces
which produced steel for tools This would seriously limit the ability of
The Iron Act could be built in the colonies. It the Colonies to make manufactured
also banned the manufacture
goods.
of hardware in the colonies.
Navigation Acts



The Navigation Acts were passed by Parliament.
They affected a lot of people in the colonies, especially merchants.
When?

The Navigation Acts were a series of laws that regulated trade between
England and its colonies.
Under these laws, only colonial or English ships could carry goods to and
from the colonies.
The laws also listed certain products like tobacco and cotton that colonial
merchants could ship only to England.
Parliament began to pass these acts in the 1650s. This continued into the
1700s.
Why?
Who?
What?

England passed these laws to ensure that only England benefited from
colonial trade, not any other countries.
Colonial Balance of Trade
Exports
Imports
Unfavorable Balance of Trade