l
-|l;Age;i
/t
I
:
l
!]ow did the ec@!'!ony af the Englisk
toIonies EN@w?
VOCABULARY
export
agriculture
industry
freeenterprise
tria n g u latrr a d e
MiddlePassage
scarcelydrew thenntogetfxer.
"[T]heireeonon'xies
lf an Americanraisedtohaccoor rieehe shippeditt
if he raisedgnainor rnilledflour or loaked
overseas;
is how
breadhe often deantin loealn'rankets."'lf["ris
PEOFI"E
ElizaLucas
Pinckney
descnihed
the colonial
historianRobertM{iddlekauff
produatsaotrldonly he
eeonomy"5omecolo!'nial
exported to England.To export meansto serid
goodsto other coL!ntries
il l:li il;li[\qG
:nIiri{"i'Lifrij
of
lJse
thesequence
(hartbelow
events
thesteps
in
to show
trade.
thetriangular
t
rru
[-]
'
for saleor trade.f\4ostof the
expo!'tswere raw rnaterlalS
that Enqlandusedto rnake
goods,
rnanufactured
.',::
.
YouAle Here
1700- r770
REGIONALECONOMIES
As more peoplearrivedin the English
colonies,the colonialeconomiesgrew.
by theregionsgeogEachwasinfluenced
In NewEngraphyand naruraltesources.
lalrd,thick forests,goodnaturalharbors,
and an abundanceof seafoodwerethe
basisofthe fishingand shipbuilding
industries.The rich soil ofthe Middle
Coloniesgrewso much wheatand corn
fiat peoplecalledtheir regionthe "breadbasketofthe colonies."The climateofthe
wasidealfor growing
sou(hernColonies
robacco,rice, and indigo.
NewEnglandAgriculture
In the early1700s,agrlculture,or the
businessof farming,wasthe way of life
tbr most people.Evenin the rockysoil of
\ew England,most farmersproduced
enoughcropsto feedtheir familieswith
e\tra cropsto sell.The Middle Colonies
Dotonly exportedsurplus8rain,but also
e\portedpork and beefto Europeand the
WestIndles.BecausetheWestIndiesused
mostoftheir land to growcashcropssuch
assugaqthey importedmeatand grain.
The Plantation Economy
Tobaccowasfre mainexportofVirginia
and Maryland,but the price constandyrose
and fell. This changein the pdce was due to
supply and.demand.S&ppll is the amount
ofgoodsavailableat a givenpdce at any
(above)
grown
was
inVirginia
I Mu(h0fthetoba((o
(left).
port
fromthe ofJamestown
I shipped
tlme. Dema,ndis how many consumers
desirethe goodsthat arein supply and will
buy them. ln the caseoftobacco,when
thedemandfor lobaccowashightlleprice
oftobaccoroseand the supplyincreased.
In 1681the governorofvirginia said:
" . . . thereis no remedy;the market
is ouerstocked. . . tllere is tobacco
en7ughnow in Londonto last&ll
Englandfor fiue years."
Becauseofunstabletobaccopdces,
MarylandandVirginiafarmersbegan
growingcorn and wheatfor export.
Indigoplantswereanothercashcrop
ofthe Southerncolonies.In 1739
Eliza LucasPinckney beganexpedmenting with indigo,a plant usedto makeblue
dye.Shewassuccessfulin greatlyincreas. a k in giI
in gt h ep r o d u c t ioonf in d ig om
the secondlargestcashcrop in the South.
"w
Whatinfluencedthe regional
economiesof the colonies?
217
TRADEAND INDUSTRY
COLONIAL
The Englishhad establishedthe coloniesto provideraw matedalsfor English
manufacturedgoods.Much of the lumber
producedby the colonieswaser?ortedto
England.The colonistsusedthe restto
makehouses,furniturc,bafiels,andboats.
Shipbuilding
In time, the coloniesstartedseveral
industrles to competewith the English.
that
An industryis all the businesses
makeone ldnd ofproduct or provide
one kind of service.
Shipbuildingwas one oftheseindustdes.It becameimportantin New England wheredemandfor fishingboatsand
mer ch a nsh
t ipsw ashi gh.S hi pbui l d in g
r\o rr i e dth eEn gl i \h!\how anl edl he
coloniststo produceproductsonly for
them. By buildingtheir ow'nshipsthe
coloniststook a steptowardhavinga
faeeenterprise economy.In a freeenter-
pdse system,people can start any buslnessthey want. They decide what to
make, how much to produce, and what
pdce to charge.By 1741New England
had more than 800 fishing boats.
The shipbuilding industry was also
important in Virginia and the Carolinas
where live oak treesprovided excellent
timber. Shipbuilding helped createother
industries.Shipsneeded ropes,sails,and
other equipment, too.
lronMaking
Theiron makin8industrycameftom
the ore depositsfound in most ofthe
colonies.In almosteveryvillageblacksmithshammeredout iron nails,axes,
kettles,and othermetalproducts.
.el!9,a ....
-.{A3,j,P Whv didn't the Enqlishwant
\ t
New Enolandto haveits own
cHv- shipbuildingindustry?
-.-s
inPhiladelph
Shipbuilders
(left)to
measure
used
thedivider
218
E&w&ffi:ffituw:1*J'fi{,
(-,,-t)ul))ll
r ( ustusltl
LrtI
:'la't ttJ)'-)
|
,l
)
|
.,
lJ
its own
eachcolonialregiondeveloped
Duringthe early1700s,
ratherthanfarming,
Shipbuilding
andfishingindustries,
:conomy.
mostcrops
In the South,however,
:eveloped
in NewEngland.
grownfor export.Studythe graphics
on thispaggand
,','ere
below.
:1enanswerthe questions
G8 0
P, ^
Erc
r/401750
r/6017701780
1690
1700
17101720
1710
lorr.e: u s.Burcau
ofrhecensus
Year
QUESTIONS:
Lookat the map.Whichproductswere
exportedfrom the Southerncolonies?
J Lookat the graph.Duringwhichperiod
did riceexportsshowthe greatest
increase?
canyou draw about
I Whatconclusions
the importanceof ricein the economy
j
iq l
l^.
I1u
g
ti3
it
.il
",
To leam more, ::
visit ow Website:
TRADE
TRIANGI.,LAR
English la\a'scontrolled trade with its
colQnies.However,many merchants
began to ignore English law. Instead of
exporting all their goods to England, theY
traded with southern Europe,thewest
Indies, and Aftica. The three-cornered
route of thesevoyagesbecame known as
triangular trade. The triangle started at
such ports as Boston and NewYofk.
Traderssailedfrom these ports to the
coast ofwestAftica, where they traded
rum and guns for gold, ivory, and
captive Africans.
The secondleg ofthe triangle began
in Afiica and \Mentto the West Indies.
This pafi of lhe voyagewas called the
Middle Passagebecauseit was the mid-
dle part of the tiangular trade route.
ThousandsofAfricans died on the voyage
to the Amedcas,which lasted ftom six to
eight weeks.
In theWest Indies the seacaptains
traded Africans for molasses,a thick
syr upmadefr om sugarcane.l hen they
returned to New England,where the
molasseswas made into rum. This r'r,as
the last leg of the triangr ar trade route.
Po cir ie\\uch asBostongr ewr eq
quicUl on the m onel ear nedin lht
triangular tnde.
w
Whatis triangulartrade?
l. Whatproductswere
shippedfrom New
Englandto Africa?
Fromthe West
lndiesto Bo5ton
and NewYork?
2. Whatwa5the destinationof mostof
the enslaved
Africans?
220
PUTTINGIT TOGETHER
(olonialBusinesses
(ould
notafford
t0import
allthe
Colonists
goodstnd
needed
fromEngland,
servi(esthey
England
andthe
Al5o,the
distan(ebetween
(olonies
get
goods
made
it impossible
to
qui*ly.Asaresult,
businesses
colonists
started
papermaking,
glassmaking,
sudasbri*making,
androp€making.
(olonialbusRe5eaKh
inesses.In
one(olumn,
make
alistofbusinesses
goods.
thatprovided
[istbusinessesthat
provided
servi(es
in
another(olumn.
By the middle ofthe 1700s,the
colonistshad begunto developa free
enterpriseeconomy.Farming,fi shing,
shipbuilding,and tradingwereor y a few
ofthe colonialindustdes.As the colonial
economygrew more colonistswereable
without importto supportthemselves
ing goodsftom England.Overtime the
colonistsbecameunhappywith the
Englishlaws that controlledtrade
The trade lawstook money out of
the colonies and sometimes caused
colonial businessesto go into debt.
The colonistsbeganto tlade their
goodswith othernations.The
colonists'desireto run their ollrl
economyeventuallyled to conflict with England.
glass
bottles
Colonial
hand-blown
for eachvocabulary
1. Writeonesentence
word.
freeentelprise triangulartrade
industry
didthe New
2. Whatkindsofresources
colonies
have?
England
Lookat the mapofTriangularTrade
othertriangular
on page220.Research
hadwith
routes
that
the
€olonies
trade
othercountries.
3. Why did the economyoftheEnglish
growl
colonies
4. Explain
howsupplyanddemandaffects
andbusinesses.
consumers
to begin
colonists
5, WhatcausedEnglish
lookingfor newplaces
to tradetheifgood5?
Whatweresomeeffectsofthe newtrade?
G
Y. write a paragraph
on the benefitsof
to the colonistswho
freeenterprise
startedbusinesses
andto the colonists
whoboughttheifgoods.
221