Introduction

The Middle Colonies started in the latter part of the 17th Century.  The colonies were started mostly by land grants and people who were more diverse in religion, family and politics.  As you will read in the following posts, we have broken the Middle Colonies to better portray what a normal day in the life of a Colonist was like.  The Middle Colonies consisted of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania.

Social Life Part 1 (Children)

Children in the middle colonies were from a diverse group of people and from variable degrees of wealth.  Some of the wealthy boys were sent to private school and even went to college. Many children  were taught at home using the bible as their book or one-room schoolhouse in some towns. They had what was called a “hornbook” which had the alphabet, numbers and a bible verse on it. Quill pens with black ink were used for writing and they had to memorize a lot of their lessons.

            The male children worked alongside their fathers planting and harvesting the fields while the girls learned to do housework including cooking, sewing and quilting.  They enjoyed games similar to soccer and baseball as well as marbles, flying kites and hopscotch. The clothes that they wore were usually made from wool which the women would shear, scour, care and spin into thread to make the clothes.

Columbia.k12.mo.us #2eduplace.com

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Social Life Part 2 (Adult Life)

Family life was important during the Middle Colonies. Each family was its own support, team, co-worker and friend. Homes were filled with generations from grandparents to aunts and uncles, cousins and the immediate family. The father was the head of household and in complete charge with his wife to be considered his “helper”, while the children worked closely with their parents to learn the chores at hand. For men their jobs entailed taking care of the livestock, farming the land, chopping wood and making or fixing tools for work. Women were responsible for all the cooking and cleaning, making soap, butter, candles and clothing but they also had to figure out how to dye clothes, spin wool and thread. Even though the work was difficult and tiresome, the community would find time for leisure and play when they would get together to build a new home for another family. At that time, once the work was complete the men would have shooting contest and foot races. The women would have a corn husking contest and quilting bees where they would sow various cloth together in order to make a quilt. As this family life is described it is relative to middle to lower class existence but even in the 17^th Century there were class divisions. The wealthy would not have lived this way or worked this hard. They were merely hire women to take care of their children and to do the household chores while hired men would tend to their land and fields.

Doyle, J.A. 2005. The Middle Colonies. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books

Economic Life

Settlers in the Middle Colonies earned their income from farming, tailoring, glass blowing, brick making, flour milling and as a silversmith.  Due to the rich soil, farming was profitable for the settlers in the Middle Colonies.  The mild climate weather allowed the settlers a long growing season.  Farmers mainly grew corn, wheat and other grains. The expenses incurred came from products imported to the colonists.  Sugar, wines and other manufactured goods were imported into the Middle Colonies.

                Trading was especially important to the Middle Colonies.  Grains of all kinds were grown in the Middle Colonies and exported to other colonies and to England as well. Flour was in abundance, and was exported from the colonies. Indians interested in beads and other trinkets of the Middle Colonies would often barter animal skins in exchange for these items.  These beaver, otter, mink and marten skins were then exported to Europe.  This was a source of income for the people of the Middle Colonies. 

                                   

“Coming to America”. The Middle Colonies. (n.d.) Retrieved from http://techline0.tripod.com/id2.html

Life in the Early Middle Colonies. (n.d.) Retrieved from    http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nycoloni/dahistmc.html

Image retrieved from the web on March 4, 2011 from                 http://ed101.bu.edu/StudentDoc/current/ED101sp09/apaez/colonial%20farm.jpg         

Political Life

The middle colonies were formed in the last third of the 17^th century. It was located between south of New England, and North of the Chesapeake region. It consisted of New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania. Originally, these were Royal provinces that were later given to proprietors. Political systems were similar from colony to colony in that they all ultimately followed Royal regulations from England. Religion also played a major role in the way each part of the colony was governed.  The government was partly in the hands of the settlers as free adult white males were allowed to vote those who would be leaders of council and local government. In all, each county was governed by the board of supervisor who is a representative from each town as voted in by freemen.

PORTRAIT OF JAMES,DUKE OF YORK,(1633-1701) AS LORD HIGH ADMIRAL.

Conclusion

New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania were all royal provinces that were given to proprietors so they could set up colonies and carry on the New England governmental system. This was only partially successful as each individual colony developed its own version of either county-town or mixed system and eventually all 4 colonies had its own board of supervisors that had a representative from each town who was chosen by free men, giving strength to the sought own freedom that these settlers originally emigrated for.

The Great Awakening was a very important event that helped shape the eclectic group of religious followings in these colonies. Religious freedom was a big pull to these colonies from the harsh-ruled Church of England. The Great Awakening opened up a new way of thinking that has been written as paving the way to the American Revolution.

Economically, the middle colonies were big farming districts that had milder winters and lots of rich soil, enabling longer growing seasons of corn, wheat, and other grains which allowed for a good trade system with other colonies and even England. This was the main source of income for these colonies.

Socially, these colonies were family oriented farming communities that had strong familiar values, frequently having multiple generations under one roof. Fathers were the head of household and mothers were considered his helper. Children were raised to continue on the familiar farming business. Cotton and linen clothing was worn by the middle and lower classes, whereas the gentry, more educated people were able to import more expensive materials such as silk and would display this proudly as a way to set themselves above others.

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