2 The Middle Colonies: Farms And Cities

Page 1 of 52The Middle Colonies:Farms and CitiesMAIN IDEAWHY IT MATTERS NOWThe people who settled in theMiddle Colonies made a society ofgreat diversity.States in this region still boast someof the most diverse communities inthe world.TERMS & NAMEScash cropartisangristmillConestoga wagondiversityONE AMERICAN’S STORYElizabeth Ashbridge was only 19 years old when she arrived in Americafrom England in the 1730s. Although she was an indentured servant, shehoped to earn her freedom and find a way to express her strongreligious feelings.After several years, Elizabeth did gain freedom. In Pennsylvania,she joined a religious group called the Society of Friends, orQuakers. The new Quaker longed to share her beliefs openly.A V O I C E F R O M T H E PA S TI was permitted to see that all I had gone through was to prepare me for thisday; and that the time was near, when it would be required of me, to goand declare to others what the God of mercy had done for my soul.Elizabeth Ashbridge, Some Account . . . of the Life of Elizabeth AshbridgeThe Quakers believed that people of different beliefs could livetogether in harmony. They helped to create a climate of tolerance andacceptance in the Middle Colonies of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,and Delaware, as you will read in this section.Taking NotesUse your chart totake notes aboutthe middle colonies.CAUSESNEW ENGLAND Development114CHAPTER 4A Wealth of ResourcesThe Middle Colonies had much to offer in addition to a climate of tolerance. A Frenchman named Michel Guillaume Jean de Crèvecoeur(krehv KUR) praised the region’s “fair cities, substantial villages, extensivefields . . . decent houses, good roads, orchards, meadows, and bridges,where an hundred years ago all was wild, woody, and uncultivated.”The prosperity that Crèvecoeur described was typical of the MiddleColonies. Immigrants from all over Europe came to take advantage ofthis region’s productive land. Their settlements soon crowded out NativeAmericans, who had lived in the region for thousands of years.A woman speaks outat a Quaker meeting.The Society of Friendsallowed women amore active role thanother religions.

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Page 3 of 5The Cities ProsperNAMES ANDThe excellent harbors along the coasts of the Middle Colonies wereideal sites for cities. New York City grew up at the mouth of the HudsonRiver, and Philadelphia was founded on the Delaware River. The merchants who lived in these growing port cities exported cash crops, especially grain, and imported manufactured goods.Because of its enormous trade, Philadelphia was the fastest growing cityin the colonies. The city owed its expansion to a thriving trade in wheatand other cash crops. By 1720, it was home to a dozen large shipyards—places where ships are built or repaired.The city’s wealth also brought many public improvements. Large andgraceful buildings, such as Philadelphia’s statehouse—which was laterrenamed Independence Hall—graced the city’s streets.Streetlights showed the way along paved roads. In 1748,a Swedish visitor named Peter Kalm exclaimed thatPhiladelphia had grown up overnight.OCCUPATIONSMany English colonists had nameslike Miller and Smith—names thatreflected how their families hadmade a living in England. Forexample, a colonist named Millerprobably had an ancestor whohad operated a mill. Similarly,Smith probably had an ancestorwho had been a blacksmith.Sometimes colonists continuedin the same occupations as theirancestors. But as time went on,colonists turned to other occupations, and their names no longerreflected how they earned a living. Yet names like Smith andMiller remain common in theUnited States, reflecting the country’s past as English colonies.116CHAPTER 4A. Reading aMap Locate NewYork andPhiladelphia onthe map on page115. Note therivers next towhich they werebuilt.A VOICE FROM THE PASTAnd yet its natural advantages, trade, riches and power,are by no means inferior to any, even of the mostancient towns in Europe.Peter Kalm, quoted in America at 1750New York could also thank trade for its rapid growth.This bustling port handled flour, bread, furs, and whaleoil. At midcentury, an English naval officer admired thecity’s elegant brick houses, paved streets, and roomywarehouses. “Such is this city,” he said, “that very few inEngland can rival it in its show.”A Diverse RegionMany different immigrant groups arrived in the portcities of the Middle Colonies. Soon, theregion’s population showed a remarkableBackgroundIn 1742, NewYork City’s population was about11,000, andnearly 13,000people lived inPhiladelphia.

Page 4 of 5BackgroundBy the secondhalf of the 1700s,more than one inthree colonists inPennsylvaniaclaimed Germanancestry.B. SummarizingHow would youdescribe the population of theMiddle Colonies?B. PossibleResponse Thelarge variety ofimmigrant groupsmade it a diverseregion.diversity, or variety, in its people.The Middle Colonies, 1750One of the largest immigrantPopulation Diversitygroups in the region, after theFrench 2%English, was the Germans.Swedish 3%Many of the Germans arrivedWelsh 3%Scottish 4%between 1710 and 1740. MostIrish 5%came as indentured servants fleeingAfrican 7%religious intolerance. Known forScots-Irish 9%their skillful farming, these immigrants soon made a mark on theDutch 10%Middle Colonies. “German comGerman 18%munities,” wrote one historian,English 39%Source: Population of the British“could be identified by the hugeColonies in America Before 1776, 1975barns, the sleek cattle, and the stoutSKILLBUILDER Interpreting Graphsworkhorses.”1. What group made up nearly one-fifth of the populationGermans also brought a strongin the Middle Colonies?2. What were the two main languages spoken in thetradition of craftsmanship to theMiddle Colonies?Middle Colonies. For example,German gunsmiths first developedthe long rifle. Other German artisans, or craftspeople, became iron- SkillbuilderAnswersworkers and makers of glass, furniture, and kitchenware.1. GermansGermans built Conestoga wagons to carry their produce to town. 2. English andThese wagons used wide wheels suitable for dirt roads, and the wagons’ Germancurved beds prevented spilling when climbing up and down hills. Thewagons’ canvas covers offered protection from rain. Conestoga wagonswould later be important in settling the West.The Middle Colonies became home to many people besides theGermans. There were also the English, Dutch, Scots-Irish, African,Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Swedish, and French. Because of the diversity inthe Middle Colonies, different groups had to learn to accept, or at leasttolerate, one another.A Climate of ToleranceWhile the English Puritans shaped life in the New England Colonies,many different groups contributed to the culture of the MiddleColonies. Because of the greater number of different groups, it was difficult for any single group to dominate the others. Thus, the region’sdiversity helped to create a climate of tolerance. Some of the region’sreligious groups also helped to promote tolerance.The Middle Colonies’ earliest settlers, the Dutch in New York andthe Quakers in Pennsylvania, both practiced religious tolerance. That is,they honored the right of religious groups to follow their own beliefswithout interference. Quakers also insisted on the equality of men andwomen. As a result, Quaker women served as preachers, and female missionaries traveled the world spreading the Quaker message.The Colonies Develop117

Page 5 of 5Quakers were also the first to raise their voices againstslavery. Quaker ideals influenced immigrants in theMiddle Colonies—and eventually the whole nation.African Americans in theMiddle ColoniesMost Quakerswere opposed toslavery. Shownhere is a Quakerantislaverypamphlet printedin the MiddleColonies.Section2The tolerant attitude of many settlers in the MiddleColonies did not prevent slavery in the region. In 1750,about 7 percent of the Middle Colonies’ population wasenslaved. As in New England, many people of Africandescent lived and worked in cities.New York City had a larger number of people ofAfrican descent than any other city in the Northerncolonies. In New York City, enslaved persons worked asmanual laborers, servants, drivers, and as assistants toartisans and craftspeople. Free African-American menand women also made their way to the city, where theyworked as laborers, servants, or sailors.Tensions existed between the races in New YorkCity, sometimes leading to violence. In 1712, forexample, about 24 rebellious slaves set fire to a building. They then killednine whites and wounded several others who came to put out the fire.Armed colonists caught the suspects, who were punished horribly. Suchpunishments showed that whites would resort to force and violence tocontrol slaves. Even so, the use of violence did little to prevent the outbreak of other slave rebellions.Force would also be used in the South, which had far more enslavedAfricans than the North. In the next section, you will learn how theSouth’s plantation economy came to depend on the labor of enslavedAfricans.C. FormingOpinions Why doyou think thatforce was neededto keep Africansenslaved?C. PossibleResponse Becauseenslaved Africanswanted their freedom and wereready to fightfor it.Assessment1. Terms & Names2. Using Graphics3. Main Ideas4. Critical ThinkingExplain thesignificance of:Use a cluster diagram like theone shown to indicate wheredifferent immigrants in theMiddle Colonies came from.a. What attracted settlers tothe Middle Colonies?b. What service was performed at gristmills?Analyzing Causes Whatfactors allowed large coastalcities to develop in theMiddle Colonies?c. Why might enslavedAfricans be able to join inrebellion more easily in thecity than the country?THINK ABOUT geography people trade cash cropgristmilldiversityartisanConestoga wagonMiddleColonies’PopulationWhat was the third largestgroup in the region?ACTIVITY OPTIONSMATHGEOGRAPHY118CHAPTER 4Read more about Philadelphia. Create a database of the city’s populationgrowth in the 1700s or draw a map that shows its physical growth.

Middle Colonies—and eventually the whole nation. African Americans in the Middle Colonies The tolerant attitude of many settlers in the Middle Colonies did not prevent slavery in the region. In 1750, about 7 percent of the Middle Colonies’ population was enslaved. As in New England, many people of African descent lived and worked in cities.