South Colonies Vs New England Colonies

In the early sixteenth century, the English began the colonization of North America by establishing colonies in New England and in the South. These two regions were very different from one-another and thus provided the colonists with very different challenges. Due to environmental factors such as soil quality and the need for cheap labor, the New England colonies and the Southern colonies were forced to find different economic solutions that would allow them to flourish and survive. The Southern colonies were fortunate to have settled on rich farm land with a warm climate that allowed them to farm year round. This made it easy for them to grow cash crops such as indigo, tobacco, cotton, sugar cane, and rice. They were then able to sell these …show more content…
In addition, the New England colonies also experienced a very cold climate, preventing them from growing crops year round, and from growing certain crops. These environmental factors caused the New England colonies to build a more specialized economy that focused on factories, manufactured goods, and nautical equipment. The New England region has an environment ideal for water-powered machinery due to its close proximity to the Atlantic Ocean. Harnessing waterpower to run this machinery allowed for small mills for grinding grain, processing cloth, or milling lumber. These goods were then traded with the Southern and middle colonies, the Indians, and countries such as England, France, and the Netherlands, allowing those in the New England region to gain the goods that they could not provide for themselves. The New England colonies held opposite views on slavery than in the Southern colonies. Unlike in the south, there were a relatively low number of slaves living in the New England colonies. This was not due to antislavery laws, but instead, economic, social, and geographical conditions. The New England colonies were more focused on industry and manufacturing and did not have the right soil or climate to farm cotton which was the primary use of slave labor at the time. Instead, some New England colonists found other uses for slaves. "Slaves were owned mostly by ministers, doctors, and the merchant elite, enslaved men and women in the North often performed household duties in addition to skilled jobs" (http://www.medfordhistorical.org) By using a slave to replace the household head's labor, this often allow the household head to develop a profession which would then raise the status and income of his family, and in-turn, the status and income of the whole