GED US History (Colonial America) PDF

GED US History  Colonial America Original 13 Colonies On the east coast of current day US, 13 colonies were founded mostly by English settlers. The original 13 colonies can be divided into three regions with characteristics or common ways of l...

GED US History  Colonial America Original 13 Colonies On the east coast of current day US, 13 colonies were founded mostly by English settlers. The original 13 colonies can be divided into three regions with characteristics or common ways of life based on their geography. New England Colonies  New England Colonies New England colonies includes present day New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. It was founded by English Pilgrims who wanted religious freedom. The pilgrims didn’t intend to come to this region: actually, their ship, Mayflower was on wrong course and landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Main economic activities are fishing, whaling, and shipbuilding as the cold weather didn’t support agriculture.  New York Middle Colonies Middle Delaware New Jersey Colonies Pennsylvania  Middle Colonies Middle colonies includes present day New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. Different nationalities such as French, Irish, German, Italian, and English settled in these states. Main economic activities are industrial works and growing staple crops such as wheat.  Virginia Southern Colonies North Maryland Carolina South Georgia Southern Carolina Colonies  Southern Colonies Southern colonies includes present day Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Maryland. Due to the rich fertile land and good weather, cash crops such as tobacco, rice, and cotton were grown. Those crops were planted in plantations and a lot of labors were required.  Indentured Servants As the cost of travel to American colonies from England was very high, poor people who wanted better lives had to borrow money from the rich people from US in exchange for their labor. They are known as indentured servants and usually had to work for 4 years as servants. They could also be sold to other rich people as slaves.  African Slaves Africans were brought to US colonies as slaves against their wills. They were not treated as human beings and had to work as slaves under their owners for the rest of their lives. Many years later, US Civil War was caused based on abolition of slavery.  Convicts English courts also sent convicts to US colonies to reduce the prisoner population in England. As slaves, the unskilled convicts had to work in plantations whereas the skilled ones worked as tradesmen. After their sentence is finished, some went back to England and some stayed and tried to blend in with the colonists.