13 Colonies In a Brief
By:Alex Brewer,Claudia Barnes,Brienna Horn,Marshal Comer
Government
In the mid-1600, England’s Monarchy was ruled by Charles II. Charles’s successor had tried to take back the powers parliament had won during the English Civil War and tried to tighten control over the colonies. Parliament took action in 1688 and it forced out James which then put his daughter, Mary, and her dutch husband, King Of Orange on the throne. The English Bill of Rights was signed by William and Mary in 1689 allowing certain basic right top the citizens. This later inspired the American Bill of Rights.
The parliament passed a series of laws between 1651 and 1673 to make sure that only England benefited from trade with the colonies. These laws were called Navigation Acts, they directed the flow of goods England and the colonies and they also stopped the colonists from sending tobacco and sugar to places outside England’s Empire. Some of the colonist began smuggling goods to other nations. This was only the beginning of the ongoing feud between Great Britain and the Colonies.
Religion
The Puritans and Quakers established the first of the 13 colonies on the basis of their religious beliefs.Many people left Europe because they weren't aloud to believe in faith.There weren't any churches to have people meet and pray for each other.The immigrants from different countries brought their religion and spread their beliefs across all colonies. Most southern colonists were baptist and Anglicans.
Pennsylvania became the home of the Quakers. Towards the end of the 18th century Catholics, Jews and other groups lived in America. The colonial governor of Virginia declared it was a crime to not go to church on Sundays or Holidays. Charter of Delaware, 1701 “All People who also profess to believe in Jesus Christ, shall be capable. New York's Charter of Liberties and Privileges in 1683 dictated that anyone professing “Faith in God by Jesus Christ” will not be punished for any difference of opinion.
Culture
In the middle of the 1700’s a great number of educated colonists were influenced by the Enlightenment. The movement began in Europe spreading the idea that knowledge, reason, and science could improve society.
In the colonies, the Enlightenment increased interest in science. People began to observe and study nature and conduct experiments, publish their findings.The best known scientists Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson also followed doctrines of deism, a religious outgrowth of the Enlightenment. Deism on reasoning power in science instead of relying on faith.
Economics
In the New England colonies a lot of their economy was farming and fishing. They grew almost all of their own food, and made all their clothes.They sent a lot of crops like wheat and corn to England through their sea ports like Boston, which was their main one. Moving on to the middle colonies,which was half agricultural and half industrial. Trade with England was also plentiful in the middle colonies.
Wheat and grains grew at Pennsylvania and New York,while the industrial part of things were in Maryland and also Pennsylvania where they made iron, paper, and textiles. At the southern colonies theirs was almost all agriculture, this is where they had big plantations, acres and acres of land with houses were the people that owned the land, and the ones that worked on the land lived.
They had lots of slaves because they needed more people to work on the large plantations they owned. The colonies trade was massive,they had New Amsterdam which had a big seaport and it made New Amsterdam the center of shipping for the colonies. This factor of trade made the people who owned it very wealthy.