Much like Virginia to the South, this is the most important colony in the northern region of England’s 13 colony experiment. Originally called the Massachusetts Bay Colony, this site was founded in the Plymouth area by the Massachusetts Bay Company in 1623. However, unlike the Chesapeake region, money was not the number one concern of those living in the area, religion was.

This colony, right off the bat, was founded by a small group of Puritan separatists (who were also called Pilgrims) who were looking for a haven to practice their religion. Also unlike those in the south, the colonists who settled here were willing to listen to the native peoples, who ended up helping to teach them the best ways to hunt, fish, and farm the area.

The key things to remember about this colony are that the people of Massachusetts (and much of the rest of New England) were concerned with raising healthy, Christian families more so than making a profit. They too created a representative government, but you had to be a landowning male if you wanted to vote. These two things became a springboard for more of the other 13 colonies in New England to sprout from.

As Massachusetts continued to grow and succeed as a colony, many wanted to expand the British territories. So, in 1629, an offshoot of colonists from the Massachusetts colony got permission from Plymouth and the crown to create a new colony in what is now New Hampshire and Maine.

Unlike many of the other 13 colonies, New Hampshire residents generally stayed to themselves and kept out of trouble. The most important thing to remember from this review of the New England colonies is that New Hampshire was evidence that the New England model was expanding its reach in North America. Although they were religiously tolerant, the colonists mirrored what was taking place in Massachusetts. Their government was tied to the one in Massachusetts; they created small communities of farmer families and relied on agriculture and timber for profit.

The land that would come to be known as Rhode Island was originally settled by the Dutch and was part of the colony of New Netherlands. Much like New Hampshire, this colony was created as an offshoot of Massachusetts but with its twist.

Whereas the colonists of New Hampshire were looking for new ventures and new horizons, those of Rhode Island were looking to escape religious persecution taking place in Massachusetts. Exiled preacher Roger Williams and Baptist leader Anne Hutchinson each laid claim to extensive plots of land in the area. They eventually appealed for and received an official charter in 1643.

Unlike the other New England colonies, Rhode Island only had an elected “president” as a government representative. But what you should ultimately take away from this is that Rhode Island became a haven for those who were religiously persecuted. Quakers, Jews, Catholics, etc. who did not fit into the Puritan or Protestant models of living found safety here (for the most part). And the colonies began to look more diverse as time went on.

Much like New Hampshire, this New England colony was created as an offshoot of Massachusetts. As successes in farming and family life led to growth in the Massachusetts colony, colonists moved north to the New Hampshire area but also went south towards the Connecticut River. Finding excellent water supplies and fertile land for agriculture, these settlers founded the colony in 1636.

There are two ideas that you will need to understand. First, unlike Rhode Island, founder Thomas Hooker was a Puritan minister and wanted to replicate the religious society that had been created by the founders of Massachusetts. Those who lived in Connecticut elevated religious purity to the highest level, similar to those in Massachusetts. And second, the representative government that was formed in Connecticut created the first constitution of sorts. Called the Fundamental Order (1638), this document argued that the government’s job is to protect the rights of the individual. This would become an important model for things to come...

New York was originally founded by Dutch colonists. Eventually, however, the area did fall into the hands of the British in 1664. After gaining the territory from the Dutch, the King of England gave the land to his brother, the Duke of York (thus, the name). The ties between England and Holland became so deep in fact that the Prince of Orange married the Duke of York’s daughter (they are better known as William and Mary).

Ultimately, what you want to remember about New York is that it was truly a middle colony. Being smack dab in the middle of the New England and Southern colonies, New York’s harbor acted as a perfect central trading epicenter for the New World. Because of this industry boomed in the big cities and agriculture thrived in the more rural areas. New York was also interesting because a lot like today, the people who lived there were from all over the place. This meant that, unlike the other regions, not one religion dominated and there was no single economic powerhouse characterizing the workforce.

Just like New York, New Jersey was originally a territory of the Dutch. And, as a result, their histories parallel New York’s almost perfectly. Just like the other Middle Colonies, New Jersey had a long history of population diversity, from the presence of the Dutch to the French, and even the Swedes in the region. When England gained the territory from the Dutch in 1664, it was to be governed by the Duke of York as well. Ultimately, neither industry nor agriculture dominated the economy, the population was diverse, and there was no religious monopoly. Just remember that New Jersey and New York are essentially the same.

Somewhat similar to New York and New Jersey, the land that was to be Pennsylvania was originally occupied by other Europeans. But instead of the Dutch, this time, it was the Swedes. But alas, the Dutch eventually took over anyway. When the British received the Dutch territories in 1664, the king of England used the land to pay off a debt. He owed the Penn family significant money and gave the land in the New World to William Penn in 1681 as repayment. Pennsylvania means “Penn’s woods.” Very fitting, right?

Almost accidentally Penn would help to create one of the most religiously tolerant places in the 13 colonies. He was a Quaker but did not intend for Pennsylvania to become a Quaker’s paradise. Instead, Quakers and other persecuted believers fled Europe and heard that Penn himself was a tolerant man. Plus the land was rich and fertile. This attracted quite a few families who could afford to leave their homeland without falling into servitude.

What is most important about Pennsylvania is that this combination of rich land and religious tolerance helped it to become the most egalitarian of the 13 colonies.  But similar to the other Middle colonies, cities like Philadelphia emerged as industrial hubs, where outside the cities, farming dominated, which led to a diversified economy. Again, diverse populations, varied economic opportunities, and religious diversity characterized this middle colony.

Delaware ultimately came as a result of an argument between Duke Baltimore and William Penn (remember them?). Like the other Middle Colonies, Delaware began as a Dutch territory, then went to the Swedes, back to the Danes, and then was eventually handed over to the British. Anyways, Penn wanted Pennsylvania access to the sea, so he tried to get his hands on the Delaware area, but Baltimore said no way. The battle went on for 100 years until 1750 when the border was finally defined. What’s important to note is how similar this history is to the rest of the Middle Colonies most of the main actors are even the same!

Whereas previous voyages were mostly military or intel-related, the crown had sent John Smith (backed by the London Company) in 1607 with over 170 colonists with the idea of staying permanently.

This colony was created in the Jamestown area with profit in mind. Unfortunately, this almost led to their demise. Men greatly outnumbered women (so families didn’t grow), they spent most of their time looking for gold rather than planting crops and constantly fought with the Indigenous peoples. After their first several years, nearly 80 percent of the population had perished from starvation or battle.

Two events took place in the early years of the Virginia colony’s history that would forever change the rest of the thirteen colonies and the history of the United States. First, they began planting tobacco in 1612 which became a huge cash crop. And second, in 1619 the colonists created the House of Burgesses, which was the first representative form of government in the New World.

So, in brief, remember that Virginia was founded as a money maker. This also almost led to its downfall until tobacco started bringing in the dough. It became so essential to Virginia that the colonists began using indentured servitude to multiply the product and quickly turned to enslaved Africans (1619) because that would bring in even more money. Finally, Virginia is the birthplace of representative government in America. What they did would become a model for the other thirteen colonies.

Maryland became the fourth colony to be established in North American the British. It started off as a proprietary (these were colonies that the king of queen gave to allies and were ruled by people in place of the British crown) colony granted by the king of England in 1632 to George Calvert, Lord Baltimore. If you remember anything from this APUSH review on Maryland, remember that it was a colony that was created for the idea of religious freedom.

When Lord Baltimore received this land, England was in religious turmoil. Catholics were commonly persecuted and being a Catholic himself, Lord Baltimore wanted his Maryland colony to be a safe haven for religious tolerance. But this didn’t last long and when Protestants outnumbered the Catholics, they overthrew the government and replaced it with one that mimicked that of Virginia—Protestant and profitable. These two things would come to define the 13 colonies.

What started out as an experiment in religious freedom ended up as a place of persecution for non-Protestants. But they had taxes to pay as well. With Virginia being so successful to the south, leaders decided to turn towards the plantation system and the cultivation of tobacco in order to gain economic profits. Also like Virginia, this led to the increase of labor needs and the eventual exploitation of enslaved Africans.

North and South Carolina were just Carolina until the British crown split them in two in 1729. The area had originally been fought over between the French, Spanish, and British. The Brits eventually beat them all out and built towns beginning in 1655.

The area of the Carolinas was rather massive, stretching to Florida. But there were no real cities except for Charleston, which became hugely successful because of how close it was to the Caribbean points of trade.

But remember that agriculture was king here. And eventually cotton would come to dominate. North Carolina was filled with smaller, struggling farms that ultimately aimed for survival. However, South Carolina had some of the wealthiest colonists in all the 13 colonies. Massive plantations began to develop, with tobacco, indigo, and rice being the main products. But cotton soon picked up in popularity and the plantation owners increasingly turned to slaves to make immense profits. Slavery was so central to South Carolina’s economy that in 1720, 65 percent of the population was enslaved.

Georgia is sort of the odd man out here. The area rested in between Florida and the Carolina, and like we mentioned above, there was a constant struggle going on over the region. This was Georgia for you. It was a battleground and nobody wanted to live there until the British took over and made it a colony in 1732.

But still nobody really wanted to live there, so the British army built a fort and Georgia became sort of a buffer between Spanish Florida and the British 13 colonies. Eventually, as the Spanish left North America, Georgia’s economy began to mimic that of North and South Carolina—plantations sprouted up as the system of slavery made farmers very wealthy.

Roanoke:

Sir Walter Raleigh was granted a charter to set up a colony on Roanoke Island in North Carolina and after some fits and starts it was colonized in 1587. It has been called the “Lost Colony” because when resupply ships returned less than five years later, it had been entirely abandoned. To this day, no one is sure what happened.

What you do want to remember, however, is how willing the British were to get a stronghold set up in the New World. True, this was the Age of Exploration, but Europeans were also looking for wealth. Failures like this (even Jamestown almost starved itself into nonexistence!) prevented neither the monarchy nor the explorers from returning with greater resolve.