US History

U.S. History Study Guide

indigo, which influenced all aspects of life in the South. The size of plantations limited the development of cities and a merchant class, which had brought such wealth to New England. In contrast to New England and the Middle colonies, the Southern colonies were mostly rural settlements. The planters of the aristocratic class held most of the political power and the best land. They built great houses, adopted a refined way of life and kept in touch as best they could with the world of culture overseas. The poor farmers that worked smaller areas of land, held seats in the assemblies and found their way into political office. In the South, families were smaller than in other regions because adult men outnumbered women by far. Men were needed to work on the region’s massive plantations. The settlers of the South quickly learned to combine agriculture and commerce, and the marketplace became a major source of prosperity. Tobacco would be the cash crop that would drive Virginia and Maryland. The Carolinas, which had dense forests and ports, gave lumber, and tar which provided some of the best shipbuilding materials in the wrld. Charleston, South Carolina, was the greatest port and trading center of the Southern colonies. Those who could not secure fertile land along the coast settled the back country. Although very difficult, settlers kept coming and by the 1730s they were pouring into the back countries. Living on the edge of the Native American country, frontier families built cabins, cleared the wilderness, and cultivated corn and wheat. They had big barbecues, dances, housewarmings for newly married couples, shooting matches, and contests for making quilted blankets. Many of these traditions remain as a Southern tradition today. Population growth in the back country had important significance, pushing farther into Native American and French territory would lay the groundwork for a series of events that would create a nation. Wealthy planters and merchants imported private tutors from Ireland or Scotland to teach their children. Some sent their children to school in England. Having these other opportunities, the upper classes were not interested in supporting public education. The largely spaced farms and plantations made the formation of community schools very difficult as well. On the frontier, the Scots-Irish, were devoted to education and made great efforts to attract educated ministers to their settlements to educate their communities. 4.13 Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade (The Middle Passage) The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade was the enslavement and transportation of African people to the colonies of the New World. Most enslaved people were shipped from Africa and taken to North and South America to labor on plantations, mines, or in houses to work as servants. Most slaves obtained were from African slave-traders, although some were captured by European slave-traders through raids and kidnapping in Africa.

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