Hey everybody, today we're going to look at the middle colonies, nicknamed the bread basket colonies. And we colored these middle colonies yellow because of their production of wheat and grain that leads to their nickname of the bread basket. Don't forget our memory trick for the middle colonies.
New, pens, never, drip. New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. Alright, so I'm going to look at the notes that we took in class.
And we're just going to briefly go over these and then look at the peg sheet. So New Netherlands, also known as New York, sometimes called New Amsterdam. Remember, it's originally owned by the Dutch. However, the British take it over because they want to expand trade, and they're really interested in this port city of New York. Delaware, we kind of just need to know where it is on the map and that they are going to be created or established to make money through the fur trade.
New Jersey, again, mostly established for making money. They want to make a profit from land sales. They do have some religious and political freedom, but it's not as well known as Pennsylvania.
Now, Pennsylvania is the most significant colony that you need to know in the middle colonies. They are going to be led by William Penn, who is the leader of the Quakers. And the Quakers, we talked about, are a religious group who basically did not get along with the Puritans up in Massachusetts, so they get kicked out. And...
Quakers can be described as being anti-slavery. They are pacifists, so they are very peaceful. They don't want to engage in war and very peaceful, and they also support women's rights.
William Penn is given this land from the king, and so he wants to establish Pennsylvania, yes, to make some profit, but it's mostly for religious and political freedom. He is very tolerant of people of all religions. and from all over the world, and so Pennsylvania is a very tolerant place and welcoming to people who are not necessarily pilgrims and Puritans. Now, I told you William Penn is going to create a document called William Penn's Framework of Government, and then sometimes you'll see things like William Penn's Statutes of Liberties or Privileges. It doesn't matter what the name of the documents are.
If you see William Penn's name with a government document, you need to know that he is most interested in getting a representative government for the people in his colony. He wants to get more rights for women. He wants to get more voting for all men.
The other important port city in this region is Philadelphia, which is part of Pennsylvania. So now we're going to look at Colin E. real quick. Remember Colin E. We colored him yellow in his belly.
because his belly is full of bread from all the grains that are being produced in the middle colonies. Now looking at our pegs sheet, we need to remember William Penn, of course, his document, Penn's Framework of Government, which is basically going to explain that he wants a representative government for his people and give rights to the people, take rights away from the government and give it to the people. In regards to economy, the middle colonies are best known as the breadbasket because of their wheat and grain production.
They don't have huge plantations like we'll see in the southern colonies. They still have small and medium-sized farms, but this is their greatest economic activity. They do also have cattle, lumber, and fishing. In regards to geography, the middle colonies have much more fertile soil compared to New England, a milder climate. It's still cold.
Okay, but it's just not as cold as it is up in New England. And then very important port cities of Philadelphia and New York City. Finally, in the social realm, we talked mostly about the Quakers of Pennsylvania. Okay, they could have been spread out through New England, but mostly concentrated in Pennsylvania.
And I just said New England. I meant middle colonies. Sorry about that. Quakers, again, are anti-slavery.
They're peaceful. Pacifist is the fancy word we use. They support women's rights and religious freedom. Don't forget, though, not everybody is like the Quakers. New York, New Jersey, Delaware, these three colonies in the middle colonies are established mostly for making a profit.
Last but not least, don't forget, you can always go over to this right-hand side of colon E, and this kind of shows you the cheat sheet. sort of like everything that you have to know for those colonies. All right, tomorrow we'll be looking at the southern colonies.
See you soon. Bye.