Reasons for Southern and Northern Colonies
Requirements:
Explain and analyze the division between the southern colonies and the rest of Britain’s North American colonies.
- Address the origins of the southern colonies “peculiar” racial and social systems and assess whether or not they really were all that different than those of the northern colonies
- Explain the origins, motivations, and backgrounds for the development. Why did colonists thought or act the way they did.
- Incorporate elements from the primary source documents in your argument.
Cited format:
- The Chicago Manual of Style
Sources:
- The Unfinished Nation Volume 1; Bacon’s Rebellion: The Declaration (1676); Virtual Jamestown First Hand Accounts
Other than climate and geography, the establishment of colonial America also had regional differences among history, culture, and race. Mainly, the Southern colonies were settled for economic gains. In contrast, the Northern colonies were established for religious and political freedom reasons[1]. The economic activities of the Southern colonies were purely based on agriculture. On the other hand, the Northern colonies’ economic activities were based on trade and manufacturing. The fact that these regions were developed based on specialized and different economies, none could supply everything required, so they depended on each other for certain skills and items. Also, the Northern and Southern colonies were distinguished by regional characteristics. The Southern colonies were characterized by slavery, backcountry endless struggle, self-sufficient community and social systems, coast wealthy, jealous and little money, and very diverse social systems. In this region, slavery enabled the rich aristocrats and wealthy landowners to cultivate huge land tracts. On the other hand, the Northern colonies were characterized by small villages, common heritage, busy seaports, shared land, rugged and primitive behavior, subsistence farmers, and entertainment involved work.
Besides, notable differences were also evident in the manner in which the social systems’ life between the regions were structured. For the Southern colonies people, life emerged as rural and rugged. In the aftermath of Bacon’s rebellion, the black Virginians were angered, and the white planters reacted to control these rowdy slaves[2]. People of the African race were outraged of being termed “hereditary slaves,” making this a significant reason to go for war. In contrast, people of the Northern colonies were heavily connected to the village and the Church community and fraternity. These cultural and social differences remained and shaped the confrontations that required to be addressed during the Civil War….End of Preview….
[1] Brinkley, Alan. 2000. The Unfinished Nation: A Concise History of the American People, Volume 1. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
[2] Bacon, Nathaniel. 1676. Bacon’s Rebellion: The Declaration (1676).