What Happened in 1776?
Below is a map of the 13 Colonies in 1776.
The English colonies founded along the Atlantic coast of America and were broken into three main colonies called New England Colonies, Middle Colonies, and Southern Colonies.
The New England Colonies were largely farming and fishing communities. The people made their own clothes and shoes. They grew much of their own food. Crops like corn and wheat grew in large numbers, and much was shipped to England. Foods that didn't grow in America were shipped from England. Boston was the major New England port.
The Middle Colonies were part agriculture, part industrial. Wheat and other grains grew on farms in Pennsylvania and New York. Factories in Maryland produced iron, and factories in Pennsylvania produced paper and textiles. Trade with England was plentiful in these colonies as well.
The Southern Colonies were almost entirely agricultural. The main feature was the plantation, a large plot of land that contained a great many acres of farmland and buildings in which lived the people who owned the land and the people who worked the land. (A large part of the workforce was African slaves, who first arrived in 1619.)
Southern plantations grew tobacco, rice, and indigo, which they sold to buyers in England and elsewhere in America.
- Source: http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/ushistory/13colonies2.htm#sthash.7YbC3vol.dpuf
The New England Colonies were largely farming and fishing communities. The people made their own clothes and shoes. They grew much of their own food. Crops like corn and wheat grew in large numbers, and much was shipped to England. Foods that didn't grow in America were shipped from England. Boston was the major New England port.
The Middle Colonies were part agriculture, part industrial. Wheat and other grains grew on farms in Pennsylvania and New York. Factories in Maryland produced iron, and factories in Pennsylvania produced paper and textiles. Trade with England was plentiful in these colonies as well.
The Southern Colonies were almost entirely agricultural. The main feature was the plantation, a large plot of land that contained a great many acres of farmland and buildings in which lived the people who owned the land and the people who worked the land. (A large part of the workforce was African slaves, who first arrived in 1619.)
Southern plantations grew tobacco, rice, and indigo, which they sold to buyers in England and elsewhere in America.
- Source: http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/ushistory/13colonies2.htm#sthash.7YbC3vol.dpuf