2.4 The Middle Colonies A. A Dutch Colony Becomes English 1. The Dutch set up the colony of New Netherland along the Hudson River. a) Fur trade b) New Amsterdam (New York) quickly became a center for commerce. 2. Less interested in farming, Dutch officials did promote agriculture by granting large parcels of land to a few rich families also known as patroons. a) Each patroons promised to settle at least 50 European farm families on the land. b) Few families wanted to work for the patroons. 3. Many settlers lived in New Amsterdam, which by 1664 had a population of about 1,500 people.

2.4 The Middle Colonies a) They came from all over Europe. b) Settlers were looking for wealth and religious freedom. c) African slaves were in demand (1/4 of the population). 4. Dutch colonists were mainly Protestants who belonged to the Dutch Reformed Church. a) Other religious groups were allowed to practice in New Netherland including Catholics. 5. The English who were in direct competition with the Dutch. a) The English wanted New Amsterdam for their own. b) In 1664, English warships entered New Amsterdam’s harbor and took over the port without a shot being fired.

2.4 The Middle Colonies B. New Jersey Forms Out of New York 6. King Charles II of England gave New Netherland to his brother, the Duke of York. a) The King renamed the colony New York in the Duke’s honor. B. New Jersey Forms Out of New York 1. At the time of the English take over, NY stretched as far south as the Delaware River. a) The Duke of York decided that the colony was too big to be governed easily. b) Some land, present day New Jersey, was given to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret to set up a proprietary colony in 1664.

2.4 The Middle Colonies c) A proprietary colony is a colony that the king gives land to people to get a yearly payment. d) The proprietors could divide the land however they wished, so few people were in control of huge tracks of land. 2. NJ had a vast supply of resources that attracted many settlers. a) Settles came from both New England and Europe. b) A market economy was encouraged which had very little government interference. c) Facing financial losses, the proprietors returned the colony to the English crown. 3. In 1702, NJ became a royal colony, which is a colony under the direct control of the English king or queen.

2.4 The Middle Colonies C. Pennsylvania Becomes a Colony a) The colony’s royal charter protected religious freedom and the rights of an assembly that voted on local matters. C. Pennsylvania Becomes a Colony 1. West of NJ, William Penn founded the colony of Pennsylvania in 1681. a) Penn was a Quaker, Protestant reformers who believed that all men and women, nobles and commoners – were equal in God’s sight. b) Quakers also spoke out against war and refused to serve in the army. c) Quakers were persecuted in England and New England. 2. Charles II issued a royal charter naming Penn proprietor and naming it Pennsylvania.

2.4 The Middle Colonies 3. Penn thought of his colony as a “holy experiment” with religious freedom, peace, and Christian living. 4. Penn’s Quaker beliefs led him to speak out for fair treatment of Native Americans. a) Settlers should pay the natives for the land. b) Penn sent pamphlets all over Europe and soon thousands of settlers arrived including a lot of Germans known as Pennsylvania Dutch because people could not pronounce the word Deutsch which means German. c) PA was like a number of the colonies that preceded it. d) Slaves made up 1/3 of all new arrivals to PA.

2.4 The Middle Colonies D. Daily Life in the Middle Colonies 5. In 1704, PA’s lower counties broke away from PA to form the separate colony of Delaware. D. Daily Life in the Middle Colonies 1. The majority of Middle Colonists made their living by farming. a) The Hudson and Delaware River valleys were very fertile for farming. b) Wheat, rye, and barley were cash crops, or crops that were sold for money on the market and not consumed by the farmer’s family. c) The Middle Colonies were known as the Breadbasket Colonies. 2. The PA Dutch cleared the interior lands which are still productive today.

2.4 The Middle Colonies 3. There were also skilled artisans in the middle colonies. a) The Middle Colonies became a center of manufacturing and crafts. b) The DE River valley benefitted from the rich deposits of iron ore. 4. Everyone in the household had a job to do. a) Households were largely self sufficient. 5. In the 1700s, thousands of German and Scotch-Irish settlers arrived in Philadelphia. a) From Philadelphia, they traveled west along the Great Wagon Rd. to settle land up to the slopes of the Appalachian Mountains. b) Settlers looked to Native Americans for help in surviving on the frontier.

2.4 The Middle Colonies c) Pennsylvania German gunsmiths developed a very popular and accurate rifle known as the “Pennsylvania Rifle” 6. As more and more settlers came to the Middle Colonies, they encroached on Native American lands which led to disputes that sometimes led to violence.