Copy this on the bottom half of NB p.27. Farming Towns Northeastern States Fishing & Trade Slaves

Lesson 4.1: Commerce in New England Today’s Essential Question: What were the important economic activities of the New England states?

Vocabulary subsistence farming – growing food and livestock for personal use cash crop – a crop grown in large quantities intended for sale, rather than for personal use

Check for Understanding What are we going to do today? Is a farmer who tends 500 acres conducting subsistence farming or is he growing a cash crop?

What We Already Know New England was where some of the first English colonies were established, by courageous men and women who willingly faced great hardships in the name of religious freedom.

What We Already Know During colonial times, New England established itself as the center of trans–Atlantic trade.

What We Already Know Slavery was a major part of colonial life and continued to be important to the national economy in the early 1800s.

Farming in New England was difficult. Harsh climate – short, hot summers and long, bitter winters Poor, rocky soil Most New England farmers practiced subsistence farming instead of growing cash crops.

Most New England farmers lived near a town. Originally, the Puritan church divided farmland among its members. Farmhouses surrounded a green and the meetinghouse. Shopkeepers and craftsmen relied on the farmers to make their living.

Check for Understanding A ask B: Why didn’t farmers in New England grow cash crops? Farmers in New England didn’t grow cash crops because the soil was too rocky and the summers were too short. Be sure to re-state the question in your response!

Fish and wood were among New England’s most valuable articles of trade. Some of the world’s best fishing grounds lay off the coast of New England. Forests provided wood to build ships for fishing.

Whaling was another major New England industry.

A few bustling coastal cities, like Boston and New Haven, grew rich.

Their wealth was a result of shipbuilding, fishing, and trade.

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1. How did most people make a living in New England? They practiced subsistence farming. They participated in the triangular trade. They raised cash crops such as tobacco or cotton. They mostly worked in factories.

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2. What three economic activities helped coastal cities in New England grow rich? Shipbuilding Fishing Manufacturing Trade Be sure to choose three!

Another source of wealth for New England was the triangular trade. First, ships left New England with a cargo of rum and iron.

In Africa, the traders exchanged their cargo for slaves.

The slaves then suffered through a cruel trip to the West Indies. Slaves were needed there to do the difficult work of cultivating and harvesting sugar cane.

Slaves were crammed into the ships’ holds, where poor ventilation and human waste contributed to stench and disease.

Females were separated from the males, and often were abused by the crew.

As many as half the slaves on any ship died during this cruel ‘Middle Passage.’

The slaves were traded for sugar and molasses, and the ships took this cargo back to New England.

Colonists there used the molasses to make more rum to trade for slaves in Africa.

Check for Understanding B ask A: What trade items were the three essential parts of the triangular trade? The three essential parts of the triangular trade were rum, slaves, and sugar and molasses. Be sure to re-state the question in your response!

Slavery was not economical in this region of small farms in an area with such a short growing season.

Some New Englanders in larger towns and cities did use slaves as house servants, cooks, gardeners, and stable-hands.

Some enslaved persons were able to save enough to buy their freedom. In fact, New England was home to more free blacks than any other region.

A free black man in New England might become a merchant, sailor, printer, carpenter, or farmer. Still, whites did not treat free blacks as equals.

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3. Why were there few slaves in New England? The climate and crops in their region made slavery uneconomical. They couldn't afford them. It was too easy for the slaves to escape to freedom in Canada. Their Puritan religion taught that slavery was ungodly.