Tlarissa Eara Keirra Kyahnte The Colonial Economy Tlarissa Eara Keirra Kyahnte Mr. Gautney Pd: A

The Middle Colonies Middle Colonies- Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York. These colonies had rich land. The middle colonies grew staple crops, such as wheat, barley, and oats. Slaves were important to the middle colonies. They worked as skilled laborers, such as blacksmiths, and carpenters.

Indentured servants filled the middle colonies between 1700-1775 About 135,000 came to the middle colonies from Britain and Germany. Half of them moved to Pennsylvania which made Philadelphia one of the largest British colonies.

Trade and free enterprise was important to the middle colonies’ economy. Merchants in Philadelphia and New York City exported colonial goods to the markets in Britain and West Indies. For example, wheat from New York and flour from Pennsylvania.

Women and the Economy Women ran farms and businesses, such as clothing stores, grocery stores, bakeries, and drug stores. Some women used their businesses as a voice in colonial politics. For example, one group of women printed in a newspaper in 1773: “ We are housekeepers, Pay our taxes, carry on Trade, and most of us are the Merchants, and as we in some measures contribute to the Support of Government, we ought to be Intitled to some of the sweets of it.”

Some women practiced medicine. Colonial laws and customs limited women’s economic activities. Most women worked in their homes. ( raising their kids, managed household, they sometimes earned money by washing clothes or selling household products.) Usually a married women could not work outside of the home without the husband’s permission. The husband also had he right to keep any money the wife has earned.

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