The Southern Colonies

The Southern Colonies included Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Virginia. These colonies had fertile soil and rolling hills and forests, so the economy was mostly agricultural. Many colonies grew cash crops, such as tobacco. Plantations and farms grew crops like tobacco, rice, indigo, and cotton. 

Maryland

• Founded:1634
• Founded by: George Calvert was the father of Maryland, but his son Lord Baltimore was the founder because he died
• Reason founded: Safe haven for Catholics
• Government: First proprietary government - governed by a lord proprietor
• Assembly first made up of freemen, council, and governor
• Later on went to proxy government, then delegate system, and then finally the representative system and bicameral legislature (had 2 houses)
• Religion: Catholic
• Economy: Agricultural based (mostly tobacco)
• Important documents: Maryland Toleration Act
• Important residents: Lord Baltimore, Calvert family
• People mostly were either planters or farmers
• Maryland was a proprietary colony, then a royal colony

Carolinas

• Founded:1663
• Founded by: 8 English nobles
• Reason founded: Economic opportunity
• poor farmers moved to north
• rich planters moved to the south
• Government: Fundamental Constitutions
• Religion: There was no set religion, but people who had been living in Barbados, along with Germans, Swiss, French Protestants, and Spanish Jews immigrated to the Carolinas
• Economy: Farming - mainly rice and indigo (economy depended heavily on slave labor)
• Important documents: Fundamental Constitutions- divided land up between classes, but had religious liberty
• Important residents: Earl of Shaftesbury, William Sayle
• Slaves and indentured servants did work on plantations in the South. Poor farmers worked on small farms in the North.
• The Carolinas were the least industrial out of all the colonies and was not too close to European influences (North), and depended heavily on slaves to grow rice and indigo in the swamps (South).

Georgia

• Founded: 1732
• Founded by: James Oglethorpe
• Reason founded: For criminals and debtors who were in some kind of trouble somewhere else to have a fresh start.
• Government: Consisted of governors and other elected personnel.
• Religion: Tolerant of Jews and Protestants
• Economy: Farming industry
• Important documents: Magna Carta
• Important residents: James Oglethorpe
• At first, slavery was forbidden, and farms above 500 acres were not allowed. Then, Oglethorpe changed the rules to allow large plantations and slave labor, so the colony grew more quickly. Most people worked on farms or plantations.
• Georgia did not have schools, the mail system was poor because mail rarely reached inland Georgia, and there was very little community life because most settlers were spaced far apart.

Virginia

• Founded: 1606
• Founded by: Virginia Company of London
• Reason founded: The Virginia Company was given a charter of land by King James to settle lands between present-day North Carolina and the Potomac River. Also, England wanted to establish a colony in the New World because other countries were gaining more riches from settling there, and Virginia was the first colony for England.
• Government: Council of 13 men (failed because of arguing), then had the first representative government
• Religion: Anglican
• Economy: Agriculture (tobacco)
• Important documents: Great Charter
• Important residents: John Smith
• People farmed tobacco, and settlers had problems with Indians.
• Bacon's Rebellion started here due to the friendly policy with Native Americans

What? Still don't understand? Watch this informative video about the Southern Colonies to get a better grasp of their origins.

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