Northern Vs Southern States, Education

It seems important to understand the similarities of the colonial regions in order to comprehend the implications they had. By comparing the Middle Colonies and New England, and by contrasting the future North to the South, it becomes relatively easy to draw patterns.

In 1760, the population in New England counts 16,000 Africans, 29,000 for the Middle Colonies whereas the South populates 205,000 Africans. Slavery is then mainly concentrated in the South, involving more agrarian activities and land farmers. Life expectancy in New England and the Middle Colonies were higher while death rates were superior in the South.

The cities mainly initiated in New England and then followed by the Middle Colonies. South colonies had smaller towns, more fields. Nevertheless, cities involve more social problems such as crime and vice. The rural exodus of poor people to the cities explains the reason Revolutionary crisis started in the cities.

New England and the Middle Colonies (to a smaller degree) symbolized the industrial power where industries such as metal manufacturing, lumbering, mining and fishing were predominant in these regions. For the most part, they were white workers (artisans, crafters, silver working) and the trades would take place between the colonies. To the contrary of these two regions, the South would focus more on massive slaves work to grow tobacco and rice that they would sell to England. As we can notice, the two trading systems have different markets. New England and the Middle colonies would trade more internally, helping merchants with the Act of Navigation, whereas the South targets England as a market for more commercial trades.

Concerning religion and education, New England primary had universities based on a religious belief (i.e., Harvard and Yale) but progressively went to a religious liberalism. The Middle Colonies were famous for their religious pluralism, one of the first universities was Princeton in New Jersey.

New England and the Middle Colonies had smaller families but more stable whereas the South had just the opposite with higher death rates. As a general statement, the two fundamental movements of the Great Awakening and the Enlightenment help people open up their mind and think more critically. All these factors contributed for New England and the Middle Colonies to become the North.

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