Directions: For this activity, students will create a brochure that outlines the different geographic, economic and social life characteristics of the three colonial regions. Students will need to think of themselves as real estate agents, advertising the English colonies to people back in Europe.

• Use the templates shown here as a model for your brochure.
• Then, click on each of the tabs below these directions to open the information you will need to complete each section of your brochure

Outer Panels

Inner Panels

Shape Divider - Style triangle

Mapping the Colonies

Geography and Economy

Government and Religion

Family Life and Education

Mapping the Colonies

Directions Part II - Mapping the Colonies: The cover of your brochure is the first thing your potential buyers are going to see, so it's important that it "pops," but it also needs to be informative. Create a cover for your brochure that meets the following requirements.

• Write your name and period in the bottom left corner of your cover.
• Add a title or a slogan to your brochure cover (get creative) at the top of your brochure.
• Label each of the 13 English colonies and the Atlantic Ocean.
• Color the Southern, Middle and New England Colonial Regions, and include a key.

PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT YOU ARE DOING! Refer to the examples above for how  toformat your brochure.

Geography and Economy

Directions Part II - Geography and Economy: Use the reading and maps below to create the New England, Middle and Southern colonial regions panels of your brochure. For each panel, include the following:

• Add a title for each colonial region panel (ex. The New England Colonies).
• For each panel, title one sub section Geography and Include three bullet points outlining each region's geography.
• For each panel, title one sub section Economy and Include three bullet points outlining each region's economy.
• Include at least 1 image related to the geography and/or economy of each region. The picture should not be a map of the region (we already have that on the cover)
• Pre-IB Only: Add a "Did You Know?" fun fact (or not-so-fun fact) to each section. Do a little research on your own (not on Tree of Ed) to find something interesting about the subject of each section. Add your factoid  at the bottom of each section with the title, "Did You Know?"

The New England Colonies

The Middle Colonies

The Southern Colonies

The New England Colonies: The New England region included the colonies of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. As you will read, the first settlers of these colonies came to America seeking religious freedom.

In New England, farming was difficult because of the long, cold winters and the region’s rocky, hilly wilderness. But the forests and the sea provided useful resources and ways to make a living. New Englanders built their economy on small farms, lumbering, fishing, shipbuilding, and trade.

The Middle Colonies: The four Middle Colonies were New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. The landscape of this region ranged from the rich soil of coastal New Jersey and Delaware to the valleys and wooded mountains of New York and Pennsylvania. Farmers in the Middle Colonies raised a variety of crops and livestock. Lumbering, shipbuilding, and other occupations added to the many opportunities here.

The people who settled the Middle Colonies represented many cultures and religions. One important group, the Quakers, started the colony of Pennsylvania. Like the early settlers of New England, the Quakers were looking for freedom to practice their religion. Others seeking religious freedom soon followed. Settlements of French, Dutch, Germans, Swedes, Danes, Finns, Scots, Irish, and English spread throughout the Middle Colonies.

The Southern Colonies: The five Southern Colonies were Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. This region featured broad rivers and vast wetlands that gradually merged with the sea. The soil and the hot, wet climate were ideal for growing tobacco, rice, and other cash crops.

Wealthy colonists took advantage of these conditions by establishing large farms called plantations. Plantation owners relied on indentured servants and enslaved Africans to sow and harvest their fields. After being harvested, the crops could be brought by river to the coast and loaded on ships for transport to other colonies and to Europe.

Government and Religion

Directions Part II - Government and Religion: Use the reading and images below to create the first panel on Living in the colonies, Government and Religion. For this panel, include the following:

• Title one sub section Government and include at least 3 bullet points outlining government in the colonies.
• Title one sub section Religion and include at least 3 bullet points outlining religion in the colonies.
• Include at least one image related to the government and/or religion information you included on this panel.
• Pre-IB Only: Add a "Did You Know?" fun fact (or not-so-fun fact) to each section. Do a little research on your own (not on Tree of Ed) to find something interesting about the subject of each section. Add your factoid  at the bottom of each section with the title, "Did You Know?"

Government in the Colonies: All the colonies were settled with the permission of the king of England. For each colony, the king issued a charter, a formal document that outlined the colony’s geographic boundaries and specified how it would be governed. But because the colonies were so far from England, they needed to be able to make their own laws and keep peace and order.
​

Meeting of the Assembly

The colonies developed different forms of government, depending on the settlement’s purpose. Most of the colonies were self-governing. Colonists elected members of their community to make their laws.

Many colonies also had a governor appointed by the king. As the king’s representative, the governor could overrule the elected officials. Some colonies also had councils, groups of men who represented the English businessmen involved in starting the colony.

In Massachusetts, religious colonists established a theocracy, a government whose leaders ruled in the name of God. In time, however, a system of town meetings evolved in which colonists voted for representatives to govern them.

In many ways, the colonies were more democratic than England. Still, not all colonists had a voice in the government. Usually, only free, white, landowning men were allowed to vote. In some colonies, voters also had to belong to the preferred church. Other colonists (including women, servants, slaves, and skilled tradesmen) who were not landowners had no voting rights.

Religion in the Colonies: Religion was an important part of colonial life. Most colonists tried to lead good lives based on their faith. Children grew up reading the Bible from cover to cover several times over. In New England, the sound of a drum or horn called Puritans to worship on Sunday morning. “Captains of the watch” made sure everyone was a “Sabbathkeeper.” Sometimes houses were searched to ensure that everyone was at church. Church services were held in the town meetinghouse. This was the most important building in the community and was used for all public meetings. Inside were rows of wooden benches, called pews, and a pulpit (a platform where the preacher stood). A “seating committee” carefully assigned seats, with the best ones going to older, wealthy people. Services could last as long as five hours. At midday, villagers would go to “noon-houses” near the church to warm themselves by a fire, eat, and socialize. Then they returned to church for the long afternoon sermon.

The Great Awakening: Beginning in the 1730s, a religious movement known as the Great Awakening swept through the colonies. This movement was spurred by a feeling that people had lost their religious faith. “The forms of religion were kept up,” a Puritan observed, but there was “little of the power” of God in it.
​

To revive people’s religious spirit, preachers traveled from town to town holding outdoor “revival” meetings. There, they delivered fiery sermons to huge crowds. Their words touched the hearts and souls of many colonists. Benjamin Franklin wrote about the change he observed in Philadelphia: “It seemed as if all the world were growing religious, so that one could not walk through the town in an evening without hearing psalms [Bible songs] sung in different families of every street.”

​​The Great Awakening had a powerful effect on the colonies. It helped spread the idea that all people are equal in the eyes of God. Ordinary people could understand God’s will if they had an open heart and a desire to know God’s truth. By encouraging ideas of liberty, equality, and self-reliance, the Great Awakening helped pave the way for the American Revolution.

A Revival Meeting

Family Life and Education

Directions Part II - Family Life and Education: Use the reading and images below to create the first panel on Living in the colonies, Family Life and Education. For this panel, include the following:

• Title one sub section Family Life and include at least 3 bullet points outlining family life in the colonies.
• Title one sub section Education and include at least 3 bullet points outlines education in the colonies.
• Include at least one image related to the family life and/or education information you included on this panel.
• Pre-IB Only: Add a "Did You Know?" fun fact (or not-so-fun fact) to each section. Do a little research on your own (not on Tree of Ed) to find something interesting about the subject of each section. Add your factoid  at the bottom of each section with the title, "Did You Know?"

Colonial Family Life

Family Life: The concept of family has changed often throughout history. Today, most people think of a family as being made up of parents and their children. In colonial times, however, families might include grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, and stepchildren.

Colonial men and women generally married in their early to mid-20s. Those who arrived in America as indentured servants were not allowed to marry until they had gained their freedom.

Men outnumbered women throughout the colonies. As a result, almost every woman was assured of receiving a marriage proposal. For a young woman, though, life as a wife and mother often proved to be even harder than life as an indentured servant.
​

Large Families: Colonial families were generally large. Most families had between seven and ten children. (Benjamin Franklin had 16 brothers and sisters.) Farm families, in particular, needed all the hands they could get to help with chores. Religious and cultural backgrounds influenced colonists’ ideas about raising children. But almost everywhere in the colonies, children were expected to be hard-working, productive members of the family.

Married women gave birth many times, but nearly half of all children died before they reached adulthood. Childhood deaths were especially high in the Middle and Southern Colonies, due to the deadly disease of malaria. Adults often died young as well. After the death of a wife or husband, men and women usually remarried quickly. Thus, households often swelled with stepchildren as well as adopted orphans (children whose parents had died).

Whether colonists lived in cities, in villages, or on isolated farms, their lives focused on their families. Family members took care of one another because there was no one else to do so. Young families often welcomed elderly grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins into their homes when they could no longer care for themselves. It didn’t matter if there was barely enough room for everyone. No one would turn away a needy relative.

Education: Except in New England, most children in the colonies received little formal education. Neither the Middle nor the Southern Colonies had public schools.
​

​In the Southern Colonies, most families were spread out along rivers. A few neighbors might get together to hire a teacher for their children. Wealthy planters often hired tutors to educate younger children at home. Older children were sent to schools in distant cities, or even England, to complete their education.

In the Middle Colonies, religious differences among Quakers, Catholics, Jews, Baptists, and other religious groups slowed the growth of public education. Each religious group or family had to decide for itself how to educate its children. Some groups built church schools. Others were content to have parents teach their children at home.
​

A New England Schoolhouse

Only in New England were towns required to provide public schools. The Puritans’ support for education was inspired by their religious faith. They wanted their children to be able to read the Bible. To encourage education, Massachusetts passed a law in 1647 that required every town with 50 families or more to hire an instructor to teach their children to read and write. Towns with more than 100 families were required to build a school. Similar laws were passed in other New England colonies. Parents were asked to contribute whatever they could to the village school. Contributions might be money, vegetables, firewood, or anything else the school needed. Often, land was set aside as “school meadows” or “school fields.” This land was then rented out to raise money for teachers’ salaries.

Schools were one-room buildings with a chimney and fireplace in the center. There were no boards to write on or maps. Pencils and paper were scarce. Students shouted out spelling words and wrote math problems in ink on pieces of bark. There was usually one book, the New England Primer, which was used to teach the alphabet, syllables, and prayers.

Most colonists believed that boys needed more education than girls. “Female education, in the best families,” wrote First Lady Abigail Adams, “went no further than writing and arithmetic; [and in] rare instances, music, and dancing.”

Shape Divider - Style mountains