The causes of and events leading up to the American Revolution are integral to understanding the revolution as whole, including how it happened, why it happened, and why events unfolded the way they did during the revolution itself. Learn more with Storyboard That!
Development of the American 13 Colonies before the American Revolution | Causes of the American Revolution Lesson Plans
Storyboard Text
ECONOMIES
NEW ENGLAND COLONIES
MID-ATLANTIC COLONIES
SOUTHERN COLONIES
PRIMARY PRODUCTIONS
Trade and commerce were immensely important. With rising early industries, and crucial seaport trade through cities like Boston, New England colonies became integral parts of British commerce. Foreign goods were traded including rum, spice, and slaves.
A mixture of farming and commerce developed here. Trade through port cities, such as New York and Philadelphia, brought in goods. Maritime businesses and fisheries flourished. Farms producing wheat, barley, and rye proved profitable for the British.
Cash crops were the primary economic foundations. Through slave labor, plantations provided the colonies with major crops like rice, tobacco, and cotton. Because of this cash crop economy, they generally lacked industry and mercantilism.
Primary productions and functions of Britain's New England colonies included fisheries, international trade and commerce, and the development of industry. Farmers also increasingly became self-sufficient.
Their primary productions included profitable crops such as wheat, rye, and indigo. Their functions included serving as trade hubs and growing centers of diverse culture where German, Dutch, Scottish, and Irish immigrants all settled for new opportunities.
The Southern colonies' primary productions included growing major cash crops (rice, tobacco, cotton, and sugarcane). Their main function was to to produce raw materials for future manufacturing and trade. Their economy kept the slave trade in demand.