The New England Colonies was made of 4 different colonies: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire. The founders of these colonies were John Winthrop ( Massachusetts), Thomas Hooker (Connecticut), Roger Williams (Rhode Island). New Hampshire is slightly different, having 2 founders. The founders were John Mason and Sir Ferdinando Gorges. The majority of the New England colonies were founded for religious reasons. The vast majority of the New England colonies were Puritans who were very strict. They would kick you out of the colony for being non Puritan. They had very strict rules involving church life.
In the New England colonies, the growing season was very short. This led to the economy being based mostly on trade. The most important people were merchants, then tradesmen, then farmers. Many of the products imported were luxuries. The main export was raw materials, whether it be fish, whales, lumber, iron or furs. One important trade was called triangular trade. This is where 3 places would trade, forming a triangle shape. One example of triangular trade was between the New England colonies, the West Indies, and Africa. This area of the country was very cold. Not only was it cold, the growing season was short and the soil was rocky and poor. This is a reason the economy here wasn't based off of agriculture. The New England colonies had vastly different types of government. For example, Massachusetts was a theocracy, and Connecticut had a document telling them what they could and couldn't do. |