Northern and Southern Colonies Differences

Northern and Southern Colonies Differences

The Northern and Southern Colonies of North America were politically, economically, and culturally very different from one another. The people of northern and southern colonies came to the new world for very different reasons and as time went on their differences would only grow. The differences between them would ultimately culminate in the American Civil War, which took place in the mid-nineteenth century and nearly ended destroyed, the country we know today. For that reason, it is important that we understand how the northern and southern colonies grew so separately from each other.

In today's world when we think about the southern colonies of early America, we think of slavery. It is true that slavery did become a major part of life in the southern colonies, but it did not start out that way. Originally southern colonies depended on a servant labor system. Nearly eighty percent of the workers in the Chesapeake were indentured servants and there were very few slaves. These indentured servants were usually poor English settlers looking for work. They usually had no skills or education so they had little other choice but to endure servitude. Servitude usually lasted four to seven years after, which they would be granted their freedom.

The labor itself was harsh and brutal. Most servants died before completing their time and never getting to enjoy owning their own land. As time passed rules got stricter and servants spent more and more time in servitude. This was due to the fact that it was very hard for plantation owners to get new servants as most people wanted to work for themselves. The new world has so much land even poor people good buy their own land for very little. Because of the southern colonies great flat and fertile land it was ideal for farming. In the beginning of the seventeenth century, there were a great deal of small plantations in the south but by the mid- seventeenth century things had changed and large plantation owners now possessed the majority of the land. This major shift in wealth placed a rift between the rich and the poor. The landless poor majority grew more and more discontent with their lives. The government only worked for the rich and against the poor and finally Bacon's rebellion erupted.

After Bacon's rebellion it became increasingly clear to the white plantation owners how much more appealing slaves were. They could be controlled politically and kept in permanent servitude. African Americans had been