Colonial Economies

By: Alexis DyerVictoria JuhaszRebecca Telese Nicole WilliamsColonial Economies

Southern EconomiesTobacco.Overproduction. Production of tobacco exceeded demand so the price of tobacco suffered severe declines.Farmers expanded their fields for tobacco and due to that more slaves came in.Rice. By building dams and dikes along rivers it created rice patties.Rice was hard to grow, so more African slaves were hired to do the hard work.Eliza Lucas cultivated the West Indian plant which was indigo and found it was a blue dye.Indigo contributed to the South Carolina economy.

Pictures: google.com/imagesNorthern Economic and Technological Life.More diverse agriculture in the north.Harnessed water power to run small mills for grinding grain, processing cloth, and milling lumber: large scale ship building operations began to form.Iron works:The first effort to make a metal industry was in Saugus, Massachusetts.They used water power to control the heat in a charcoal furnace.Ended up becoming a financial failure.Metal works gradually became an important part of colonial economy.

Pictures: google.com/imagesThe Extent and Limits of TechnologyHalf the farmers in the colonies were so primitively equipped that they didnt even have a plow.Members of households didnt have any pots or kettles for cooking.Only about half the households owned guns and rifles.Many households had few, if any, candles.Relatively few colonial families owned spinning wheels or looms, so they must have purchased their yarn and cloth from merchants.

Pictures: google.com/imagesThe Rise of Colonial CommerceColonial commerce was remarkable because it was able to survive it all.They experimented with different types of currency like:Tobacco certificates (secured by tobacco stores and warehouses)Land certificates (secured by property)Beaver skinsThe mainland colonies received sugar, molasses, and slaves from the Caribbean markets in return for rum, agricultural products, meat and fish.Many colonial products-fish, flour, wheat, and meat, all of which England could produce for itself-required markets outside the British empire.

Pictures: google.com/imagesThe Rise of ConsumerismThe population began to grow with new prosperity and commercialism, which created a hunger for the consumption of material goods, which would show off their wealth and social status.One thing that spurred it was the increasing separation of the American societies by class.Europe was creating more affordable good for Americans to buy.Consumption also grew because of increasing tendency among colonists to take on debt, to finance purchases, and the willingness of some merchants to offer credit.

Pictures: google.com/imagesThe Rise of Consumerism (continued)The growing importance of consumption and refinement was visible in the public spaces.The ideal of being educated, refined, gentlemanly, or ladylike, became increasingly powerful throughout the colonies. They bought magazines about London society, and they strived to develop themselves as witty and educated conversationalists.

Pictures: google.com/imagesTHE END