Southern Colonies: Economy

The Southern Colonies: Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia

Farming

     The Southern colonies were the best place to farm. They had hot, humid summers and mild winters, perfect for a year round growing season. They had a plethora of crops, leading to cash crops. Farming was the best source of food for the Southern Colonies.  There were 3 main crops

1. Tobacco
2. Rice
3. Indigo

     Indigo was probably the best money-maker for farmers in the Southern Colonies. It was the main source of blue dye, and was discovered by Eliza Lucas. There was only 1 large city, because of large farms called plantations that were owned by very wealthy families. Normally, these plantations were self sufficient, and almost ran like a small town themselves.

Slavery

     Slaves were a big part of the plantations. Since the land was in such large amounts, there needed to be more than a simple family to run it, so the colonies looked to African Americans. Since African Americans were looked down at as lesser to the colonists, they served the purpose of a slave. Normally, they worked in groups of about 20, before a law was passed to cut it down to 7 - 8 at a time. They worked for about 15 hours a day, and lived in small 1 room cabins. These cabins were normally in the low-lying areas that was useless to the family because it flooded. Despite all these hardships, these people were able to maintain their culture.

Slaves on Strike      The slaves were not dumb like the colonists thought they were. Since they were treated so poorly, the slaves started to find ways of avoiding work. They would break the tools, which were necessary for the farming, worked very slowly, and messed up purposely. Some even revolted, and ran away. This caused many laws to be passed so they could not plan attacks and escapes.