The Colony I Would Live In

During the late 1200's early 1600's Europeans first started bring settlers over to America.

In1585, Sir Walter Raleigh decided to settle in America. An attempt which failed. As settlers kept coming over, there became thirteen colonies. These colonies were divided into sections. New England which was: Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Connecticut. The Middle Colonies which were: Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware. Last but not least, Southern Colonies consisted of: Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Out of these thirteen colonies, I'd want to live in the Massachusetts, a colony in the New England section.

Massachusetts was a great colony to live in. After all, you are guinea pigs. The people who sailed on the Mayflower were very lucky. Even though most of them died, the survivors must be strong enough to do anything. Massachusetts was a very important colony and is one of the most outstanding of the thirteen.

New England has bad soil, and long winters, which made it hard to make a lot of money off of farming. Therefore, New Englanders made grain mills and sawmills. New England were very good shipbuilders and had good trade with other countries. In Massachusetts, the fish industry really helped boost their economy. On the other hand, the Southern Colonies made a lot of money from farming, like growing rice, tobacco, and cattle. The Middle Colonies grew wheat. I don't think farming in a very good way to make money, because it requires a lot of laborious tasks.

The fact that New England didn't need so much land for farming helped it become a tight knit community. They had a village school, a village church and a town hall. Within three years, the Pennsylvania colony's (part of the Middle Colonies) population had gone from zero to nine thousand. It's impossible to have a close knit community with a population of nine thousand people. There's not a strong bond there.

In North and South Carolina, within thirty-eight years the population had gone from zero to more than a hundred thousand people. That's crazy! The most important of all, is EDUCATION. In 1636, Massachusetts Bay Colony established Harvard. A school to teach boys hot to be pastors. It was the first establishment of higher learning in the country. Also, in 1647, the colony passed a law saying that for every town with at least fifty families MUST have a school. In addition, towns with more than one hundred families had to have a Latin grammar school.

In conclusion, Massachusetts Bay Colony was the best way to go for me. The issue of education is key, without education you are nothing. Massachusetts Colony knew that and were smart enough to instill it. I think it was a very smart colony, and they knew how to succeed in many areas. It was as successful back then, as it is today.