Prior to 1770, the thirteen colonies of America were divided into three groups. The three groups included the New England colonies, the Atlantic colonies and the Southern colonies. This was because of very many factors among them their social, cultural and geographic components. With these divisions, it was easy for England to manage the colonies and by the time they were being merged, it was problematic to do so because each group of colonies had its sets of attributes that could not be easily fused to the others.
With regard to their economic and climatic powers southern colonies, the climate of the region was warm and had rich soils coupled with many navigable rivers and thus the colonies in this region became a major agricultural area (Wirkner 21). New England had massive forest cover which provided lumber that was used to make ships and the ocean was used for fishing. The mid Atlantic colonies on the other hand had a cool climate with rich soil and therefore were used to produce staple food crops such as corn.
In regard to their political life, each of the three colonies also ran their democratic governments differently. The Middle conies had the government and church separated and the New England had the church governing the government. The southern colonies on the hand had its wealthy land owners control the government and the church because they are the ones who paid for their own expenses (Wirkner 22).
Socially, the three colonies also developed differently. The New England colonies developed a one class system which was the middle class. The middle colonies on the other hand had a two class system which consisted of the upper class that was made up of the rich land owners and the middle class which comprised of professionals who lived in the large cities. The Southern colonies had a three class system made up of the upper class who were the wealthy plantation owners, the middle class which comprised of the small plantation owners and the lower class which was made up of poor whites and Negroes (Shuster 25). These among other factors posed a major hindrance into the formation of a union in 1770.
Works Cited
Shuster, Robert. The 13 Colonies. Bangalore: Sevencide. 2002
Wikner, Linda. Learning About America’s Colonial Period With Graphic Organizers. New York: Rosen Classroom. 2006
