Founding the Colonies

Motives for finding the New England colonies were mainly for religious reasons; because it gave Puritans religious freedom. However reasons for founding the middle colonies are a bit different, Delaware and New York were founded in hope for economic gains. Pennsylvania was founded for Quakers to escape any religious prosecution. New Jersey also had lots of Quaker inhabitants, but the actual land was given as a gift. The Middle colonies were also known as the "bread colonies" because their main export was grain, and they relied mostly on trade, however the New England colonies relied more on farming.

New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey were all royal colonies and Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, were Proprietary colonies.

Laws in the Puritan colonies revolved around their beliefs and religion, their leaders were usually political and religious officials, religion was also the reason multiple of the colonies were set up, so that they could have their own freedoms and escape religious persecution. Religion shaped lots of the culture in these colonies.

When the New England Puritans settled in the new world, they wanted more and more land, and therefore drove the Indians westward. The two groups could not live together and in peace and in some areas they were really violent towards the natives. For example the Anglo-Powhatan wars, the Pequot war, and also the English burning down whole Indian villages. The Quakers however were pacifists and even promoted Native American toleration. The Quakers believed in living in peace along side the Native Americans, and in some cases they even employed them. Because of their unique treatment toward the natives, some southern Indian tribes came to live in the Pennsylvania area; because they knew that there they could live peacefully without being persecuted.