Sunday, September 23, 2012

What was everyday life like in the Southern Colonies?

The Southern colonies were North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, and Maryland.
Of the three colony regions (New England, Middle, and Southern), the Southern colonies were located in the warmest part of the United States.
The sunny weather and easy access to land helped the Southern colonies prosper economically. Many people who paid their way to the New World were given land for homesteading. As a result, plantations flourished.
Rich and poor, however, enjoyed different standards of living. The rich were able to provide their children with good educations, while the poor often had little means to provide similarly for their own children.
Farmers in their own right were able to raise their own cows and sheep. They also grew wheat, barley, rye, corn, and oats. Some farms also had fruit orchards. All in all, food was plentiful in the Southern colonies.
With the plantation system came the scourge of slavery. Although many slave owners treated their slaves well, others inflicted horrific abuse upon those under their authority.
As for everyday life, most people worked in one capacity or another on a farm. Fully 75% of commerce resulted from farming in the Southern colonies. First, a farmer had to clear the land; this usually took about a month. Next, the crops had to be planted. Besides farming, the people also built brick houses to live in. This type of labor was usually done by men. Meanwhile, women took care of the affairs of the household. They made clothing for their families (by hand), cooked, raised the children, and did the laundry. The latter was done by hand if the family was poor. Meanwhile, wealthy families had servants to tend to the laundry.
On the plantations, slaves worked in both the fields and owners' mansions. Indoor slaves did all of the cooking and cleaning. Meanwhile, field slaves grew and harvested the crops. For more on everyday life in the Southern colonies, please refer to the links below.
https://allthingsliberty.com/2013/01/life-in-the-southern-colonies-part-1-of-3/

https://m.landofthebrave.info/southern-colonies.htm

https://www.ushistory.org/us/5e.asp

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