Citiesandtrade
In 17(10 most Ameri can s were far me rs. But
important towns had grown IIp w hosepeo ple
earnedtheirliving by trade and man u fact u ring.
Ph iladelp h ia.with its 28,000inhabitants.wasthe
largest. AnEnglishvisito rmarveledat th e speed
withw h ichithad grown."ItIS not;111h un d red
yearssince the first treewas cutwherethecity
no w stands,"he wrote. "andnowit has more
thanthr eetho usan d sixhundredhouses."
ThesizeofPhiladelphiawasnottheonly thing
thatimpressedvisitors.LongbeforemostEnglish
cities. itsstreet swerepav edwithbrickandsrrccr
lampswerelite\'crynight.Theonlyexceptionto
this was when th e moon was shining. to r'the
citizensofPhiladelphiadid notbelievein wasting
money!The next biggestcities after Philadelphia were
NewYorkand Boston,withabout25,IXX)people
each. Allthreetownsowedmuchoftheir pro s-
peritytotheprofitsofthetransatl antictradethat
theycarriedonwithEngland.Theirshipsexporte-d
furs, rirnbc r.tobacco, and cotton , and brought
back fashionableclothes.finefurniture, and o ther
manufacturedg oo ds.Their merchantsalsotraded
with o neanother.
T h is in rcr-Amcn can rrade helped to produce a
fe elin gbetweenthecitiesthattheyall belongedto
thesameAmerican nation.
I I... .-,,,"" I ". "/.·.· 1 d I"
1'liil .I,I J" .II' n k r( ."tl r,
, "5 COl.(lNI A. L u eINAMERICAThe peopleoftheMiddleColonieswere-us ually
moretolerantofreligiou sandother differencesthan
th eNewEnglanders.Many o f thcmalso had
Ge-rman,DutchorSwe d ishances to rs rathe rthan
English ones.
'I'heSouthernCol oni esofVirgini a.rhc Carolinas
andGeorgiafo rmedth e thirdgroup.In theirhotand
fertilerivervalleyswealthylandownersfarmedlarge
p lant ati o ns, T he ylivedin fine hou ses , withwide.
coolverandahs fromw h ichtht'ycould lookoutOVCT
theirfieldsofto bacco or corron. Most of t h eworkIII
thefields wasdone byb lackslaves.Slaveryw asrare
111 theotherAm ericancolon ies. Burthe pros pe rityo f
theplantation-owningsouthe rne rswasalready
b eg inn ing to d ep end upo nit.
Thehouses of thesouthe rnplantationowne rshad
expensive fu rn iture,m uch of i timpo rtedfrom
Europe .Closeb y stoodgrou pso f smaller, mort'
simpleb uildin g s-csrablcs.wash ho uses,blacks m iths'
shopsand the linlc huts in wh ichtheblack slaves
lived.And almost alwaysa riverflowednear b y.w ith
a w harfwher e sea-goingsh ipscould beload edto
carry the p lanta tio n 'scropstoEng land.In allthree grou pso fcoloniesmost peo plestilllived
lessthan fiftym ilesfromth e Coast,This wascalled
"the tidewater' period ofsettlemen t.Thosepeople
furthest inlandhad trave led up tidal riverslikethe
J amesami th e H u dso n, clearin gth e treesandsetting
upfarmsalo ng theirbank s,
Duringthe fifty yearsafter 1733sett lersmoved
deeperint orhccounucur.T heytraveledwestIIll0