New England Farming Society

In New England, the Puritans created self-governing communities of religious congregations of farmers, or yeomen, and their families. A majority of residents of the region were small farmers. High-level politicians gave out plots of land to male settlers, or proprietors, who then divided the land among themselves. Large portions were usually given to men of higher social standing, but every white man who wasn't indentured or criminally bonded had enough land to support a family. The town meeting levied taxes, built roads, and elected officials who managed town affairs, and every male citizen had a voice in the town meeting. The towns did not have courts; courts were instead a function of a larger unit, the county, and court officials were appointed by the colony government.

Some farmers obtained land grants to create farms in undeveloped areas. Other farmers became agricultural innovators. They planted nutritious English grass such as red clover and timothy-grass, which provided more feed for livestock. Some grew potatoes, which provided a high production rate that was an advantage for small farms. Families increased their productivity by exchanging goods and labor with each other. They loaned livestock and grazing land to one another and worked together to spin yarn, sew quilts, and shuck corn. Migration, agricultural innovation, and economic cooperation were creative measures that helped preserve New England's yeoman society.

A New England Kitchen

This image illustrates a New England kitchen in the colonial days, with a woman weaving and a pot hanging over the fireplace.

Commerce in the New England Colonies

By the end of the 17th century, New England colonists had tapped into a sprawling Atlantic trade network that connected them to the English homeland as well as the West African slave coast, the Caribbean's plantation islands, and the Iberian Peninsula. Colonists relied upon British and European imports for glass, linens, hardware, machinery, and other items required for a colonist's household. In contrast to the southern colonies which could produce tobacco, rice, and indigo in exchange for imports, New England's colonies initially could not offer much to England beyond fish, furs, and lumber. 

Furs, Fish, and Timber

The hunting of wildlife provided furs for trading and food for the colonists' tables. The New England colonies were located near the ocean's abundance of whales, fish, and other marketable sea life. Excellent harbors and some inland waterways offered protection for ships and valuable freshwater fishing. While the rocky soil in the New England colonies was not as fertile as that of the middle or southern colonies, the land provided rich resources, including timber, which was valued for building homes and ships. Timber could also be exported back to England, where there was a shortage. Some merchants exploited the vast amounts of timber along the coasts and rivers of northern New England. They funded sawmills that supplied cheap wood for houses and shipbuilding. Hundreds of New England shipwrights built oceangoing ships, which they sold to British and American merchants. By the mid-18th century in New England, shipbuilding became a staple industry as the British crown often turned to the cheap, yet strongly built American ships. There was a shipyard at the mouth of almost every river in New England. 

The Rise of the Merchant Class

At the same time, the rural way of life began to face a crisis as the region's population nearly doubled each generation. As colonists in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island continued to subdivide their land between farmers, the farms became too small to support single families. A growing class of artisans, shopkeepers, and merchants provided services to the growing farming population. Blacksmiths, wheelwrights, and furniture makers set up shops in rural villages where they built and repaired goods needed by farm families. Traders set up stores selling English manufactures such as cloth, iron utensils, and window glass, as well as West Indian products like sugar and molasses. The storekeepers of these shops sold their imported goods in exchange for crops and other local products, including roof shingles, potash, and barrel staves. These local goods were shipped to towns and cities all along the Atlantic Coast, and enterprising men set up stables and taverns along wagon roads to service these trade routes.

The Triangular Trade

After these products had been delivered to port towns such as Boston, Salem, New Haven, Newport, and Providence, merchants then exported them to the West Indies, where they were traded for molasses, sugar, gold coins, and bills of exchange (credit slips). They carried the West Indian products to New England factories where the raw sugar was turned into granulated sugar and the molasses distilled into rum. The gold coins and credit slips were sent to England where they were exchanged for manufactures, which were then shipped back to the colonies and sold, along with the sugar and rum, to farmers. This system of exchange became known as the "Triangular Trade." Other New England merchants took advantage of the rich fishing areas along the Atlantic Coast and financed a large fishing fleet, transporting its catch of mackerel and cod to the West Indies and Europe. Many merchants became very wealthy and came to dominate the society of seaport cities.

The Growth of Infrastructure 

New England's economy grew steadily over the entire colonial era despite the lack of a staple crop that could be exported. All of the provinces and many towns tried to foster economic growth by subsidizing projects that improved the infrastructure, such as roads, bridges, inns, and ferries. They gave bounties and subsidies or monopolies to sawmills, grist mills, iron mills, pulling mills (which treated cloth), saltworks, and glassworks. Most importantly, colonial legislatures set up a legal system that proved conducive to business enterprise by resolving disputes, enforcing contracts, and protecting property rights. Hard work and entrepreneurship characterized the region as the Puritans and Yankees endorsed the "Protestant Ethic," which enjoined men to work hard as part of their divine calling.

The benefits of growth were widely distributed in New England, reaching from merchants to farmers to hired laborers. The rapidly growing population led to shortages of good farm land on which young families could establish themselves; one result was delaying of marriages and another was moving to new lands farther west. In the towns and cities, there was strong entrepreneurship and a steady increase in the specialization of labor. Wages for men went up steadily before 1775, and new occupations were opening for women including weaving, teaching, and tailoring. The region bordered New France, and in the numerous wars going on at the time, the British poured money into purchasing supplies, building roads, and paying colonial soldiers. The coastal ports began to specialize in fishing, international trade, and shipbuilding and, after 1780, whaling. Combined with a growing urban market for farm products, these factors allowed the economy to flourish despite the lack of technological innovation.