These colonies were founded by people who were expelled from Massachusetts by the Puritans for religious and social differences, such as Roger Williams in Rhode Island. Because of this, these other New England colonies were much tolerant to all religions. The major cultural aspect of the New England colonies is religion, both the intolerance by the Puritans and the freedom of religion by the other colonies. .
The middle colonies were geographically different from New England in that most of the region had fertile soil well suited for farming grain and wheat. These became the bread basket of the colonies. Selling their excess grain from ports such as New York City and Philadelphia, tenant farmers made enough money to eventually buy land. During King Georges War, Middle colonies made tremendous profit selling needed grain for the British and colonial troops that fought in the Caribbean. After the conflict, poor grain crops in Europe made Middle colonies grain even more expensive, reaping bigger profits for farmers. The major cultural factor of the Middle States was diversity. Each area had its own separate culture and origin. The New York area was first settled by the Dutch West India Co. in 1664. The result of this was a Dutch-like strong trading economy like the Netherlands. Along with this came many Dutch customs that remained even after English took control of the New Netherlands, the name given to New York City(1). Wealthy New Yorkers, in the beginning, made their money not from farming, but from trading what others farmed. Pennsylvania's culture was most influenced by the Quakers that founded it under William Penn. Being mostly a Quaker settlement, they ran it comparably to the Puritans in Plymouth, but were more tolerant. They did not expel those who did not practice their religion, as long as they kept to themselves. .
The Southern colonies were the final group. Made up of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, they were cash crop societies.
