What ethnic groups were in the colonies?

Question

I need to know about...

Mass.:

Rhode Island:

NH:

New Jersey:

Delaware:

Maryland:

Virginia:

Please be honest and state your source if you have one! Thanks!

Answer 1

NJ had English, Dutch, Swedish, German, Irish, Scottish, Jewish, French (Hugenouts or Protestants), Africans, Polish, Spanish.

  Most were English, Dutch or African....25 percent were slaves in North Jersey.

Answer 2

Ethnic groups often overlap and in some cases span the states we recognize today.

Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Massachusetts were primarily English Colonies

Delaware & New Jersey were primarily dutch but were eventually taken over by the British. They were of mixed ethnicity and religion

Maryland & Virginia were primarily plantation areas by royal charters in England

Answer 3

My source is my own studies in history, so I'll try to help you out.

Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire were primarily settled by Europeans from the British Isles.  By the mid-1700's most of the Native American groups in these areas had been driven to the west and north, although New Hampshire was still on the frontier, in a manner of speaking, just like parts of New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia; many of these settlers in the back country were Scots-Irish, who came originally from Ulster in Northern Ireland (I think it was James I who encouraged Lowland Scots to colonize Ulster). There were also blacks in these locations, primarily slaves, but there were a number of "free men of color" as well, such as Crispus Attucks, a casualty of the Boston Massacre.

New Jersey had a number of different ethnic groups; the Dutch had explored and settled in areas near what is now New York City and also in the upper Delaware River valley.  After the Dutch ceded their colonies in this region to the English, many natives from the British Isles arrived, notably those of the Quaker faith.  There were also Swedish immigrants who had settled in the lower Delaware valley; their mark is left in place names such as Swedesboro NJ and Chritiana DE.  Some Swedes also settled in the Philadelphia area; Gloria Dei Church is better known as "Old Swedes' Church;" it's located in Philadelphia.  Again, there were both slave owners and a small percentage of free blacks here, and there was also a Native American presence as well; New Jersey had the first Indian reservation.

Delaware was often referred to as The Three Lower Counties and  thought of as part of Pennsylvania.  Again, there was the Swedish presence, Dutch traders, and, of course, the people who came from Britain.

Maryland had an English flavor from its start.  Ceciluis Calvert, a Catholic nobleman, obtained a land grant from Charles I and intended for his colony to be a place of refuge for British Catholics, who suffered civil penalties if they would not convert to the Church of England, as well as facing criminal penalties for the practice of their faith.  Like its neighbor to the south, Virginia, it had large estates, slaves, a minority of free blacks, and, like Rhode Island and its neighbor to the north, Pennsylvania, a policy of religious tolerance.  Many Quakers settled here for that reason.  The western part of the state was sparsely settled and part of the western frontier at the time.

Virginia was a colony that lent itself to the plantation system, and also tried to replicate the lifestyle of the British gentry of the time.  That is, once it got past its early days; the 1607 colony was troubled by an aversion to work and a severe case of gold fever.  Many of the original colonists were hoping to find gold, strike it rich, and go home to England as soon as they could.  The first black slaves arrived here in the 1600's.  The arrival of a shipload of women intended to be wives for the colonists had a somewhat stabilizing effect and caused the colonists to think about things such as proper homes and clearing fields for farming.

Some even go so far as to say that the women were a civilizing influence.

Hope this thumbnail summary is of some help to you.

Answer 4

I can't really give the numbers straight away, but this website might help you:

http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen...

Answer 5

.  See http://www.rsar.org/history/social.htm