Comparing the Colonies

The Northern and Southern colonies both had their own 'personality', the North more religiously centered, while the South strongly depended on labor and economics. All of the colonies were religious, but the importance of it in everyday life varied between the two regions. For example, in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New York, religion played an important role in shaping the laws and legislation. The Separatists and Puritans had always been very thorough with their religious beliefs, and had a hard time adapting to any other ideas besides their own. Because of religious conflicts, Rhode Island became religiously tolerant. Whether the change be for tougher laws or religious freedom, the Northern colonies were bound up in religion and it's effects on the people.

The Southern colonies were religious as well, but life didn't center around it like it did in the North. Southern colonies depended more on economics, like growing crops, particularly tobacco. North Carolinians were hard workers, who grew tobacco and other crops on small farms, with little need for slaves (37).