Josh Dean
U.S. History to 1877 online
Unit 1 essay

I chose the northern colonies as the colony that I would most like to live in. I chose the north because it seems more stable for a family to live in. The northern colonies had a much healthier life style with a life span that averaged into the seventies. The north was a much tighter society that lived in smaller communities that worked and socialized together. I also like the fact that the settlements were also more organized then the other two colonies. I like the fact that when the northern colonies layed out a town they did it in an organized fashion with the town hall in the center or town were they would worship and have meeting. Around the town hall they would lay out the houses for the people to live so they were close to the center of town. I think this also would help with town defense against attacking Indians and other hostile groups. I also like the fact that the families were given land that had wood and a place to grow crops. This would help immigrants just arriving that they would have the security of knowing they had land to live on. Also the fact that towns with 50 or more families would start a school, which shows the importance of education in the northern colonies.
The fact that the north was moral in most of their choices for the community would be a major factor for me deciding to choose the northern colonies to live in. Like the fact that the northern colonies is the anti-slavery stance that the colonies would enact latter on. Also the fact the the leaders used democracy in government to decide the basic needs of the people in day to day life. The fact that after the half way covenant all people were welcome to the church is also a reason I would of chose to live in the north. I think it is important to all people to be able to worship weather baptism or not.
Now for the reason I would not live in the middle or southern colonies. Life in the middle colonies was not as organized as in the northern colonies. Towns were more spread out and not built around a town hall as in the north. Farming was easier for the middle colonies because the soil was not as rocky but there was not enough of a labor force so the middle and southern colonies resorted to slave labor faster than their fellow countrymen in the north. Slaves were very common in the south and that is the main reason that I would not want to live in the southern colonies. Another reason I would not live in the south is the weather. The weather in the south was hot and humid in the summer, which would be no fun without air conditioning. The nice part of southern weather would be the mild winter so not as much heat was needed in the winters compared to the northern colonies. The terrain of the southern colonies was broad hilly and covered with forests. This made farming very hard and labor intensive to get started. . Farmers in the southern colonies would have to clear the land of trees to start a farm. There was more religious freedom in the northern than in the other two colonies. No single church or religion dominated in the northern colonies.
The single factor that swayed my decision to pick the northern colonies the most is the slave issue. The north had slaves but not as many and as long as the other two colonies. The south relied on slaves to much for my liking. The fact that the towns were more organized in the north would have been another deciding factor in my choice to live in the northern colonies as well.