According to a document published online on the Glasgow Electric Plant Board website, the settlements in New England known as the Northern Colonies were settled for religious purposes. The best-known group of religious refugees that settled in these colonies were Protestants known as Puritans. Puritans were called Puritans because they wanted to purify the Church of England. Their social structure was based on relative equality, unlike the divided social structure of the Southern Colonies. However, religious freedom in Puritan colonies did not exist. The Puritan's world view did not tolerate other religious affiliations (Fye).
According to a document published on the About.com website, the Northern Colonies did not have good farmland. Typically, the soil was rocky and the growing season was short. As a result, the farms were small and normally would provide only enough food for the families living and working on them. The Northern Colonies flourished by relying on fishing, shipbuilding, lumbering, and fur trading, along with trading goods with England and to a lesser extent the rest of Europe (Overview of Colonial America 1607 - 1754).
According to an essay published online by Wikipedia, the Middle Colonies consisting of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, and Delaware were the most ethnically and religiously diverse of the thirteen original colonies because of the influence of their Polish, English, Dutch, French and German immigrants. This influence included tolerance in religion, and resulted in the Middle Colonies' success as the commercial center of the original colonies. The Middle Colonies included a combination of both urban and rural lifestyles which made this region more cosmopolitan, religiously pluralistic, and socially tolerant (Middle Colonies).
The Middle Colonies were known as the bread basket of the thirteen colonies because of their large grain exports. The climate in this regio...