The soil in the middle district, back from the sandy coast-belt, is for the most part fertile. Originally the entire country was densely wooded, even to the summits of the mountains, which nowhere rise to the snow-line. The climate is, judged by the record of average temperature, an agreeable compromise between New England and the South; although, as elsewhere on the Atlantic slope, it is subject to rapid and extreme variations. Penn wrote that the "weather often changeth without notice, and is constant almost in its inconstancy."
92. People of the Middle Colonies.
Population of New York,
The population of the middle colonies was noted for its heterogeneous character. New York was first settled by the Dutch, who ruled the district for fifty years. After the English conquest (1664), Dutch immigration practically ceased; nevertheless in 1700 a majority of the whites were Dutch, although the English, more of whom had emigrated from New England than from the parent isle, were widely spread and politically dominant. There were in 1700 about twenty-five thousand inhabitants, perhaps two thousand five hundred being blacks. Besides the prevailing Dutch and English, there were many French Huguenots, a number of Palatine Germans who had fled from persecution at home, and a few Jews. The New York colonists chiefly dwelt on the islands and shores of New York bay, and the banks of the Hudson and Mohawk. Beyond this thin fringe of settlement, the forest wall was for the most part still unbroken. Agricultural development was as yet slow, but the fur-trade was spreading far into the interior.
of the Jerseys,
East Jersey had a population of about ten thousand, composed of Quakers, New England men, and Scotch Presbyterians. Of the four thousand inhabitants of West Jersey, the Quakers were the prevailing element. The population of New Jersey was homogeneous, being very largely English; the few Dutch, Germans, and Swedes having little effect on the character of the colony. Jerseymen were vigorous and quick-witted, although Governor Belcher (1748-1757) wrote, "They are a very rustical people, and deficient in learning."
and of Pennsylvania and Delaware.
Pennsylvania and Delaware had, together, a population of about twenty thousand in 1700, having developed more rapidly than any other of the American colonies. Somewhat over one half were English Quakers, the others being sectaries from New England, French, Dutch, Germans, Swedes, Finns, Welsh, and Scotch-Irish Presbyterians. The Germans moved in large numbers to what were then the western borders, where they evolved a distinct dialect, popularly known as "Pennsylvania Dutch." Although valuable pioneers of civilization, they exhibited a stubborn temper, which, with their strong opposition to the bearing of arms, made them untrustworthy during the French and Indian wars. The rugged, liberty-loving Scotch-Irish were a later acquisition. The pure Irish, destined to become so prominent on the frontier, did not commence arriving until 1719. The Swedes were strong, sturdy, and simple agriculturists. The English Quakers were of the middle class of tradesmen and small farmers. Their prejudice against taking up arms made it difficult for the colonial military officers to defend the province against the disastrous Indian forays of the eighteenth century, and was a fruitful source of political and social disturbance.
By the close of the seventeenth century a people had grown up in most of the middle colonies which was largely English in composition, with habits of speech, thought, and manner greatly affected by English traditions, but still much modified by the liberal infusion of blood from kindred nationalities on the continent of Europe. The eager, enterprising spirit of the English, quickened by removal to the New World, had, after a generation or two of amalgamation, been noticeably tempered by the phlegmatic temperament of the German, Dutch, and Scandinavian settlers.
93. Social Classes.