Compare And Contrast The Middle Colonies

The Middle Colonies were all royal provinces at one time. The local government was controlled by the people and was different than the New England and Southern Colonies. The type of government was known as the county-town, sometimes call the mixed system which came from the proximity of New England and also the Southern Colonies, somewhat from the character of the population as well as from the climate and physiography of the country. That made life of necessity a medium between those of the New England village and the southern plantation. In New York the township had possessed basically all the powers in the local government. The evolution of Pennsylvania went in the other way. William Penn created a private county system, but as the population
increased in Pennsylvania and as it became concentrated the township was given a share of the local powers and it was constantly expanded. The relationship of the two units was practically the same. Eventually both colonies in the county were governed by a board of supervisors that contained one representative from each town that were chosen by the freemen. This system has been largely adopted by the new states throughout the North and West as it has been modified.