Cultural Differences In The Southern Colonies

The colonists left England and settled in the different areas of the East coast which eventually led to cultural differences in social interactions, education, and the settlement of different religious groups. The social interactions in the northern colonies differed greatly from those of the southern colonies. The northern colonies’ families, like in New England, centered around patriarchy and male predominance. The southern colonies had an unbalanced ratio of males to females with a male majority. This resulted in greater independence for females. Women had more power and played a more dominant role southern culture. They owned plantations and were usually head of the household. Meanwhile, in the north, Puritans, believed in males having absolute authority over the family, especially over wives and daughters. Since less women were available in south than in the north, the
In 1647, Massachusetts required every town to have a public school. In the south, plantations were the centers of town and sometimes supplied a church and school, however their main focus were the crops and the work. Since the north had more schools and universities, the educated class resulted in a different culture than the south. The northern colonies had more diverse religious groups than the south. Many Dutch and French colonists also established their own towns in the north. The most prominent religious group in the north were the Puritans. Their main objective was to purify the Anglican church by establishing a model town. The southerner’s motives were to sell their crops and start plantations. The southerners were still religious people but less than the Puritans in the north. The different motives for colonizing the Atlantic coast led to a diverse religious society. The different cultures of the northern and southern colonies resulted in different social interactions, education, and different religious