What was the Political Life in the Southern Colonies?

What was life like in the Southern Colonies?

• Answer:

  In the early 1600s, most southern colonists lived in utter poverty, and men outnumbered women three to one. Southern colonists suffered high mortality rates because of the many mosquito-born illnesses that plagued the land. As a result, the average southern man could expect to live only forty years, while southern women usually did not live past their late thirties. Moreover, one-quarter of all children born in the southern colonies died in infancy, and half died before they reached adulthood. Most southern colonists lived in remote areas on farms or plantations with their families, extended relatives, friends, and slaves. The Anglican religion dominated the region, although most southerners did not attend church regularly, if at all. By the 1700s, life had settled down for the southern colonists, and more rigid social classes had formed. A gentry, or wealthy upper class, emerged and built large plantation homes in an attempt to imitate the lives of the English upper crust. Many of the plantation owners relied heavily on credit to maintain their leisurely lifestyles.