could someone please help with this civics question about the 13 colonies?

Question

Describe the effect of geography on the social institutions in the different 13 colonies.

Answer 1

The word "institution" here is something of a euphemism -- a nice-sounding word that may stand for something else. Here, an "institution" may be a social group, or it may be a commonly accepted practice or tradition.

In particular, there was a "peculiar institution" in the South called slavery. Slavery was an institution in the South. Because the South was mostly agricultural (this is the geography part), there weren't many cities and towns, but there were lots of large plantations where they grew tobacco and cotton -- and for those plantations, they used slave labor.

In the North, they didn't have large plantations. Also, because it was colder, they had a shorter growing season. Also, because of the Ice Age and the glaciers, the soil was thinner and rockier. For these reasons, the farms were smaller, and run by families. They had no use for slaves.

There were many more towns in the North, and it was in towns where people congregated. This gave rise to the famous New England "town meetings" -- an institution found in the North. Town meetings were the beginnings of democracy.

The West at the time was the frontier. There weren't many whites there, but the ones that were there were "rugged individualists." This too was somewhat of an institution. These people wanted to be left alone; they didn't like government. They did want the Indians pushed further away toward the west, and they didn't want anyone telling them they couldn't have or use guns. Today, there's a strong tradition -- based in the Second Amendment -- on the right to bear arms.

So those are three colonial traditions based on geography.

Answer 2

i just studied the colonies,but i have no idea what that question means...