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Life in the British Colonies
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Vocabulary
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common
constable
herder
New England town
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Key Concepts
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In New England,
most towns were self-sufficient communities. The people
grew their own food
and made most of what they needed. The earliest New England towns were built on
a narrow road. Each family in the town had a house
on this road. Families had their own gardens,and pens
for cows, sheep,
chickens, or pigs.
In the fields
near the town, the people grew their crops to sell and to use for themselves. The meetinghouse was at the center of
most New England towns. People went to the meeting house several times
a week to worship together. The meetinghouse was also used for
town meetings. At a town meeting, male landowners made
the decisions of how to run their community.
Each town had a herder and a constable. The herder
took care of the
animals on the town
common. The town common
was an open area where the livestock grazed. The constable was a police officer who made sure people obeyed the town's laws. Each town also had a militia. The militia was a volunteer army of men and boys. |
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New England Towns
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militia
New England
self-sufficient
town meeting
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Additional Information
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house
- The houses nearest the meetinghouse belonged to the most
important people in town, like the minister and
the church leaders.
town common
- It was called the common because it was a field that was
shared by everyone in the town. If the town had sheep that grazed
on the common, then the grass was kept short and it was called a green. Credits |
