<P> The Southern Colonies could produce tobacco, rice, and indigo in exchange for imports, whereas New England's colonies could not offer much to England beyond fish, furs, and lumber . Inflation was a major issue in the economy . During the 18th century, shipbuilding drew upon the abundant lumber and revived the economy, often under the direction of the British Crown . </P> <P> Enslavement of enemies defeated in war was a common practice in European nations at this time . This was a policy that had been going on for decades in Ireland, particularly since the time of Elizabeth I and during the mid-17th century Cromwell wars in Britain and Ireland, where large numbers of Irish, Welsh, and Scots prisoners of war were sent as slaves to plantations in the West Indies, especially to Barbados and Jamaica . </P> <P> The practice of selling enemy combatants into slavery was begun in the American colonies during the Pequot War and King Philip's War . Military leader Benjamin Church spoke out at that time against enslavement of Indians . (Church's militia company was responsible for killing King Philip in August 1676 .) In the summer of 1675, he described the enslavement of Indian combatants as "an action so hateful...that (I) opposed it to the loss of the good will and respect of some that before were (my) good friends ." This said, Church was an owner of African slaves himself, like many Englishmen in the colony . </P> <P> Ships carrying captured war combatants began to leave New England ports during King Philip's War (1675 - 78) for places far away late in 1675 and, by the next summer, the shipping out of slaves had turned into a regular process which continued for the three years of the war . The policy concerning war enemies was that "no male captive above the age of fourteen years should reside in the colony ." </P>

What three things were the new england colonies based on