Agriculture was not the leading occupation in the Northeast during the mid-1800s. The answer is false. New England was the first colony established by the Pilgrims coming from England. Most of them were Puritans who were trying to escape from religious persecution in their home country England and Europe in general.
After some time, there were more Puritans coming to the new world and they settled in other areas like Massachusetts, Connecticut and Road Island. At the beginning, these new inflow of people were occupied in Farming, fishing, lumbering and whaling.
By the 1840s the Northeast region was in the lead for higher education and a recognized force for American literature. Also, the region was considered to be the birth place for the anti-slavery movement in America.
Because the main activities for the inhabitants of this region around the 1830s were textile mills and many operating machine shops, the Northeast was at the center of the Industrial Revolution in the United States.
