1,3,4 and 5......
Probably wrong
What / or who are they: Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey
Why middle: These were the 4 of the 13 original colonies that were between the northern and southern colonies.
Religion: this is the sentence you really like to write. There were all sorts of religions present, but not one of them could dominate. These 4 colonies had Lutherans, Mennonites, Calvinists (mostly Dutch), and Presbyterians.
Commerce: mostly agriculture at the time, but not restricted to 1 crop as the south was. Had good ports and growing cities (New York, Philadelphia). I like to include the well respected intellectual hotbed of people there like Ben Franklin.
On May 29, 1453, after an Ottoman army stormed Constantinople, Mehmed triumphantly entered the Hagia Sophia, which would become the city's leading mosque. Emperor Constantine XI died in battle that day, and the decline and fall of the Byzantine Empire was complete.
The answer is attempt crimes since the crimes were attempted but not completed.