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The first colonies in North America were along the eastern coast. Setters from Spain, France, Sweden, Holland, and England claimed land beginning in the 17th century. The struggle for control of this land would continue for more than a hundred years.
The first permanent settlement in North America was the English colony at Jamestown, in 1607, in what is now Virginia. John Smith and company had come to stay. The Pilgrims followed, in 1620, and set up a colony at Plymouth, in what is now Massachusetts. First English colony in America to survive and become permanent. It was settled in 1607 and supported itself through tobacco farming. It was later the capital of Virginia and the site of the House of Burgesses. English Puritans who fled England to escape religious persecution. After a 65-day journey from Southampton, England, they landed in Plymouth Harbor on the western side of Cape Cod Bay on December 21, 1620. There, under the leadership of William Bradford, they signed the Mayflower Compact, which created their own government. Leader of Jamestown, first English colony in America to survive and become permanent. It was settled in 1603 and supported itself through tobacco farming. Colony founded by the Pilgrims at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in December, 1620. Many of the 102 passengers who sailed from England aboard the Mayflower died. The survivors formed the Plymouth Colony. They faced great hardship but made friends with neighboring Native Americans. Among the leaders of the Plymouth Colony were William Bradford, John Carver, William Brewster, and Miles Standish.
Other English colonies sprang up all along the Atlantic coast, from Maine in the north to Georgia in the south. Swedish and Dutch colonies took shape in and around what is now New York. As more and more people arrived in the New World, more and more disputes arose over territory. Many wars were fought in the 1600s and 1700s. Soon, the two countries with the largest presence were England and France.
The two nations fought for control of North America in what Americans call the French and Indian War (1754-1763). England won the war and got control of Canada, as well as keeping control of all the English colonies. By this time, the English colonies numbered 13. They were Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. War fought between Great Britain and its two enemies, the French and the Indians of North America. Most of the battles were in Canada. American colonists, including George Washington, fought with the British in this war, which lasted from 1754 to 1763. The British won the war and won the right to keep Canada and several other possessions in the New World.
Each colony had its own unique characteristics, but historians lump them into groups based on where they were, why they were founded, and what kinds of industry they had:
Motivations for the New England Colonies By and large, the people who settled in the New England Colonies wanted to keep their family unit together and practice their own religion. They were used to doing many things themselves and not depending on other people for much. Some of these people came to New England to make money, but they were not the majority.
Motivations for the Middle Colonies The people who founded the Middle Colonies were looking to practice their own religion (Pennsylvania mainly) or to make money. Many of these people didn't bring their families with them from England and were the perfect workers for the hard work required in ironworks and shipyards.
Motivations for the Southern Colonies The founders of the Southern Colonies were, for the most part, out to make money. They brought their families, as did the New England colonists, and they kept their families together on the plantations. But their main motivation was to make the good money that was available in the new American market.
Economy for the New England Colonies The New England Colonies were largely farming and fishing communities. The people made their own clothes and shoes. They grew much of their own food. Crops like corn and wheat grew in large numbers, and much was shipped to England. Foods that didn't grow in America were shipped from England. Boston was the major New England port.
Economy for the Middle Colonies The Middle Colonies were part agriculture, part industrial. Wheat and other grains grew on farms in Pennsylvania and New York. Factories in Maryland produced iron, and factories in Pennsylvania produced paper and textiles. Trade with England was plentiful in these colonies as well.
Economy for the Southern Colonies The Southern Colonies were almost entirely agricultural. The main feature was the plantation, a large plot of land that contained a great many acres of farmland and buildings in which lived the people who owned the land and the people who worked the land. (A large part of the workforce was African slaves, who first arrived in 1619.) Southern plantations grew tobacco, rice, and indigo, which they sold to buyers in England and elsewhere in America.
Large Landowners • Lived mostly in the South • Relied on indentured servants and/or slaves for labor • Some were educated • Rich social life
Farmers • Worked the land according to the region in which they lived • Relied on family members for labor
Artisans • Worked as craftsmen in towns and on the plantation • Lived in small villages and cities
Women • Worked as caretakers, house-workers, homemakers • Could not vote • Had few chances for an education
Indentured Servents • Men and women who did not have money for passage to the colonies and agreed to work without pay for the person who paid for their passage • Free at end of contract (when debt was paid)
Slaves • Captured in Africa and sold to slave traders • Shipped to colonies where they were sold into slavery (mainly on plantations of the south) • Owned as property with no rights • Children of slaves were born into slavery
Beliefs • The Pilgrims in Massachusetts and the Quakers in Pennsylvania were examples of people who had left England so they could practice the religion they chose. Maryland and Rhode Island passed laws of religious toleration (meaning that people couldn't be harmed just because their religion was different from other people's). • These American colonists also believed that they had a right to govern themselves. More and more, they believed that they shouldn't have to pay so much in taxes to England, especially since they couldn't serve in the English government and have a say on how high or low those taxes were.
Revolution • As more and more Americans voiced their concerns over higher and higher taxes, a conflict began to build. The English response was to isolate the colonies from each other, in hopes that the American people would not pull together as a whole. • An example of this is the Intolerable Acts, which singled out Massachusetts in general and Boston in particular. One provision of these Acts was to close the port of Boston entirely. This was serious business. Boston was one of the largest ports in America. Closing it meant that Americans couldn't get food and other essentials from England or anywhere else, unless they paid extra for it to be transported from other ports, like New York.
Revolution • But the punishment of Boston backfired. The Americans pulled together as never before. They took up arms against their English governors and fellow soldiers. Even though they had fought for England in the French and Indian War (George Washington included), they now fought against England for the right to govern themselves. The result was the Revolutionary War, which ended in American victory. • A new nation was born, one that had its roots in the conflicts between several European nations. That new nation would have to make its own way in an angry world.
If you were a school-age person in colonial America, you might have gone to a public or private school, just like you would today. But what you learned and how you learned it have changed through the years. • Schools were generally small, not like the large ones many kids go to today. Kids learned to read from special books called hornbooks. • Kids in colonial America were taught a trade, usually the one their fathers did, • so they could continue the • family business when their fathers • retired. Often, kids would go to • school and learn a trade.
In the New England colonies, parents believed that their children should learn about Christianity. To that end, parents taught their children to read so they could read the Bible. And once those kids knew how to read, they could read school books as well. New England villages having more than 100 families set up grammar schools, which taught boys Latin and math and other subjects needed to get into college. And although girls could read, they weren't allowed to go to grammar school or to college.
Middle Colonies schools were also largely religious but taught the teachings of one religion. If you were a Catholic, you learned about the Catholic religion. Most schools were private. Students also learned other subjects so they could get into college. Again, girls weren't allowed to attend, unless they were Quakers. • School-age kids in the Southern Colonies were taught at home, for the most part, by their parents or by private tutors. When these kids became teenagers, they would then go off to college or to Europe. As in the other colonies, Southern girls did not go to school.
Rhode Island • Founded: 1636 by Roger Williams and others, at Providence • Major Industry: Agriculture (livestock, dairy, fishing), Manufacturing (lumbering) • Major Cities: Providence • Colony Named for: Dutch for "red island" • Became a State: May 29, 1790
Connecticut • Founded: 1636 by Thomas Hooker and others, at Hartford • Major Industry:Agriculture (wheat, corn, fishing) • Major Cities: Hartford, New Haven • Colony Named for: from an Algonquin word, quinnehtukqut, "beside the long tidal river" • Became a State: February 6, 1788
Massachusetts • Founded: 1630 by John Winthrop & others, at Massachusetts Bay • Major Industry: Agriculture (fishing, corn, livestock), Manufacturing (lumbering, shipbuilding) • Major Cities: Boston, Quincy, Plymouth, Salem, Lexington, Concord • Colony Named for: Massachusetts tribe (word means "large hill place") • Became a State: February 6, 1788
New Hampshire • Founded: 1638 by John Wheelwright and others • Major Industry: Agriculture (potatoes, fishing), Manufacturing (textiles, shipbuilding) • Major Cities: Concord • Colony Named for: county of Hampshire in England • Became a State: June 21, 1788
Delaware • Founded: 1638 by Peter Minuit and others • Major Industry:Agriculture (fishing), Manufacturing (lumbering) • Major Cities: Wilmington • Colony Named for: named for the Delaware tribe and for an early governor of colonial Virginia, Lord de la Warr • Became a State: December 7, 1787
Pennsylvania • Founded: 1682 by William Penn and others, at Philadelphia • Major Industry: Agriculture (wheat, corn, cattle, dairy), Manufacturing (textiles, papermaking, shipbuilding) • Major Cities: Philadelphia, Lancaster, York • Colony Named for: William Penn and sylvania, Latin for "forest" • Became a State: December 12, 1787
New York • Founded: 1626 by Peter Minuit and others, on Manhattan Island • Major Industry: Manufacturing (shipbuilding, iron works), Agriculture (cattle, grain, rice, indigo, wheat) • Major Cities: New York City, Albany • Colony Named for: Duke of York • Became a State: July 26, 1788
New Jersey • Founded: 1664 by English colonists • Major Industry:Manufacturing (ironworking, lumbering) • Major Cities: Trenton, Princeton • Colony Named for: Isle of Jersey in England • Became a State: December 18, 1787
Maryland • Founded: 1633 by Lord Baltimore and others, at Baltimore • Major Industry: Manufacturing (shipbuilding, iron works), Agriculture (corn, wheat, rice, indigo) • Major Cities: Baltimore, Annapolis • Colony Named for: Queen Henrietta Maria of England • Became a State: April 28, 1788
Virginia • Founded: 1607 by John Smith and others, at Jamestown • Major Industry:Plantation agriculture (tobacco, wheat, corn) • Major Cities: Jamestown, Williamsburg, Richmond • Colony Named for: England's "Virgin Queen," Elizabeth I • Became a State: June 25, 1788
North Carolina • Founded: 1653 by Virginia colonists • Major Industry:Plantation agriculture (indigo, rice, tobacco) • Major Cities: Raleigh • Colony Named for: from Carolus, the Latin word for "Charles," Charles I of England • Became a State: November 21, 1789
South Carolina • Founded: 1663 by English colonists • Major Industry: Plantation agriculture (indigo, rice, tobacco, cotton, cattle) • Major Cities: Charleston • Colony Named for: from Carolus, the Latin word for "Charles," Charles I of England • Became a State: May 23, 1788
Georgia • Founded: 1732 by James Oglethorpe and others • Major Industry:Agriculture (indigo, rice, sugar) • Major Cities: Savannah • Colony Named for: England's King George II • Became a State: January 2, 1788
Benjamin Franklin When I was born, America was made up of thirteen colonies that were ruled by England. Trouble between England and the thirteen colonies started to unfold following the French and Indian War. The imposition of the Stamp, Townsend, and Intolerable Acts angered the colonists to rebel against Mother England. On April 19, 1775, the colonists went to war for their freedom.
Benjamin Franklin During the fight for independence, I was sent to Europe to represent the colonies. In 1776, I signed the Declaration of Independence and, in 1778, the Treaty of Alliance with France. In addition, I negotiated with the French to help the colonists and became the first United States minister to France. I helped secure guns, ammunition, and other provisions for the army as well as volunteer troops. When the colonists won their independence in 1781, I helped negotiate the peace with England and signed what ultimately became known as Treaty of Peace with Great Britain (1782).
Benjamin Franklin Now that the colonists were free and independent, it became necessary to decide what type of government would be established. Even though I was not in my prime and my health was starting to fail, at eighty-one, I was the oldest delegate at the Constitutional Convention.
Benjamin Franklin Upon signing the Constitution on September 17, 1787, I became the only Founding Father to have signed all five documents that established American independence: the Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Amity and Commerce with France, the Treaty of Alliance with France, the Treaty of Peace with Great Britain, and the Constitution of the United States of America.
