The Thirteen Colonies were British colonies British colonization of the Americas began in the late 16th century and reached its peak when colonies had been established throughout the Americas. The British were one of the most important colonizers of the Americas, and their American empire came to rival the Spanish American colonies in military and economic might on the Atlantic coast of North America North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific Ocean; South America lies to the southeast, which declared their independence The United States Declaration of Independence is a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain were now independent states, and thus no longer a part of the British Empire. Written primarily by Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration is a formal in the American Revolution The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America. They first rejected the authority of the Parliament of Great Britain to govern them from overseas without and formed the United States ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language. The colonies, whose territory ranged from what is now Maine The original inhabitants of the territory that is now Maine were Algonquian-speaking peoples. The first European settlement in Maine was in 1604 by a French party. The first English settlement in Maine, the short-lived Popham Colony, was established by the Plymouth Company in 1607. A number of English settlements were established along the coast (then part of the Province of Massachusetts Bay The Province of Massachusetts was a crown colony chartered October 7, 1691 in British America by William and Mary, the joint monarchs of the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland. The charter was put into effect on May 14, 1692 and included the former Massachusetts Colony and Plymouth Colony, as well as the Province of Maine, Martha's) to the north and Georgia The Province of Georgia was one of the Southern colonies in British America. It was the last of the thirteen original colonies established by Great Britain in what later became the United States. In the original grant, a narrow strip of the province extended to the Mississippi River to the south, were Delaware Delaware is located in the northeastern portion of the Delmarva Peninsula and is the second smallest state in area . Estimates in 2007 rank the population of Delaware as 45th in the nation, but 6th in population density, with more than 60% of the population in New Castle County. Delaware is divided into three counties. From north to south, these, Pennsylvania Pennsylvania has 51 miles of coastline along Lake Erie and 57 miles (92 km) of shoreline along the Delaware Estuary, New Jersey The area was inhabited by Native Americans for more than 2,800 years, with historical tribes such as the Lenape along the coast. In the early 1600s, the Dutch and the Swedes made the first European settlements. The English later seized control of the region, naming it the Province of New Jersey. It was granted as a colony to Sir George Carteret, Georgia Georgia is bordered on the south by Florida; on the east by the Atlantic Ocean and South Carolina; on the west by Alabama and by Florida in the south; and on the north by Tennessee and North Carolina. The northern part of the state is in the Blue Ridge Mountains, a mountain range in the vast Appalachian Mountains system. The central piedmont, Connecticut Southwestern Connecticut is part of the New York metropolitan area; three of Connecticut's eight counties, including most of the state's population, are in the New York City combined statistical area, commonly called the Tri-State Region. Connecticut's center of population is in Cheshire, New Haven County, Massachusetts Massachusetts has been significant throughout American history. Plymouth was the second permanent English settlement in North America. Many of Massachusetts's towns were founded by colonists from England in the 1620s and 1630s. The Merrimack Valley has been, since 1650, a center of creativity through the poetic word. America's first published poet, Maryland Maryland is a major center for life sciences research and development. With more than 350 biotechnology companies located there, Maryland is the third-largest nexus in this field in the United States, South Carolina The colony was originally named in honor of King Charles I, as Carolus is Latin for Charles, New Hampshire It became the first post-colonial sovereign nation in the Americas when it broke off from Great Britain in January 1776, and was one of the original thirteen states that founded the United States of America six months later. In June 1788, it became the ninth state to ratify the United States Constitution, bringing that document into effect. New, Virginia The area's history begins with several indigenous groups, including the Powhatan. In 1607 the London Company established the Colony of Virginia as the first permanent New World English colony. Land from displaced Native American tribes and slave labor each played significant roles in the colony's early politics and plantation economy. Virginia was, New York New York City, which is geographically the largest city in the state and most populous in the United States, is known for its history as a gateway for immigration to the United States and its status as a financial, cultural, transportation, and manufacturing center. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, it is also a destination of choice, North Carolina Spanish colonial forces were the first Europeans to make a permanent settlement in the area, when the Juan Pardo-led Expedition built Fort San Juan in 1567. This was sited at Joara, a Mississippian culture regional chiefdom near present-day Morganton in the western interior. This was 20 years before the English established their first colony at, and Rhode Island The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island ( /ˌroʊd ˈaɪlɨnd/ or /rɵˈdaɪlɨnd/), is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area. Rhode Island borders Connecticut to the west and Massachusetts to the north and east, and it shares a water. At the time of the Revolution, these colonies contained territory now outside of the borders of the modern states.

Though the concept of "Thirteen Colonies" is firmly enshrined in American culture following the Revolution, through the war the colonies' relations with each other and with the other British colonies in North America were fluid. By mid-1775 only twelve of these colonies had taken any formal steps towards revolution; Georgia, the newest of the thirteen, did not participate in the First Continental Congress The First Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from twelve of the thirteen North American colonies that met on September 5, 1774, at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, early in the American Revolution. Called in response to the passage of the Coercive Acts by the British Parliament, the Congress was attended by 56 and initially did not send delegates to the Second The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that met beginning on May 10, 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, soon after warfare in the American Revolutionary War had begun. It succeeded the First Continental Congress, which met briefly during 1774, also in Philadelphia. The second Congress managed the. The other British colonies (in the British West Indies The British West Indies was a term used to describe the islands in and around the Caribbean that were part of the British Empire The term was sometimes used to include British Honduras and British Guiana, even though these territories are not geographically part of the Caribbean. As of 1912, the British West Indies were divided into eight colonies:, what is now Canada The land occupied by Canada was inhabited for millennia by various groups of Aboriginal peoples. Beginning in the late 15th century, British and French expeditions explored, and later settled, along the Atlantic coast. France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763 after the Seven Years' War. In 1867, with the union of three, and the Floridas) all remained officially loyal to the crown through the war, but several expressed some level of sympathy with the Patriot Patriots was the name the colonists of the British Thirteen United Colonies, who rebelled against British control during the American Revolution, called themselves. It was their leading figures who, in July 1776, declared the United States of America an independent nation. Their rebellion was based on the political philosophy of republicanism, as cause. However, their geographical isolation and the dominance of British naval power precluded any effective participation.

Colonies

Contemporaneous documents usually list the thirteen colonies of British North America British North America consisted of the colonies and territories of the British Empire in continental North America after the end of the American Revolutionary War and the recognition of American independence in 1783 in geographical order, from the north to the south.

New England Colonies The New England Colonies of British America included colonies of Massachusetts Bay Colony, Connecticut Colony, Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations and Province of New Hampshire. They were part of the Thirteen Colonies including the Middle Colonies and the Southern Colonies. These were early colonies of what would later be the states

• Province of New Hampshire The Province of New Hampshire was a crown colony organized on October 7, 1691, during the period of British colonization of the Americas. The charter was enacted May 14, 1692, by William and Mary, the joint monarchs of the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland, at the same time that the Province of Massachusetts Bay was created. Both were, later New Hampshire It became the first post-colonial sovereign nation in the Americas when it broke off from Great Britain in January 1776, and was one of the original thirteen states that founded the United States of America six months later. In June 1788, it became the ninth state to ratify the United States Constitution, bringing that document into effect. New
• Province of Massachusetts Bay The Province of Massachusetts was a crown colony chartered October 7, 1691 in British America by William and Mary, the joint monarchs of the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland. The charter was put into effect on May 14, 1692 and included the former Massachusetts Colony and Plymouth Colony, as well as the Province of Maine, Martha's, later Massachusetts Massachusetts has been significant throughout American history. Plymouth was the second permanent English settlement in North America. Many of Massachusetts's towns were founded by colonists from England in the 1620s and 1630s. The Merrimack Valley has been, since 1650, a center of creativity through the poetic word. America's first published poet and Maine The original inhabitants of the territory that is now Maine were Algonquian-speaking peoples. The first European settlement in Maine was in 1604 by a French party. The first English settlement in Maine, the short-lived Popham Colony, was established by the Plymouth Company in 1607. A number of English settlements were established along the coast
• Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations Providence Plantation was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a theologian, independent preacher, and linguist on land gifted by the Narragansett sachem Canonicus. Roger Williams, fleeing from religious persecution in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, agreed with his fellow settlers on an egalitarian constitution providing for majority rule "in, later Rhode Island and Providence Plantations The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island ( /ˌroʊd ˈaɪlɨnd/ or /rɵˈdaɪlɨnd/), is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area. Rhode Island borders Connecticut to the west, Massachusetts to the north and east, and shares a water boundary
• Connecticut Colony The Colony of Connecticut was an English colony located in British America that became the U.S. state of Connecticut. Originally known as the River Colony, it was organized on March 3, 1636 as a haven for Puritan noblemen. After early struggles with the Dutch, the English gained control of the colony permanently by the late 1630s. The colony was, later Connecticut Southwestern Connecticut is part of the New York metropolitan area; three of Connecticut's eight counties, including most of the state's population, are in the New York City combined statistical area, commonly called the Tri-State Region. Connecticut's center of population is in Cheshire, New Haven County

Middle Colonies The Middle Colonies, also known as the Bread Colonies or the Breadbasket Colonies for the region's production of wheat, grain, and oats, were one area of the Thirteen British Colonies in pre-Revolutionary War Northern America. The area was part of the New Netherlands until the British exerted control over the region. Following the American

• Province of New York The Province of New York resulted from the surrender of Provincie Nieuw-Nederland by the Dutch Republic to the Kingdom of England in 1664. The province was renamed for James, Duke of York, brother of Charles II of England, immediately after. The territory was one of the Middle Colonies, and originally included all of the present U.S. states of New, later New York New York City, which is geographically the largest city in the state and most populous in the United States, is known for its history as a gateway for immigration to the United States and its status as a financial, cultural, transportation, and manufacturing center. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, it is also a destination of choice and Vermont Originally inhabited by Native American tribes , much of the territory that is now Vermont was claimed by France but became a British possession after France's defeat in the French and Indian War. For many years, the surrounding colonies disputed control of the area (referred to at the time as the New Hampshire Grants) especially New Hampshire and^[1]
• Province of New Jersey, later New Jersey
• Province of Pennsylvania, later Pennsylvania
• Delaware Colony (before 1776, the Lower Counties on Delaware), later Delaware

Southern Colonies

(Virginia and Maryland comprised the Chesapeake Colonies)

• Province of Maryland, later Maryland
• Colony and Dominion of Virginia, later Virginia, Kentucky and West Virginia
• Province of North Carolina, later North Carolina and Tennessee
• Province of South Carolina, later South Carolina
• Province of Georgia, later Georgia

Other divisions prior to 1730

Dominion of New England

Created in 1685 by a decree from King James II that consolidated Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay Colony, Plymouth Colony, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Province of New York, East Jersey, and West Jersey into a single larger colony. The experiment was discontinued with the Glorious Revolution of 1688-89, and the nine former colonies re-established their separate identities in 1689.

Province of Maine

Settled in 1622 (An earlier attempt to settle the Popham Colony on Sagadahoc Island, Maine in 1607 was abandoned after only one year). Massachusetts Bay colony encroached into Maine during the English Civil War, but, with the Restoration, autonomy was returned to Maine in 1664. Maine was officially merged into Massachusetts Bay Colony with the issuance of the Massachusetts Bay charter of 1691.

Plymouth Colony

Settled in 1620 by the Pilgrims. Plymouth was absorbed by Massachusetts Bay Colony with the issuance of the Massachusetts Bay charter of 1691.

Saybrook Colony

Founded in 1635 and merged with Connecticut Colony in 1644.

New Haven

Settled in late 1637. New Haven was absorbed by Connecticut Colony with the issuance of the Connecticut Charter in 1662, partly as royal punishment by King Charles II for harboring the regicide judges who sentenced King Charles I to death.

East and West Jersey

New Jersey was divided into two separate colonies in 1674. The Jerseys were reunited in 1702.

Province of Carolina

Founded in 1663. Carolina colony was divided into two colonies, North Carolina and South Carolina in 1712. Both colonies became royal colonies in 1729.

Population

(Note: the population figures do not account for the native tribes outside the jurisdiction of the colonies; they do include slaves and indentured servants.)

At the time of the Revolutionary War, approximately 85 percent of the white population was of English, Irish, Welsh, and Scottish descent. People of German origin represented 8.8 percent of the white population, and those of Dutch origin represented 3.5 percent of the colonists. Church membership was widespread, with over 98% of the members in protestant denominations; there were Catholic settlements in Maryland, and small Jewish communities in Charleston, Newport and New York City.^[2] The populations continued to grow at a rapid rate throughout the 18th century primarily because of high birth rates, relatively low death rates, and fluctuating flows of immigrants from Britain and Germany. Over 90% were farmers, with several small cities that were also seaports linking the colonial economy to the larger British Empire.

Government

The colonies were independent of each other before 1774 as efforts led by Benjamin Franklin to form a colonial union had not made progress. The thirteen all had well established systems of self government and elections based on the Rights of Englishmen, which they were determined to protect from imperial interference. Most free men could and did vote.^[3]

Beginning with the intense protests over the Stamp Act of 1765, the Americans insisted on the principle of "no taxation without representation." They argued that, as the colonies had no representation in the British Parliament, it was a violation of their rights as Englishmen for taxes to be imposed upon them. Those other British colonies that had assemblies largely agreed with those in the Thirteen Colonies, but they were thoroughly controlled by the British Empire and the Royal Navy, so protests were hopeless.^[4]

Parliament rejected the colonial protests and asserted its authority by passing new taxes. Trouble escalated over the tea tax, as Americans in each colony boycotted the tea and in Boston, dumped the tea in the harbor during the Boston Tea Party in 1773. Tensions escalated in 1774 as Parliament passed the laws known as the Intolerable Acts, which, among other things, greatly restricted self-government in the colony of Massachusetts. In response the colonies formed extralegal bodies of elected representatives, generally known as Provincial Congresses, and later that year twelve colonies sent representatives to the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia. During the Second Continental Congress that year, a thirteenth colony, Georgia, sent delegates, and by spring 1775 all royal officials had been expelled from all thirteen colonies. The Continental Congress served as a national government through the war that raised an army to fight the British and named George Washington its commander, made treaties, declared independence, and instructed the colonies to write constitutions and become independent states.^[5]

Other British colonies

At the time of the war Britain had seven other colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America: Newfoundland, Rupert's Land (the area around the Hudson Bay), Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, East Florida, West Florida, and the Province of Quebec. There were other colonies in the Americas as well, largely in the British West Indies. These colonies remained loyal to the crown through the war.

Newfoundland stayed loyal to Britain without question. It was exempt from the Navigation Acts and shared none of the grievances of the continental colonies. It was tightly bound to Britain and controlled by the Royal Navy and had no assembly that could voice grievances.

Nova Scotia had a large Yankee element that had recently arrived from New England, and shared the sentiments of the Americans about demanding the rights of Englishmen. The royal government in Halifax reluctantly allowed the Yankees of Nova Scotia a kind of "neutrality." In any case, the island-like geography and the presence of the major British naval base at Halifax made the thought of armed resistance impossible.^[6]

Quebec was inhabited by French Catholic settlers who came under British control in the previous decade. The Quebec Act of 1774 gave them formal cultural autonomy within the empire, and many priests feared the intense Protestantism in New England. The American grievances over taxation had little relevance, and there was no assembly nor elections of any kind that could have mobilized any grievances. Even so the Americans offered membership in the new nation and sent a military expedition that failed to capture Canada in 1775. Most Canadians remained neutral but some joined the American cause.^[7]

In the West Indies the elected assemblies of Jamaica, Grenada, and Barbados formally declared their sympathies for the American cause. The possibilities for overt action were sharply limited by the overwhelming power of Royal Navy in the islands. During the war there was some opportunistic trading with American ships.

In Bermuda and the Bahamas local leaders were angry at the food shortages caused by British blockade of American ports. There was increasing sympathy for the American cause, including smuggling, and both colonies were considered "passive allies" of the United States throughout the war. When an American naval squadron arrived in the Bahamas to seize gunpowder, the colony gave no resistance at all.^[8]

East Florida and West Florida were new royal colonies with minimal local government. The colonists there needed Britain to protect them from attacks by Indians and Spanish. East Florida became a major base for the British war effort in the South, especially in the invasions of Georgia and South Carolina.^[9] However Spain captured Pensacola in East Florida in 1781 and won both colonies in the Treaty of Paris that ended the war in 1783. Spain ultimately ceded the Floridas to the United States in 1819.^[10]

See also

• British colonization of the Americas
• Colonial history of the United States
• Colonial American military history
• Colonial America
• Colonial government in the Thirteen Colonies
• New Sweden
• New Netherland

Notes

1. ^ The present State of Vermont was disputed between the colonies of New York and New Hampshire. From 1777 to 1791, it existed as the de facto independent Vermont Republic.
2. ^ Greene
3. ^ Jack P. Greene and J. R. Pole, eds. '"A Companion to the American Revolution (2004)
4. ^ Donald William Meinig, The Shaping of America: Atlantic America, 1492-1800 (1986) p. 315; Greene and Pole, Companion ch 63
5. ^ Robert Middlekauf, The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789 (Oxford History of the United States) (2007)
6. ^ Meinig pp 313-14; Greene and Pole (2004) ch 61
7. ^ Meinig pp 314-15; Greene and Pole (2004) ch 61
8. ^ Meinig pp 315-16; Greene and Pole (2004) ch 63
9. ^ Meinig p 316
10. ^ P. J. Marshall, ed. The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume II: The Eighteenth Century (2001)

References

• Cooke, Jacob Ernest et al., ed. Encyclopedia of the North American Colonies. Scribner's, 1993. 3 vol; 2397 pp.
• Gipson, Lawrence. The British Empire Before the American Revolution (15 volumes) (1936-1970), Pulitzer Prize; highly detailed discussion of every British colony in the New World
• Greene, Evarts Boutelle et al., American Population before the Federal Census of 1790, 1993, ISBN 0806313773
• Greene, Evarts Boutelle. Provincial America, 1690-1740. 1905. online
• Osgood, Herbert L. The American Colonies in the Seventeenth Century. 4 vol Columbia University Press, 1904-07. online
• Vickers, Daniel, ed. A Companion to Colonial America. Blackwell, 2003. 576 pp.

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