The Thirteen Colonies is a group of English colonies on the east coast of North America established in the 17th and 18th centuries that declared independence in 1776 and formed the United States. The Thirteen Colonies have very similar political and constitutional and legal systems dominated by Protestant English speakers. They are part of Britain's treasures in the New World, which also includes colonies in Canada and the Caribbean, as well as East and West Florida.
Between 1625 and 1775, the colonial population grew from about 2,000 to over 2 million, often displacing Native Americans. In the 18th century, the British government operated its colonies under mercantilism policy, in which the central government manages its property for the economic interests of the mother country. During the colonial period, slavery was introduced. However, the Thirteen Colonies have high levels of self-government and active local elections, and they reject London's demands for greater control.
The war of France and India (1754-63) against France and its Indian allies led to greater tension between Britain and the Thirteen Colonies. In the 1750s, the colonies began to collaborate with each other rather than be in direct contact with the British. These intercolonial activities fostered a shared sense of American identity and led to calls for the protection of British "Rights as an employer", especially the principle of "no taxation without representation". Complaints with the British government led to the American Revolution, where the colonies collaborated in forming the Continental Congress which declared independence in 1776 and fought with the American Revolutionary War (1775-83) with the help of France, the Dutch Republic and Spain.
Video Thirteen Colonies
The Thirteen Colonies
In 1606, King James I of England granted a charter to the Plymouth Companies and the London Company for the purpose of establishing permanent settlements in North America. The first permanent British colony in the North American continent was the Colonies and Dominion of Virginia, founded in 1607. The Plymouth company found Popham Colony on the Kennebec River, but short-lived. Plymouth Council for New England sponsors several colonization projects, culminating with the Plymouth Colony, completed by the British Puritans known today as pilgrims. The Dutch, Swedish, and French also established successful North American colonies at about the same time as English, but they eventually came under British rule. The 13 colonies were complete with the formation of the province of Georgia in 1732, although the term "Thirteen Colonies" became only now within the context of the American Revolution.
New England colony
- The Province of New Hampshire, founded in the 1620s, was hired as a crown colony in 1679
- The province of Massachusetts Bay, founded in the 1620s, a 1692 crown colony
- The Rhode Island colony and Providence Plantations, founded 1636, were hired as a crown colony in 1663
- Connecticut Colony, founded 1636, was hired as a crown colony in 1662
Middle colony
- New York Province, a colony of 1664-1685, a crown colony of 1686
- The Province of New Jersey, a colony of 1664, a crown colony of 1702
- Pennsylvania Province, an established colony of 1681
- Delaware Colony (before 1776, Lower Counties on Delaware ), exclusive colony founded 1664
Southern Colony
- The province of Maryland, an exclusive colony founded in 1632
- Colonies and Dominion of Virginia, exclusive colonies founded in 1607, crown colonies of 1624
- The Province of Carolina, an established colony founded 1663
- Divided within the Provinces of North Carolina and Province of South Carolina in 1712, each became a crown colony in 1729
- The province of Georgia, the crown colony founded 1732
Maps Thirteen Colonies
the 17th century
Southern Colony
The first successful British colony was Jamestown, founded May 14, 1607 near Chesapeake Bay. The business was financed and coordinated by the London Virginia Company, a joint-stock company looking for gold. His first years were very difficult, with a very high death rate due to illness and hunger, wars with the local Indians, and a little gold. The colony survives and thrives by switching to tobacco as a commercial crop.
In 1632, King Charles I granted a charter for the Province of Maryland to Cecil Calvert, Baltimore's 2nd Baron. Calvert's father had become a prominent Catholic official encouraging Catholic immigration to the British colony. The charter does not offer any guidance on religion.
The Province of Carolina is a second UK settlement effort in southern Virginia, the first of which was a failed attempt at Roanoke. This was a private enterprise, financed by a group of British Lords Rulers who obtained the Kingdom of the Kingdom on Carolina in 1663, hoping that a new colony in the south would be profitable like Jamestown. Carolina was not completed until 1670, and even then the first attempt failed because there was no incentive to emigrate to the area. Finally, however, the Lords combine their remaining capital and finance the settlement mission to the area headed by Sir John Colleton. This expedition lies in the fertile soil and survives in a place that became Charleston, originally Charles Town to Charles II of England.
New England
Pilgrims are a small group of Puritan separatists who feel that they need to distance themselves from the corrupt British Church. After initially moving to Holland, they decided to rebuild themselves in America. Early Pilgrim settlers sailed to North America in 1620 at the Mayflower. Upon their arrival, they composed the Compact Mayflower, with which they bound themselves together as a unified community, thus establishing a small Plymouth Colony. William Bradford was their top leader. After its establishment, other settlers traveled from England to join the colony.
The non-separatist Puritans were a much larger group than the Pilgrims, and they founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629 with 400 settlers. They seek to reform the Church of England by creating a new, pure church in the New World. By 1640, 20,000 had arrived; many die soon after arrival, but others find a healthy climate and sufficient food supply. The Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies together spawn other Puritan colonies in New England, including New Haven, Saybrook, and Connecticut colonies. During the 17th century, the New Haven and Saybrook colonies were absorbed by Connecticut.
Providence Plantation was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams on the ground provided by Narragansett sachem Canonicus. Williams is a Puritan who teaches religious tolerance, separation of Church and State, and total rest with the Church of England. He was expelled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony over theological disagreements, and he and other settlers founded Providence Plantation based on an egalitarian constitution that gave majority rule "in civil matters" and "freedom of conscience" in religious matters. In 1637, the second group including Anne Hutchinson founded the second settlement on Aquidneck Island, also known as Rhode Island.
Other colonists settled in the north, mingling with adventurers and profit-oriented settlers to build more religiously diverse colonies in New Hampshire and Maine. This small settlement was absorbed by Massachusetts when making significant land claims in the 1640s and 1650s, but New Hampshire was finally given a separate charter in 1679. Maine remained a part of Massachusetts until reaching statehood in 1820.
In 1685, King James II of England closed the legislature and consolidated the New England colony into the Dominion of New England, placing the territory under the control of a powerful empire of Governor Edmund Andros. In 1688, New York, West Jersey, and Eastern Jersey colonies were added to the territory. Andros was overthrown and power was closed in 1689, after the Great Revolution overthrew King James II; the former colony was re-established. According to Guy Miller:
- The 1689 Rebellion is the climax of the 60-year-old struggle between the government in England and the Puritan of Massachusetts with the question of who will rule the Gulf colony. Basically in 1629 the colony was actually ruled by ministers, who controlled church membership and, consequently, franchising, and by judges, who governed the state as the secular arm of the church.
Central Colony
Beginning in 1609, Dutch merchants explored and established feather trading posts on the Hudson River, Delaware River, and Connecticut River, seeking to protect their interests in feather trade. The Dutch West Indies company established a permanent settlement on the Hudson River, creating a Dutch colony in New Netherland. In 1626, Peter Minuit bought the Manhattan island of the Lenape Indians and established a leading post in New Amsterdam. Relatively few Dutch people settled in New Netherland, but the colony dominated the regional feather trade. It also served as a base for extensive trade with the British colonies, and many products from New England and Virginia were brought to Europe by Dutch ships. The Dutch were also involved in the growing Atlantic slave trade, supplying the enslaved Africans to the British colonies in North America and Barbados. Western Indian firms wanted to grow New Netherland because it was commercially successful, but the colony failed to attract the same settlement rate as the British colonies did. Many of those who immigrated to the colony were British, German, Walloon, or Sephardim.
In 1638, Sweden established the New Sweden colony in the Delaware Valley. The operation was led by former Dutch West India Company members, including Peter Minuit. New Sweden established extensive trade contacts with British colonies in the south, and sent a lot of tobacco produced in Virginia. The colony was conquered by the Dutch in 1655, while Sweden was involved in the Second Northern War.
Beginning in the 1650s, Britain and the Netherlands engaged in a series of wars, and the British tried to conquer New Netherland. Richard Nicolls captured the undisclosed New Amsterdam in 1664, and his subordinates quickly captured the rest of the New Netherlands. The 1667 Treaty of Breda ended the Second Anglo-Dutch War and asserted control of the English in the region. The Dutch briefly regained control of the New Dutch passages in the Third Anglo-Dutch War, but surrendered claims to the territory in the Westminster 1674 Treaty, ending the Dutch colonial presence in North America.
After the Second Anglo-Dutch War, the British changed the name of the "York City" or "New York" colony. A large number of Dutch people remained in the colony, dominating the rural areas between New York City and Albany, while people from New England began to move as well as immigrants from Germany. New York City attracts large polyglot populations, including large black slave populations. In 1674, the colonies belonging to East Jersey and West Jersey were made of land that was once part of New York.
Pennsylvania was founded in 1681 as a colony of Quaker owner William Penn. Major population elements include the Quaker population based in Philadelphia, Scottish Scottish population on the Western border, and many German colonies in between. Philadelphia became the largest city in the colony with its central location, excellent harbor, and a population of about 30,000.
18th century
In 1702, East and West Jersey combined to form the Province of New Jersey.
The northern and southern sections of the Carolina colonies operated more or less independently until 1691, when Philip Ludwell was appointed governor of the entire province. From that time until 1708, northern and southern settlements remained under one government. However, during this period, two parts of the province began to become increasingly known as North Carolina and South Carolina, as the descendants of the colony owners battled the direction of the colony. Charles Town's colonists eventually overthrew their governor and elected their own government. This marked the start of a separate government in the Provinces of North Carolina and the Province of South Carolina. In 1729, the king officially abolished the colonial charter of Carolina and established North Carolina and South Carolina as a crown colony.
In the 1730s, Parliament James Oglethorpe proposed that the southern region of Carolinas be colonized with "decent poor" from Britain to provide an alternative to the jail of overcrowded debtors. Oglethorpe and other British philanthropists acquired the royal charter as Georgian Guardians of Georgia on June 9, 1732. Oglethorpe and his associates hoped to establish a utopian colony that prohibited slavery and recruited only the most viable settlers, but in 1750 the colony remained sparsely populated. The owners handed over their charter in 1752, at which point Georgia became a crown colony.
The colonial population of the Thirteen Colonies grew rapidly in the 18th century. According to historian Alan Taylor, the population of the Thirteen Colonies reached 1.5 million in 1750, representing four-fifths of the population of North America Britain. More than 90 percent of colonies live as farmers, although some ports are also growing. In 1760, the cities of Philadelphia, New York, and Boston had a population of over 16,000, small by European standards. In 1770, the economic output of the Thirteen Colonies became forty percent of the UK's gross domestic product.
As the 18th century developed, the invaders began to settle away from the Atlantic coast. Pennsylvania, Virginia, Connecticut, and Maryland all claim land in the Ohio River basin. The colonies were involved in the struggle to buy land from Indian tribes, as the British insisted that land claims should be based on legitimate purchases. Virginia primarily intends Western expansion, and most of Virginia's elite families are invested in the Ohio Company to promote Ohio State settlements.
Global trade and immigration
The British colonies in North America became part of the UK's global trade network, as a threefold value for exports from England North America to the UK between 1700 and 1754. The colonists were restricted in trade with other European powers, but they found profitable trading partners in the colonies Other English, especially in the Caribbean. The invaders trade foodstuffs, wood, tobacco, and various other sources for Asian tea, West Indian coffee, and West Indian sugar, among other items. American Indians away from the Atlantic coast supply the Atlantic market with beaver and deer skins. British North America has an advantage in natural resources and established its own fast-growing shipbuilding industry, and many North American traders are involved in transatlantic trade.
Improved economic conditions and reduced religious persecution in Europe make it more difficult to recruit workers to the colony, and many colonies become increasingly dependent on forced labor, particularly in the South. Slave populations in Great Britain North America grew dramatically between 1680 and 1750, and the growth was driven by a mixture of forced immigration and slave reproduction. Slaves support the large plantation economy in the South, while slaves in the North work in various jobs. There were several slave uprisings, such as the Stono Rebellion and the 1741 New York Conspiracy, but this insurrection was suppressed.
A small percentage of the British population migrated to North America after 1700, but the colony attracted new immigrants from other European countries. These immigrants traveled to all the colonies, but the Central Colonies were most interested and continued to be more ethically diverse than the other colonies. Many settlers immigrated from Ireland, both Catholic and Protestant - especially the "New Light" Ulster Presbyterian. Protestant Germans also migrated in large numbers, mainly to Pennsylvania. In the 1740s, the Thirteen Colonies experienced the First Awakening.
French and Indian Wars
In 1738, an incident involving a Welsh sailor named Robert Jenkins sparked the Jenkins' Ear War between Britain and Spain. Hundreds of North Americans volunteered for Admiral Edward Vernon's attack on Cartegena de Indias, a Spanish city in South America. The war against Spain merged into a wider conflict known as the Austrian War of Succession, but most invaders called it the War of King George. In 1745, British and colonial troops captured the city of Louisbourg, and the war ended with the 1748 Agreement of Aix-la-Chapelle. However, many colonies were angry when Britain returned Louisbourg to France in return for Madras and other regions. After the war, both Britain and France sought to expand into the Ohio River valley.
The War of France and India (1754-63) is an American extension of the common European conflict known as the Seven Years War. The previous colonial war in North America had begun in Europe and then spread to the colony, but the Franco and Indian Wars were notorious for having begun in North America and spreading to Europe. One of the main causes of war is the increasing competition between England and France, especially in the Great Lakes and the Ohio Valley.
The French and Indian wars took on a new meaning for the British colonies of North America when William Pitt the Elder decided that major military resources needed to be devoted to North America to win the war against France. For the first time, the continent became one of the main theaters that could be called a "world war". During the war, it became increasingly clear to American colonists that they were under the authority of the British Empire, when the British military and civilian officials took an increasing presence in their lives.
The war also enhanced the sense of American unity in other ways. It causes people to travel across continents that may never leave their own colonies, fought with people from a distinctly different background who are still Americans. Throughout the course of warfare, British officers trained Americans to fight, especially George Washington, who benefited America during the Revolution. In addition, legislators and colonial officials must cooperate intensively to pursue military efforts across the continent. The relationship was not always positive between the formation of the British military and the colonists, setting the stage for later distrust and dislike of British troops. In 1754 the Albany Congress, the Pennsylvania invader Benjamin Franklin proposed the Albany Plan which would create an integrated government of the Thirteen Colonies for defense coordination and other matters, but the plan was rejected by the leaders of most colonies.
In the Treaty of Paris (1763), France officially surrendered to eastern England from the vast North American empire, had been secretly given to the Spanish territory of Louisiana west of the Mississippi River the year before. Before the war, the British occupied thirteen American colonies, mostly Nova Scotia today, and most of the Hudson Bay basin. After the war, the British acquired all the territory of France east of the Mississippi River, including Quebec, the Great Lakes, and the Valley of the Ohio River. Britain also acquired Florida Spain, which formed colonies in East and West Florida. In removing the ultimate foreign threat to the thirteen colonies, war also massively removed the colonial need for colonial protection.
The British and the colonies win together over the same enemy. The colonial loyalty to the first lady is stronger than ever. However, divisions began to form. British Prime Minister William Pitt the Elder has decided to wage war in the colonies using troops from colonies and tax funds from the UK itself. This is a successful war strategy, but, after the war, each side believes that it has bears a greater burden than the others. The British elite, most heavily taxed in Europe, shows angrily that the colonists paid little to the royal coffers. The colonists replied that their son had fought and died in a war that served the interests of Europe more than theirs. This dispute is a chain in a series of events that immediately brought the American Revolution.
Growing dissent
Britain was left with huge debts after the French and Indian Wars, so British leaders decided to increase taxation and control over the Thirteen Colonies. They enacted some new taxes, starting with the Sugar Act of 1764. Subsequent actions included the 1764 Currency Act, Stamp Act of 1765, and Townshend Acts 1767.
Britain also sought to maintain peaceful relations with the Indian tribes allied to France by keeping them separate from the American border. To this end, the Royal Proclamation of 1763 restricts settlements west of the Appalachian Mountains, as it is designated as an Indian Reserve. But some groups of settlers ignored the proclamation, and continued to move west and build agriculture. The proclamation was soon modified and no longer a hindrance to the settlement, but the fact infuriated the colonists that it had been announced without prior consultation.
The Parliament has directly collected tax and duty on the colony, passed the colonial legislature, and the Americans began to insist on the principle of "no taxation without representation" with intense protests over the Stamp Laws of 1765. They argued that the colony had no representation in the British Parliament, so it is a violation of their rights as an Englishman to have taxes levied on them. Parliament rejected colonial protests and asserted its authority by issuing new taxes.
The colonial disappointment grew with the passage of the 1773 Tea Act, which reduced the tea taxes sold by the East India Company in an attempt to undermine the competition, and the Northern Prime ministry hoped that this would set up a colonist precedent accepting UK taxation policies. The problem increased because of the tea tax, because Americans in each colony boycotted tea, and the people in Boston threw away the tea at the port during the Boston Tea Party in 1773 when the Sons of Liberty dumped thousands of pounds of tea into the water. Tension increased in 1774 when Parliament passed a law known as the Intolerant Act, which severely restricted self-government in the Massachusetts colony. The law also allows British military commanders to claim colonial homes for quartering soldiers, regardless of whether American civilians are willing or do not have soldiers in their homes. The law further deprives the colonial right to conduct trials in cases involving soldiers or crown officials, forcing such courts to be held in England rather than in America. Parliament also sent Thomas Gage to serve as Governor of Massachusetts and as commander of British forces in North America.
In 1774, the colonists still hoped to remain part of the British Empire, but dissatisfaction was widespread about British rule throughout the Thirteen Colonies. The colonists elected delegates to the First Continental Congress held in Philadelphia in September 1774. Following the onslaught of Unsolent Acts, the delegates asserted that the colony owed allegiance only to the king; they will receive the governor of the kingdom as the king's agent, but they are no longer willing to recognize the right of Parliament to pass legislation affecting the colony. Most delegates opposed attacks on British positions in Boston, and Continental Congress instead approved the imposition of a boycott known as the Continental Association. The boycott proved to be effective and the value of British imports dropped dramatically. The Thirteen Colonies became increasingly divided between the Patriots against the British government and the Loyalists who supported it.
American Revolution
In response, the colonies formed elected representatives bodies known as the Provincial Congress, and the colony began to boycott British imported goods. Then in 1774, 12 colonies sent representatives to the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia. During the Second Continental Congress, the remaining Georgian colonists sent delegates as well.
Massachusetts Governor Thomas Gage is afraid of confrontation with the colonists; he asked for reinforcements from Britain, but the British government did not want to pay the cost of deploying tens of thousands of troops in the Thirteen Colonies. Gage was ordered to take the Patriot arsenal. He sent troops to march in the armory in Concord, Massachusetts, but the Patriots learned about it and blocked their progress. The Patriots drove British troops at the April 1775 battle at Lexington and Concord, then besieged Boston.
In the spring of 1775, all the royal officers had been expelled, and the Continental Congress held a delegation convention for 13 colonies. He raised troops against the British and named George Washington as his commander, made agreements, declared independence, and recommended that the colonies write the constitution and become a state. The Second Continental Congress was assembled in May 1775 and began to coordinate armed resistance against the British. It established a government that recruited soldiers and printed their own money. General Washington took command of Patriot soldiers in New England and forced the British to withdraw from Boston. In 1776, the Thirteen Colonies declared their independence from England. With the help of France and Spain, they defeated the British in the American Revolutionary War. In the Treaty of Paris (1783), Britain officially recognized the independence of the United States.
Population
The colonial population rose to a quarter of a million during the 17th century, and nearly 2.5 million on the eve of the American revolution. Perkins (1988) notes the importance of good health for colony growth: "Less death among younger means that a higher proportion of the population reaches reproductive age, and that fact alone helps explain why colonies grow so quickly." There are many other reasons for population growth in addition to good health, such as the Great Migration.
In 1776, about 85% of the ancestral white population came from the British Isles (England, Ireland, Scotland, Welsh), 9% of German origin, 4% Dutch and 2% French Huguenot and other minorities. More than 90% are farmers, with some small towns also harbor connecting the colonial economy to the greater British Empire. This population continued to grow rapidly during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, primarily due to high birth rates and relatively low mortality rates. Immigration is a small factor from 1774 to 1830.
Slave
Slavery is valid and practiced in many Thirteen Colonies. In many places, it involves maids or agricultural workers. It is an economic interest in export-oriented tobacco plantations in Virginia and Maryland and on rice and indigo plantations in South Carolina. Approximately 287,000 slaves were imported into the Thirteen Colonies over 160 years, or 2% of the estimated 12 million taken from Africa to America through Atlantic slave trade. Most go to sugar colonies in the Caribbean and Brazil, where life expectancy is short and the amount should be constantly replenished. By the mid-18th century, life expectancy was much higher in American colonies.
The numbers increased rapidly through very high birth rates and low mortality rates, reaching nearly four million by the 1860 census. From 1770 to 1860, the natural rate of North American slave growth was much greater than the population of every nation in Europe, and almost twice as high faster than in the UK.
Religion
Protestantism is the dominant religious affiliation in the Thirteen Colonies, although there are also Catholics, Jews and deists, and most have no religious connection. The Church of England was officially established in much of the South. The Puritan movement became a Congregational church, and it was a religious affiliation founded in Massachusetts and Connecticut into the 18th century. In practice, this means that tax revenues are allocated to church costs. Anglican parishes in the South are under the control of local vests and have public functions, such as road repairs and the assistance of the poor.
The colonies are religiously diverse, with different Protestant denominations carried by British, German, Dutch, and other immigrants. The Reformed tradition is the foundation for the Presbyterian, Congregationalist, and Reformed denominations. The French Huguenot formed their own Reformed congregation. The Dutch Reformed Church was strong among Dutch Americans in New York and New Jersey, while Lutheranism was prevalent among German immigrants. Germany also carries various forms of Anabaptism, especially Mennonite varieties. Rev. Baptist Reformed Pastor Roger Williams founded Providence Plantations which became Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Jews swarmed in several port cities. The Baltimore family established Maryland and brought with them Catholic colleagues from England. Presbyterians are mainly immigrants from Scotland and Ulster who love the inland and border areas.
Quakers were well established in Pennsylvania, where they controlled the governors and legislatures for years. The Quakers are also many in Rhode Island. The Baptists and Methodists grew rapidly during the First Awakening of the 1740s. Many mission-sponsored denominations to local Indians.
Education
Higher education is available for young men in the North, and most of the students are prospective Protestant ministers. The oldest universities are Harvard College, College of New Jersey (Princeton), Yale College, and College of Rhode Island (Brown). Others are King's College (Columbia), College of Philadelphia (University of Pennsylvania), and Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. In south Philadelphia, there are only William and Mary High Schools that train secular elites in Virginia, especially aspiring lawyers.
Most New England cities sponsor public schools for boys, but public schools are rarely found elsewhere. Girls are educated at home or by small local private schools, and they do not have access to college. Prospective doctors and lawyers usually study as apprentices for established practitioners, although some young men go to medical schools in Scotland.
Government
The three colonial forms of government in 1776 were provincial (royal colony), ownership , and charter . These governments are all subject to the King of England without representation in the Parliament of Great Britain. The administration of all British colonies was overseen by the Council of Commerce in London from the end of the 17th century.
provincial colony is governed by a commission made on the pleasure of the king. A governor and his council are appointed by the crown. The governor was invested with the power of the general executive and was authorized to call the locally elected assembly. The board of governors will sit as the upper chamber during the trial, in addition to its role in advising the governor. The hearing consists of representatives elected by right holders and planters (landowners) of the province. The governor has absolute veto power and can perform prorog (ie, delay) and disperse the assembly. The role of the assembly is to make all local laws and ordinances, ensuring that they are not contrary to British law. In practice, this is not always the case, as many provincial assemblies seek to expand their power and limit the power of governors and crowns. The law may be examined by the British Privy Council, which also holds a veto on the law. New Hampshire, New York, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia are crown colonies. Massachusetts became a crown colony at the end of the 17th century.
The proprietary colonies are ruled the same as the royal colony, except that the master's owner appoints the governor rather than the king. They were founded after the English Restoration 1660 and usually enjoyed greater civil and religious freedom. Pennsylvania (which includes Delaware), New Jersey, and Maryland are owned colonies.
Charter the government is a political enterprise created by patent letters, grant control to grantees on land and government legislative powers. Charter provides a fundamental constitution and a divided power between legislative, executive, and judicial functions, with powers granted to officials. Massachusetts, Providence Plantation, Rhode Island, Warwick, and Connecticut are rented colonies. The Massachusetts Charter was repealed in 1684 and replaced by a provincial charter issued in 1691. Providence Plantations joined settlements in Rhode Island and Warwick to form the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, which also became a charter colony in 1636..
English role
After 1680, the royal government in London was increasingly interested in the affairs of the colony, which grew rapidly in population and wealth. In 1680, only Virginia was the royal colony; In 1720, half was under the control of the governor. These governors were closely tied up by the government in London.
Historians before 1880 emphasized American nationalism. However, the scholarship after that time was strongly influenced by the "Imperial school" led by Herbert L. Osgood, George Louis Beer, Charles McLean Andrews, and Lawrence H. Gipson. This viewpoint dominated colonial historiography into the 1940s, and they emphasized and often praised the attention London gave to all the colonies. In this view, there was never a threat (before the 1770s) that every colony would rebel or seek independence.
Self-government
British settlers did not come to American colonies with the aim of creating a democratic system; but they quickly created widespread voters with no landowners' aristocracy, along with a free election pattern that placed a strong emphasis on voter participation. The colonies offer a more free degree of suffrage than Britain or any other country. Every property owner can choose members of the lower house of legislature, and they can even choose governors in Connecticut and Rhode Island. Voters are required to have "interest" in society; as the South Carolina legislature declared in 1716, "it is necessary and sensible that no one but those with an interest in the Province should be able to elect members of the Joint Assembly". The main legal criterion for having "interests" is the ownership of real estate properties, which is unusual in Britain, where 19 out of 20 people are politically controlled by their landlords. (Women, children, contract workers, and slaves are put under the interests of the head of the family.) London insists on this requirement for the colony, telling the governor to exclude from people who are not voters - that is, the people who do not own the land. Nevertheless, the land is so widely owned that 50% to 80% of men are eligible to vote.
The colonial political culture emphasized respect, so that local figures were the ones who ran and elected. But sometimes they compete with each other and have to appeal to ordinary people to get votes. There are no political parties, and legislator candidates form an ad-hoc coalition of their families, friends and neighbors. Outside the New England Puritan, election day brings all the rural men to the county seat for partying, politics, shaking hands with the grandees, meeting old friends, and listening to speeches - roasting, eating, treating, tiplevel and gambling. They vote by shouting their choice to the officer, when supporters cheer or scoff. George Washington candidate spent Ã, Â £ 39 for a treat for his supporters. The candidates know that they have to "swing planters with bumbo" (rum). The election is a carnival where all men are equal for a day and traditional restraints become relaxed.
The actual voting rate ranges from 20% to 40% of all adult white males. That figure is higher in Pennsylvania and New York, where old factions based on ethnic and religious groups mobilize supporters at a higher level. New York and Rhode Island developed a long-lasting two-faction system for years at the colony level, but they did not reach local affairs. The factions are based on the personalities of some leaders and a series of family relationships, and they have little basis in policy or ideology. Elsewhere, the political scene is always spinning, based on personality rather than long-lived factions or serious disputes over issues.
The colonies were independent of each other long before 1774; indeed, all colonies began as separate and unique settlements or estates. Furthermore, efforts have failed to form a colonial union through the Albany Congress of 1754 led by Benjamin Franklin. The thirteenth have an established system of self-rule and election based on the Rights of the Englishmen who they are determined to protect from imperial disturbances.
Economic policy
The British Empire at that time operated under a trading system, where all trade was concentrated within the Empire, and trade with other empires was forbidden. The goal is to enrich Britain - its traders and government. Whether the policy is good for the colonists is not a problem in London, but America is becoming increasingly uneasy with mercantilist policies.
Mercantilism means that governments and traders become partners with the aim of increasing political power and personal wealth, leaving aside other kingdoms. The government protects its traders - and prevents others - by trade, regulatory, and subsidy barriers to domestic industries to maximize exports from and minimize imports to nature. The government must resist smuggling - which became America's favorite technique in the 18th century to avoid trade restrictions with France, Spain or the Netherlands. The tactic used by mercantilism is to run a trade surplus, so gold and silver will flow to London. The government takes its share through duties and taxes, with the rest going to merchants in England. The government spends most of its income on the Royal Navy's extraordinary, which not only protects the British colonies but also threatens other imperial colonies, and sometimes confiscates them. Thus the British Navy captured New Amsterdam (New York) in 1664. The colonies were captive markets for the British industry, and the aim was to enrich the mother country.
The British apply mercantilism by trying to block American trade with the French, Spanish, or Dutch empires using the Navigation Act, which Americans avoid as often as possible. Royal officials responded to smuggling with an open search warrant (Writs of Assistance). In 1761, Boston lawyer James Otis argued that the ruling violated the constitutional rights of the colonists. He lost the case, but John Adams later wrote, "It means that the child's independence is born."
However, the colonists went to great lengths to declare that they did not oppose British rules about their external trade; they are just opposed to the laws that affect them internally.
Other British colonies
In addition to the thirteen colonies, Britain has a dozen more in the New World. Those in the West Indies, Newfoundland, the Province of Quebec, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Bermuda and East and West Florida remained loyal to the crown during the war (although Spain regained Florida before the war ended, and then sold to the United States). There is a certain level of sympathy with the Patriots cause in some other colonies, but their geographical isolation and the dominance of British naval forces hinder effective participation. The British Empire has just acquired the land, and many of the problems facing the Thirteen Colonies do not apply to them, especially in the case of Quebec and Florida.
At the time of the British War there were seven other colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America: Newfoundland, Rupert's Land (the area around Hudson Bay), Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, East Florida, West Florida, and the Province of Quebec. There are other colonies in America too, mostly in the West Indies of England. These colonies remained faithful to the crown.
Newfoundland remained loyal to England without question. It is excluded from the Navigation Act and there are no complaints from the continent's colonies. It is tied closely to England and controlled by the Royal Navy and has no assemblies that can voice complaints.
Nova Scotia has a large Yankee element that has just arrived from New England, and shares American sentiments about demanding the rights of the British. The royal government in Halifax reluctantly allowed the Yankees from Nova Scotia a kind of "neutrality". However, the island-like geography and the presence of the British naval base in Halifax make the idea of ​​armed resistance impossible.
Quebec is populated by French Catholic settlers who were under British control in the previous decade. The Quebec Act of 1774 granted them formal cultural autonomy within the empire, and many priests fear strong Protestantism in New England. US complaints on taxation have little relevance, and no assembly or election of any kind can mobilize any complaints. Even so, the Americans offered membership in a new country and sent a military expedition that failed to capture Canada in 1775. Most Canadians remain neutral but some join the cause of America.
In the West Indies the elected assemblies of Jamaica, Grenada, and Barbados formally express their sympathy for American interests and call for mediation, but others are quite loyal. The British carefully avoided the conflict between rich planters of sugar plantations (many of whom live in London); in turn the dependence of the larger planters on slavery made them aware of the need for British military protection from possible slave uprisings. The possibilities for open acts are severely constrained by the extraordinary power of the Royal Navy on the islands. During the war there were some opportunistic trades with American ships.
In Bermuda and local Bahamas leaders are angry at the food shortages caused by the British blockade at the American port. There was growing sympathy for American causes, including smuggling, and both colonies were considered "passive allies" of the United States during the war. When an American naval squadron arrives in the Bahamas to seize gunpowder, the colony gives no resistance at all.
East Florida and West Florida are territories that were transferred from Spain to the UK after the French and Indian Wars by treaty. Some British colonists there need protection from attacks by Indian and private Spanish. After 1775, East Florida became a major base for British war efforts in the South, particularly in the invasions of Georgia and South Carolina. However, Spain captured Pensacola in West Florida in 1781, then restored the two territories in the Paris Treaty which ended the war in 1783. Spain eventually moved the Florida provinces to the United States in 1819.
Historiography
The first British Empire centered on the Thirteen Colonies, which attracted large numbers of settlers from Britain. The "Imperial School" in 1900-1930 took a favorable view of imperial benefits, emphasizing successful economic integration. The Imperial School includes historians such as Herbert L. Osgood, George Louis Beer, Charles M. Andrews, and Lawrence Gipson.
The shock of England's defeat in 1783 led to a radical revision of British policy on colonialism, resulting in what historians call the end of the First British Empire, although Britain still controlled Canada and some islands in the West Indies. Ashley Jackson writes:
The first British Empire was largely destroyed by the disappearance of American colonies, followed by "swing east" and the foundation of the second British Empire based on the commercial and territorial expansion of South Asia.
Much of the historiography concerns the reason why America rebelled in the 1770s and managed to break away. Since the 1960s, the mainstream of historiography has emphasized the growth of American consciousness and nationalism and the value system of the colonial republic, contrary to the aristocratic view of British leaders.
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