Essays on American Colonies

May 14, 1607 - September 3, 1783

Thirteen British Colonies, Thirteen Colonies, Thirteen American Colonies

American Revolution, French and Indian War, Boston Massacre, Battles of Saratoga, Siege of Yorktown

Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, George III, William Pitt the Elder, Edmund Burke

The Thirteen Colonies were a group of British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America. It were colonies that came together to form the United States. Those colonies were founded in the 17th and 18th centuries and were a Part of British America until 1776.

The 16th century was the age of mercantilism. European nations were trying to acquire as many colonies as they could. The English colonies in North America were business ventures. The primary purpose of those colonies was to make money for their sponsors.

The first English emigrants arrived in Plymouth in 1620 to found Plymouth Colony. Ten years later, the Massachusetts colony was formed, and later it prospered really well. Later, Puritans formed the colonies of Connecticut and New Haven, the colony of Rhode Island and the colony of New Hampshire.

The Middle Colonies located between the New England Colonies and the Southern Colonies. After the war with the Dutch around 1664, the British formed the Province of New York, on a major part of the conquered land. Later, the formed the Province of New Jersey and the Province of Pennsylvania. The Delaware Colony later separated from Pennsylvania.

The Southern Colonies consisted of the Province of Maryland, the Colony of Virginia, the Province of Carolina and the Province of Georgia. In 1712, the Province of Carolina split into North and South Carolina. Slavery played an big role in the development of the Carolina colony. Also, the cultivation of tobacco, indigo, and rice was the main aspect of the economic prosperity.

It was an ideological and political revolution in colonial North America between 1765 and 1791. The Thirteen Colonies gained independence from the British Crown when they defeated the British in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783). On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. On September 3, 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed, and, as result, it ended the American Revolutionary War and granted an independence for the 13 colonies.