Thirteen Colonies Essay, Research Paper
Do you know about the founding of the thirteen colonies? Well today I am
going to tell you about when, how, who, why, and where the thirteen colonies
were established. So read on to find out some new things.
Virginia
Roanoke was the last of Sir Walter Raliegh’s attempt to establish a colony.
Although, the idea did come up again in 1606. In 1607 105 London
Company-sponsored settlers arrived in Jamestown from England. The first year was
horrible for the colonists, with only thirty-two colonists living through the
winter. After supplies and new settlers came, and they learned how to grow their
own crops, the colony slowly began to grow. Virginia was saved by tobacco.
New York
England had to clumps of colonies In 1660, it is now the United States. In
between the English colonies the Dutch controlled, some lands. In 1624 some
Dutch
Merchants had formed a company to trade with the Americas is being called the
Dutch West India company. Their post was along the Hudson River. It grew into
the colony New Netherland. New Amsterdam was the main settlement of the New
Netherland. In 1626 the Dutch West India Company bought Manhattan from the
manhates people. To increase the number of settlers the company sent over
families from the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden and Finland, anyone who brought
at least fifty settlers got a big estate. New Netherland boasted a great harbor
and thriving river trade. The English wanted to have the valuable Dutch colony,
so in 1664 the English sent a fleet to attack New Amsterdam During that time
Peter Stuyvesant ruled the colony as governor. When the English ships came to
attack, the governor was not ready for war and surrendered the colony. King
Charles II gave the colony to his brother Duke of York. Who then renamed it to
New York.
Massachusetts
In the early 1600s Protestants who wanted to reform the Anglican Church were
called Puritans. Those who didn’t want to reform the Anglican Church and wanted
to leave and found their own churches were Separatists. The Separatists were
persecuted in England and so some went to the Netherlands. Though they were safe
there, they still had trouble, they had a hard time finding work. So some
Separatists made an agreement with the Virginia Company, to settle there and in
return they would give them a bit of their profit they make. In September of
1620 one hundred and thirty-two passengers boarded the Mayflower. The passengers
had planed to settle in the Virginia colony. Since the winter was coming, the
first land they saw was Cape Cod, so the colonists agreed upon to drop an anchor
in the Cape Cod Bay. They went ashore at a place called Plymouth. William
Bradford was their leader, and he said "all things stared upon them with a
weather beaten face". The Plymouth was outdoor the area of Virginia Company
and its laws. To provide the new colony, the pilgrims made up a document called
the Mayflower Compact.
Maryland
Maryland was just a fantasy for Sir George Calvert. He wanted to establish a
safe place for his fellow Catholics, who were being persecuted in England. He
wanted the colony to bring him fortune too. Calvert’s Fantasy came true in 1632.
King Charles’ I gave him a colony north of Virginia. Sadly though, Sir George
Calvert died before his dream was granted. So his son Cecilius Calvert took
charge of the colony. Then it was named after Henrietta Maria, the English
Queen, they called it Maryland. The young Calvert never lived in Maryland
though, but he did send two of his brothers to run the colony. Since tobacco
saved Virginia, Maryland colonists went straight to tobacco farming. They also
planted crops to feed their families and workers. In 1728 Baltimore was founded.
Soon after that Baltimore became Maryland’s biggest settlement.
Rhode Island
Roger Williams, a minister, was banished from Massachusetts in 1635. He was
banished because he felt that people should be free to follow any religious
practice they wanted. William also believed that it was wrong for settlers to
take land away from the Native Americans. Roger Williams left Massachusetts in a
hurry, so they wouldn’t send him back to England. William bought land on
Narragansett Bay, where
colony East of Connecticut called Rhode Island. It soon became a secure place
for dissenters. Rhode Island was the first place in America where people of all
faiths could worship freely.
New Hampshire
Other people followed Roger Williams, making colonies where they could
worship what they wanted freely. In 1638 John Wheelwright led a congregation of
people from Massachusetts to the north. There they founded a town of Exeter in
New Hampshire. The same year, a group of Puritans settled Hampton. The colony of
New Hampshire turned completely independent of Massachusetts in 1679.
Connecticut
South of Massachusetts was the fertile Connecticut River Valley, where it was
a lot better for farming compared to the rocky soil around Boston. In the 1630s
colonists started settling in this area. Tomas Hooker, a Minister, started
becoming disappointed with Massachusetts. He wasn’t happy with the way Winthrop
and the other Puritans ran the colony. He also heard about the excellent
farmland. In 1636 Tomas Hooker accompany his group to Connecticut, where he
founded the city Hartford. Three years after that Hartford, Windsor, and
Wethersfield agreed to form a colony. They made the Fundamental Orders of
Connecticut.
Delaware
In 1631 the first settlement was attempted in Delaware by Dutch traders. In
1638 Peter Minuet led a group of Swedish settlers to the Delaware River. The
Dutch gained control of the land in 1655 from the Delaware after defeating the
Dutch. In 1682 Delaware was given to William Penn but his control didn’t last.
In 1701 Delaware became independent.
The Carolina’s
At first it was just called Carolina which means "Charles land’ in
Latin. The king gave it to a group of eight prominent members of his court. They
thought they would make a profit be selling and renting land to settlers. The
settlers began coming in 1670. In 1680 they founded a city called Charleston.
John Locke, an English philosopher wrote a constitution for the Carolina Colony.
The Constitution went over social ranking and land distribution, but it didn’t
go according to plan. The people of northern and southern Carolina went their
separate ways, creating two colonies, North Carolina and South Carolina.
Pennsylvania
In 1680 William Penn, a wealthy man, introduced a plan to King Charles.
Penn’s father had lent a lot of money to the king. So instead of money William
Penn wanted land in America. The king was pleased to get rid of his debt, gave
Penn a tract of land stretching inland from Delaware River. The new colony name
Pennsylvania was as huge as England. To encourage settlers to come to
Pennsylvania William Penn advertised pamphlets in several languages. In 1681 it
became a royal colony.
New Jersey
The Duke of York gave the southern part of his colony to Sir Lord Berkeley
and Sir George Carteret. They named it New Jersey after the island of Jersey,
where Carteret was born. They had hoped to make some money from New Jersey, by
charging the settlers rent. So to interest settlers, they advanced big tracts of
land and beneficent terms. They also promised freedom of religion,
representative assembly, and a trail by jury. New York and New Jersey were alike
in some ways, and they both were places of ethic and religious variety. Since
New Jersey had no harbors, it didn’t form a major port or city like New York.
Sir Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret didn’t make the money they thought
they would make from rents. So then Berkeley sold his share of West Jersey in
1674. Carteret’s share was auctioned in 1680. Then in 1702 New Jersey was then
ruled by a king, becoming a royal colony.
Georgia
In 1733Georgia was founded. Georgia was one of the last British colonies in
America to be established. A group led by General James Oglethorpe, got a
charter to make a colony where English debtors and poor people could make a
fresh start. The British government wanted to create Georgia so the colony could
protect the other British colonies from the Spanish attack.
So in conclusion I hoped you learned a few new things about how the colonies
were established. If not then I hope, you enjoy my report. Thank you for reading
it.