Successful British settlement of the New World began in 1607 at Jamestown on the coast of present-day Virginia. By the mid-1700s, thirteen colonies, under British control, had been established. They included Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire (the New England colonies); Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware (the Middle colonies); and Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia (the Southern colonies).

During the first half...