Life in the Thirteen Colonies

The New England, Middle, and Southern Colonies shared elements like land ownership, reliance on Great Britain, and representative democracy, but differed in climate, economy, and social structure....

In the 1600s, Pennsylvania was often considered the best English colony to live in due to its fertile soil, religious freedom, and relatively peaceful relations with Native Americans. Founded by...

The original thirteen colonies were Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, North Carolina, South Carolina, and...

Maine and Vermont were not among the original thirteen colonies because Maine was part of Massachusetts and Vermont was claimed by both New York and New Hampshire. Maine remained a part of...

The Virginia and Massachusetts Bay colonies, both English-settled, faced high mortality rates and conflicts with Native Americans. Virginia, settled by profit-seeking young men, thrived on tobacco...

The Colonial era in the United States is usually referring to the early 1600s until 1776.  Jamestown was first settled in 1607, which marks the beginning of the Colonial era.  The...

The Thirteen Colonies were similar in their pursuit of religious freedom, economic opportunities, and self-governance. However, they differed significantly in their economic structures: the New...

Because the original thirteen colonies were all British-controlled by the time of the American Revolution, English was the official language and most people in the colonies spoke English, even if...

When the colonists settled in America, they faced an extreme labour shortage. As a result, in 1617, the Headright system was introduced by the Virginia Company to encourage people to emigrate to...

Here's only 2 points from his remarkable life: Franklin is the reason we describe both static and current electricity as "positive" or "negative."  His observation that lightning appears to be...

Standards of beauty in the American colonies varied and changed over time and from region to region. Therefore, the following answer will be somewhat of a generalization. Let us start with Puritan...

The English colonies saw a major shift in its demographic during the eighteenth century. The fifty years spanning between 1700 and 1750 marked a dramatic increase in population size from 250,000 to...

The French, Dutch, Spanish, and English each went about colonizing various parts of North America in different ways. As your question suggests, this can be seen in their demographics, politics, and...

Both terms are linked to one another.  The "colonies" refers to land held in other countries like the British holdings in North America.  For example, Virginia was a colony of the...

Transportation impacted the American colonial regions in two major ways. First, most of the major settlements were located at deep water harbors or along rivers. This was similar to the development...

The terms "colonist" and "migrant" in the context of the thirteen original colonies are semantically different. It is easy to see how either term can apply to people who traveled to the new world....

The thirteen colonies were New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia....

The thirteen colonies are generally categorized into three regions. These regions are the New England Colonies, the Middle Colonies, and the Southern Colonies. Each region had its own unique...

The words people in the colonies would use to describe Britain’s King would depend on which side of the conflict they supported and how they viewed the various events occurring in the colonies....

The Pennsylvania colony would be the colony of choice for a woman in the described situation. Its main thrust was not necessarily religious, though there were many Quakers, Amish, Mennonite, and...

Daniel Boone is most well known for being one of the "trailblazers" of American history. A fur trapper, hunter, and trader, Boone spent much of his life forging the Wilderness Road through the...

In the early days, Colonial Americans had British accents indistinguishable from the British. (In fact, linguists have studied the speech patterns of isolated groups of descendants of English...

Silversmiths were artisans who made highly crafted goods out of silver. As specialized craftsmen, silversmiths were members of the artisan middle class. Their work required a high level of...

Early colonists were more interested in survival than education, and a majority of the settlers in the colonies had little or no formal education. Education was not always a priority, as matters of...

The colonists brought many traditions with them from the Old World. The first tradition would be the English language. Most of the colonists thought of themselves as good English citizens who were...

There were several ways the British maintained power over the American colonies. One way was by passing laws that controlled colonial trade. As part of the mercantile system, the British required...

The New England colonies were noted for their subsistence farming. These close-knit communities were not agricultural havens, given the short growing season and thin soil. Any surplus agricultural...

Life for women in colonial America was very different than it is today. To summarize, life was very simple and limited for the colonial woman. First, they had very little legal rights at that time....

Before 1700, English colonial America was divided into three regions: New England, the Middle Colonies, and the Southern Colonies. New England, settled by Puritans, focused on manufacturing, trade,...

Florida should not be considered one of the original thirteen colonies. The original thirteen colonies were English possessions. They were owned by England, and it was largely English people who...