In 1768, a specific state department was created for America, but it was disbanded in 1782 when the Home Office took responsibility. In London, beginning in 1660, all colonies were governed through a state department known as the Southern Department, and a committee of the Privy Council called the Board of Trade and Plantations. The Thirteen Colonies were complete with the establishment of the Province of Georgia in 1732, although the term 'Thirteen Colonies' became current only in the context of the American Revolution. The Dutch, Swedish, and French also established successful American colonies at roughly the same time as the English, but they eventually came under the English crown. The Plymouth Council for New England sponsored several colonization projects, culminating with Plymouth Colony in 1620 which was settled by English Puritan separatists, known today as the Pilgrims. The Plymouth Company founded the Popham Colony on the Kennebec River, but it was short-lived. The London Company established the Colony of Virginia in 1607, the first permanently settled English colony on the continent. In 1606, King James I of England granted charters to both the Plymouth Company and the London Company for the purpose of establishing permanent settlements in America. British colonies The Thirteen Colonies of British America: They fought the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) with the aid of the Kingdom of France and, to a much lesser degree, the Dutch Republic and the Kingdom of Spain. With the help of colonial printers and newspapers, these inter-colonial activities and concerns were shared and led to calls for protection of the colonists' ' Rights as Englishmen', especially the principle of ' no taxation without representation'.Ĭonflicts with the British government over taxes and rights led to the American Revolution, in which the colonies worked together to form the Continental Congress and raised the Continental Army. During the 1750s, the colonies began collaborating with one another instead of dealing directly with Britain. The French and Indian War (1754–1763) against France and its Indian allies led to growing tensions between Britain and the 13 colonies. The 13 colonies had a degree of self-governance and active local elections, and they resisted London's demands for more control over them. In the 18th century, the British government operated under a policy of mercantilism, in which the central government administered its colonies for Britain's economic benefit.

The population included people subject to a system of slavery, which was legal in all of the colonies. The Middle Colonies were established on the former Dutch colony of New Netherland.īetween 16, the colonial population grew from 2 thousand to 2.4 million, largely displacing the region's Native Americans. The other colonies were founded for business and economic expansion. The New England Colonies, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, were substantially motivated by their founders' concerns related to the practice of religion. The first of the colonies, Virginia, was established at Jamestown, in 1607. The Thirteen Colonies had similar political, constitutional, and legal systems, and each was largely dominated by Protestant English-speakers. These colonies were part of British America, which also included territory in The Floridas, the Caribbean, and what is today Canada.

The Thirteen Colonies in their traditional groupings were: the New England Colonies ( New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut) the Middle Colonies ( New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware) and the Southern Colonies ( Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia). Defeating British armies with French help, the Thirteen Colonies gained sovereignty with the Treaty of Paris in 1783. In 1776, Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence as the United States of America. Assembled at the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, they appointed George Washington as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army to fight the American Revolutionary War. Grievances against the imperial government led the 13 colonies to begin uniting in 1774, and expelling British officials by 1775. The Thirteen Colonies were a group of British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America during the 17th and 18th centuries.

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