US History - The 13 Colonies

Everyone living in America is an immigrant, descended from immigrants, or from an immigrant family going back at least 12,000 years.

Before 1400 AD, the land that became the United States of America was inhabited by Native Americans and some of the First Nations indigenous peoples. They had all arrived from the northernmost reaches of Asia anywhere from 6,000 to 12,000 years previous with their First Contact with European explorers. They had migrated to the Western Hemisphere in search for more adequate food supplies.

They became the indigenous peoples of North America, incuding the forthcoming nation of America/USA and they were stewards of the earth in these regions. Buffalo (bison) herds were thousands strong and salmon were giagantically larger than today. The people used every part of each animal that sacrificed its life for them as food, clothing, lodging coverings, bow strings, arrowheads (bone), fuels (fats), color dyes, and more. Nothing was wasted. In the early 1600s, people from Spain, France, Sweden, Holland, and England arrived in this New World (to them it was new) and began staking out claims to lands that the Native Americans already inhabited. I do not know whay they thought it was alright to do this.

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In the 1490s, Christopher Columbus searched for a route to India and the Silk Road, but he landed in the New World. While his explorations may have been worthwhile, researchers point to his presence as an intoduction to genocide for Native Americans (see link to the right side.)

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Among the European nations that rather invaded rather than settled what is now America, England came to the forefront beginning with the Pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock in 1620, to the development of 13 major colonies along the Atlantic Seaboard through1775, a period of some 155 years (see picture to the right). The history, sociology, and anthopology of the individual Colonies is contained in the link to the right titled Colonial Amerca - 1620 to 1775.

England had other New World colonies, in what is now Canada and in the West Indies, but "The 13 Colonies" were viewed separately when they began to rumble thoughts of breaking with England.

It was once said, "The sun never sets on the British Empire." This is because England evenutally had colonies all over the globe. However, the sun did set on the Empire in America when the Colonies broke away.

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See on the map of 1775 how my state of Ohio was once part of the Province of Quebec and belonged to the Franch. My maternal grandfather was French and Mohawk. I learned of a Mohawk ancestor (same surname as my grandfather) that translated during the French and Indian War at the Battle of Fort Pitt. He apparently worked for the French rather than their enemies in that war, the British. His descendants lived and migrated throughout Ohio and Pennsylvania. Today, I may have relatives on the First Nations reserves in Quebec or on that which straddles Quebec and New York State.

Thus, I may not have come over on the Mayflower in 1620, but at least part of me was here first, if I may inject some levity.

IN THE name of God, Amen.

We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign Lord, King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland king, defender of the faith, etc., having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and honor of our king and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the Northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God, and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.

In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape-Cod the 11 of November, in the year of the reign of our sovereign lord, King James, of England, France, and Ireland the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domine 1620.

-- William Bradford & others, November 11, 1620.

Many reasons existed as a rationale for the people of the 13 Colonies of England in the New World to wish to break away from the British empire and govern themselves. Theorists and historians are still discussing these reasons and adding additional reasons to the list at this time and PhD candidates are still writing their Doctoral Theses on the layers of meaning and interactions among the reasons.

The short version of the reasons that the Colonies revolted are basically issues of taxes and religion:

• England issued the Stamp Tax against the colonists, requiring them to pay a tax for all printed documents.
• Next, England enacted the Townshend Acts, requiring colonists to pay taxes on glass, lead, paper, paint and tea. Colonists boycotted and some taxes were lifted.
• British soldiers and people of Boston who were protesting taxes began to fight and several Bostonians were killed in this, The Boston Massacre. Then England enacted another tea tax and The Sons of Liberty activist group in Boston hijacked a British tea ship and dumped its cargo into the sea at Boston Harbor. This is known as the Boston Tea Party in 1773.
• England immediately issued the Intolerable Acts, authorizing British officials to take all means necessary to control the Colonies. The Colonists formed the Continental Congress and began to revolt.
• Another reason for the revolt is that the Colonists did not want The Church of England to be their required church, thus freedom of religion was another issue.

The next Hub in this series will discuss the Revolutionary War.