Colonial America

History of the USA · Colonial America and independence. The idea in plain words, the rules to remember, the mistake to avoid and a worked example, written and checked by Mega Lecture.

Test this topic free All History of the USA topics

The idea

English settlement began at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607, a business venture of the Virginia Company that survived by growing tobacco. In 1620 the Pilgrims, religious Separatists, founded Plymouth. Before landing they signed the Mayflower Compact, an agreement to govern themselves. Puritans followed to Massachusetts Bay in 1630.

By 1732 there were thirteen colonies in three regions: New England (trade, fishing, small farms), the Middle Colonies (grain, mixed peoples and faiths) and the South (plantations worked by enslaved Africans).

Britain mostly left the colonies alone, a habit called salutary neglect, so elected assemblies grew strong. The French and Indian War (1754 to 1763) removed France from the continent but left Britain in debt, and that ended the neglect.

Rules to remember

Jamestown 1607 (Virginia); Plymouth 1620 (Mayflower, Pilgrims); Massachusetts Bay 1630 (Puritans).
New England: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire.
Middle Colonies: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware.
Southern Colonies: Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia (the last, 1732).
House of Burgesses, Virginia, 1619: the first elected assembly in the English colonies.
Navigation Acts: colonial trade had to serve England (mercantilism), but they were loosely enforced before 1763.
French and Indian War 1754 to 1763, begun over the Ohio Valley; Treaty of Paris 1763 gave Britain Canada and the land east of the Mississippi.

Common mistake

Students mix up the Pilgrims of Plymouth (1620, Separatists) with the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay (1630), and the Treaty of Paris of 1763 with that of 1783. Fix each date to its event.

Worked example

Why is 1763 often treated as the turning point in relations between Britain and its American colonies?

Before 1763 Britain taxed and policed the colonies lightly, so they were used to running their own affairs.
The French and Indian War ended in 1763 and left Britain with a large debt and a larger territory to defend.
Britain therefore began to enforce trade laws and to raise money in America, which the colonists saw as a loss of their old freedom.

Answer: Victory in 1763 ended salutary neglect: Britain turned to tighter control and taxation, and colonial resistance followed.

Ask about this

Type what you are stuck on. The helper finds the explanation, worked examples and the notes to read, free and instant.

Read the full notes

Full-course notes

Keep going

Road to independence and the Revolution →Take a History of the USA test