13 Col Essay

Submitted By sweetpea5131994
Words: 1392
Pages: 6

Leigh DeSantis
HIST
Trimble
10/8

The 13 colonies

The 13 colonies were the British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America found between 1607 starting in Virginia and ending in 1733 ending in Georgia. Each of the 13 colonies developed its own system of self government based largely on independent farmers who own their own land, voted for their local and provincial Government, and served on local juries. The 13 British colonies were as unique as they were different each in their own way.
The Virginia Colony was the first of the original 13 colonies and was located on the Atlantic coast of North America, and classified as one of the southern colonies. John Smith, and John Rolfe are the founders going there in hopes of fining gold in 1607. The major city that they built their land on was in Jamestown after the failure to establish a colony on Roanoke Island. The religion was not dominated by a specific religion, which gave them religious freedom for Baptists, Anglicans and others. They traded tobacco and other products like cotton, corn, and vegetables. They were government as a royal colony. They were also a wealthy colony ran by the cavalier landowners. Virginia also had the first legislature known as the House of Burgesses. Massachusetts was the second of the 13 colonies, and it was formed in 1620. In the beginning there was actually two colonies. First colony was Plymouth, and the second colony was the Massachusetts Bay. The Plymouth was founded in 1620 by the separatists, more commonly called pilgrims who were the people that wanted to separate from the Church of England. The type of government that the pilgrims had was called Mayflower Compact. It was a one-paragraph document that said we are all going to make decisions on minority rules by all three born males, In the end they governed them self’s. What saves their colony was the great immigration. That then formed the Massachusetts Bay in 1630, which was founded by J. Winthrop. Massachusetts Bay was theocracy, which means it was ruled by religion. Their religion was Puritans and they did not tolerate any other form of religion. The people concentrated in manufacture and focused on town life and industries such as Cod shipbuilding. A big event that happened in Massachusetts was a Salem witch trial in 1692. 19 people were convicted as witch. One man was pressed a death and another man was stoned to death.
New Hampshire was the third of the 13 colonies found in 1623 by John Mason, who is one of many. They had a charter called The New Hampshire grants, which is later on absorbed by the Crown. New Hampshire didn’t want to hear with any particular religion. So through out you could find many different decanting groups, and even today they are very independent. New Hampshire lived by the saying "live free or die".

Maryland was the fourth of the 13 colonies. It was founded in 1632-1634 by George Calvert, and was named after Bloody Mary, Queen Mary the first of England. She was a Catholic and this colony was established as a heaven for Catholics. The colony was centered on Chesapeake Bay and was below the Mason-Dixon Line, which was surveyed between 1763 and 1767 by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon in the resolution of a border dispute between British colonies in Colonial America.
Connecticut was the fifth of the 13 colonies was another group of Puritans lead by Thomas Hooker. Thomas went to the Connecticut River Valley and formed Connecticut. The Religion remanded Puritan but never as stogy as the Massachusetts people were. Unique things were the fundamental orders of CT, which was the first form of a constitution of any of the 13 colonies. The people of CT wanted to read the fundamentals so they made the Charter Oak. What is was, was a tree that had a nut whole in it and stuff it in their so the people could read it.
Rhode Island was the sixth of the 13 colonies. It formed in 1636 and was founded by Roger Williams. The people that went to Rhode Island were