Colonial Times & The American Revolution

1. Colonial Times & The American Revolution

2. After Christopher Columbus discovered what is now the United States in the late fifteenth century, many other European navigators began exploring the country. Soon thereafter European countries began claiming land in North America and people began to move and settle on this land. European settlers soon established successful colonies along the Atlantic Coast. A colony is an area or place that is ruled by a distant country.

3. Aboard the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria, Christopher Columbus and his crew discovered America in 1492.

4. Why Come To The New World? Europeans began moving to the colonies for a number of different reasons. The first reason was they were in search of money, which they could gain through natural resources. Wood, gold, silver, tobacco, and animal furs were some of the many natural resources people were after.

5. The second reason why European settlers came to live in North America was they wanted to own land. Not everyone was wealthy enough to own property, and coming to the New World gave settlers a good chance to do so.

6. The final reason people began moving to the colonies was to escape religious persecution, or being mistreated because of the religion you believed. At this time in Europe, many people were treated unfairly because of the religion they practiced. A lot of people chose to leave Europe so they could safely practice the religion they wanted to.

7. Settlers from all over Europe came to the New World in search of a better life.

8. Arriving in the New World When the European settlers first arrived in the New World, they had to adapt to a new land with its own geography, history, and culture. There were already people living on this new land, the Native Americans. It was through their interactions with the Native Americans that the colonists learned how to adjust to a living in a new and very different place.

9. Influencing Each Other When the European settlers first arrived in the New World, they and the Native Americans were able to get along pretty well. The Native Americans helped teach the colonists where to hunt and fish and how to grow crops and tobacco. The Native Americans also taught the colonists how to prepare food so it would not spoil and showed them what plants could be used as medicines.

10. The colonists also influenced the Native Americans with their interactions. They introduced them to useful animals such as horses, cattle, and sheep. The Native Americans also began to trade furs with the settlers for metal items such as knives, kettles, and axes. They also started to use the goods they got from the Europeans, such as cloth for clothing and glass beads for decoration.

11. The Native Americans influenced the European settlers in many different ways.

12. Indentured Servants People that wanted to leave Europe to settle in the New World but could not afford the long and expensive trip across the Atlantic Ocean would often become indentured servants. An indentured servant was a person that agreed to work for an amount of time in exchange for housing, food, and the cost of the voyage to North America.

13. Thousands of people made the long and perilous journey across the Atlantic Ocean to begin their lives in the New World.

14. The Thirteen Colonies The colonists lived along the Atlantic Coast of North America. There were thirteen colonies, and each colony had distinctive characteristics. Colonies that were geographically close to one another, however, had similar climates and resources. As a result, three main colonial regions developed in the New World. They were the New England Colonies, the Middle Colonies, and the Southern colonies.

15. The original thirteen colonies stretched all the way from New Hampshire to Georgia.

16. The New England Colonies The New England Colonies were made up of what are now Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. The colonists who settled here found rocky soil, cold winters, and short summers. Because of this, most farmers in New England learned to be self-sufficient, or to rely only on themselves for food. Farmers learned important farming techniques, such as how to grow corn from the Native Americans.

17. Colonists living in the New England Colonies also used the regions natural resources to meet their needs. Colonists fished, grew crops in the spring and summer months, raised livestock, and cut lumber from trees to build homes and make tools. The many forests in the area also supplied plenty of wood to build ships. Boat building and trading became important industries that helped grow the economy.

18. The New England Colonies included Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island.

19. The Middle Colonies The Middle Colonies were made up of what are now Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. Unlike the colonies to the north, the Middle Colonies had very fertile soil and a warmer climate. As a result, the Middle Colonies were often called the “breadbasket” colonies because they supplied the New England and Southern Colonies with grains such as wheat, barley, and oats.

20. There were fewer towns in the Middle Colonies than in the New England Colonies because of the large amount of space needed for farming. This area had excellent iron and coal resources and a strong fur-trading industry. The Middle Colonies also became important for shipping because of all the nearby ports and access to many rivers and the Atlantic Ocean.

21. The Middle Colonies consisted of Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.

22. The Southern Colonies The warm climate and rich soil of the Southern Colonies were suited for agriculture, or farming. Settlers in what are now Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia established farms and plantations, or large farms with many workers who lived on the land they worked. On plantations, farmers grew cash crops such as rice, indigo, and tobacco. Cash crops are crops grown to be sold for a profit.

23. The Southern Colonies included Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.

24. Slavery Small farms and plantations made up the largest part of the economy in the Southern Colonies. Working on the southern plantations were mostly slaves. Slavery was the practice of owning people and forcing them to work against their will without pay. Most of the enslaved people were brought from the present day countries of Ghana and Nigeria in West Africa. The growth of plantations required many people to work in the fields to produce crops.

25. Enslaved African Americans faced many hardships. Hardships are anything that causes human suffering. African Americans were forced to board ships against their will and were brought across the Atlantic Ocean where they would then be sold at auctions. An auction is a public sale in which something is sold to the person who offers the most money.

26. Slaves were not viewed as people. They were seen as property and they were treated as such. Most slaves were treated extremely poorly and they belonged to their owners. Sadly, slaves had no rights. Therefore, if the slave owner wanted to move or sell the slave to somebody else, there was nothing the slave could say or do to stop it.

27. Slavery was unfortunately a huge part of life in the Southern Colonies.

28. Tensions Mount After settling in the New World, the European colonists and the Native Americans often cooperated, influenced, and learned from each other. Eventually, however, the two sides began to have many disagreements and conflicts. The Europeans settlers were after land, the same land that the Native Americans had been using, relying on, and living on for hundreds of years.

29. In the 1700’s, not only were European nations fighting with the Native Americans over land, but they were also quarreling with each other. Both France and England wanted control of the land that is now in the Ohio River Valley. Both wanted access this area because it offered fertile lands for farming, a central location for trade, and access to the Ohio River. In 1754, the French and Indian War began as a result of the two sides fighting over control of this land.

30. The French and Indian War At the start of the French and Indian War, the British were losing the war because the French had made an alliance with the Native Americans. Even though the natives traded with both the British and the French, they feared that the English colonists would want to continue to take their land. To help gain an advantage, the British also teamed with a Native American group, the Iroquois Indians, and sent more soldiers from England.

31. The French and Indian War was fought over the land in the Ohio River Valley.

32. The Treaty of Paris After seven years of fighting, in 1761 the British finally won the French and Indian War. The two sides then signed the Treaty of Paris in 1763, and France gave almost all of its land in North America to Britain.

33. The Proclamation of 1763 Winning the French and Indian War gave England control of all of the land west of the Appalachian Mountains, and more and more settlers soon began moving onto Britain’s new western lands. The British government and lawmaking assembly, Parliament, could not easily control the settlers who lived far from the colonies and did not want people moving west.

34. The king of England soon ruled that colonists were no longer allowed to settle on land west of the Appalachian Mountains. This was called the Proclamation of 1763. The Proclamation of 1763 angered the colonists, as they wondered why they could not move to the land their helped successfully fight for in the French and Indian War.

35. The Sugar Act of 1764 England had gone to war to protect the colonies, so British leaders felt it was fair to have the colonies pay part of the debt the country suffered from the French and Indian War. The king of England at the time, King George III, soon enacted The Sugar Act of 1764. It said colonists must pay a tariff on goods such as molasses and sugar. A tariff is a tax on imported goods or products that come from another country.

36. The Sugar Act of 1764 was created to help the British pay for the costs of the French and Indian War.

37. The Stamp Act of 1765 The Stamp Act of 1765 followed the Sugar Act. This act placed a tax on all printed materials, such as newspapers, stamps, and legal documents. What infuriated the colonists was not only that they had to now pay expensive taxes on these items, but they also had no say in the matter. Many colonists did not think it was fair to force them to pay taxes that had been passed without their consent or their approval.

38. The Stamp Act of 1765 made the colonists quite livid. Some of them decided to protest, or speak out against it. Others made speeches, sent petitions to Parliament, or boycotted goods. A petition is a document that people sign that asks those in charge to change something. A boycott is when a person or a group of people refuse to buy goods or services. Due to the colonists’ resistance, Parliament repealed, or did away with, the Stamp Act in 1766.

39. The Stamp Act placed a tax on all printed documents, such as newspapers, stamps, and legal documents.

40. No Taxation Without Representation The Sugar Act was the first tax that was created solely for the purpose of raising money. Americans throughout the thirteen colonies cried out “No taxation without representation,” which meant they felt it was unfair for them to be taxed without them having a say in the matter first.

41. The Townshend Acts After the Stamp Act was repealed, King George III insisted that England still had the right to tax the colonies no matter how the colonists felt or what they said. In 1767, Parliament passed the Townshend Acts. These acts taxed imported goods, such as glass, tea, and paint. This infuriated the colonists even further and as a result, England sent even more soldiers to the colonies to enforce the new tax laws.

42. Tarring and Feathering Tarring and feathering took place during colonial times. It is a form of punishment in which the victim was painted with hot tar and then covered in feathers which stuck to the tar. To show their displeasure with England’s unfair taxes, many colonists would tar and feather British loyalists or elected officials.

43. Tarring and feathering was a form of punishment during colonial times. It was often used to humiliate British supporters or officials.

44. The Boston Massacre During the evening of March 5, 1770 Private Hugh White, a British soldier, was on guard in front of the Customs House on King Street in Boston. A crowd of people had gathered and began harassing the soldier. His calls for help brought nine soldiers led by Captain Thomas Preston. The crowd of angry colonists continued to pester the soldiers with insults and began throwing rocks and snowballs at them.

45. In the commotion, someone yelled, "Fire!" and one of the soldiers began shooting. Three townspeople were killed and eight more were wounded, two of which later died. No one knew who gave the order to fire. After the shooting, the people of Boston were demanding the soldiers be tried and executed for the shootings. This historic event became known as the Boston Massacre.

46. Eight British soldiers were put on trial for the events that took place in Boston on March 5, 1770.

47. The governor ordered Captain Preston and the eight soldiers be put in prison pending a trial. In order to ensure a fair trial, lawyer John Adams was hired to defend the soldiers. After a lengthy trial, John Adams convinced the jury that the soldiers fired in self defense. As a result of the trial, Captain Preston and six of the soldiers were set free. The other two soldiers were found guilty of manslaughter. They were branded as convicts and later released.

48. The Tea Act Creating more tension between the colonists and England, in 1773 Parliament passed the Tea Act. This forced the colonists to buy tea only from the British and from no one else. Again, the colonists protested Parliaments decision but they could not do much else to try and change it.

49. British soldiers were told by Parliament to make sure the colonists were only buying tea from England.

50. The Boston Tea Party To get back at the English government for the Tea Act, several colonists calling themselves the “Sons of Liberty” disguised themselves as Mohawk Native Americans and boarded three British ships filled with tea. When on board, they tied up the ships’ workers and then dumped 342 chests of British tea into Boston Harbor! This event became known as the Boston Tea Party.