Colonizing isn’t easy.
*Editor’s Note: The following is the next installment in a historical series written for the America 250 Pa celebration*
After Columbus sailed and made his discoveries, Spain and Portugal made a treaty in 1494 dividing the New World between them, which was ignored by the rest of Europe over time.
Other countries were getting into exploration, with Henry VII of England sending John Cabot to search for the Northwest Passage through the Arctic Ocean in 1497, and then the attempt to establish a colony in Florida by Juan Ponce de León, which failed.
Then Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founded St. Augustine, Florida, and while Florida wasn’t one of the 13 colonies, it was an important influencer in trade and politics.
Our timeline also includes the Lost Colony of Roanoke in 1585, and the defeat of the Spanish Armada by the English and Dutch in 1588, ruining Spain’s naval dominance.
Then in 1607 Jamestowne was founded (and Virginia would become a crown colony in 1624).
Now, there were 13 colonies, right? By 1776, yes, there were, but before that there were growing pains and multiple colonies that merged, and separated, and merged.
We are limited in time and space, so as much as I would love to go into detail on Massachusetts and other things, I can’t.
Therefore, this will be a very brief rundown of where those 13 original colonies came from, and I really do encourage you to read up on them a little bit, because there is so much more.
The colonies are generally separated by three regions, even today: New England (four), the Middle Colonies (four) and the Southern Colonies (five), so we’ll take them region by region.
Massachusetts
We almost always think of Massachusetts beginning with the Mayflower in 1620, and the Pilgrims (Puritan separatists and a few others) who sailed from England for religious freedom.
The colonies that eventually became Massachusetts—Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay—were mostly Puritan in makeup. The Bay was just north of Plymouth and included Boston and the infamous Salem, and included much of central New England.
The actual charter came with the first governor, John Winthrop, in 1630.
One reason Massachusetts was such a difficult region for England was it was the only joint-stock company and was largely self-governing… which created a massive headache for King George III.
New Hampshire
New Hampshire was also originally settled in the 1620s under the Bay colony but received its own charter from King Charles I in 1641. (Note: All royalty are English unless otherwise noted.)
For a while under James II, there was a Dominion of New England, which merged governance of most of the New England colonies together, but it dissolved after the Glorious Revolution and the rule of William III and Mary II, so New Hampshire received a new charter in 1692.
Connecticut
Connecticut started as a settlement for a Puritan congregation in 1636 from Massachusetts Bay after some settlers from Plymouth set up trading posts after Algonquin leaders asked for help fighting the Pequot.
At first Gov. Winthrop wasn’t interested, but Plymouth was and eventually the Massachusetts Bay joined the effort. Eventually, a royal charter was granted in 1662.
Rhode Island
Rhode Island was also formed in 1636 by Roger Williams, who moved from Massachusetts Bay to Narragansett Bay and established the Providence Plantations.
In 1637, another group from the Bay settled on an island then called Rhode Island, and in 1663 King Charles II, who liked the area’s emphasis on religious freedom, granted a charter.
The Middle Colonies
The Middle Colonies, made up of New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania, have some tangled history, so we’ll begin with New York, which was originally settled as New Netherland by the Dutch West India Company in the 1610s and included New Jersey, Delaware, Vermont and portions of other colonies.
At the conclusion of the Second Anglo-Dutch War, Charles II granted his brother, James, Duke of York, “all the land from the west side of the connecticutte River to the east side of Del la Ware Bay.”
What followed was the English conquest of New Netherland, and it was renamed New York after James and became a royal colony when James became James II. The English claimed the area was first discovered by John Cabot under Henry VII.
While still Duke of York, James granted a portion of his new colony to Sir George Carteret to settle a debt, and the other part to Lord Berkeley of Stratton; both parts were New Jersey. It was united under Queen Anne.
Pennsylvanians know that our state was founded by William Penn the younger after his father was granted the land by Charles II to settle a debt.
Penn was a Quaker and wanted the 45,000 acres to be a sanctuary for those escaping persecution, especially Quakers.
When he died suddenly and severely in debt, his wife, Hannah, inherited everything and ran the proprietary colony until her death in 1726.
The Southern Colonies
In the South, Maryland began as a wish by the first Baron Baltimore, George Calvert, who wanted to establish a haven for Catholics, the first of which was Avalon in Canada.
Charles I granted him land, and the grant was transferred to the second Baron Baltimore, Cecil, at the death of George, and was named Maryland after Charles’ wife, Queen Henrietta Maria.
The first settlers arrived on March 25, 1634, and that is now celebrated as Maryland Day.
The Carolinas began as one large colony, named for the Latin for Charles, Carolus, honoring Charles I.
The charter was granted by Charles II in 1663 for land south of Virginia and north of Spanish Florida to eight lord proprietors.
Because the area was so large and different, a separate deputy governor was appointed to the north in 1691, and the separation was completed in 1712.
Finally, Georgia, which was not a penal colony but was founded by James Oglethorpe in 1732 under George II as a planned utopian society.
Oglethorpe banned liquor, large land ownership and slavery (but permitted indentured servants), among other restrictions, and wanted it to be a haven for imprisoned debtors and the “worthy poor.”
His restrictions were eventually lifted, and the colony began to quickly grow as a result.
So here we are, 13 colonies under the crown of England, humming along like a well-oiled machine and perfectly happy with the way things are… more or less.
Or are they? Because England is a long, long way from its colonies, and things change, ideas grow and, well, if you seem to be constantly at war, you grow debts. And how do you pay those debts? More taxes, of course! That should go over well, shouldn’t it?
