The Original Thirteen Colonies

Authors Note: When I first started to write this paper I was going to have a paragraph for each colony (Pretty Boring right). When I meet with Mr. Johnson and we talked I knew that my idea wasn't working out. I wanted you as a reader to get something more out of my paper than just facts and a boring write up about the colonies. That's when I really felt my writing mature, I went from writing paragraphs for each random topic in to learning and understanding history and how it affected and still effects our world today. I hope you realize the big impact the original thirteen colonies had on America. 

When you look at the American flag you notice the thirteen stripes that bear a resemblance to the original thirteen colonies. As Americans a lot of times we forget where our country began. Born into England, we strived for freedom ever since the original thirteen colonies were established. The original thirteen colonies were the foundation and the launch to America, making them a very important part of understanding our countries history.

The Northern most group of Colonies was a region called the New England Colony. This group of people came to America for freedom of religion. The first colony that came about in the northern region was Massachusetts. During colonial times the state we know as Maine was part of Massachusetts. In 1630 Massachusetts became a colony. The main city of Massachusetts was a very popular and well constructed area. The city was named Boston with its great natural harbor it provided a powerful trading route all the way back to the colonial period. New England colonies were being established including Rhode Island, Connecticut, and the latest colony New Hampshire. New Hampshire became a colony in 1638 only 8 years after Massachusetts. New Hampshire was well rounded; they were the first to have a constitution within a colony. The New England Colonies had their own idea of what the new country should look like. Their idea was all based on their religion. Most of the people living in the New England Colonies were puritans. Puritans believed that each individual is directly responsible to God. Before people came to America, Puritans broke off from the Church of England. When Puritans came to America they came to make their religion their own in a new country.

Between the New England and Southern Colonies there is yet another region named the Middle Colonies. The groups of people that traveled and settled to this area were ones that wanted a new government. A country reigned by freedom, not a king, this was the dream they wanted to make reality. Educated citizens where the ones they believed should be make the laws, not people who were rich and included in the aristocracy. Giving everyone a chance to have an accurate education was what the people that settle in the Middle colonies sought after. This region was later filled with leaders, we would we know as Washington and Jefferson. Both of these Presidents influenced the American culture making it what it is today. Presidents that grew up in the Middle Colonies stood for their ideal government and they fought for what they wanted in the new country. There’s no mistake that Virginia was a home to many great Presidents of the United States.

                                                                                                                       

With an abundances of land located throughout the Southern Colonies, the people who settled there took advantage of the resources that were provided. People who settled in the Southern Colonies wanted to create an aristocracy for themselves. In England the aristocracy was only for men and women associated to royalty, so when people came to areas we would know as Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, they wanted to create a new aristocracy based on the wealth of resources and slavery. Men and women of the Southern Colonies began to grow crops like cotton, tobacco, and rice using the labor of human slaves. Slavery was necessary to create the aristocracy in the Southern Colonies, because to have a wealthy community you have to have a lower class and this was how the Southern Colonies were run.

America’s identity and foundation is built around the original thirteen colonies. Who we are as citizens today closely resembles how people in the original thirteen colonies acted. America’s roots begin with 13 colonies. Our attitude and culture of America is based off the birth of our country. Everything that happened in history somehow connects to the thirteen different regions of colonies. The colonies lead us to where we are today, making us who are, and are helping us to better understand where our country came from.