The American colonies and the War of Independence
Introduction
From the discovery of America in 1492, the explorations in the territory of America will not stop. The great powers will have great interest in populating these lands to expand their hegemony.
In 1607, a group of British settlers founded the first British settlement throughout the continent, Jamestown, located near Chesapeake Bay, Virginia. These first settlements will have multiple problems, in fact, most of them died from famine, but it was not until 1610 when another group of settlers will settle in that area and improve life qualities, a planting system was introduced, which benefited inA large amount to the settlement, the cause was the great fertility of these lands.
Thirty years later, the population of that area increased to 200,000 thanks to the planting of numerous crops, including the most demanded of the moment, tobacco. Tobacco will be one of the main crops in the United States for a century and a half.
Developing
In the northern America, a group of Puritans landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620, with the intention of improving their quality of life, and getting away from the religious problems that Great Britain was currently suffering. Puritans, also known as pilgrims, had difficulties with their settlement, the lack of food caused numerous settlers to die due to winter. These settlers had conflicts with the native Wampanoag, but decided to sign peace to benefit each other. The settlers contributed protection to the Indians against other enemy tribes, and the Indians helped them with the cultivation of land and fishing. This alliance will give rise to the American thanksgiving party, day to celebrate the good harvest.
In the central zone, in 1625 a group of Dutch will found New Amsterdam, which will later become British colony, and will be called New York. These first settlements along with numerous more will give rise to the thirteen British colonies of North America.
The New England region, formed by the Colonies of Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusets and New Hampshire (1679). It was characterized by a Puritan religious feeling and by a density of 25,000 people, its main city was Boston. Second, there were the colonies of the South, Virginia, Maryland, South Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. These colonies were characterized by a subtropical climate, very fertile land for plantations, the Catholic and Protestant religion were the main and the most important city is Charlestown.
The colonies of the center formed by Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, these colonies are characterized by having a lot of diversity among the population (Dutch, Germans, Swedes, English), its main city was Philadelphia. At the end of the seventeenth century there were 85.000 inhabitants, from 1700 to 1776 they went from 250.000 to 2 and a half million. Slaves were a total of 575.425, that is, a fifth of the American population.
The colonies were very beneficial for the crown, but after the 7 -year war, the British government had to cover the expenses of the war despite having achieved victory (Spain gives up the Florida and France Cede Canada) and decides to increaseTaxes in the British of North America. Specifically these taxes were directly related to overseas trade.
conclusion
The taxes of various products were recorded and laws that reduced the benefits of the colonies were implanted, including the Sugar Law in 1764 consisted of an indirect tax whose function was to prevent sugar smuggling, the law of the seal in 1765 consisted of aDirect tax that where all documents had to be sealed by a fiscal seal, this seal obviously had a cost and fake documents were avoided, these laws caused there to be small conflicts in the colonies.
The British response was the sending of 4000 British soldiers to the city of Boston, it was one of the main trade foci, its port accounted for 40% of the British exports and it was also the city where there were more colonial revolts. Apart from this, the accommodation law was imposed in 1765 where the settlers had the obligation to stay the soldiers.
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