UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



5U7S 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



plored the river now named for him, the Dutch 

 founded the colony of New Netherlands (1614), 

 and established a flourishing trade with the 

 Indians. In 1638 a small party of Swedes set- 

 tled at the mouth of the Delaware River and 

 called their settlement New Sweden. The 

 Dutch, under the leadership of the famous 

 Peter Stuyvesant, seized New Sweden and an- 

 nexed it to their territory in 1655. Only nine 

 years later, in 1664, an English fleet arrived 

 before New Amsterdam, the settlement sur- 

 rendered without resistance, and New Nether- 

 lands became an English possession. King 

 Charles II gave the colony to his brother James, 

 duke of York (later James II), who renamed 

 it New York. Then James sold the southern 

 part of the colony to Sir George Carteret and 

 Lord Berkeley, who there founded New Jersey. 

 Pennsylvania was founded by William Penn as 

 a refuge for Quakers, in 1682-1683. Religious 

 and political freedom in Pennsylvania led many 

 people to settle there, and in a few years it 

 was larger than any other of the colonies except 

 Virginia and Massachusetts. 



In the South the Carolinas were first settled 

 by Virginians, but in 1663 these were granted 

 to a company of eight nobles, all intimate 

 friends of Charles II. An elaborate constitu- 

 tion for the new colony was written by the 

 philosopher, John Locke, but it was never put 

 into practice. The Lords proprietary cared lit- 

 tle about the colony, and in 1729 they sur- 

 rendered their rights to the king. The last 

 English colony was Georgia, founded in 1732 by 

 James Oglethorpe, who planned to transport 

 debtors to Georgia instead of locking them in 

 prisons in England (see DEBT). 



The growth and development of these original 

 colonies, is described in the articles on each of 

 the thirteen original states. Settlers were 

 gradually coming in larger numbers, and the 

 colonies were generally prosperous. Towards 

 the end of the seventeenth century, however, 

 France and England became engaged in a series 

 of wars, in which the colonies of both nations 

 were the prizes. The struggle lasted from 1689 

 to 1763, when France surrendered to England 

 the whole of her possessions in North America, 

 except a few small islands (see FRENCH AND 

 INDIAN WARS). 



From the very beginning of the settlements, 

 each colony had maintained its own system of 

 defense against the Indians. The French and 

 Indian Wars, with their long campaigns against 

 hardy Indians and regular soldiers, proved the 

 need of some union among the colonies. The 



separate colonies were no match for their ene- 

 mies on the west. The pressure thus exerted 

 from the outside, combined with a conscious- 

 ness that the colonies had other interests in 

 common, led to the Albany Congress of 1754, 

 which adopted Benjamin Franklin's plan for a 

 union of all the colonies. Unfortunately this 

 plan was rejected by all the colonies and also 

 by England. The cause of the rejection, as 

 stated by Franklin, deserves notice: "The 

 Assembly did not adopt it, as they all thought 

 there was too much prerogative in it, and in 

 England it was judged to have too much of 

 the democratic." 



Causes of the Revolution. The close of the 

 French and Indian War affected the colonies in 

 two important ways. First, it removed the 

 pressure of the French on their frontiers and 

 lessened their dependence on Great Britain for 

 military support. The new feeling of military 

 independence was increased by their own ex- 

 perience; the colonial militia had fought side 

 by side with regular soldiers and had proved 

 its worth. The second result was equally im- 

 portant the home government introduced new 

 taxes to help pay the expenses of the war. 

 There was a growing sentiment in England that 

 the colonies should be willing to make some 

 sacrifices for the mother country and for the 

 great British Empire which was being built. 



During the wars the colonies had carried on 

 considerable smuggling, and in the general re- 

 organization of trade which followed, the Brit- 

 ish officials attempted to enforce the Naviga- 

 tion Acts. In 1764 Parliament passed the Sugar 

 Act, placing an import duty on sugar and mo- 

 lasses. An act of 1733, which had never been 

 enforced, was a precedent for this duty, but in 

 New England the cry was at once raised that 

 the manufacture of rum would be prevented 

 and a great industry ruined if the duty was 

 collected. Popular indignation, aroused by the 

 enforcement of the act by writs of assistance, 

 a year later was intensified by the Stamp Act. 



The stamp tax itself was not a novel idea, but 

 it represented a new policy of direct taxation 

 by Parliament instead of the former policy of 

 requisitions on the colonial assemblies. The 

 protests against the Stamp Act took many 

 forms; resolutions were passed by the assem- 

 blies; the Stamp Act Congress, with delegates 

 from nine colonies, was held in New York; a 

 movement against importation and for the en- 

 couragement of home industries quickly arose; 

 mobs everywhere destroyed the supply of 

 stamped papers. The Stamp Act was repealed 



