Early American History For thousands of years, North America was populated solely by Indian tribes and was unknown to Europe. That changed when Christopher Columbus found the continent in 1492. Inspired by Columbus’ tales of the New World, waves of Europeans sailed to North America, found a huge land ripe with resources, and began to claim pieces of it. While the French moved into the North and the Spanish settled in the South and West, the British built communities on the East Coast. English settlers came to these communities for a variety of reasons. Many wanted to make money by finding gold or establishing trade with their home country, but others sought religious freedom. Whatever their reason for moving to the New World, they found life hard at first, but eventually their settlements began to grow and prosper.
Although they lived under British rule, the colonists oftentimes ignored British laws. This independent attitude would eventually lead to a clash between the Americans and the British. Little by little, the British tightened control in the colonies until the American Revolution broke out on April 19, 1775. On July 4, 1776, the Americans declared their independence from the British, but it was not until several years later (1783) that the British were finally defeated and America was free to take the first steps toward creating their own government. Before the Revolutionary War, each new state had its own constitution, which gave people certain rights, such as freedom of speech, religion, and the press. After the war, the states joined together to set up a federal government under the Articles of Confederation, which were some basic rules to hold them together. The Articles proved to be a weak system of government. The federal government only had the power to declare war and manage foreign affairs. Under the Articles, each state worked independently. Chaos erupted from this system of government. Something had to be done, but the road to ahead proved to be a bumpy one. While Americans were glad to be free of British rule, they were used to being sovereign and wanted to stay that way. It was decided that the Articles of Confederation had to be revised, so each state, except Rhode Island, sent delegates (there were 55 total) to Philadelphia in Pennsylvania. The delegates decided that revising the Articles wouldn't work, so instead they agreed to write an entirely new Constitution. The delegates debated for many months over the contents of the Constitution. Some states favored a strong central government, while there were those who opposed a strong central government for fear of a system similar to that of oppressive England. Meanwhile, large states felt they were entitled to more representation in Congress, while small states favored equal representation. But finally, a compromise had been made among the delegates and the Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787. Although it has been amended over the years, the Constitution's basic form still exists today.
Last updated: January 27, 2000 |
In
the early 1600's, the British king began granting charters to establish
colonies in America. By the mid 1700s, most of the settlements had been
formed into 13 British colonies -- Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode
Island, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware,
Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. 
