The Thirteen Colonies

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The Thirteen Colonies that later on

formed the United States of America were originally only a part of British

expansion. This expansion began with plantations in Ireland, which was started

by Queen Elizabeth I. The expansion reached its peak with the conquest of

Canada and later on influence in India around 1760s. In the New World, England

had two dozens of colonies, mainly around the Caribbean region. The expansion was driven by certain factors,

including religions, nationalism, economics. These factors were often

categorized as God, Glory, Gold. Some colonies combined multiple factors, such

as the Roanoke Colony in 1585. It was intended to undermine Spain’s Catholic

Empire in America and advance English interests.

England would grant charters to

people authorizing their settlements in the New World. However, there were also

colonies coming in by conquest such as New Netherland from the Dutch, Canada as

a result of the Treaty of Paris of 1763 that ended the Seven Years’ War.

The charter allowed for colonial

governments to set up. There were three types of charters: proprietary,

corporate, or royal.

Proprietary colonies were

established by individuals who received a charter to claim lands by England.

The Roanoke Colony was a proprietary colony. Maryland and Pennsylvania were

also set up by individuals.

An disadvantage for proprietary

colonies was that it usually was a small group of people or a single individual

having all the responsibilities. Sometimes people would form a corporation with

others who were also interested to spread the financial support widely.

Corporations would base their

colonial operations in England and appointing agents to carry out their

policies abroad. Many people who invested in these ventures were involved in

more than one enterprise.

Charters did not require the

headquarters to be in a specific location. Therefore, many people would

sub-grant their territory to other groups or even just move the location

according to their free will. Colonies formed under such situation usually

became semi-autonomous quickly. The Plymouth colonies set up by Pilgrims was

financed by a group of Merchant Adventurers who had received a grant from the

Virginia Company of London. However the Pilgrims did not arrive in Virginia and

were outside of the jurisdiction of the original charter. After discovering the

issue, the Merchant Adventurers simply sold away the interest to a group of

colony’s leaders.

Royal colonies were under direct

control of the crown. Some of these colonies were established by conquest.

Other colonies came under royal control when a proprietary or corporate charter

was revoked for a failure to adhere to the terms it was granted.

Some colonies were formed without

any official authorization. Almost a decade after they were settled, town in

Massachusetts that had been established by dissenters came together in 1643 and

received a Parliamentary charter as Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

England did not seem to intervene a

lot with the colonies’ affairs as they were busy managing their own issues with

Ireland and civil war and many others. The colonies tended to believe that only

the colonial government could legislate laws for their own states. Therefore,

the states were very much angry when the English government started imposing

taxes a d lots of other policies after the Seven Years’ War