History of the United States

British colonization

 The strip of land along the eastern seacoast was settled primarily by English colonists in the 17th century along with much smaller numbers of Dutch and Swedes. Colonial America was defined by a severe labor shortage that employed forms of unfree labor such as slavery and indentured servitude and by a British policy of benign neglect (salutary neglect). Over half of all European immigrants to Colonial America arrived as indentured servants. Salutary neglect permitted the development of an American spirit distinct from that of its European founders.^[17]

 The first successful English colony, Jamestown, was established in 1607 on the James River in Virginia. Jamestown languished for decades until a new wave of settlers arrived in the late 17th century and established commercial agriculture based on tobacco. Between the late 1610s and the

Revolution, the British shipped an estimated 50,000 convicts to their American colonies. A severe instance of conflict was the 1622 Powhatan uprising in Virginia in which Native Americans killed hundreds of English settlers. The largest conflicts between Native Americans and English settlers in the 17th century were King Philip's War in New England and the Yamasee War in South Carolina.

Read More

History of the United States

 

Contents

• 1 Pre-Columbian era
• 2 Colonial period
  • 2.1 Spanish, Dutch, and French colonization
  • 2.2 British colonization
• 3 18th century
  • 3.1 Political integration and autonomy
• 4 American Revolution
• 5 Early years of the republic
  • 5.1 Confederation and Constitution
  • 5.2 The New Chief Executive
  • 5.3 Slavery
• 6 19th century
  • 6.1 Jeffersonian Republican Era
  • 6.2 War of 1812
  • 6.3 Era of Good Feelings
  • 6.4 Indian removal
  • 6.5 Second Party System
  • 6.6 Second Great Awakening

Read More