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Some of the early British colonists had come to the New World in hopes
of enriching themselves; other came because Britain forced them to
leave – they were troublemakers or people who could not pay their
debts. Some came because of the opportunity, which did not exist for
them in Europe, to own land or practice a trade.
The colonists were far from their old homelands and little by little
inhabited new land of forest and wilderness. They had to work together
to build shelter, provide food, clear the land for farms and in general
to make their new homeland livable for them. This need for cooperation,
combined with a belief in individual possibilities, strengthened the
idea that in New World people were equal; that no one should have
special rights and privileges.
Each colony had its own government. Some of the governments had been
set up by the earliest colonists and had some very democratic features.
In the northern colonies (New England), for example, the colonists met
in town meetings to enact the laws by which they would be governed.
Other colonies were ruled by representatives of the British king, but
always with some consultation with the colonists.
War and Independence
As time passed, the colonists began to resent the governing power of
Britain. The British government required them to pay taxes, but gave
them no voice in passing the tax laws. The British motherland
determined what the colonists could produce and with whom they could
trade.
In 1774, a group of leaders from the colonies met and formed the
“Continental Congress”, which informed the king of the colonists’
belief that, as free Englishmen, they should have a voice in
determining laws that affected them. The king and the conservative
government in London paid no attention to the demand of the colonists,
and many colonists felt that this was an injustice which gave them
reason to demand independence from Britain. In 1775, fighting broke out
between New England colonists and British soldiers.
On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress issued a Declaration of
Independence. Written by Thomas Jefferson, a lawyer from the colony of
Virginia, this document declared that from that time the “United
Colonies” were no longer colonies of England. The Declaration described
them as “free and independent states” and officially named them the
United States of America.
Besides declaring the colonies to be a new nation, the Declaration of
Independence set forth some of the ideas of American democracy. The
document says that all people are created equal, that all have the
right to “Life, Liberty and Happiness”, and that governments obtain
their powers from “the consent of the governed”.
With help from France, England’s old enemy, and from other Europeans,
the American Armies, led by George Washington, won the War
Independence. The peace treaty, signed in 1783 set the western boundary
of the new nation at the Mississippi River.
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