Editing Thirteen Colonies (section)

==18th century==
In 1702, East and West Jersey were combined to form the [[Province of New Jersey]].

The northern and southern sections of the Carolina colony operated more or less independently until 1691 when [[Philip Ludwell]] was appointed governor of the entire province. From that time until 1708, the northern and southern settlements remained under one government. However, during this period, the two halves of the province began increasingly to be known as North Carolina and South Carolina, as the descendants of the colony's proprietors fought over the direction of the colony.{{Sfnp|Richter|2011|page=319–322}} The colonists of Charles Town finally deposed their governor and elected their own government. This marked the start of separate governments in the [[Province of North-Carolina]] and the [[Province of South Carolina]]. In 1729, the king formally revoked Carolina's colonial charter and established both North Carolina and South Carolina as crown colonies.{{Sfnp|Richter|2011|page=323–324}}

In the 1730s, Parliamentarian [[James Oglethorpe]] proposed that the area south of the Carolinas be colonized with the "worthy poor" of England to provide an alternative to the overcrowded debtors' prisons. Oglethorpe and other English philanthropists secured a royal charter as the Trustees of the colony of Georgia on June 9, 1732.<ref>{{Cite web |title= Colonial Charters, Grants and Related Documents |url=https://avalon.law.yale.edu/subject_menus/statech.asp |website=Avalon Project }}</ref> Oglethorpe and his compatriots hoped to establish a utopian colony that banned slavery and recruited only the most worthy settlers, but by 1750 the colony remained sparsely populated. The proprietors gave up their charter in 1752, at which point Georgia became a crown colony.{{Sfnp|Richter|2011|page=358–359}}

The population of the Thirteen Colonies grew immensely in the 18th century. According to historian [[Alan Taylor (historian)|Alan Taylor]], the population was 1.5&nbsp;million in 1750, which represented four-fifths of the population of [[British North America]].{{Sfnp|Taylor|2016|page=20}} More than 90 percent of the colonists lived as farmers, though some seaports also flourished. In 1760, the cities of Philadelphia, New York, and [[Boston]] had a population of more than 16,000, which was small by European standards.{{Sfnp|Taylor|2016|page=23}} By 1770, the economic output of the Thirteen Colonies made up forty percent of the [[gross domestic product]] of the entire British Empire.{{Sfnp|Taylor|2016|page=25}}

As the 18th century progressed, colonists began to settle far from the Atlantic coast. Pennsylvania, Virginia, Connecticut, and Maryland all laid claim to the land in the [[Ohio River]] valley. The colonies engaged in a scramble to purchase land from Indian tribes, as the British insisted that claims to land should rest on legitimate purchases.{{Sfnp|Richter|2011|page=373–374}} Virginia was particularly intent on western expansion, and most of the elite Virginia families invested in the [[Ohio Company]] to promote the settlement of the [[Ohio Country]].{{Sfnp|Richter|2011|page=376–377}}

===Global trade and immigration===
{{main article|Mercantilism}}
The British American colonies became part of the global British trading network, as the value tripled for exports from America to Britain between 1700 and 1754. The colonists were restricted in trading with other European powers, but they found profitable trade partners in the other British colonies, particularly in the Caribbean. The colonists traded foodstuffs, wood, tobacco, and various other resources for Asian tea, West Indian coffee, and West Indian sugar, among other items. American Indians far from the Atlantic coast supplied the Atlantic market with beaver fur and deerskins. America had an advantage in natural resources and established its own thriving shipbuilding industry, and many American merchants engaged in the transatlantic trade.<ref>Jacob M. Price, "The Transatlantic Economy" in Jack P., Greene and J. R. Pole, eds. ''Colonial British America'' (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983) pp 18–42.</ref>

Improved economic conditions and easing of religious persecution in Europe made it more difficult to recruit labor to the colonies, and many colonies became increasingly reliant on slave labor, particularly in the South. The population of slaves in America grew dramatically between 1680 and 1750, and the growth was driven by a mixture of forced immigration and the reproduction of slaves. Slaves supported vast plantation economies in the South, while slaves in the North worked in a variety of occupations. There were a few local attempted slave revolts, such as the [[Stono Rebellion]] and the [[New York Conspiracy of 1741]], but these uprisings were suppressed.<ref>Richard S. Dunn, "Servants and slaves: The recruitment and employment of labor." in Jack P., Greene and J. R. Pole, eds. ''Colonial British America'' (1983) pp. 157–194.</ref>

A small proportion of the English population migrated to America after 1700, but the colonies attracted new immigrants from other European countries. These immigrants traveled to all of the colonies, but the Middle Colonies attracted the most and continued to be more ethnically diverse than the other colonies.{{Sfnp|Taylor|2016|pages=18–19}} Numerous settlers immigrated from Ireland,{{Sfnp|Richter|2011|page=360}} both Catholic and Protestant—particularly "[[Old and New Light|New Light]]" [[Ulster]] [[Presbyterianism|Presbyterians]].{{Sfnp|Richter|2011|page=361}} Protestant Germans also immigrated in large numbers, particularly to Pennsylvania.{{Sfnp|Richter|2011|page=362}} In the 1740s, the Thirteen Colonies underwent the [[First Great Awakening]].{{Sfnp|Middlekauff|2005|pages=46–49}}

===French and Indian War===
{{Further|French and Indian War}}
[[File:NorthAmerica1762-83.png|thumb|Territorial changes following the [[French and Indian War]]; land held by the British before 1763 is shown in red and land gained by Britain in 1763 is shown in pink]]
In 1738, an incident involving a Welsh mariner named [[Robert Jenkins (master mariner)|Robert Jenkins]] sparked the [[War of Jenkins' Ear]] between Britain and Spain. Hundreds of North Americans volunteered for Admiral [[Edward Vernon]]'s [[Battle of Cartagena de Indias|assault]] on [[Cartagena, Colombia|Cartagena de Indias]], a Spanish city in South America.{{Sfnp|Richter|2011|page=345}} The war against Spain merged into a broader conflict known as the [[War of the Austrian Succession]], but most colonists called it [[King George's War]].{{Sfnp|Richter|2011|pages=379–380}} In 1745, British and colonial forces [[Siege of Louisbourg (1745)|captured]] the town of [[Louisbourg]], and the war came to an end with the 1748 [[Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748)|Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle]]. However, many colonists were angered when Britain returned Louisbourg to France in return for [[Chennai|Madras]] and other territories.{{Sfnp|Richter|2011|pages=380–381}} In the aftermath of the war, both the British and French sought to expand into the Ohio River valley.{{Sfnp|Richter|2011|pages=383–385}}

The [[French and Indian War]] (1754–1763) was the American extension of the general European conflict known as the [[Seven Years' War]]. Previous colonial wars in North America had started in Europe and then spread to the colonies, but the French and Indian War is notable for having started in North America and spread to Europe. One of the primary causes of the war was increasing competition between Britain and France, especially in the Great Lakes and Ohio valley.<ref name="Anderson">{{Cite book |last=Anderson |first=Fred |title=The War That Made America: A Short History of the French and Indian War |date=2006}}</ref>

The French and Indian War took on a new significance for the British North American colonists when [[William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham|William Pitt the Elder]] decided that major military resources needed to be devoted to North America in order to win the war against France. For the first time, the continent became one of the main theaters of what could be termed a [[world war]]. During the war, it became increasingly apparent to American colonists that they were under the authority of the [[British Empire]], as British military and civilian officials took on an increased presence in their lives.

The war also increased a sense of American unity in other ways. It caused men to travel across the continent who might otherwise have never left their own colony, fighting alongside men from decidedly different backgrounds who were nonetheless still American. Throughout the course of the war, British officers trained Americans for battle, most notably [[George Washington]], which benefited the American cause during the Revolution. Also, colonial legislatures and officials had to cooperate intensively in pursuit of the continent-wide military effort.<ref name="Anderson" /> The relations were not always positive between the British military establishment and the colonists, setting the stage for later distrust and dislike of British troops.

At the 1754 [[Albany Congress]], Pennsylvania colonist [[Benjamin Franklin]] proposed the [[Albany Plan]] which would have created a unified government of the Thirteen Colonies for coordination of defense and other matters, but the plan was rejected by the leaders of most colonies.{{Sfnp|Richter|2011|pages=390–391}}

In the [[Treaty of Paris (1763)]], France formally ceded to Britain the eastern part of its vast North American empire, having secretly given to Spain the territory of [[Louisiana (New France)|Louisiana]] west of the Mississippi River the previous year. Before the war, Britain held the thirteen American colonies, most of present-day [[Nova Scotia]], and most of the [[Hudson Bay]] watershed. Following the war, Britain gained all French territory east of the Mississippi River, including Quebec, the Great Lakes, and the Ohio River valley. Britain also gained [[Spanish Florida]], from which it formed the colonies of [[East Florida|East]] and [[West Florida]]. In removing a major foreign threat to the thirteen colonies, the war also largely removed the colonists' need for colonial protection.

The British and colonists triumphed jointly over a common foe. The colonists' loyalty to the mother country was stronger than ever before. However, disunity was beginning to form. [[British Prime Minister]] William Pitt the Elder had decided to wage the war in the colonies with the use of troops from the colonies and tax funds from Britain itself. This was a successful wartime strategy but, after the war was over, each side believed that it had borne a greater burden than the other. The British elite, the most heavily taxed of any in Europe, pointed out angrily that the colonists paid little to the royal coffers. The colonists replied that their sons had fought and died in a war that served European interests more than their own. This dispute was a link in the chain of events that soon brought about the American Revolution.<ref name="Anderson" />

===Growing dissent===
The British were left with large debts following the French and Indian War, so British leaders decided to increase taxation and control of the Thirteen Colonies.{{Sfnp|Taylor|2016|pages=51–53}} They imposed several new taxes, beginning with the [[Sugar Act 1764]]. Later acts included the [[Currency Act 1764]], the [[Stamp Act 1765]], and the [[Townshend Acts]] of 1767.{{Sfnp|Taylor|2016|pages=94–96, 107}} [[Early American publishers and printers|Colonial newspapers and printers]] in particular took strong exception against the Stamp Act which imposed a tax on newspapers and official documents, and played a central role in disseminating literature among the colonists against such taxes and the idea of taxation without colonial representation.<ref>[[#morgan195|Morgan, 1953]], pp. 187–188</ref>

The [[Royal Proclamation of 1763]] restricted settlement west of the [[Appalachian Mountains]], as this was designated an [[Indian Reserve (1763)|Indian Reserve]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Calloway |first=Colin G. |title=The Scratch of a Pen: 1763 and the Transformation of North America |date=2006 |pages=92–98}}</ref> Some groups of settlers disregarded the proclamation, however, and continued to move west and establish farms.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Rorabaugh |first1=W. J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FhPAwAEACAAJ |title=America's promise : a concise history of the United States |last2=Critchlow |first2=Donald T. |last3=Baker |first3=Paula C. |date=2004 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=0-7425-1189-8 |location=Lanham, Maryland |page=92 |oclc=52714651}}W. J. Rorabaugh, Donald T. Critchlow, Paula C. Baker (2004). "''[https://books.google.com/books?id=VL_6X5zWOokC&pg=PA92 America's promise: a concise history of the United States]''". Rowman & Littlefield. p. 92. {{ISBN|0-7425-1189-8}}</ref> The proclamation was modified and was no longer a hindrance to settlement, but the fact angered the colonists that it had been promulgated without their prior consultation.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Holton |first=Woody |year=1994 |title=The Ohio Indians and the coming of the American Revolution in Virginia |journal=Journal of Southern History |volume=60 |issue=3 |pages=453–478 |doi=10.2307/2210989 |jstor=2210989}}</ref>

===American Revolution===
{{Further|American Revolution}}
[[File: Benjamin Franklin - Join or Die.jpg|thumb|alt=''[[Join, or Die]]'', a 1754 cartoon by [[Benjamin Franklin]] was used decades later to encourage the former colonies to unite against British rule|''[[Join, or Die]]'' by [[Benjamin Franklin]] was recycled to encourage the former colonies to unite against British rule.]]
Parliament had directly levied duties and excise taxes on the colonies, bypassing the colonial legislatures, and Americans began to insist on the principle of "[[no taxation without representation]]" with intense protests over the [[Stamp Act of 1765]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pole |first=J. R. |url=https://www.questia.com/read/89805613 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130607111905/http://www.questia.com/read/89805613 |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 7, 2013 |title=Political Representation in England and the Origins of the American Republic |date=1966 |publisher=Macmillan |location=London; Melbourne |page=31 }}</ref> They argued that the colonies had no representation in the British Parliament, so it was a violation of their rights as Englishmen for taxes to be imposed upon them. Parliament rejected the colonial protests and asserted its authority by passing new taxes.

Colonial discontentment grew with the passage of the 1773 [[Tea Act]], which reduced taxes on tea sold by the [[East India Company]] in an effort to undercut the competition, and Prime Minister North's ministry hoped that this would establish a precedent of colonists accepting British taxation policies. Trouble escalated over the tea tax, as Americans in each colony boycotted the tea, and those in Boston dumped the tea in the harbor during the [[Boston Tea Party]] in 1773 when the [[Sons of Liberty]] dumped thousands of pounds of tea into the water. Tensions escalated in 1774 as Parliament passed the laws known as the [[Intolerable Acts]], which greatly restricted self-government in the colony of Massachusetts. These laws also allowed British military commanders to claim colonial homes for the quartering of soldiers, regardless of whether the American civilians were willing or not to have soldiers in their homes. The laws further revoked colonial rights to hold trials in cases involving soldiers or crown officials, forcing such trials to be held in England rather than in America. Parliament also sent [[Thomas Gage]] to serve as Governor of Massachusetts and as the commander of British forces in North America.{{Sfnp|Taylor|2016|page=112–114}}

By 1774, colonists still hoped to remain part of the British Empire, but discontentment was widespread concerning British rule throughout the Thirteen Colonies.{{Sfnp|Taylor|2016|pages=137–121}} Colonists elected delegates to the [[First Continental Congress]], which convened in [[Philadelphia]] in September 1774. In the aftermath of the Intolerable Acts, the delegates asserted that the colonies owed allegiance only to the king; they would accept royal governors as agents of the king, but they were no longer willing to recognize Parliament's right to pass legislation affecting the colonies. Most delegates opposed an attack on the British position in Boston, and the Continental Congress instead agreed to the imposition of a boycott known as the [[Continental Association]]. The boycott proved effective and the value of British imports dropped dramatically.{{Sfnp|Taylor|2016|pages=123–127}} The Thirteen Colonies became increasingly divided between [[Patriot (American Revolution)|Patriots]] opposed to British rule and [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalists]] who supported it.{{Sfnp|Taylor|2016|pages=137–138}}