13 Colonies

Massachusetts

Founded by Pilgrims (1620) and Puritans (1630, John Winthrop); religious freedom, "city upon a hill."

New Hampshire

Founded by John Mason and settlers from Mass.; economic opportunities (fishing, trade); escape Puritan control.

Connecticut

Founded by Thomas Hooker (1636); wanted more political/religious freedom; Fundamental Orders (1639).

Rhode Island

Founded by Roger Williams (1636) and Anne Hutchinson; religious tolerance, separation of church & state.

New York

Originally Dutch (New Netherland), taken by English 1664 for Duke of York; trade & profits.

New Jersey

Founded by Lord Berkeley & Sir George Carteret (1664); trade, farming, religious freedom.

Pennsylvania

Founded by William Penn (1681); Quaker "Holy Experiment," religious freedom & tolerance.

Delaware

Originally Dutch/Swedish; later under William Penn; own assembly in 1704; trade & diversity.

Maryland

Founded by Lord Baltimore (1634); safe haven for Catholics; Act of Toleration (1649).

Virginia

Founded Jamestown 1607 by Virginia Company; profit from tobacco; first permanent English colony.

North Carolina

Settled by small farmers, split from SC 1712; tobacco & subsistence farming.

South Carolina

Founded 1670 by Lord Proprietors; plantation economy (rice & indigo); slavery-based.

Georgia

Founded 1733 by James Oglethorpe; buffer vs. Spanish Florida; haven for debtors; initially banned slavery.