One Fact for Each of the 13 Colonies

If it’s November many fourth grade students in Georgia have been examining the 13 original colonies.

Here are some facts they have discovered:

1. New Hampshire-At one time this small colony was in dispute with New York regarding a particular territory west of the Connecticut River. Later the territory also known as the New Hampshire Grants would become Vermont following the American Revolution.

2. Massachusetts-Originally this colony was a Crown colony and was organized by William and Mary in 1691. Many do not realize but originally the province of Massachusetts included land all the way through what is today Maine.

3. Rhode Island-this colony’s charter set the territory apart from others because it granted freedom of religion for all Christians and Jews as well. Some historians think the name of the colony refers to its similarity in shape to the Greek island of Rhodes and Giovanni da Verrazzano had the honor of naming the province.

4. Connecticut-this plot of land was at one time known as River Colony. It was the site of one of the major wars with Native Americans....The Pequot War fought in 1637 and 1638.

5. New York-Before the British took over this colony it was already a very successful Dutch colony. New York City was originally known as New Amsterdam.

6. New Jersey-the settlement of a debt transferred one section of the colony from James, the Duke of York, to Sir George Carteret and another section to Lord Berkeley of Stratton. This is where the terms East Jersey and West Jersey come from.

7. Pennsylvania-William Penn received the territory known as “Penn’s Woods” because the monarchy owed him money. One other interesting fact is that by 1730 the colony had approximately 4,000 slaves. Fifty years later Pennsylvania would be one of the first colonies to issue an act of abolition.

8. Delaware-the actual ownership of this colony changed hands many times, but that didn’t stop it from being one of the most diverse colonies with people living there from Sweden, Finland, The Netherlands, France, and Britian.

9. Maryland-This colony’s capital city was named for Lord Baltimore who received a charter to create a haven for Catholics. Over the next few years the give and take regarding Catholicism in Britian determined the future ownership of the colony for some time.

10. Virginia-If Francis I of France had had his way the colony would have been known as Francesca or New France. Though Jamestown was the first successful British settlement in Virginia (1607) the French had actually claimed it earlier due to the exploration of Giovanni da Verrazzano. Basically, they let the British have the land and didn’t make a big issue of it at the time.

11. North Carolina-this territory originally included all of South Carolina and Georgia down to the boundary with Spanish controlled Florida.

12. South Carolina-Beginning in 1710 the proprietors of North Carolina could not reach an agreeement regarding governing issues so there was a split and South Carolina was born. Due to more disagreements and the Yamasee War (another Native American conflict) it would be 1729 before the two Carolinas would be formally established.

13. Georgia-Many don’t realize that a small strip of the last original colony stretched all the way west to the Pacific, and for all of its ties to slavery it actually began as a colony where slavery was not allowed.

Discover more 13’s here.