Colonial America

How it came to be.

Founding Fathers

• George Washington1st President 1732-1799

• James Madison4th President 1751-1836

• Thomas Jefferson3rd President 1743-1846

• John Adams2nd President 1735-1826

Mayflower Compact• "In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal

Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord, King James, by the Grace of God, of England, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, e&.

•           Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia; do by these presents, solemnly and mutually in the Presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid; And by Virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the General good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.

•           In Witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord, King James of England, France and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini, 1620."

Colonies Before 1763

Connecticut: January 9, 1788 Virginia: June 25, 1788 Maryland: April 28, 1788 Pennsylvania: December 12,

1787 Delaware: December 7,1787 Massachusetts: February 6,

1788 New Jersey: December 18,

1787 Rhode Island: May 4,1776 New York: July 26, 1788 New Hampshire: June

21,1788 North Carolina: November

21,1789 South Carolina: May 23, 1788

Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence is the document in which American colonists proclaimed their freedom from British rule. The Second Continental Congress, with representatives of the 13 British colonies in America, adopted the declaration on July 4, 1776. The document included an expression of the colonists' grievances and their reasons for declaring freedom from Britain. The Declaration of Independence's political significance rank it as one of the world's great historical documents.

Signers The Signers: Adams, Samuel Bartlett, Josiah

Braxton, Carter Carroll, Charles Chase, Samuel Gerry, Elbridge Gwinnett, Button Hancock, John Harrison, Benjamin Hopkins, Stephen Hopkinson, Francis Lee, Francis Lightfoot Livingston, Philip Morris, Lewis Nelson, Thomas Paine, Robert Treat Rodney, Caesar Rush, Benjamin Rutledge, Edward Whipple, William Wilson, James

Boston Tea Party• The Boston Tea party came because the evil

King George III taxed the colonist “with out representation.” This was one of the many reasons the colonies went to war with their mother country.

• As a protest against a tax placed on imported tea by the British crown, a group of American colonists, led by Samuel Adams, staged the Boston Tea Party. On December 16, 1773, the colonists, some dressed as Native Americans, boarded three British ships and tossed the tea cargo into Boston Harbor.