THE 13 COLONIES AND THE INDEPENDENCE OF THE USA.

The first colonies in North America were along the eastern coast. The first permanent

settlement in North America was the English colony at Jamestown, in 1607, in what is now

Virginia (the name of the colony comes from the virgin

queen Elizabeth I). John Smith (history of Pocahontas)

was appointed by the London Company to serve in the

local council. In 1620 the Mayflower, a ship with Puritan

immigrants sailed to America to live according with their

Christian consciences in a free land. The Pilgrims set up a

colony at Plymouth, in what is now Massachusetts.

Each of the thirteen colonies developed its own

system of self-government, based largely on independent

farmers who owned their own land, voted for their local

and provincial government, and served on local juries. In

some of the colonies, especially Virginia, the Carolinas

and Georgia, there were also substantial populations of

African slaves who worked on

tobacco and cotton plantations.

French and Indian War (1754-

1763): part of the war of the Seven

Years between France and England.

The war was fought along the

frontiers of France and England in

America (look at the map). At the

end of the war England took control

of French Canada. Following the end

of the war England imposed a series

of taxes to the 13 colonies to pay the

expenses of the war. Unrest spread

as a consequence of the taxes and the

presence of English soldiers on

American soil. In 1770 a resented

crowd threw stones at the English troops. Soldiers opened fire, killing five. In 1773 three English

ship are in Boston Harbour, waiting for their cargo of tea to be unloaded. Then some Bostonians

appears, disguised as Indians and threw the tea into the water (if you unloaded the tea into

American soil you have to pay taxes to British Crown). The British closes Boston Port and take the

city under military command. As a result a new idea gains rapid and excited support. Each colony is

invited to send delegates to a congress in Philadelphia in September 1774.

ACTIVITIES

1. Write down the meaning of the underlined words.

ENGLISH SPANISH ENGLISH SPANISH ENGLISH SPANISH

2. With the underlined words make a little written composition, no more than 30 words.

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3. Check out this web page (http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/wwww/us/13coloniesdef.htm )

and writing down the origin of the name of each colony.

Virginia Massachusetts

Rhode Island New Hampshire

Maryland Connecticut

Delaware North and South

Carolina

New Jersey New York

Pennsylvania Georgia

4. Nowadays, there is a faction of the Republican Party named Tea Party, check out these web

page (http://www.teaparty.org/about-us/ ) and write down some ideas of their political thinking.

5. 27 amendments have been made to the Constitution of the USA. The second amendment refers to

the right to bear arms (el derecho a portar armas). In this Wikipedia web page

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_in_the_United_States_by_state) we have a list of States

and some of the features of gun laws in every State, which are different from one to another.

Let's take a look for example to Florida and answer the questions:

1. Do you need a license to purchase a gun?

2. Do you need to registrate your gun?

3. Do you need a license to carry a long gun? And a handgun?

4. If the police stop you, is your duty to inform the police you are carrying a gun?

Now, lets take a look for example to New York and answer the questions:

5. Do you need a license to purchase a gun?

6. Do you need to register your gun?

7. Do you need a license to carry a long gun? And a handgun?

8. Are you allowed to possess assault weapons?