The Virginia, Connecticut, and Georgia Colonies

The 13 Colonies is a very important part of history. They are what shaped New England today. They were originally British settlements. The first ever colony that was established was what is now Virginia. This came to be in 1607 when it started with Jamestown.

Virginia’s first ever export was tobacco, that was popularly traded during this time. With exports that colonies traded they made profit from it and that was part of the way each one thrived. England had a say in some of the matters when it came to this branch of the colonies.

Originally Virginia was much larger than what it is known as today. Some of the land then later got branched out to become Kentucky, West Virginia, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. In the beginning the colony wasn’t so independent because the King at the time (James I) revoked their charter. So, Virginia had loyalty to the king for a while, and that’s how they got their nickname “The Old Dominion”.

Later, four years after the colony of Maryland was developed, Connecticut was established. Although it was not originally called the Connecticut Colony, it was called the River Colony. It started with a Puritan minister creating this settlement. There was actually a war that took place in Connecticut known as the Pequot War. This was between Native Americans and Englishmen.

Connecticut was a big help towards having the colonies become independent. They helped the colonies become separate from the English Government and have their own government. An example of Connecticut’s point of view was when they refused to submit themselves to England leaders and having to be controlled by them. So for England to make Connecticut a royal colony they had to revoke the original Charter and have it in their own hands. But, a colonist from Connecticut broke in and stole the Charter and hid it in an Oak tree. Now, everybody just calls it an Oak tree but specifically it was called a White Oak Tree. That tree then became known as the Charter Oak Tree. Later on, the White Oak became the State Tree. Because the colonist hid the Charter in the White Oak tree, Connecticut became independent because England could not revoke it without having it.

The last colony that got developed was Georgia. It was established in 1732. The colony was created by a man named General James Oglethorpe and he organized it in a way so it can give people who are in debt a second chance to get them back on their feet. At first the colony had a lot of laws that Oglethorpe created including, no slavery, no alcohol, etc. But many people did not like this. So the development of Georgia started off slow because of all of the laws. Then, when Oglethorpe repealed some of the laws the colony started coming together quicker.

These colonies and many others were an important part of history and shaped some areas that are here to this day. Unlike what it was originally, England no longer controls the areas anymore and are now independent just like the colonies were trying to accomplish.