Maryland, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Delaware
I shall review 4 colonies out of the 13 colonies. These will be Maryland, Connecticut, Rhode Island and lastly Delaware. I will review them in the order they were established

 

Maryland

Maryland was established by Lord Baltimore in 1632. The reason Maryland was established was because it was supposed to server as a haven for Catholics. During that time, Catholics had to flee, because of persecution in England. Maryland was tolerant to other religions as well. It remained tolerant even when the Protestants overthrew the Catholics. Maryland was making money by selling tobacco back to England. Maryland didn’t have much labor and they needed it for the farms, so they  hired indentured and even slaves for labor. The tobacco in Maryland was very profitable due to the Chesapeake Bay.

 

Connecticut

In 1636 Connecticut was established by a Puritan Minister Thomas Hooker. He brought his 100 followers and established the city of Hartford. Before Connecticut was called Connecticut it was called the River Colony. Many wars were fought in Connecticut especially the very bloody Pequot war between the Indians and the English. Connecticut was a prime example of a state that wanted to become independent from England. The English wanted to make Connecticut part of the Dominion of New England. Which was a combination of several colonies. The Connecticut Charter which gave Connecticut it’s ability to create its own laws. It was commissioned by Charles II. But when King James II opposed this idea, the Connecticut Charter was hidden in the Charter Oak Tree. For two years it stayed there until James II died and then it was removed.

Rhode Island

Four years after Maryland was founded Rhode Island was established. Rhode Island was established because of two people who had been banished from Massachusetts. These people were Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson.  They each founded their own colony. They were able to do this because they had a big following. Roger Williams founded Providence Plantation and Anne Hutchinson founded Rhode Island. They combined in 1663. Unlike Maryland Rhode Island wasn’t completely religiously tolerant. They only persecuted Jews and Quakers. Before I continue onto the next colony has anybody found it strange that Rhode Island is called Rhode Island even though it’s not a island?

Delaware

Delaware was established in a sense by Sir Robert Carr. Sir Robert Carr was sent on a expedition to explore the Delaware river. There he found Dutch settlements, which he all destroyed. This ended the Dutch claims to Delaware forever. Then Sir Robert Carr made it a colony. But it didn’t remain like that for very long because Delaware kept switching hands to different people and colonies. It started out as being controlled by the Duke of York, then the Proprietors of Maryland, then it became a charter of governance of Pennsylvania. Eventually in 1701 Delaware became independent from Pennsylvania and became its own colony.