Chapter 1: Early History of America

Chapter 1: Early History of America

The Voyage of the Mayflower

On 6th September, 1620, a group of 102 pilgrims sailed from England to America, “the New World”, on the ship the Mayflower. The pilgrims left England because they wanted religious and political freedom. The long, difficult journey across the Atlantic Ocean continued for 65 days. There were storms on the way and water entered the ship, but the pilgrims decided to continue on to the New World.

Early on 9th November, 1620, the pilgrims saw land in the distance. They were very excited because their journey was near the end. The ship finally reached land and some pilgrims left to explore the area. They saw a good place and decided to build a village there. Each family built a small house and they had land to grow vegetables and keep their animals. Later, they called the village Plymouth.

The first winter was very cold and 45 people died from the extreme temperatures and from hunger. But the pilgrims didn’t lose hope.

After a few months, in March 1621, the pilgrims met a Native American for the first time and he introduced them to his tribe. The Native Americans taught the pilgrims how to grow corn, beans and pumpkins. After this, life became better for the pilgrims.

Other people wanted to try life in the New World and many immigrants moved there. By the 1750s, the British had 13 colonies on the east coast of North America and about two and a half million colonists lived there. But France and Spain also owned big areas of land in North America and wanted to influence the New World, too.

From 1754 to 1763, the British army and the colonists fought the French over land in North America. The British won the war and got some of the French land. But then, the British government asked for taxes from the colonists to pay for the war. The colonists thought this was ridiculous because they didn’t have a representative in the British government and they refused to pay the taxes. The 13 colonies decided to join together to fight the British.

On 4th July, 1776, the colonies declared independence from Great Britain. Their leaders published the Declaration of Independence on this date. Then, the fighting started. The colonists, led by George Washington, fought many long, difficult battles. In the end, they defeated the British and signed the Treaty of Paris in 1783. They called their new nation the United States of America (USA).