The Thirteen Colonies: Foundations of Colonial America

Why did they come to the New World?

When most people picture colonial America, they imagine the familiar strip of 13 colonies hugging the Atlantic coast. But from Britain’s point of view, those colonies were only part of a much bigger operation. By the mid-1700s, Great Britain controlled roughly 22 colonies spread across North America, Canada, and the Caribbean. The Caribbean colonies were the real heavyweights. Sugar and rum poured out of islands like Jamaica and Barbados, generating more wealth than many mainland colonies combined. Compared to that kind of money, farming settlements in North America looked useful—but not exactly the crown jewels.

Even among the 13 mainland colonies, not all were created equal. Some mattered a lot more to Britain than others. New York was a major port and trade hub. South Carolina brought in serious profits from rice and indigo. Other colonies were smaller, poorer, or more trouble than they were worth. Collectively, the mainland colonies played a supporting role in the empire, supplying food, lumber, ships, and labor to keep trade moving, especially to the Caribbean, where the real profits were made.

The people who came to these colonies reflected that reality. The 13 colonies attracted migrants from all over Great Britain, but they weren’t usually elites packing up comfortable lives. Most arrivals were poor, religious nonconformists, debtors, criminals, indentured servants, and a smaller number of skilled laborers hoping for a reset. For many, the colonies offered something Britain didn’t: land, work, and distance from old problems. Over time, these settlers built communities that felt increasingly local and independent—even while they remained part of an empire that didn’t expect them to one day break away and become a country of their own.

The British Empire in North America around 1730. This map shows how the British had established colonies in Canada, the Caribbean, Central and South America.

colonial ethnic population (1750)

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Explore the Thirteen Colonies

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Life in the New England Colonies

Religion and Beliefs (and Intolerance)

The Puritans crossed the Atlantic chasing religious freedom—but only the kind they approved of. They broke away from the Anglican Church back in England and formed their own Congregationalist churches. To them, the congregation was where God lived, and only “visible saints” were allowed in. If you couldn’t convince the church leaders that “God dwelt in you,” you weren’t getting the full membership perks like voting or communion.

And heaven help you if you questioned the system. Anne Hutchinson dared to criticize Puritan ministers and was banished, eventually moving to Rhode Island. Roger Williams insisted that church and state should be separate—out he went too, founding Rhode Island as a haven for religious misfits. This became a pattern: dissenters and outcasts kept spilling out of Massachusetts, which helped plant new colonies like Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Maine.

Suspicion of outsiders sometimes went way beyond banishment. In 1692, Salem, Massachusetts erupted in one of the darkest chapters of colonial history: the witch trials. Nineteen people were hanged after being accused of practicing witchcraft, all in the town’s Meeting House. What began as teenage whispers turned into a full-blown panic, proving just how dangerous Puritan zealotry could get.

The Inside of a Puritan Meeting Hall (which also doubled as church and courthouse)

Daily Life in New England Towns

Life in a New England colony revolved around the town center: the Meeting House, the tavern, and the village green. The Meeting House was the Swiss Army knife of Puritan society—courtroom, church, council hall, and gossip hub. Here ministers preached for hours, town leaders passed laws, and unlucky neighbors got fined for letting their cows trample someone else’s crops.

The militia drilled on the village green, which sounds noble until you realize it was usually an excuse for men to drink, shoot their muskets, and stomp around pretending to be soldiers. And despite their strict reputation, Puritans always made room for a tavern. Call it a colonial café, motel, and alehouse rolled into one—proof that even the godliest needed a pint and a break.

Family life was no picnic either. Most colonists were subsistence farmers, scratching a living out of rocky soil. Using Native-taught methods like planting fish with corn, they grew barley, peas, pumpkins, and other vegetables that often ended up as mushy stews. Colonists preferred meat pies and sugar whenever they could get it, which helps explain why so many had famously terrible teeth.

Education, though, was something Puritans took seriously. In 1642, Massachusetts passed a law requiring parents to teach kids to read the Bible. Towns with more than fifty households had to hire a schoolmaster. Harvard College opened in 1636 to train ministers, and other schools followed. Literacy rates in New England soared, giving the colonies a reputation for being unusually bookish.

Church services, on the other hand, were endurance tests. Men and women sat on separate hard benches, Native Americans and Africans were shoved up into the loft, and services often lasted five hours or more. Talking got you smacked with a stick, and the doors were locked to prevent early escape. Miss church and you could end up fined—or worse, in the stocks.

The New England Economy

If you wanted to strike it rich in New England, you were in the wrong place. Unlike the fertile fields of Virginia, New England’s rocky soil meant most families only managed subsistence farming. But the region had other advantages. Thick forests provided lumber for shipbuilding, which became one of the area’s most important industries. Fishing and whaling also kept coastal towns busy, while trade connected New England to the Caribbean and Europe.

Still, Puritan leaders kept tight control over who could own land or join the community. Outsiders weren’t trusted, and property could only be sold to people approved by church members. Of course, this didn’t stop troublemakers from slipping into the woods and setting up their own farms beyond Puritan reach. The Puritans wanted to build a “city upon a hill”—but plenty of misfits were determined to live on their own terms in the valleys beyond.

Thanks to the poor soil and sketchy weather, the New England's economy relied on ship building, fur trading, and lumber.

Why It Matters

The New England colonies left behind more than muddy greens and five-hour sermons. Their obsession with education laid the groundwork for America’s first public schools and colleges, helping literacy spread far faster here than in Europe. Their town-centered government gave colonists practice in self-rule, planting early seeds of democracy. And their fierce intolerance—seen in the banishment of dissenters and the Salem witch trials—shows the danger of confusing religious purity with community strength.

New England’s story is a reminder that America’s ideals of freedom and equality were never simple or perfect. But the push-and-pull between conformity and independence, education and exclusion, community and individuality all began here—and still shapes the way Americans argue about belonging and belief today.

Digging Deeper

Use the article to answer the questions below.

Why did people choose to settle in the New England colonies instead of staying in England?
What kinds of jobs or work were common in the New England colonies?
How did geography and climate affect daily life in New England?
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