Pre-Colonial Era

More than 20,000 years ago, there was a group of wanderers from Asia who traveled through North America to Central and South America. These people were the ancestors of the Indians. [1] When Columbus discovered the New World, there were about 20 million Indians living in the Americas, of which about 1 million lived in Canada and the central and northern United States, and most of the rest lived in what is now Mexico and the southern United States. There was another group of Asians who immigrated to northern North America, the later Eskimos. The first white people to come to America were probably the Vikings. They were a group of adventurous fishermen. Some people think that they had been to the east coast of North America 1,000 years ago. In the 16th and 18th centuries, European powers established colonies in North America. The French established New France (including the lower spring tide area of the St. Lawrence Basin, the Mississippi River Basin, etc.); the Spanish established New Spain (including Mexico and the vast area of the southwestern United States). At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the British began to immigrate to North America. The original North American immigrants were mainly landless farmers, hard-fought workers, and religiously persecuted Puritans. In 1607, a colony group of about 100 people rushed all the way to an estuary in Virginia and established Jamestown, the first permanent British colony in North America . In the next 150 years, many colonists came to settle in the coastal areas, most of them from Britain, and some from France, Germany, Holland, Ireland and other countries. Most of the people who arrived in the colonies were the poor working people of Western Europe, as well as aristocrats, landlords, and bourgeoisie, with the British, Irish, Germans and Dutch being the most. Among the immigrants were those fleeing war and religious persecution, voluntary and involuntary "indentured slaves", beggars, criminals; and black people who were trafficked from Africa. In 1620, they took the "Mayflower" to North America and made the "Mayflower Convention" on board. Ashore in Plymouth on November 21, the Puritans signed the Mayflower Pact with 41 free adult men. The content is the organization of citizen groups; the formulation of regulations and so on. Lay the foundations of self-government. In the colonial era, with the long war with the Native American Indians, severe labor shortages produced unfree labor such as slaves and indentured servitude, and the laissez-faire policy of the British government allowed the uniquely American spirit and culture to develop its uniqueness. The evil slave trade flourished in the thirteen states of British North America. From 1607 to 1733, British colonists successively established thirteen colonies on the east coast of North America (the Atlantic coast). In the mid-18th century, the colonies were relatively mature economically, culturally, and politically. The colonial parliament still believed in King George III, but they pursued the same status as the British parliament and did not want to become second-class citizens of the United Kingdom. The end of the war in 2009, eager to consolidate the territory, so that the North American colonial people levied heavy rents and taxes and the British King George III changed the laissez-faire policy and advocated high-pressure methods. As a result, the colonial people revolted, such as the "No Taxes Without Representation" declaration, "Boston m******e", "Intolerable Act" and so on. The prelude to the American Revolutionary War was launched in April 1775 at Lexington and Concord with "The Shots at Lexington". Later, these colonies became the original thirteen states of the independent thirteen states of North America. The seven-year war between Britain and France for maritime supremacy and plundering of colonies ended in a British victory. The United Kingdom took over Canada in North America, took control of New France east of the Mississippi River, comprehensively strengthened its control over the North American colonies, declared the west of the Appalachian Mountains as a royal property, and prohibited the colonial people from getting involved; and imposed heavy taxes, severely smuggled smuggling, and restricted the economy. activities, which seriously damaged the economic interests of the people of all walks of life in the colonies. Since Virginia established its parliament in 1619, the colonies have successively established parliaments to compete with the United Kingdom. In 1765, nine colonies held a protest stamp meeting, setting off a wave of resistance. In the mid-18th century, there was a rift between the American colonies and Britain. The expansion of the colonies made them conscious of the persecution of the United Kingdom, and gave birth to the idea of independence. In the 1770s, Britain further implemented its high-handed policy, and the Boston m******e in 1770 occurred. The Tea Tax Act was passed in 1773, causing the Boston Tea Party. In 1774, five intolerable decrees were promulgated (such as closing the Boston Harbor, sending more British troops, canceling the autonomy of Massachusetts, establishing British judicial power over the colonies, etc.), tightening the control and suppression of the colonies politically and militarily. From 1772 to 1774, a communications committee was generally established in each colony to lead the anti-British struggle. On September 5, 1774, representatives of the colonies except Georgia convened the 1st Continental Congress in Philadelphia, and passed a resolution to sever all trade relations with Britain, and then passed the "Declaration on Colonial Rights and Resentments" to the King of England. File a petition. However, the British king insisted that the colonies must unconditionally submit to the British king and accept punishment.