American History: From Colonial Life to Reconstruction

Life in the Thirteen American Colonies

By the year 1733, the English owned 13 separate colonies along the Atlantic coast of North America. The colonies stretched from New Hampshire in the north to Georgia in the south. Most people divided them into three main groups. Most residents were small farmers or craftsmen, working the stony soil and governing themselves in small towns and villages. The nearest colonies to the south of New England were called the Middle Colonies.

The Boston Tea Party and Early Conflicts

In Boston Harbor, a group of Massachusetts colonists disguised as Mohawk Indians boarded three British tea ships belonging to the British East India Company. The Americans were protesting a tax on tea ("no taxation without representation"), which is a situation in which a government imposes taxes on a particular group of its citizens despite the citizens not consenting.

This situation took place during the American Revolution; the Boston Tea Party occurred on December 16, 1773.

The US Constitution and Separation of Powers

The Constitution gave the US a "federal" system of government, which means that the power is shared. This structure made the federal government much stronger than before. It granted the power to:

• Collect taxes
• Organize armed forces
• Control trade of all kinds

The Constitution made arrangements for the election of a national leader called the President to take charge of the federal government. The Constitution ensured that there was a "balance of power."

The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865, while attending the play Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. Shot in the head as he watched the play, Lincoln died the following day. He was the first American president to be assassinated.

The 13th and 14th Amendments

The Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. In Congress, it was passed by the Senate and by the House on January 31, 1865.

The Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868. The amendment addresses citizenship rights and equal protection of the laws; it was proposed in response to issues related to former slaves following the American Civil War.