THE 13 COLONIES AND THE INDEPENDENCE OF THE USA.

The first colonies in North America were along the eastern coast. The first permanent
settlement in North America was the English colony at Jamestown, in 1607, in what is now
Virginia (the name of the colony comes from the virgin
queen Elizabeth I). John Smith (history of Pocahontas)
was appointed by the London Company to serve in the
local council. In 1620 the Mayflower, a ship with Puritan
immigrants sailed to America to live according with their
Christian consciences in a free land. The Pilgrims set up a
colony at Plymouth, in what is now Massachusetts.
Each of the thirteen colonies developed its own
system of self-government, based largely on independent
farmers who owned their own land, voted for their local
and provincial government, and served on local juries. In
some of the colonies, especially Virginia, the Carolinas
and Georgia, there were also substantial populations of
African slaves who worked on
tobacco and cotton plantations.
French and Indian War (17541763): part of the war of the Seven
Years between France and England.
The war was fought along the
frontiers of France and England in
America (look at the map). At the
end of the war England took control
of French Canada. Following the end
of the war England imposed a series
of taxes to the 13 colonies to pay the
expenses of the war. Unrest spread
as a consequence of the taxes and the
presence of English soldiers on
American soil. In 1770 a resented
crowd threw stones at the English troops. Soldiers opened fire, killing five. In 1773 three English
ship are in Boston Harbour, waiting for their cargo of tea to be unloaded. Then some Bostonians
appears, disguised as Indians and threw the tea into the water (if you unloaded the tea into

American soil you have to pay taxes to British Crown). The British closes Boston Port and take the
city under military command. As a result a new idea gains rapid and excited support. Each colony is
invited to send delegates to a congress in Philadelphia in September 1774.

ACTIVITIES
1. Write down the meaning of the underlined words.
ENGLISH

SPANISH

ENGLISH

SPANISH

ENGLISH

SPANISH

2. With the underlined words make a little written composition, no more than 30 words.
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3. Check out this web page (http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/wwww/us/13coloniesdef.htm )

and writing down the origin of the name of each colony.
Virginia

Massachusetts

Rhode Island

New Hampshire

Maryland

Connecticut

Delaware

North
and
Carolina

New Jersey

New York

Pennsylvania

Georgia

South

4. Nowadays, there is a faction of the Republican Party named Tea Party, check out these web
page (http://www.teaparty.org/about-us/ ) and write down some ideas of their political thinking.

5. 27 amendments have been made to the Constitution of the USA. The second amendment refers to
the right to bear arms (el derecho a portar armas). In this Wikipedia web page
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_in_the_United_States_by_state) we have a list of States
and some of the features of gun laws in every State, which are different from one to another.

Let's take a look for example to Florida and answer the questions:
1. Do you need a license to purchase a gun?
2. Do you need to registrate your gun?
3. Do you need a license to carry a long gun? And a handgun?
4. If the police stop you, is your duty to inform the police you are carrying a gun?
Now, lets take a look for example to New York and answer the questions:
5. Do you need a license to purchase a gun?
6. Do you need to register your gun?
7. Do you need a license to carry a long gun? And a handgun?
8. Are you allowed to possess assault weapons?