In 1620 a group of about 100 separatists, also known as Pilgrims, aboard the Mayflower arrived west of Cape Cod at Plymouth. In 1630 a new group of immigrants began a settlement called Boston. They came to be known as Puritans. The leader was John Winthrop. Catholics were not free to practise their faith in England. Sir George Calvert started a colony where he and other Catholics could freely worship their religion. Calvert called the colony Maryland. The original 13 colonies fell into 3 groups:
1) the New England colonies: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire
2) the middle colonies: Delaware, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania
3) the southern colonies: Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia.
The first Africans arrived in 1619. The main rival of the English were French who had 2 colonies:
1) New France (Canada)
2) Louisiana.
In the 18th century there were continual wars between the English and French. France's powerful position threatened the British Empire in America and led to the Seven Years' War (known to Americans as the French and Indian War in 1754). France has defeated and when the Seven Years' War ended in 1763 with the Peace of Paris, the English kept the territories they had conquered in America.

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION - THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE 1775-1783
Many of the British colonies were self-governed and prospered economically and culturally. The trade and wealth of the colonies was utilised for the exclusive benefit of the British ruling class.
After the French and Indian War, in 1763, the 13 colonies were demanding more independence from Britain. The British government imposed duties on tea, paper, glass and other articles of general consumption. The anti-English feeling gave rise to a popular organisation called the ‘Sons of Liberty’, who raised the slogan: ‘No taxation without representation’. It caused the boycott of English goods.

THE BOSTON TEA-PARTY, dec. 16th 1773
The revolutionary war began in Lexington, Mass. on the night of April 18th 1775. In June 1775, the 2nd Continental Congress, acting as the National Government met in Philadelphia and appointed G. Washington Commander in Chief of the Colonial Army. Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson, was approved by continental Congress on July 4th 1776. In 1778 Benjamin Franklin persuaded the French government to sign a Treaty of Alliance. French ships and troops played the main role in a war.
The King George III. refused to unknowledge for another 2 years. The Peace Treaty was finally signed in 1783. Britain recognized the independence of the U.S.