Historian John Murrin calls the 17th century the "age of remarkable experimentation in terms of how you organize a colony." The four new colonies Charles II initiates are all proprietary ventures styled after the Maryland model. Despite greater inte...
It is one thing to get Convention delegates to agree on the Constitution; it's quite another matter to get states and opponents to go along with it. Perhaps the most revolutionary move of the Convention is the adoption of a ratification clause which...
In 1754 the long-standing struggle between France and England erupts in the Seven Years' War over the building of Fort Duquesne in the Ohio Valley. At first, the war is fairly contained, but in 1756 it explodes into a conflict of international propo...
The United States faces a number of daunting issues in the years immediately following the war. The British do not evacuate the forts in the northwest territory or provide compensation for slaves as they had agreed. In 1784, Congress sends John Adam...
The United States has been a magnet for immigrants throughout its history. In the colonial period, many who embarked on the journey found it necessary to indenture themselves just to pay for the passage. As we hear a first-hand account of the diffic...