The Thirteen Colonies

Delaware

Dec 7, 1787

Year Founded: 1638
Founder: Peter Minuit
Reason: To continue to promote Christianity
Major Industry: Fishing and lumbering

Pennsylvania

Dec 12, 1787

Year Founded: 1682
Founder: William Penn
Reason: Quakers wanted religioius freedom and it would be good for trade and profit
Major Industry: Wheat, corn, cattle, dairy, textiles, papermaking, and shipbuilding

New Jersey

Dec 18, 1787

Year Founded: 1664
Founder: John Berkeley and Sir George Carteret
Reason: Settlers were promised a representative government and religious freedom
Major Industry: Ironworking and lumbering

Georgia

Jan 2, 1788

Year Founded: 1732
Founder: James Edward Oglethorpe
Reason: Was created as a place for debtors in prison could live together in a community and also started a barrier from Spanish expansion in Florida
Major Industry: Indigo, rice, and sugar

Connecticut

Feb 6, 1788

Year Founded: 1636
Founder: Thomas Hooker
Reasoning: Wanted religious and political freedom
Major Industry: Wheat, corn, and fishing

Massachusetts

Feb 6, 1788

Year Founded: 1620
Founder: John Winthrop
Reason: Wanted religioius freedom
Major Industry: Fishing, corn, livestock, lumbering, and shipbuilding

Maryland

Apr 28, 1788

Year Founded: 1634
Founder: Lord Baltimore
Reason: Wanted to make a profit and also create refuge for Roman Catholics
Major Industry: Shipbuilding, iron works, corn, wheat, rice, and indigo

South Carolina

May 23, 1788

Year Founded: 1663
Founder: English colonists
Reason: Internal problems in the Carolina colony so split apart and became South Carolina
Major Industry: Indigo, rice, tobacco, cotton, and cattle

New Hampshire

Jun 21, 1788

Year Founded: 1623
Founder: John Mason
Reason: Wanted to escape religious and economic rules that restricted them
Major Industry: Potatoes, fishing, textiles, and shipbuilding

Virginia

Jun 25, 1788

Year Founded: 1607
Founder: London Company (John Smith)
Reason: Hoped to find gold and convert natives to Christianity
Major Industry: Plantation agriculture

New York

Jul 26, 1788

Year Founded: 1664
Year Founded: 1636
Founder: Peter Minuit and Henry Hudson
Reason: Had useful resources like Hudson River for transportation and fish
Major Industry: Shipbuilding, iron works, cattle, grain, rice, indigo, and wheat

North Carolina

Nov 21, 1789

Year Founded: 1653
Founder: Virginia Colonists
Reason: Issued a royal charter from King Charles II
Major Industry: Plantation agriculture (indigo, rice, tobacco)

Rhode Island

May 29, 1790

Year Founded: 1636
Founder: Roger Williams
Reason: Wanted separation of church and state after disagreement in Massachusetts Bay Colony
Major Industry: Fishing