Colonial America

Introduction

Portrait: Benjamin Franklin

The Declaration of Independence was signed July 4, 1776. This work, assembled by John Binns in 1819, surrounds a facsimile of the document's text.

When did the colonial period begin and when did it end? According to many historians, the era started either with failed English attempts to settle on Roanoke Island (1584–87) or their successful founding of Jamestown in 1607. The conclusion is placed either before or after the French and Indian War (1754–60) or at the beginning of the revolutionary period (1775–76). These time frames, regardless of dates, put the thirteen English colonies at the center of American history. -- Colonial America Almanac