Successful British settlement of the New World began in 1607 at Jamestown on the coast of present-day Virginia. By the mid-1700s, thirteen colonies, under British control, had been established. They included Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire (the New England colonies); Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware (the Middle colonies); and Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia (the Southern colonies).

During the first half of the 1700s, Britain paid little attention to its colonies. British leaders were preoccupied with wars in Europe, particularly with France. By the early 1750s, the French had claimed a large area of land west of the thirteen British colonies, and they were developing a profitable fur trade in that region. Britain took notice and moved its battle with France across the Atlantic to North America. From 1754 to 1763, Britain and France battled for control of the Old Northwest...