Colonies & Settlement

Portrait by Artist to Come


QUICK FACTS
  • Compared to the West Indies, British North America was economically trivial in the 18th century. In 1773, for example, British imports from Jamaica alone were five times more valuable than those from all of the North American colonies combined.
CONTENTS

     

Territories

  • Kentucky County
  • New Hampshire Grants (Vermont Republic)

Lafayette’s years in America had given him the most glorious career it was possible for a youth of his disposition to imagine. He had fought for a noble cause, and won the love of a nation. George Washington sent him admiring and heart-sore letters after the marquis returned to France; the state of Virginia presented a bust of him to the city of Paris; the island of Nantucket sent him a 500-pound cheese. Lafayette cherished the love he had earned overseas, and never let the French forget it. When his first two children were born, he named the boy George Washington and the girl Virginia. At his Paris household, his family spoke English, and his messenger was dressed as an American Indian.

Richard Brookhiser
Gentleman Revolutionary: Gouverneur Morris, the Rake Who Wrote the Constitution (2003)