The Colony of New Hampshire

By Jake

    People came to America from all over the world to give themselves’ new lives.  People were looking for a fresh start where they could have their own religions and have land.  I will tell you about how New Hampshire was formed, how it grew, and the people who lived there.

           Algonquian Indians lived on the land before the English came to settle there.  The chief of the Algonquian Indians told his people to not start a war because it would be useless.  Then when the settlers came they gave them food and popcorn. In the winter the Indians showed the colonists how to make snowshoes out of the branches they found.  The Indians were so nice they even taught them to pack meat in the snow to preserve it.

       In 1609, John Smith claimed New Hampshire for England.  In 1622, King James gave land to John Mason and Ferdinand Gorges.  David Thomson built Pannaway Plantation in New Hampshire with twenty other men.  It was New Hampshire’s first English settlement.  Mason had New Hampshire and Gorges had Maine.  

      Almost everyone in New Hampshire grew their food but before they could grow anything they would have to chop down trees and move rocks.  The farmers used the rocks to make a wall around their gardens.  Many of those rock walls are still up in New Hampshire today.

    New Hampshire had so many trees colonists could make a living building ships.  Each New Hampshire town built a meeting house.  Every Sunday in New Hampshire the meeting house was used for an all day church.  The meeting house was used for the men to decide how the town would be run.              

 When the colonists were fishing, farming and sending the children to school the English and the French were fighting over the colonies. Each wanted the land. Both countries wanted the Indians to fight on their side.  The Indians fought for the French because the English wanted to take more land and build towns.  The French came to hunt and trade.  They were not taking Indian land.  The French and Indian War lasted seventy-four years.  Thousands of colonists and Indians were killed.  The English won and the French had to leave.  The Indians had to move farther into the wilderness.

The King Of England wanted the colonists to pay taxes because the French and Indian War cost a lot of money.  The King decided to tax the colonists to pay the bills from the war.  The colonists did not want to pay these taxes.  Many became angry and talked about having a war that would give them freedom from the King of England.

 To fight against England, the colony of New Hampshire needed gunpowder so some colonists surrounded Fort William and Mary and captured hundreds of barrels of gunpowder.  They sent weapons and 5,000 men to fight in the Revolutionary War.  Captain John Paul Jones was called the Father of the American Navy because his ship, the Ranger, was the first ship to fly the American flag.  His ship also won a lot of battles against the English.

 New Hampshire’s motto today is Live Free or Die.  I think New Hampshire is a great state today.  It was an interesting colony.  I am glad that I learned about the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War.  I know why the wars started.  I think it would be good to read more about the Colony of New Hampshire.

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Last Updated: 02/21/06