What Similarities and Differences Did the 13 Colonies Share?

So how did they do it? How were these independent colonies able to band together to create an independent nation?

It turns out that their common interests proved stronger than their differences. The cultural bond between each of the colonies and the mother country was robust, but it also provided a common “language” that the colonies could use to speak to each other. British policy after the Seven Years War also brought the colonies together. Despite all the infighting, the judgment, and spitefulness, the British North American colonies resolved to be British no more.

While each of the colonies had their own relationship with Britain, there were important points of overlap. Just like free-born British subjects in other parts of the Empire, white Anglo-Americans thought of themselves as British. Because of this, they demanded the same rights and freedoms as those born in Britain. These notions had been part of the colonial experience for over a century before the Revolution and even shaped the philosophy of governance in what became the United States.