Category: The Colonial Period

In the beginning (the one after the people who already lived here got the boot) there were thirteen colonies, or states. Since everyone had just piled off scurvy-encrusted wooden boats after some 2,000 treacherous miles of sailing, they couldn’t be bothered to go far into the interior, preferring instead the Eastern seaboard – except for Florida, probably because of all the alligators and ostrich-sized mosquitoes. So if you’re stumped, just think of an East Coast state. If you’re looking for three, you might choose all the ones that begin with New for example:

• New Hampshire
• New Jersey
• New York

If you want the first 3 original states of the USA, they would be

• Delaware
• Pennsylvania
• New Jersey

– these are the podium winners in the state olympics.

If you don’t go for the first set of three,  you might go for one of the harder ones like these ten:

1. Massachussets
2. Rhode Island
3. Connecticut
4. Pennsylvania
5. Delaware
6. Maryland
7. Virginia
8. North Carolina
9. South Carolina
10. Georgia

You may know it as the day when you can buy fireworks, but several centuries ago, Thomas Jefferson had reached his limits with British rule, wrote a declaration that said as much, and got a bunch of his comrades to agree. This was on July 4th 1776. The year of which is easy to remember as being twice 888, and 888 is the devil’s number and a third.