American history chapters · 1607–1783
Colonial America
& Independence.
Explore the thirteen colonies, tea and daily life, the Revolutionary War, and the beginnings of a new nation. Discover modern products with carefully explained connections to this American chapter.
1607–1783 · Colonial life and the Revolution
From colonial beginnings to independence.
Follow seven moments.
Select a moment to read its story.
Thirteen colonies · Many stories
Along the Atlantic.
Across thirteen colonies.
Select a colony to explore its story and its place in the struggle for independence.
- New England
- Middle colonies
- Southern colonies
- Other modern areas
Modern outlines orient this map; they do not reproduce colonial boundaries, western claims or military control. Maine selects Massachusetts; West Virginia selects Virginia. Neither was a separate colony. Gray areas provide geographic context, not a map of empty or unclaimed land.
From New Jersey’s shelves
Fralinger's Saltwater Taffy
A current product with a New Jersey connection. This state feature does not establish colonial-era availability.
View product →From Delaware’s shelves
Fisher's Popcorn
A current product with a Delaware connection. This state feature does not establish colonial-era availability.
View product →From Maryland’s shelves
Otterbein's Cookies
A current product with a Maryland connection. This state feature does not establish colonial-era availability.
View product →From South Carolina’s shelves
Olde Colony Bakery
A current product with a South Carolina connection. This state feature does not establish colonial-era availability.
View product →The colors group colonies by region, not political loyalty. Patriots and Loyalists lived throughout the colonies.
Boundary context: Maine and Massachusetts ↗ · Virginia and West Virginia ↗
Explore all thirteen colony stories
New Hampshire
New Hampshire was one of the thirteen colonies named in the peace treaty that recognized American independence. It belongs to the New England group on this map.
Historical source ↗Massachusetts
Massachusetts was a New England colony. Fighting began at Lexington and Concord in April 1775. The area now called Maine was part of Massachusetts, so both shapes select this colony.
Explore Massachusetts products & stories →
Historical source ↗Rhode Island
Rhode Island and Providence Plantations was one of the thirteen colonies. It belongs to the New England group; its small modern outline can also be selected from the menu.
Explore Rhode Island products & stories →
Historical source ↗Connecticut
Connecticut was one of the thirteen colonies named in the peace treaty that recognized American independence. It belongs to the New England group on this map.
Explore Connecticut products & stories →
Historical source ↗New York
New York was a Middle colony. The American victory at Saratoga in 1777 helped secure foreign support for independence.
Explore New York products & stories →
Historical source ↗New Jersey
New Jersey was a Middle colony. Washington crossed the Delaware River into New Jersey before the December 1776 attack at Trenton.
Explore New Jersey products & stories →
Featured current product: Fralinger's Saltwater Taffy →
Historical source ↗Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania was a Middle colony. In Philadelphia, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.
Explore Pennsylvania products & stories →
Historical source ↗Delaware
Delaware was one of the thirteen colonies named in the 1783 Treaty of Paris. It belongs to the Middle group on this map.
Explore Delaware products & stories →
Featured current product: Fisher's Popcorn →
Historical source ↗Maryland
Maryland was one of the thirteen colonies named in the treaty recognizing American independence. It belongs to the Southern group on this map.
Explore Maryland products & stories →
Featured current product: Otterbein's Cookies →
Historical source ↗Virginia
Virginia was a Southern colony. American and French forces secured the surrender at Yorktown in 1781. The modern West Virginia shape also selects Virginia because that area was then part of Virginia.
Explore Virginia products & stories →
Historical source ↗North Carolina
North Carolina was a Southern colony. The 1776 Battle of Moores Creek Bridge defeated a Loyalist force and forms part of its Revolutionary War story.
Explore North Carolina products & stories →
Historical source ↗South Carolina
South Carolina was a Southern colony. Charleston fell to British forces in 1780, as the war shifted toward the South.
Explore South Carolina products & stories →
Featured current product: Olde Colony Bakery →
Historical source ↗Georgia
Georgia was one of the thirteen colonies named in the 1783 Treaty of Paris. It is the southernmost of the thirteen on this orientation map.
Historical source ↗Browse the chapter
Colonial figures, tea & stories of independence.
9 products in this chapter
Figures
BMC Classic MPC Revolutionary War French Soldiers
French soldiers introduce the alliance that helped the American cause. These current BMC figures depict Revolutionary War troops; they are modern toys, not objects manufactured in the 1770s.
$15.50
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Figures
Classic Marx Colonial Americans
Modern colonial characters and accessories offer a way to explore civilian life around the American Revolution. This is a current reproduction of classic Marx toy subjects, not an original colonial artifact.
$17.90
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Figures
Classic Marx Colonial British Loyalists
Loyalist civilians help tell the story of colonists who supported remaining within the British Empire. These modern toy figures depict colonial characters; their package color does not mean every Loyalist wore a uniform.
$17.90
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Figures
Classic MPC Revolutionary War British Soldiers
British soldier figures introduce the forces opposing the Continental Army. These current plastic figures depict the Revolutionary War period and connect to the classic MPC toy line, rather than to wartime manufacture.
$15.50
View product →Add to a history box
Figures
Classic Marx Paul Revere
Paul Revere and colonial characters connect this playset to the opening of the Revolution in Massachusetts. This modern reproduction provides a starting point for discussing the historical ride and its later legend.
$17.90
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Home front
Colonial Bohea Loose Tea Tin
Colonial Bohea offers a modern way to explore the black-tea traditions of colonial America. Oliver Pluff describes Bohea as a major colonial tea import. This is a current tea blend inspired by that tradition, not a product made by Oliver Pluff in the 1770s.
$16.50
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Home front
Young Hyson Loose Leaf Tin
Young Hyson connects this modern green tea to the kinds of tea enjoyed in colonial America. Oliver Pluff links Hyson to the Boston Tea Party. The historical connection describes a tea tradition, not the founding date of today’s maker or an unchanged eighteenth-century recipe.
$16.50
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Home front
East Indian Loose Tea Tin
Oliver Pluff connects East Indian tea with tea-trade protests in Charleston before the Revolution. Its current tin contains Assam black tea and orange pekoe. This is a modern tea inspired by the colonial trade story, not a claim that today’s Assam blend was imported in 1773 or sold unchanged during the war.
$16.50
View product →Add to a history box
Home front
Gunpowder Loose Tea Tin
Gunpowder is a tightly rolled green tea named for the appearance of its leaves. Oliver Pluff describes grades of gunpowder tea among imports to eighteenth-century America. Today’s tin connects to that tea tradition; it is a modern retail product, not an original Revolutionary War item.
$16.50
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Beyond 1783 · The young republic
After Independence.
The story continued after the war. These modern products connect to later events and household traditions, with their dates explained separately from the Revolutionary War collection.
Home front
Cacao Shell Loose Tea Tin
Martha Washington enjoyed an infusion made by steeping cacao shells. Mount Vernon cites George Washington’s 1789 request for cocoa shells for her, after the Revolutionary War. Oliver Pluff’s current roasted-shell infusion brings that early-republic household story into the cup; the date is a historical reference, not the maker’s founding or the introduction of this tin.
$10.95
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Home front
Whiskey Rebellion Loose Tea Tin
This modern barrel-aged black tea commemorates the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794, when resistance to a federal spirits tax tested the new government in western Pennsylvania. Oliver Pluff describes briefly aging the tea in a whiskey barrel. It is a later historical tribute, not a tea sold during the 1775–1783 Revolutionary War.
$16.50
View product →Add to a history box
Explore the historical background: The Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 ↗
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Colonial life · Front lines & home front
The people behind independence.
Colonial beginnings, established homelands
Colonial settlements grew within the homelands of Indigenous peoples. Jamestown’s story includes the Powhatan peoples, the newcomers’ struggle to survive and the changing relationships between them. The thirteen colonies were part of a much larger inhabited continent.
Explore Jamestown’s history ↗A daily ritual becomes political
Tea offers a way into colonial life and trade. A familiar cup became part of a struggle over authority, commerce and colonial rights. Our modern tea collection opens that story through the maker’s explanation of each blend.
Follow the tea protest ↗Patriots, Loyalists and divided communities
The colonies were not united in their loyalties. Some people supported independence, some remained loyal to Britain, and others tried to navigate the conflict without choosing a side. Civilian figures can open a conversation about those different experiences.
Explore the Revolution’s divisions ↗A Pennsylvania connection
The Declaration was adopted in Philadelphia. The Continental Army later endured the winter of 1777–1778 at Valley Forge. These nearby places connect national history with the Pennsylvania landscape around us.
Explore Valley Forge ↗France and a wider war
French aid and the 1778 alliance were crucial to the American cause. The conflict expanded beyond the colonies into a wider struggle among imperial powers. French and British figures help introduce that international story.
Read about the international war ↗Freedom and its limits
Independence did not end slavery. Free and enslaved Black people pursued freedom through different wartime paths; women also sustained households and supported the armies. The new nation’s ideals and the realities of its people were far from the same.
Explore the struggle over freedom ↗Read about women at Valley Forge ↗
The colonial landscape was also the homeland of Indigenous nations. This modern orientation map does not show their territories or the full reach of competing colonial claims.
Colonial life · A cup with a story
Steeped in the Revolution.
Tea connects a daily ritual with a turning point in colonial protest. In December 1773, the Boston Tea Party challenged Britain’s tea policy, before the fighting began in 1775. Explore modern Oliver Pluff teas inspired by colonial tea traditions, including Bohea, Young Hyson, East Indian and Gunpowder.
Oliver Pluff is a modern maker. These teas connect to historical tea types; they are not presented as products the company sold in the eighteenth century. Their tradition labels are separate from the maker’s actual founding date.
Explore the Boston Tea Party story ↗Browse the chapter’s tea and toy connections ↑
From the history shelf
Small figures. A bigger story.
Explore modern depictions of British and French soldiers, colonial characters, Loyalists and Paul Revere. Each product explains its period connection. Oliver Pluff teas add a taste of colonial traditions, with clear explanations of their modern recreation.
Carry the story forward
A little history in every box.
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Build a history-inspired gift box →Available choices depend on each product’s existing gift-box eligibility, stock and packing limits.