Two centuries after Columbus had stumbled upon the New World, colonial life, had assumed a distinct definition.  The individuality of America was being shaped upon men’s new thoughts, motivations and behavior, coupled with strong desires to escape the harsh economic conditions of the Old World, the New World was assuming its place in history. What these colonists were seeking was religious and economic freedom, known today as the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  Before the struggles between the ideals of the Old World and the New World could be consummated, a century would pass, after the rebellion of Nathaniel Bacon and his followers.  

Colonial America had its classes, ranging from the aristocratic plantation owner to servant and slave, but the New World bred the belief of Benjamin Franklin, that barriers among freemen could be altered by energy and ability for the good of a common cause.  It was reasonable to think that disputes would arise among the colonies, when breaking free form the Old World religious and economic bondage, such as, disputes over who owned what, and granted land rights.   

Until the formation of the New England Confederation (1643-84), smaller colonies like Plymouth, New Haven, and Connecticut distrusted the grasping domination of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and with grants that extended to the Pacific coast, Virginia, Massachusetts, and Connecticut bickered over rights in the western lands, where Scotich-Irish and Germans, unable to obtain land or complete with slave labor in the South, already were forging frontier settlements.  

Not one colony showed the slightest real disposition to surrender its power of taxation or control of western lands, so Franklin’s Albany Plan (1754,) failed to establish more harmony through a central government. Where reason would not draw together the colonies for the good of a common cause, fear could, the fear of the French and the Indians.

References, Karl S. Miers, The American Story, 1956, pages, 61-63