European colonization of North America had a devastating effect on the native population. ... When the Europeans arrived they brought with them diseases unknown to the natives. The natives, having no immunity died from diseases that the Europeans thought of as commonplace. They also brought guns, alcohol and horses.
Explanation:
The Buffalo were plentiful, but that was all changed by the greed of the white settlers and armies. The settlers saw the buffalo as a way to make money, and the army saw them as a way to take the land from the Native Americans and starve them into submission.
This is a gross over-simplification. By the time of the Revolution, the only tangible thing all the states really had in common was that they wanted freedom from Britain.