It was very interesting to read the sections from Barber for today on the evolution of the language in North America. I have family in western Pennsylvania who descended from Dutch settlers, and they use a lot of different vocabulary and pronunciations from what I have encountered on either the west coast or in Philly. I am sure that some of the terms they use are the results of the Dutch language influencing the English being spoken in the area long ago.
I had not really considered how much the mixing of different colonies from European settlers would actually serve to distance North American English from that spoken in the UK. The changes that English went through here were minimal, however, compared to the pidgins and creoles that evolved in Jamaica, or Africa. The blending of two languages is a very interesting thing, and I would love to read more about why certain words remain while others fall out of use or undergo a change in meaning or usage.
I understand that the new land in America necessitated new vocabulary, and that many terms were borrowed from the Native Americans is unsurprising. I can only imagine the pidgin that would have evolved if the European settlers would have intermingled with the Native Americans, combining their cultures and creating a cooperative society, rather than oppress them and dominate the new land, pushing the Native Americans off land they wanted and fostering conflict between the groups. If the former had happened, I am sure we would be speaking a variety of English that is very different from what came to evolve out of the colonization period of American history.
Barber, Charles, Joan C. Beal, Philip A. Shaw. The English Language a Historical Introduction. 2nd. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.
ravenouslanguage 
“I can only imagine the pidgin that would have evolved if the European settlers would have intermingled with the Native Americans, combining their cultures and creating a cooperative society, rather than oppress them and dominate the new land…”
Ryan, you make a very interesting point here. I wonder why in places like Hawaii a pidgin language developed, and not in North America. Especially in the times of the early settlers when they were primarily cut off from English society. Perhaps it was their egocentric view of language that the new settlers had that stopped them from intermingling with the natives. They probably would have viewed their language as uncivilized, which, of course, is not so. Although, the English did adopt many Native American words into their language, it would have been very interesting if a pidgin language had occurred.