When/how/why did we develop American accents?

by chogianalyst

Maybe this is a stupid question and I don’t know how to really explain what I mean, but my dad and I have been discussing this a lot recently. IF the first people who came to America had British/English accents and they were pretty much only talking to other people who have the same accent, how did it change so much to the way way we sound today? What caused it? My dad said it just changed over time and I know that, but HOW?

the_howling_cow

Not to discourage further responses, but u/lord_mayor_of_reddit answered a similar question here and u/YuunofYork did so here.