The first successful colony in America was in Jamestown, Virginia, established 1607. When it was first founded, the colony contained only several hundred people. During the two hundred years that followed the population increased greatly, due in part to massive immigration from the Old World. By 1790 the colony housed a little under four million people. The high rate of immigration stemmed from a number of different motivators, including the peoples' hope for a better lifestyle than the one they experienced in the Old World, religious zeal, cheaper land and higher wages for manual laborers, and overpopulation in England.Farmers and manual laborers were attracted to America by the prospect ...view middle of the document...
" (Document 3). Winthrop was a prominent leader of the English Puritans in their voyage to the Massachusetts Bay to build such a colony.Another motivation for immigration was the hope of a better lifestyle by the settlers. "Many left depressed...regions in search of a new start." (Document A). Some people felt oppressed by the English government and wanted freedom from it. Also, many people who were denied the privilege of land ownership in England believed that they could fulfill this wish in the New World. As mentioned before, land was cheaper in America due to a fairly low demand for it, which increased the probability of one being able to own it. Therefore, the possibility of land ownership and a new start was an attraction for the colonizers.Some of the people that emigrated, however, were not actually motivated to do so by the attractions of the New World. Instead, overpopulation in England and pressure from the government pushed them out of the country and into America. Since the pioneers of the colonies wanted them to flourish and needed inhabitants to achieve t...
