Immigration from England to North America 1600s - 1700s

As a student of culture in all its forms, the writing below was my response to the questions in blue that were given to me for a course on immigration at Metro.

Discuss immigration to North America from England in the 1600s and early 1700s.  What factors encouraged this shift in population?  What role did imperial competition, religion, and economic opportunity play in colonization on the Atlantic Ocean’s northwestern shore?  How did newcomers interact with existing American cultures?  In what ways did English colonization during these years establish precedents for immigration and ethnic interaction in the early years of the United States?

During the 1600s and 1700s, immigration from England to North America hit all-time highs. There were many causes for this, both internal and external. With the increase of immigrants to North America it was only a matter of time before they would be interacting with the Natives. There were so many differences between the Europeans and the Natives that hostilities arose, and the Natives were placed in their own class under all other perceived groups. With so many of the immigrants being English, it allowed them to shape how immigration and ethnic interactions would be handled in the early years of the United States. The hopes and dreams of the different social classes would come to be a big part of what would dictate the interactions of all peoples in North America.

            In the early 1600s colonies in North America had very high death rates, but people still continued to move there from England (Daniels, 32). The reason for this was the propaganda that London proprietors were putting out to lure people to the colonies. The propaganda guaranteed everything from land to the chance to improve one’s social status (Daniels, 33). The proprietors knew that everyone in all standings were always looking for ways to improve their lives, and by advertising to their hopes and dreams they were able to talk people into moving to North America. Moving to the new world changed from being more adventure/exploration focused, to being about giving individuals a chance at improving their lives. Even with this change, the home countries still fought each other and tried to get the best piece of the new world apple.

            The leaders of Europe’s governments saw the northwestern shore as a way to improve their country’s finances and power in the world. By the 1600s and 1700s the European countries had already started to map out the areas that they controlled in the Americas. Imperial competition on the northwestern cost can best be seen in the conflict between the British and the French. When America wanted to pull out from under British control they got the French to help back their revolution.  At one point the French were even able to use Philadelphia as a home port (Daniels, 116). By doing this the French were able to undermine British power in the Americas. The imperial powers (headed by the kings/rulers/governments) were always focused on what kind of profits they could bring back to the home countries while the everyday individual was focused moving elsewhere and starting a new life there that would allow them to achieve their personal dreams.

            One of the main reasons why people were leaving Europe was to be able to get the chance to worship how they saw fit. Some of the colonies were even started by religious leaders requesting land grants from the parent countries (Daniels, 41). One such person was George Calvert, who supported Roman Catholics in the colonies he over saw, when tensions in England/Europe were running high in all the different branches of Christianity (Daniels, 41). The gentry in the colonies were at odds with each other what religion should be dominate and how worship should be carried out (Daniels, 42-43). If the gentry who seen as being role models/ leaders in most European cultures were having issues with this, the other classes were sure to take sides or perhaps even take an entirely different view. Everyone just wanted to be able to do worship in their own way. At the same time people have never had issues forcing their views on others, and the people in power (political leaders, gentry, etc.) have always been able to control the flow of cultural ways. Past religion, trying to find a way to cover more earthly needs was also a prime concern for people.

            People arriving on the northwestern shore wanted to either get in a trade where they could make money or get land. They found economic opportunity by combining these two things and becoming indentured servants. Some people first came over and then found that they could achieve a better life by becoming an indentured servant, while most became indentured before coming to over and had the contract include the cost of passage across the ocean. Some people (homeless or neglected children) were even kidnapped and forced to become indentured servants (Daniels, 35).Depending on the contract, once they had completed their time they would be given some means to support themselves and start a new life. This means could take the form of money, land, clothes, rations, and many times included several of these items. Many times on completion of their contracts they were given marginal lands, had to become tenant farmers, or “were never able to rise out of the servant class” (Daniels, 36). If they wanted to try and get better land it meant moving further west and pushing into the lands of the Natives.

            The English and Spanish interacted with Native populations in a dominate manner and subjugated them. They saw themselves as being more evolved from the Natives in areas like religion, culture/education, and land use. They thought that it was right to force their religious beliefs on the ‘heathens’ and to treat them as less than human because their religious ways were different. Europeans had very strict ideas on what culture and education looked like, and the ways that the Natives lived were very different than what the Europeans were used to. “Christian missionaries had little regard –to put it mildly- for the Indian’s culture that they consciously advanced the political and economic goals of settler society” (Daniels, 105).  Later on reservations the Indians would constantly be demanded to “cease being Indian” and have white culture fully forced upon them (Daniels, 105). The Natives also had their own idea about what was the proper way to use the land which contrasted sharply with the European view so much that the Europeans viewed the Natives as not even really using the land.  Chief Justice John Marshall’s court decision hurt the natives even more by making them aliens (not citizens) in the country that used to belong to them (Daniels, 114). All these differences, and many others, placed the Natives so far below the social order of the English and Spanish that the Europeans felt that they could do whatever they wanted to the Natives. This can best be seen in the Natives being used early on as slaves until their numbers dropped so much by 1719 from European diseases that the Europeans were forced to import slaves from Africa (Daniels, 105). The only group that didn’t treat the natives as less than human was the French. The French wanted the Indians to help the with the fur trade (Daniels, 10). To do this they “supplied them with tools to make them more efficient: metal traps and rifles” (Daniels, 10). Even though the French’s interactions were more inclusive, it would be the British that left their mark on ethnic interactions and immigration.

            The early negative British interactions with the natives would set up a precedence of how the natives would be treated. This would be seen in the reservations set up by the federal government and ran by clerical reformers (Daniels, 105). The British government encouraged immigration because it was profitable (Daniels, 40). The money that tobacco brought made was lucrative to both the British government and the common people (Daniels, 40). Since England had been the mother to its colonies, many influences from that early period would stay with the country that would become America.

            Immigration from England to North America was shaped by the hopes and dreams of the different social classes. Propaganda was supported by those in positions of power in England to influence the masses that by moving to the other side of the ocean that they could achieve the things they wanted. The British and other European powers faced competition from each other and this forced different countries and colonies to form alliances that would make and break countries. People of all classes had different views of how religion should look and this even caused rifts with the classes (such as the gentries). People were also coming over to increase their economic standing, but were mostly hoping to do this through land ownership. This drive for land ownership pushed the colonists into head to head competition with the natives and they forced the natives into a new class below everyone else. The influence from the British views of power during this early period would help to influence immigration and ethnic interaction in the early years of the United States of America. Overall, the hopes and dreams of the different social classes dictated class interactions.

Roger Daniels, Coming to America: A Story of Immigration and Ethnicity in American Life, Second Edition (ISBN 9780060505776)