Reasons Europeans Came To The American Colonies

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America was a newly discovered land that attracted many European immigrants in the 1600s. A majority of these immigrants came from England. Many reasons contributed to this sudden increase of immigrants to the American colonies. Many Europeans were looking for better social, political, and economic opportunities, and they felt and hoped that America was their dreamland.

One of the reasons why people left England was for religious freedom. The King of England had changed England’s religion to Anglican. Therefore, the people were forced to be Anglican. Many people did not want to change their religion, so they headed for America, hoping that they could have religious freedom. Once over in America, people took control. In the New England Colonies, the religion was primarily Puritan. The Puritans were a religious group with a lot power in the Massachusetts Bay colony. However, some people did not like how the governor, John Winthrop, and other officials had so much power. So a Puritan named Thomas Hooker took 100 other Puritans and moved to Connecticut where they set up the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut. This limited the governor’s power and let all men who were property owners vote. Quakers and Catholic settled in the Middle Colonies. Quakers were Protestant reformers who settled in Pennsylvania. A man named William Penn had an idea of a “holy experiment.” He wanted it to be a model of peace and religious freedom for Christian living. Religion was not as important in the Middle Colonies as in the other regions. In the Southern Colonies, a man named Lord Baltimore set up the colony of Maryland. He believed that Catholics could practice their religion freely. The Act of Toleration was later created that stated that all Christian...

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...ho were property owners, even those who did not belong to the Puritan church, were allowed to vote. The Middle & Southern Colonies had forms of representative government, which allowed them to choose members of colonial assemblies to represent them.

In conclusion, there was some opportunity available in the colonies, depending on which region a person settled in. If you were a Puritan living in New England, then you had more opportunity than other people. In the Middle Colonies if you were a Quaker or Catholic you had some opportunity, but religion was not a large factor in determining how much opportunity you had. In the Southern Colonies, if you were not a slave, but rather a land owner, you had a decent amount of opportunity available to you. People left England for social, economic, and political opportunity in the colonies, and that is exactly what they got.

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