Reasons for the British Colonization of North America

Reasons for the British Colonization of North America The English had many motives for founding the colonies in America. The migration was provoked by various reasons. It is said that religious motives played the most important role but economic motives played just as big of a role. Social and political reasons did not play such a prime role but they did certainly affect the decision of the English into making the hard and long voyage. New economic opportunities were a very effective way of promoting colonization. Back in England, the lower class had little or no chance of moving up the class ladder, but in America you had all this jobs that needed to be done. Wealthy businessmen also attained opportunities to invest their money. Joint-stock companies sold shares of stock to businessmen and this permitted the share of risk of founding the colonies. Conjointly the English assumed that they would find gold in the colonies like the Spanish but this proved to be just a major setback. They wasted their time looking for gold instead of learning how to farm. Furthermore England was looking to be self-reliable, they wanted to obtain raw material from the colonies rather than paying other countries. Finally the last economic reason was the insufficient amount of land in Europe, colonist simply craved to own land and have a better life.

Religious motives for migrating were caused by the Protestant Reformation. The Reformation gave rise to Protestant denominations that no longer wanted to be part of the Anglican Church. They looked about worshiping their own ideas instead of succumbing to the Anglican Church ideas. The religious sects were persecuted for treason against the king. These people looked for a haven in America, where they would be far away from England. Some of the colonies were founded for the security of religious sects. For example Massachusetts bay was originally indented to be a “ holy common wealth made up of religious folk bound together in the harmonious worship of God” (America a Narrative History, Pg. 65) Social and political reasons were important reason to some of the English. Some desired adventure and opportunities for new experiences. Since England was not a war they had all this upper-class sons with no jobs and looking for work. Some men opposed the monarchy and they were looking for greater amplitude of freedom. In addition to political reasons was that the English government wanted to weaken Spain by establishing military outpost. The English had many reasons to leave England. The reasons were cause by social, political, economic and religious problems but they all had one thing in common. If it were not for all those problems the colonies would have not been founded and the U.S might have looked a bit different today.