Most migrants to seventeenth-century new england came out of the poorer reaches of english society.
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(Images From Adapting to a New World: English Society in the Seventeenth Century Chesapeake by James Horn. Copyright © 1994 by the University of North Carolina Press. Used by permission of the publisher. www.uncpress.unc.edu) During the seventeenth century, emergent societies of the English Atlantic were transformed by large-scale migrations of hundreds of thousands of
white settlers. Most ended up in colonies that produced the major staples of colonial trade, tobacco and sugar: approximately 210,000 went to the Caribbean, 130,000 to the Chesapeake (Virginia and Maryland), 24,000 to the Middle Colonies, and 21,000 to New England. The peak period of English emigration occurred within a single generation, from 1630 to 1660, but the rapid growth of the tobacco industry created a continual demand for cheap labor in Virginia and Maryland. In the 1630s and 1640s, white immigration averaged about 8,000-9,000 per decade, surged to 16,000-20,000 per decade from 1650 to 1680, before falling back to 13,000-14,000 in the 1680s and 1690s. Servitude was a defining characteristic of settler society in the Chesapeake. A far larger proportion of the population was committed to contractual labor than in England, and indentured servants (not enslaved Africans) would comprise the main source of labor in the tobacco fields during the entire century. (1)  Figure 2: Origins of Servants Emigrating from Bristol to the Chesapeake, 1654-1686 Figure 3: Origins of Servants Emigrating from London to the Chesapeake, 1682-1686 Figure 4: Origins of Bristol Servants to the Chesapeake, by Number and Community, 1654-1686 Many were from urban backgrounds and had lived in small market towns, manufacturing centers, provincial capitals, ports, and cities most of their lives or had moved from the countryside a few months or years before taking ship. Those from rural communities came mainly from populous wood pasture districts, forests and fens, and marginal areas. Together they represented a broad spectrum of the young and single, from the destitute and desperate to the lower-middle classes. Beier, A. L. Masterless Men: The Vagrancy Problem in England, 1560-1640. New York and London: Methuen, 1985. Canny, Nicholas, ed. Europeans on the Move: Studies on European Migration, 1500-1800. Oxford: Clarendon Press and New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. Galenson, David. White Servitude in Colonial America: An Economic Analysis. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1981. Horn, James. Adapting to a New World: English Society in the Seventeenth-Century Chesapeake. Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press for the Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1994. Menard, Russell R. "British Migration to the Chesapeake Colonies in the Seventeenth Century." In Lois Green Carr, Philip D. Morgan, and Jean B. Russo, eds., Colonial Chesapeake Society, pp. 99-132. Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press for the Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1994. End Notes:1 Henry A. Gemery, "Emigration from the British Isles to the New World: Inferences from Colonial Populations," Research in Economic History, V (1980):179-231; Russell R. Menard, "British Migration to the Chesapeake Colonies in the Seventeenth Century," in Lois Green Carr, Philip D. Morgan, and Jean B. Russo, eds., Colonial Chesapeake Society, (Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press for the Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1988), Table 3, p. 105; Nicholas Canny, ed., Europeans on the Move: Studies on European Migration, 1500-1800, (Oxford: Clarendon Press and New York: Oxford University Press, 1994), pp. 39-75. 2 This and the following paragraph derive from James Horn, Adapting to a New World: English Society in the Seventeenth-Century Chesapeake, (Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press for the Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1994), chapters 1 and 2. 3 H. R. McIlwaine, ed., Minutes of the Council and General Court of Colonial Virginia, (Richmond: Virginia State Library, 1924; reprint, 1979), p. 6; Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Colonial Virginia Records Project (CVRP) no. 879; Robert Hume, Early Child Immigrants to Virginia, 1618-1642. Copied From the Records of Bridwell Royal Hospital, (Baltimore: Magna Carta Book Company, 1986), pp. 1-2; George Sherwood, American Colonists in English Records. A Guide to Direct References in Authentic Records, Passenger Lists Not in "Hotten," &c., &c., &c., (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1961), p. 24; Michael Ghirelli, A List of Emigrants from England to America, 1682-1692. With Introductory Notes by Marion J. Kaminkow, (Baltimore: Magna Carta Book Company, 1968), p. 10. 4 State Papers 29/361 (Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, M-930); Ghirelli, List of Emigrants, pp. 18-19, 76; C. D. P. Nicholson, "Some Early Emigrants to America," Genealogists' Magazine, 13 (1959-1961):12. What was the main lure for emigrants from England to the New World?The main lure for the majority of migrants from England to the New World was: land ownership. The English "enclosure" movement of the 1500s and 1600s forced small farmers off "commons" land so that the land could be taken up by: sheep.
Which North American area received the most English settlers in the seventeenth century?Beginning in 1630 as many as 20,000 Puritans emigrated to America from England to gain the liberty to worship God as they chose. Most settled in New England, but some went as far as the West Indies.
Did the typical seventeenth century woman in New England gave birth seven times?The typical New England woman married at age 22 and gave birth seven times. Puritans deemed women to be the spiritual equals of men, and women were allowed to become full church members.
What was a characteristic of early New England society?English Puritans founded the colony of Plymouth to practice their own brand of Protestantism without interference. New England society was characterized by equality under the law for white male citizens (as demonstrated by the Mayflower Compact), a disciplined work ethic, and a strong maritime economy.
What defined the seventeenth century New England economy?In the seventeenth century, New England's economy: centered on family farms and also involved the export of fish and timber. The Puritans believed that male authority in the household was: to be unquestioned.
What were the foundations of English colonization in the seventeenth century?What were the main contours of English colonization in the 17th century? Colonies were racked by religious, political, and economic tensions. The New World was beginning anti-Catholicism and moving toward Protestantism. They remained dependent on the mother country for protection and economic assistance.
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