Bernard Bailyn, The Peopling of British North America. An I essays

Bernard Bailyn, The Peopling of British North America. An I essays B. Bailyns book introduces us to the history and motives of early emigration of British people to North America, which was part of the westward transatlantic movement of people one of the greatest events in recorded history. The author shows that in the period between Seven Years War and the Revolution there were circa 15,000 people coming to North America every year. Almost all of them (excluding slaves) settled in the south of New England. Due to this fact the landlords in Britain in 1773 became so apprehensive that they considered a ban on all the immigration to Coming back to emigrants, there is made a distinction between people coming from London area and the other group coming form northern British provinces. The former are labeled as metropolitan and the latter provincial. The distinction is made, as these factors are considered to be crucial for the way the emigrants would enter into American life. The man of metropolitan pattern is typified by a young man in his early twenties, acting individually. He is single and heads to live in colonies alone. Usually he had to get into debt in order to have money for the journey, which then is going to be paid off by four years of bonded labor. In this pattern of migration there are few children and families to be found. His destination were mid-Atlantic colonies: Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia. The man of the other pattern was a man with his family, not only wife but also small children. The pattern is called provincial. Among these people there were relatively few who became indentured servants to pay off the debts. Commonly these people well able to rise enough money to retain freedom in the colony. The provincial migration is considered to have contributed to the growth of American economy, as they were eager to take the advantage of new opportunities. They were mostly those whose destination was the frontier. The ...