The origin of the original thirteen colonies by English settlers was the result of many

different motives on the parts of both the settlers and of the British government. For different

reasons, both looked favorably upon the "New World" as a place to colonize. The British

government's motives were to gain the money and prestige to rival Catholic Spain. The settlers'

main motives were religious freedom and amass personal wealth. With these goals in sight, the

British government granted charters and English settlers set out for the "New World."

Two motives of the British government to encourage the colonization of America were

economics and prestige(1). The British government looked at its colonies from a strictly

economical stand point. As can be seen by its mercantilistic policies and its use of triangular

trade, it cared little for the colonists so long as the treasury grew. By using triangular trade, it

was able to capitalize on every aspect of colonial economics. First, raw materials such as wood,

ore, and crops, were raised in the new world. Next, it was shipped to England, where it was

bought very cheap by English companies. It was then made into finished goods and sent back to

the colonies where it was sold at many times the value of the raw material(9). Also, a tax had to

be paid to export the raw materials and import the finished goods. Taxes were the Crown's best

way to make money off the colonies. Once this was figured out, many new taxes were voted into

effect by parliament, of which colonists were not part of. When the British East India company

was going bankrupt, the British government interfered with the colonies by forcing them to buy

their tea from the British East India Company, whose prices were higher than the other sources

for tea, and added a special tax to it(1). This proved to be one of the significant reasons for the

Boston Tea Party and later the American.

Spain was the richest and most respected country in Europe because of the gold and silver

being shipped from its colonies in Central and South America. The hacienda system was

producing sugar and other exports that could be sold in Europe as well. Spain also won prestige

for its efforts to bring Christianity to the heathen Indians(1). England and France were forced to

compete for what was left of the "New World," (and the prestige that it bought), the land north of

Spanish Florida. English pioneers settled on the Atlantic Seaboard, the French set up trading

posts in the Great Lakes regions. The British victory in the French and Indian War brought

England not only territory, but prestige. Spain, after the defeat of the Spanish Armada, was in

decline as a world power(1). England was then beginning to be viewed as Spain's successor. The

saying, "The sun never sets on the Union Jack" refers to England having so many colonies in all

different parts of the world that the sun always shone on her flag in at least one of her colonies.

While these motives were enough for the British government to fund settlements and

expeditions, settlers came for their own reasons. Religious freedom has long been searched for by

many Europeans of minority faiths. Be it the Catholics in England, the Jews in Spain, or the

Protestants in Southern Europe, no country had total religious freedom. In England, not only

were Catholics persecuted, but certain sects of Protestants, such as Quakers and Puritans, were

harassed as well. These groups viewed the "New World" as a place to set up their own

communities to worship in peace. For the above-mentioned reasons, these groups were granted

charters to found their own settlements. Mostly in the northern most colonies, New England,

Pennsylvania, and Connecticut were set up as places of refuge for various religious groups.

Plymouth was the haven for Puritans fleeing persecution(6). Pennsylvania was founded as a

refuge by the son of a prominent admiral who the king owed money to. To repay his debt, the

king granted William Penn, a Quaker, the territory that has now become Pennsylvania, or Penn's

Woods, for the Quakers to settle(1).

Wealth has, throughout history, been the most common reason for the migration of

people. This is again the case for the southern colonies. With reports of the riches being shipped

home by Spanish conquistadors, Englishmen began to believe that if they went to the "New

World" it would be easy for them to find great wealth. This is best seen in the case of Jamestown,

the first English settlement in the "New World." One hundred and forty-four men and boys were

dispatched by the Virginia Company, one of the first joint stock companies to found a settlement.

Of these, 103 were alive when the ship arrived in North America(1). They quickly set up a town

in the first place they landed (the hostile environment in the swampland of what is now the James

River) and immediately went searching for gold, ignoring such vital tasks as farming, smithing

tools, and building additional houses and barns. Only through the help of the Powhatan Indians

was the colony able to survive. By the time the colony regained strength, only 38 of the original

144 who set out were still alive(1).

In conclusion, with the interests of both the British government and the English settler

looking toward the settlement of colonies in the "New World," such settlements as Jamestown

and Plymouth soon began to thrive. It is because of the above motives that the British

government sanctioned and the English colonist endured the hardships of the unfamiliar

landscape. Had the interest of either side waned in favor of something else, it is quite possible

that the early English settlements in the "New World" could have been complete failures, one and

all.