Essay on DBQ 2

Submitted By iatrixkilljoy
Words: 480
Pages: 2

America was a newly discovered land that attracted many European immigrants 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. Many people wanted 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. Quakers and Catholic settled in the Middle Colonies. Quakers were Protestant reformers who settled in Pennsylvania. 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 Christians could practice their religion freely in Maryland.
People also came to the English colonies for better economic opportunity. However, once here, people had to supply and ship materials to England at a low price and then England sent the finished products back to the colonies at a high price. This system was called mercantilism. The New England Colonies had poor soil for farming, plenty of forests, harsh winters, and cool summers. Due to this geographic makeup, people who settled in the New England colonies could not become large scale farmers, but rather became hunters, lumberjacks, fishermen, rum producers, and fishermen in order to make money. The Middle Colonies offered fertile land. There was a long growing season and mild winters. People living there could become farmers and