Why Did the Pilgrims Come to America?
They were less religious refugees than economic migrants.
When the Pilgrims set sail from Europe in 1620, several powerful reasons propelled them across the Atlantic Ocean to make new lives in America—but religious liberty was not their most pressing concern.
While it’s popularly thought that the Pilgrims fled England in search of religious freedom, the separatists’ quest had ended more than a decade before they boarded the Mayflower. After departing England in 1608, the Pilgrims found sanctuary in the Dutch city of Leiden, where they were free to worship and enjoyed “much peace and liberty,” according to Pilgrim Edward Winslow.
“The Pilgrims actually had no reason to leave the Dutch Republic in order to go to America to seek religious toleration—because they already had it,” says Simon Targett, co-author of New World, Inc.: The Making of America by England’s Merchant Adventurers. “Therefore, you have to look for other reasons as to why they might have risked the dangers of going across to the New World—and one of the big reasons was commercial.”
The Pilgrims’ Dutch Sojourn Left Them Poor and Disillusioned
Prayer of the Pilgrim Fathers leaving Delfshaven in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Like tens of millions of newcomers who would follow in their wake to America, the Pilgrims were economic migrants. After working for more than a decade in Leiden’s textile industry, the Pilgrims possessed little beyond their religious freedom. The former farmers lived in poverty, laboring long hours for low pay by weaving, spinning and making cloth. The Pilgrims’ economic hardship made it exceedingly difficult to convince their fellow separatists to join them in Leiden, no matter their religious rights. “Some preferred and chose the prisons in England rather than this liberty in Holland with these afflictions,” Pilgrim leader William Bradford recounted.
As the Pilgrims’ economic prospects further dimmed with the collapse of the wool market, the onset of the Thirty Years’ War in Europe and the imminent end of a 12-year truce between Spain and the Dutch Republic threatened the tranquility of their safe haven. While the Pilgrim population dwindled, their fears swelled that the secular Dutch society that tolerated their religious beliefs also corrupted the morals of their children, causing them to turn away from their church and English identity. Bradford complained that “many of their children” were succumbing to Leiden’s “manifold temptations” and being “drawn away by evil examples into extravagant and dangerous courses.”
“The Pilgrims wanted their children to be English citizens, not Dutch citizens,” Targett says. “But if they were going to leave, they wouldn’t be able to go back to England because of religious reasons.” Pilgrim eyes, therefore, gazed across the Atlantic Ocean to America, where English merchants had been financing colonial settlements for decades. There they could freely worship, but also have greater economic stability and preserve their English identity. The Pilgrims also believed that the New World gave them the opportunity to evangelize to Native Americans and undertake, as Bradford wrote, “the propagating and advancing the gospel of the kingdom of Christ in those remote parts of the world.”
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The Pilgrims Joined a Money-Making Enterprise
Profit-seeking corporations launched England’s first commercial outposts in America, such as the one established by the Virginia Company at Jamestown. Even to investors more interested in profits than prophets, the Pilgrims made ideal candidates to launch a New World colony, given that they were close-knit, industrious and accustomed to hardship.
After the Pilgrims received a patent from the Virginia Company to establish a settlement in its jurisdiction, a group of 70 London businessmen called the Merchant Adventurers supplied the capital to finance the enterprise by purchasing shares in a joint-stock company. These backers paid for the Mayflower, its crew and a year’s worth of supplies.
The Merchant Adventurers expected a return on their investment and required that the Pilgrims work for the company during their first seven years in America. Each colonist over the age of 16 received one share for emigrating and working the land, which would be theirs along with any future profits after the expiration of the seven-year contract.
In order to finance the voyage, the Pilgrims were forced to take aboard the Mayflower fellow economic migrants who shared their quest for commercial success, but not their separatist beliefs. These “strangers,” as the Pilgrims called them, accounted for half of the Mayflower passengers. When the “strangers” argued that they were no longer bound by the Virginia Company’s charter after the Mayflower landed far north of its target in Massachusetts in November 1620, Pilgrim leaders drew up the Mayflower Compact to set the rules for self-governance and quell any potential rebellion.
The Plymouth Colony Struggled to Turn a Profit
Public worship at Plymouth by the Pilgrams.
Bettmann Archive/Getty Images
As a business enterprise, the colonial start-up faced a beginning as rocky as the New England soil the Pilgrims were forced to sow. The Plymouth Colony barely survived, let alone thrived, after a brutal first winter in America, and the Mayflower returned to England empty of commodities. It was a sign of things to come.
“The early investors were dissatisfied with what the Pilgrims sent home,” Targett says. “They were meant to send back fur, timber and fish, and on a couple of occasions the ships sent back either sank or were captured by pirates, so the investors never saw the benefits.”
The Plymouth Colony finally gained its financial footing thanks to beaver pelts, which were in great demand back in England to make felt hats and other luxurious fashion accessories. “The Bible and the beaver were the two mainstays of the young colony,” wrote historian James Truslow Adams. “The former saved its morale, and the latter paid its bills, and the rodent’s share was a large one.”
The arrival of the Puritans and the establishment of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1630s, however, increased the competition for beaver pelts and cut into the Pilgrims’ bottom line. Not until 1648 did the Pilgrims pay off their debt. The Plymouth Colony ultimately faced a similar fate to many struggling businesses. It was consumed by a larger, more successful corporate entity when it was merged with other colonies to form the Province of Massachusetts Bay in 1691.
Why Did The First European Settlers Come To America?
1. First Reason: The 16th & 17th Centuries Were The Age of European Colonisation. European Settlers Primarily Came To The Americas To Create New Colonies For Their Mother Countries. Even, Their Kings Or Governments Encouraged Them To Migrate To The New Landmass.
2. Second Reason: Europeans Were Crazy After Wealth. They Believed, The New World Would Be An Inventory of So Many Natural Resources. Especially Gold, Diamonds, Pearls, And Other Precious Metals.
3. Third Reason: Expansion of Religious Ideologies; Especially Christianity. Later, This Radical Religious Mentality Encouraged European Settlers To Kill Millions of Native People In The Americas.
4. Fourth Reason: It Was An Era of Rivalry And Military Conflicts Among European Powers. They Believed The New World Would Be A Great Place For Creating New Military Bases.
5. Fifth Reason: Not All Europeans Were Happy With The Ongoing System of Europe. Most of Them Who Permanently Migrated To The New Landmass Hoped For A Better Life With Peace And Prosperity.
There are five reasons why did the first (or early) European settlers come to America.
If you don’t know, who the first settlers are then let me tell you that they are Spanish.
So now, let’s break the five reasons down below and see what actually they are:
1. Political Reason – Creating New Colonies For Their Mother Countries
First of all, great European powers like Great Britain, France, Spain, Germany, Portugal always focused on creating new colonies around the world.
These powers were always in competition to be the owner of more and more colonies.
They wanted to make their political influence spread globally, not just get contained in their own land segment.
On the other hand, those powers were like cutthroat rivals of each other. Hence they wanted to make themselves more powerful than their rivals.
Even powers like Great Britain granted various privileges to companies like East India, and Virginia Company to dominate poor and weak countries through trade.
This type of strategy later helped them to colonize those poor countries easily and expand their land areas.
When in 1492, Christopher Columbus discovered the new continents, European governments, and the kings started encouraging their people to migrate and live there.
They knew that without the migration of their own people, they can’t colonize the new lands easily.
So, politics was the first reason, why did those first European settlers come to America.
- How Did The French Help The Americans In The Battle of Yorktown?
- Who Discovered South America?
- Who Was Amerigo Vespucci?
- How Was Christopher Columbus Early Life?
2. Economic Reason – In Search of Tremendous Wealth
For the new European settlers, America was like a greedy world, where they expected to get and gain so much wealth. Especially they wondered about gold, silver, diamonds, pearls, and other precious metals.
In search of wealth, the first Spanish settlers went to the new world, then the British, Portuguese, and French one by one.
First Spanish settlers found so much Gold, Silver, Pearls, and other various precious metals.
They also found massive prosperity on the new world’s agricultural side.
Seeing the Spanish people’s success, people from other countries also started migrating here.
Especially, business-minded people brought workers to the new world as laborers.
For this purpose, they also started capturing its native people and importing Black slaves from the African continent.
Over time, the majority of those laborers started living here as it’s permanent residents and became Americans.
[Did You Know? Most White European Settlers Treated The New World’s Native People Like Animals. Europeans Executed Massacres On Them, Millions of Native People Lost Their Lives]
3. Religious Purpose – Expansion of Own Religious Ideologies
European settlers wanted to spread their own religious beliefs around the world.
Mainly, the expansion of Christianity was their primary religious motive.
Even, they succeeded in doing it in various countries.
Especially, in Africa, the impact was already quite intense.
In 1492, when they learned about the existence of the new world, authorities shifted their movements to send Christian missionaries there.
So, expanding religious beliefs was also a reason why did the first European settlers come to America.
[Did You Know? Currently, Only A Few Thousand Natives Follow Their Old Religious Ideologies. More Than 99 Percent of The Native People Nowadays Follow Christianity. Europeans Showed Abominable Brutality For Natives’ Religious Transformation]
4. Military Causes – Why Did The First European Settlers Come To America?
Most European countries were rivals of each other. They were cutthroat enemies.
For this reason, they had to involve in wars from time to time.
Major powers like Great Britain, France, Portugal, Spain were always conscious to create more and more military bases around the world.
Because the higher number of military bases helped them to get an extra advantage over their enemy during wartime.
After the discovery of the Americas, no European country wanted to leave this opportunity to its enemies.
Therefore, as much as possible, they started sending their people to those new continents and colonizing them.
5. With The Hope of A Better Life In The New World
It is also true that most Europeans migrated to these new continents so that they could have an advanced life.
As per history, we have found that most of these people lived a humiliating life in Europe due to the dominance of religion (Christian Catholic) and monarchy.
Without the rule of religion and the feudalist system, here they hoped that they would get a better life with more liberty, equality, and happiness.
Why Did The First European Settlers Come To America?
1. First Reason: The 16th & 17th Centuries Were The Age of European Colonisation. European Settlers Primarily Came To The Americas To Create New Colonies For Their Mother Countries. Even, Their Kings Or Governments Encouraged Them To Migrate To The New Landmass.
2. Second Reason: Europeans Were Crazy After Wealth. They Believed, The New World Would Be An Inventory of So Many Natural Resources. Especially Gold, Diamonds, Pearls, And Other Precious Metals.
3. Third Reason: Expansion of Religious Ideologies; Especially Christianity. Later, This Radical Religious Mentality Encouraged European Settlers To Kill Millions of Native People In The Americas.
4. Fourth Reason: It Was An Era of Rivalry And Military Conflicts Among European Powers. They Believed The New World Would Be A Great Place For Creating New Military Bases.
5. Fifth Reason: Not All Europeans Were Happy With The Ongoing System of Europe. Most of Them Who Permanently Migrated To The New Landmass Hoped For A Better Life With Peace And Prosperity.
There are five reasons why did the first (or early) European settlers come to America.
If you don’t know, who the first settlers are then let me tell you that they are Spanish.
So now, let’s break the five reasons down below and see what actually they are:
1. Political Reason – Creating New Colonies For Their Mother Countries
First of all, great European powers like Great Britain, France, Spain, Germany, Portugal always focused on creating new colonies around the world.
These powers were always in competition to be the owner of more and more colonies.
They wanted to make their political influence spread globally, not just get contained in their own land segment.
On the other hand, those powers were like cutthroat rivals of each other. Hence they wanted to make themselves more powerful than their rivals.
Even powers like Great Britain granted various privileges to companies like East India, and Virginia Company to dominate poor and weak countries through trade.
This type of strategy later helped them to colonize those poor countries easily and expand their land areas.
When in 1492, Christopher Columbus discovered the new continents, European governments, and the kings started encouraging their people to migrate and live there.
They knew that without the migration of their own people, they can’t colonize the new lands easily.
So, politics was the first reason, why did those first European settlers come to America.
- How Did The French Help The Americans In The Battle of Yorktown?
- Who Discovered South America?
- Who Was Amerigo Vespucci?
- How Was Christopher Columbus Early Life?
2. Economic Reason – In Search of Tremendous Wealth
For the new European settlers, America was like a greedy world, where they expected to get and gain so much wealth. Especially they wondered about gold, silver, diamonds, pearls, and other precious metals.
In search of wealth, the first Spanish settlers went to the new world, then the British, Portuguese, and French one by one.
First Spanish settlers found so much Gold, Silver, Pearls, and other various precious metals.
They also found massive prosperity on the new world’s agricultural side.
Seeing the Spanish people’s success, people from other countries also started migrating here.
Especially, business-minded people brought workers to the new world as laborers.
For this purpose, they also started capturing its native people and importing Black slaves from the African continent.
Over time, the majority of those laborers started living here as it’s permanent residents and became Americans.
[Did You Know? Most White European Settlers Treated The New World’s Native People Like Animals. Europeans Executed Massacres On Them, Millions of Native People Lost Their Lives]
3. Religious Purpose – Expansion of Own Religious Ideologies
European settlers wanted to spread their own religious beliefs around the world.
Mainly, the expansion of Christianity was their primary religious motive.
Even, they succeeded in doing it in various countries.
Especially, in Africa, the impact was already quite intense.
In 1492, when they learned about the existence of the new world, authorities shifted their movements to send Christian missionaries there.
So, expanding religious beliefs was also a reason why did the first European settlers come to America.
[Did You Know? Currently, Only A Few Thousand Natives Follow Their Old Religious Ideologies. More Than 99 Percent of The Native People Nowadays Follow Christianity. Europeans Showed Abominable Brutality For Natives’ Religious Transformation]
4. Military Causes – Why Did The First European Settlers Come To America?
Most European countries were rivals of each other. They were cutthroat enemies.
For this reason, they had to involve in wars from time to time.
Major powers like Great Britain, France, Portugal, Spain were always conscious to create more and more military bases around the world.
Because the higher number of military bases helped them to get an extra advantage over their enemy during wartime.
After the discovery of the Americas, no European country wanted to leave this opportunity to its enemies.
Therefore, as much as possible, they started sending their people to those new continents and colonizing them.
5. With The Hope of A Better Life In The New World
It is also true that most Europeans migrated to these new continents so that they could have an advanced life.
As per history, we have found that most of these people lived a humiliating life in Europe due to the dominance of religion (Christian Catholic) and monarchy.
Without the rule of religion and the feudalist system, here they hoped that they would get a better life with more liberty, equality, and happiness.
Source https://www.history.com/news/why-pilgrims-came-to-america-mayflower
Source https://historyofmyamerica.com/why-first-european-settlers-come-america/
Source https://historyofmyamerica.com/why-first-european-settlers-come-america/#:~:text=So,%20politics%20was%20the%20first%20reason,%20why%20did,and%20gain%20so%20much%20wealth,%20gold,%20and%20money.