It was the age of mercantilism, a competitive economic environment
that pushed European nations to acquire as many colonies as they could.
You
see, colonies were business ventures. Countries generally selected
their own citizens who were not part of elite society. After all, their
colonies were money-making ventures.
Not necessarily citizen
settlements. Colonies provided an outlet to enrich the parent country,
and it was a way to get rid of their unwanted surplus population.
History tells us that the surplus people sent to the New World wanted to escape the hardships and controls placed on many aspects of their lives by kings and governments, priests and churches, noblemen, aristocrats and elites. They wanted to be free from the controls that existed in European societies.
Think about how difficult it must have been for women over two hundred years ago. England’s surplus population chose to accompany their men on a sailing ship meant more for cargo than comfort.
It was a long voyage, weeks at sea with risks, self-sacrifice and no guarantees.
These incredible women joined together with men on a pilgrimage to find something so precious, they were willing to endure the unknown.
Surplus Population
In 1607, British boats arrived in the New World to establish the first permanent settlement at Jamestown.
The first thing the women did when they stepped onto this new land was prepare a meal of thanksgiving to God.
In the early stages of a new land, not yet free from England, boashowed up in the colonies with people from other countries who were unloaded. imprisoned on plantations, forced to work in fields as slaves and brutalized by overlords. Plantation owners became wealthy with captive labor. For hundreds of years, slaves were treated with utter disregard for basic human rights and liberty: They were disposable.
According to the Battlefield Trust, “What we must remember is that British interests dictated many things, and slavery was one component.” In other words, slavery was common under British rule.
In the aftermath of the French and Indian War, the British government enacted new taxes in the 13 British colonies. That caused a lot of resistance by the colonists.
What happened next was predictable.//