Changing Demographics

During the middle of the 17th century, the influx of people in Great Britain's North American Colonies was predominantly due to the mass number of indentured servants seeking better, more fruitful lives, and those seeking religious freedom from prior persecution.

Gottlieb Mittleberger discusses the major factor of the indentured servants in his description of his journey to Philadelphia, PA in 1750. Mittleberger tells of how hopefuls came to America seeking freedom and the possibility of acquiring their own land. These servants came from England because of the surplus of displaced farmers, desperate for employment. Therefore, despite the fact that they would have to do hard labor for three to six years and, according to the author, youth between the ages of ten and fifteen until they were twenty-one they still chose to go to the colonies in hopes of more prosperous lives; showing their determination to come to the colonies and a large part of the spike in population growth.

During this time, there was also an immense amount of religious persecution. For example, many of the Irish immigrants went to the colonies due to religious persecution. Most of them were Protestants from the lowlands. At the time the majority of their people were Catholics, therefore, Protestantism was socially frowned upon. Therefore, in hopes of better chances of religious freedom many people fled to the new colonies. In An Act Concerning Religion, it discusses the freedom given to all who believe in Jesus. Although that does not give all people religious freedom it is still more religious tolerance than most other countries offered at the time. This freedom also contributed to the growth of their populace.