Exam Narration: Reasons to Immigrate

By Triss-- a summation of a portion of the Mayflower chapter in Winston Churchill's _The New World_. I like the ideas presented. She had a little difficulty describing the English government and the nature of work in the New World, but also had some apt thoughts. I think we will work this up into a more polished composition in the next couple of weeks.

There were a lot of good reasons to head to the New World in the 1600s. One was religious freedom, one was more space, and one was more advantages.

Everyone knows the story of the pilgrims and how they left England so they could practice their own faith and not the Church of England's. A lot of people don't hear the background story. The Puritans had hoped that James I would support them when he came to the throne, because of his Protestant upbringing, but James wanted everyone to belong to the Church of England. The Puritans left for the New World because they wanted to make their own religious choices (but stay English, as they would not have done if they had stayed in Holland.)

In England, it was crowded! There were plenty of people who were English by birth and heritage, but also people who had come to this "America of the 17th Century" simply for what it was-- an amazing monarchy/commonwealth, where people had a say in what went on in their lives and what happened to the government. England seemed so inviting that it was overpopulated, and people began to move to the new England, America.

That brings me to my next point, because with so many people in England only a few could do anything with their lives. There was an enormous poverty rate because of too many people and not enough jobs. People figured that in the New World, there would be fewer people and more jobs, and therefore better chances and more advantages in whatever field of work they were in.

A lot of people moved from England to America, for a lot of different reasons. There were a lot of good reasons to move to the New World, aa few of which I have just explained to you.