Economic Opportunities

In colonial America, there was enough economic opportunity for a poor European to want to take the long boat journey across the Atlantic Ocean to start a new life. Europeans began immigrating to America creating colonies in the mid-eighteenth century. There were thirteen original colonies. A variety of religions and classes of people such as rich merchants, poor famers, and slaves moved to colonial America. Most, but not all were able to benefit from the economic opportunity in the new land. This essay will prove how much economic opportunity there was in Colonial America and will also state the factors the affected the colonists’ opportunities to succeed. One of the simplest sources of opportunity in America was the spacious land. It had not yet been over populated with other countries. (O.I) As in Europe, one does not find a crowded society, where every place is over-stocked. There is room for everybody in America. (Doc. 6) Anything could happen for the new American because there was so much open land. A second example of opportunity was that there were raw materials and better crop growing climates in America than there were in England. (O.I) Tobacco was a principle article of trade in the colonies. (Doc. 4) It was a popularly demanded product and didn’t grow well in the European climate. (O.I) By growing this crop, the colonists were able to benefit economically by selling and trading tobacco with Europe. Thirdly, in the colonies many colonists owned farms. In the south, most of the farms produced cash crops. These were large crops that were grown to sell for money instead of the use of the farmers themselves. These crops were very labor intensive. (O.I) Most of the owners of these cash crops purchased African slaves from slave traders to do all of their work for them. (O.I) ‘It is the poor Negros who alone work hard…’ (Doc. 5) Although the African slaves did not benefit in any way from this system, the colonists benefited greatly. They had the