The 13 Colonies for Kids

For Kids: Who came to the New World?

People started immigrating to the New World in the 1500s. At first, the leaders and nobles and rich folks in England thought this was great. The settlers would send goods back to England in exchange for food and clothes and seed and tools and farm animals. Only, for the most part, those who chose to come to the New World came from the middle class - shopkeepers, artisans, craftsmen, weavers, tailors, shoemakers, blacksmiths, and bakers. Unfortunately, most of these people knew very little about farming. That was a problem for those in the New World.

The leaders back in England did not want their best farmers and best craftsmen to leave England. It was soon put about that the only people immigrating to the New World were the dregs of society, robbers, burglars, and other criminals, along with paupers, vagrants, and people running away from things. That's what the leaders in England kept saying. There was some truth in this. Criminals, given the choice of death or immigration chose immigration. But, for the most part, those who chose to come to the New World were people with courage, who wanted a better life for themselves and their families. The colonists needed good farmers to join them in the New World, if they were going to survive.

The successful farmers in England were reluctant to move. Some believed the tales put about by their leaders. But mostly, it was the loss of the privilege of "copyhold" that held them back. Farmers knew if they gave up their "copyhold", the land their family had leased or owned in England, for hundreds of years in some cases, they could not get it back.

Things might have gone very badly for the colonists, the middle class craftsmen who headed to the New World, if nearly all the farmers had continued to stay in England. What changed things was several bad harvests in a row. That gave some farmers the incentive to immigrate to the New World.

What was the New World?

What did the colonists bring with them to the New World?

Quick View: Comparison, Pilgrims, Puritans, Quakers

New England Colonies

Middle Colonies

Southern Colonies