Ekramul Gofur

9/3/11 AP USH

The settling of British North America occurred for many different reasons but the

economic reasons were primarily why the British decided to settle in North America. Some of

these economic reasons include a desire for Great Britain to have a better economy than their

rival, Spain. Other reasons for settling in North America include the mercantile system of

economy which almost all the countries in Europe followed at the time. The overall idea of

mercantilism states that a countries wealth comes from the amount of precious metals it

possesses. Even more economic reasons include the search for the Northwest Passage, and new

markets to sell manufactured goods. Of course economic reasons were not the only reasons for

settling in North America, there were also religious reasons. The foremost religious reason for

settling down was for freedom of religion and to escape from religious persecution. However the

economic reasons greatly exceed the religious reasons in terms of why the British settled in

North America.

One of the primary economic reasons for the British to settle in North America was so

they could obtain a better economy than Spain, which was the strongest country in its time.

Richard Hakluyt’s Discourse on Western Planting also encouraged the British to colonize and

settle in North America because of the many opportunities it would bring to England. In addition

it would keep the Spanish in check. In his writing Hakluyt mentions other economic reasons as

to why England should settle in the New World which included new spices to trade with Africa

and Asia (Indian Ocean Trading Network which the Europeans were kicked out of) and more

land which would provide additional jobs to many of the currently unemployed workers in

England. Since all Europeans countries at the time followed the system of mercantilism, the only

way to have a wealthier economy was by obtaining more precious metals. This is exactly what

the British tried to accomplish by letting a joint-stock company start the first English colony in

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the New World, Virginia. Virginia was original created so that settlers could go look for gold in

the new world since both the Joint-stock company and her Majesty were looking for profit. This

search for precious metals also attracted many young men to the colonies with the dream that

they might find gold and become wealthy. Creating these colonies was especially important for

the British because as precious metals arrived from the colonies, the British would not have to

buy precious metals from other countries.

Another major economic reason for settling in North America is for more new markets to

sell British goods. All the European nations, England included, were searching for the Northwest

Passage or another sea route to Asia so that they could sell their goods there. John Cabot the

navigator was also searching for the Northwest Passage for Britain but happened to land on the

America coast and so he claimed the land in the name of the British. Great Britain decided to

start their new colonies there because it would provide their own people with new opportunities

but it would also give Great Britain new markets to sell their goods. The attainment of precious

metals was important, however the sale of manufactured goods is also a crucial part of the

British economy and so new markets were critical for Britain to make profit. The Triangular

slave trade is a typical example of how the colonies served England. The colonist would send the

raw material to Britain where it was made into manufactured goods and sold to West Africa for

slaves. In addition to selling the goods to West Africa, much of the goods were resold to the

colonists. The British even placed protective tariffs on their goods. An example of the

protective tariffs are the Navigations Act (29 of them) which in total stated that the American

colonist could only buy goods from England, sell certain goods only to England, and foreign

goods can only be bought for English ports. These and many other protective tariffs made it such

that the British attained maximum profit and that they were sure that their colonies were only

giving them profit and not their enemies.

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 There were also religious reasons for the British to settle in North America, even though

they were not as important as the economic reasons. The primary religious reason for settling in

the New World was because of all the religious persecution in England. Many settlers were

refugee’s seeking religious freedom, and an example of such settlers was William Bradford and

everyone on the Mayflower. These Puritans were seeking religious freedom arrived at the New

World where they set up their own government and constitution like document called the

Mayflower Compact. Even Richard Hakluyt talked about the religious benefits of settling in

North America. He mentioned that by settling in the New World, Christianity would be able to

spread beyond the European mainland. Many settlers arrived to the colonies in search of

religious freedom and most of these settlers who sought for religious freedom resided in the New

England region.

There are many reasons why the British settled in North America but the economic

necessities of the British outweighed all other reasons. Because of Britain’s rivalry with Spain,

they sought to increase their own economy well beyond that of Spain’s by obtaining more

precious metals. The British also needed more markets to sell their goods and for these reasons

the thirteen original colonies were started. Even the first British colony, Virginia, was started

purely for economic reasons. There were also religious reasons for why the colonies were started

however the economic reasons were much more important. This can be seen through the fact

that even though more people resided in the New England region (and most of these people were

religious refugee’s), Britain cared more about profit and hence they placed protective tariffs such

as the Navigation acts on their goods. Britain did not do much about the religious concerns in

North America because for a while, the Crown in England was Catholic which was completely

opposite of the colonists who were largely puritans. All these facts point to the plain truth that the

economic concerns of Britain was more important than the religious concerns.

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