Wanderlust World Wanderlust World English migration to North America (1607–1770s) wasn't one story. It was three braided streams—religious, political, economic—carrying distinct groups to distinct colonies.
Puritans (Great Migration, 1630s): 20,000 to Massachusetts Bay. Wanted to purify the Church of England, not leave it—but faced persecution. Built a "city upon a hill."
Separatists/Pilgrims (1620): Plymouth. Fled to Leiden first, then America for total separation.
Quakers (1680s): Pennsylvania, West Jersey. Persecuted for pacifism, equality, refusing oaths.
Catholics (1634): Maryland. Lord Baltimore's refuge—though Protestants soon outnumbered them.
Post-1660 Restoration and 1688 Glorious Revolution pushed republicans, Whigs, and levelers toward colonies with elected assemblies. Pennsylvania's Frame of Government (1701) attracted those wanting self-rule. The 18th-century "Country Party" ideology—suspicion of centralized power—flourished in colonial legislatures.
Indentured servants (50–75% of 17th-century migrants): 4–7 years labor for passage. Mostly young, poor, male. High mortality; survivors often landless.
Yeoman families: Seeking land impossible in England. New England's rocky soil pushed them to frontier; Middle Colonies' wheat lands drew them.
Merchants and artisans: Philadelphia, Boston, Charleston, New York offered trade networks.
Convicts: ~50,000 transported 1718–1775 (Transportation Act). Mostly property crimes. Sold as servants.
Adventure, primogeniture (younger sons inheriting nothing), recruitment by proprietors (Carolinas, Georgia), and chain migration—letters home pulling kin.
New England: religious families. Chesapeake: single male servants. Pennsylvania: Quaker families + German Pietists. Carolinas: planters + enslaved Africans. Georgia: debtors + buffer. Each colony a different answer to "why?"