Question

Why did English immigration to the colonies slow after 1660

Answer 1

Why did English migration slow in the late 1600s?





EXPERT ANSWERS



Starting in 1620, with the arrival of the Pilgrims in the New World, much of English migration was motivated by the Stuart kings' persecution of English Puritans (the Pilgrims were separatists, meaning that they wanted to separate from the Church of England, while the Puritans wanted to remain within the church and purify it from within). During the Great Migration of 1620 to 1640, about 80,000 English people, many of them Puritans, left England for New England and the West Indies (particularly Barbados). In 1688, the last Stuart monarch, James II, was deposed, and the Glorious Revolution replaced James II with William and Mary. While James II was Roman Catholic, William and Mary were Protestant monarchs who ended forever the idea that there would be a Catholic monarch in England. The Puritans felt less persecuted, and there was a less acute need for them to immigrate to the New World. In addition, many English people came to the New World as indentured servants to find jobs, but increasing industrial output in England made this type of migration less necessary by the late 1600s and 1700s. 

Answer 2

Charles became the new king of England in 1660. And with the establishment of real monarchy instead of a lunatic military dictatorship, the English Economy improved and the religious and political conflicts diminished.