Why Did the Colonists Come to America?

There are several reasons that the colonists came over here in the first place:

• freedom – Europe was a pretty sketchy place in terms of persecution and dictatorship
• political liberty – Sir Walter Raleigh was busy being executed in Britain – not the shining light of liberty you’d aspire to really
• religious freedom – lots of religious troubles for the non-dominant followers in many European countries
• economic opportunity – this was before capitalism was cool and mercantilism was the flavor of the month – ensuring military strength through foreign trade
• practice their religion – after five centuries of practice, you could argue that they’ve got really good
• escape persecution