5.3 Emigration 1688-c1730 Flashcards
Explain how banishment and forced transportation was a reason for emigration during this period
One reason why people emigrated from Britain to the Americas between 1688 and c1730 was because they were forced to. The 1718 Transportation Act allowed the shipment of convicted criminals across the Atlantic, partly to ease the overcrowded prisons, in order to serve their punishment overseas. As a result, over the following 60 years, more than 50,000 men, women and children were transported in convict ships to the Americas. Another group who were forcibly removed were Scottish supporters of the failed Jacobite uprising in 1715. They would be shipped to the Americas to live out their sentence there as labourers. Over 1,000 were sent to North America and the Caribbean.
Explain how poverty led to emigration from Britain during this period
Some people voluntarily emigrated from Britain to the Americas during this period in search for a better life for themselves. There was a high death rate due to poverty and a lack of opportunity in their native countries. In Ireland and Scotland in the 1690s they were driven by harvest failures and famine. The introduction of enclosures in England and Scotland also led to increased unemployment for farm labourers. In Ireland the establishment of the plantations also led to significant difficulties for the Catholic communities that were dispossessed. As a result of this hardship, many people accepted work as indentured servants in the Caribbean or in the English colonies in America.
