Canvassing for the Colonies: Comparative Representations of the Recruitment and Mobilisation of Trans-Atlantic Emigrants in Britain, 1580-1620 and 1660-1710

Thomas P. Chadwick 

This paper focuses on contemporary attitudes, as evident in the pamphlet press, towards the recruitment and attempted mobilisation of emigrants and labour within Britain for colonial Atlantic destinations during two interludes of time, 1580-1620 and 1660-1710. The earlier colonial promoters, particularly those associated with the Virginia Company, it will be argued, accepted the widespread contemporary notion that Britain was over-populated, and they therefore worried little about attracting emigrant labour to the nascent colonies. The overseas settlements were frequently touted as a solution to the socio-economic problems occasioned by an expanding population. Writers also, however, often portrayed colonial enterprise primarily as a religious, especially a missionary, endeavour, which had implications for their attitudes regarding emigration and emigrants. This tendency, it is argued, which was probably a reaction to prevailing anti-colonial sentiment, resulted in the expression, in line with the religious beliefs of the promoters, of exacting preferences for emigrants of good moral character. After the Restoration in 1660, it will be argued, the context, character, and focus of the debate entirely shifted and became almost wholly concerned with the economic merits and demerits of the transfer of emigrants, as a labour source, from Britain to the Americas. It appears, therefore, that a major shift in attitudes occurred during the seventeenth century regarding the perceived contemporary importance of the issue of the recruitment and mobilisation of labour for the American colonies.

[WP# 04CR002]