In colonial America, the only thing worth coming for was for slave trade. Other than that, coming to the Americas was pointless and it would be better to stay in your own country. It is said that only the poor prospered in the Americas while those who stayed in their original countries prospered and lived healthy lives. In the Americas, unlike Europe, everything had to be worked for and if you are not planning to do some sort of manual labor than you will never survive.
It is obvious that colonial American life was anything but easy. Although the colonial Americans did use slaves to carry out basically all of their work, a lot was left undone. As stated in the fifth document by St. Jean de Crevecoeur's "Letters From An American Farmer" (1782), the rich stay in Europe, it is only the middling and poor that emigrate. This gives reason to believe that life in the Americas was not great. Colonial America had poor living conditions and there wasn't much to gain wealth on. Only those who weren't doing well in their countries fled to the Americas in search of a better life when in reality, there weren't many opportunities other than some sort of slave or agricultural related subject. Also there was a chance of being caught and worked as a slave. When people think in terms of slavery they think of Africans however, in colonial America, if anyone of no high value was caught then they would become a slave. Many people sold themselves into slavery to come to the Americas. An indentured servant is a person who signs and is bound by indentures to work for another for a specified time especially in return for payment of travel expenses and maintenance. Thinking that when their time was over, they would live a wealthy rich life, many did not get what they came for. As a matter of fact, many indentured servants died during their years serving their master. People also often sold their children to come to the Americas as stated in document three from Gottlieb Mittelberger's, Journey to Pennsylvania (1754).
In my opinion, people came to the Americas in search of an easy life in which they could do nothing and become a part of the slave trade. Also, roomers about how wonderful and prosperous colonial America was also added to the belief that the streets of America were “paved with gold”. For the wealthy, it was pointless to come to the Americas; however, the poor could possibly live a better life. In an excerpt from An Account of Pennsylvania (1698) by Gabriel Thomas, it clearly states poor people (both men and women) of all kinds, can here get three times the wages for their labor. This excerpt specifically leaves out the wealthy due to the fact that the Americas was based on hard labor and unless you were wealthy to begin with, it was almost impossible to become wealthy based on work.
Based on these documents, I have come to the conclusion that Throughout colonial American history, there weren't many opportunities to become a successful businessman. The only people who prospered were slave traders who were wealthy to begin with and others who had enough money to start some sort of business. However, it would be better to stay at your own country if you were doing well financially. On the other hand, the poor did prosper in the Americas and sometimes made three times as much as they normally would but at what cost. Many people died, sold their children, and even sold themselves into slavery. In my opinion, doing all of this just to live in the Americas was not worth the trouble.
