mproved; much of the bad had faded away under the tough conditions of life. The American was a special brand of Englishman: he was more American than the English.In the beginning, the economic conditions were a cause in the advance of liberty, the wages in the colonies were generally higher and the working conditions were better than in England. The reason for this altogether joyous condition was a shortage of labor caused by the mass amount of land being settled. The people of the seaboard lost many of their community in the migration to the west.The immigrants brought with them ways of life that supported the colonies. The Scotch-Irish were typical frontiersmen, the Germans were the typical farmer, and the English were well educated. The diversity the immigrants possed helped to democratize the political institutions that had been brought over from England. Nearly all of the immigrants to the colonies came from the middle and lower classes. Even the aristocratic families of New York and Virginia had humble origins. Europe had sent over thousands of substantial, intelligent, propertied men and women. Yet most could not even pay for their own voyage, and gentlemen immigrants only numbered a few.Eventually, for the colonies the happiness wore away and the desolate frontier became not only an area but a state of mind. Colonies were poorly planned and settled on malaria infested swamps. Almost half of the colonists died of disease, Economic Reasons for American Independence pg 3starvation, exhaustion, and death by rival, hostel Indians. The hardships of the wilderness frustrated many attempts at a fruitful life for the colonies, but the frontier also produced some of the raw materials of American democracy - self reliance, social fluidity, simplicity, equality, dislike of privilege, optimism, and devotion to liberty. Meanwhile, the English government was conducting colonial affairs upon the...
