Immigration in 18th century America.
1707: As a result of the Act of Union (the Scottish Parliament
and the English Parliament united to form the Parliament of Great Britain), a
large migration of Scottish to America began. They settled in colonial seaports
and the Lowland laborers became indentured servants in the tobacco-raising
colonies and New York.
1709: German Palatines, fleeing the devastation of war, settled
in the Hudson Valley and Pennsylvania.
1717: As punishment, criminals in England were transported to
America, mostly to Virginia and Maryland.
1718: Large numbers of discontented Scottish again emigrated to
New England and later to Maryland and Pennsylvania; they had been driven out of
their homeland by high rent, absentee landlords, and short leases for farming
land.
1730: Germans and Scotch-Irish migrated from Pennsylvania to
Virginia and the Carolinas.
1732: Georgia, settled by James Oglethorpe, provided a place for
imprisoned debtors.
1740: In an attempt to encourage Jewish immigration, the
Naturalization Act was enacted by the English Parliament. It gave British
citizenship to colonial immigrants.
1745: Another wave of Scottish immigration when rebels against
the attempt to re-throne the Stuarts were sent to America.
1755: On suspicion of disloyalty, Nova Scotia expelled French
Arcadians. Those who survived settled in Louisiana.
