Voyagers to the West Study Guide & Notes

Voyagers to the West Plot Summary

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In Voyagers to the West, Bernard Bailyn examines the dramatic increase in immigration to the American colonies from Britain in the years leading up to the American Revolution. He focuses on who the immigrants were, where they came from, why they were immigrating, and where they went in the colonies. His main data source is an emigration register kept by British customs officials during this time. He supplements that information with data from newspapers, town records, personal manuscript collections, and so on.

Bailyn begins his work by giving a broad overview of the early 1770s, and the increase in emigration from the British Isles that was taking place. He argues that this immigration to the colonies helped form the basis of modern American society and increased tensions between the colonies and the crown. The British government became concerned about the number of emigrants leaving, and how their exodus might affect...
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