The Great ConvergenceThe Thirteen Colonies would attract people from all over Europe seeking a new life. They brought with them the lan-guages, religions, traditions, and customs of their home country. Mixed in with this were the cultures of Native Americans and African slaves. Although they did not recognize it at the time, this mixing of so many cultures created something truly unique

in the world - an American culture and identity. This blending of cultures and faiths is called ‘The Great Convergence.’

Why did they come to the colonies?To answer this question, con-sider the sources in the key-note to the left.

LEARNING TARGETS

❖ I can explain the push/pull factors that drove people to the colonies.

❖ I can explain the conditions of indentured servants.

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SECTION 2

Why Settle in the Colonies?

Interactive 1.2 Primary Sources

Review the Primary Source docu-ments above

How did they get to the colonies?For your average person, the expense of coming to the colo-nies was too great for them to afford. In order to reach the colonies, many early settlers became indentured servants. A German visitor, Gottlieb Mittelberger traveled to the colonies in the mid-1700’s and published a book about his observa-tions during his travels. Below is his description of seeing a group of indentured servants getting off a ship:“Every day [colonists] go on board the newly arrived vessel that has brought people from Europe and offered them for sale. Then they negoti-ate with them as to the length of the period for which they will go into service in order to pay off their passage...When an agreement has been reached, adult persons...bind themselves to serve for three, four, five, or six years, according to their health and age. The very young...have to serve until they are 21...Work is strenuous in this new land...Many of advanced age must labor hard for their bread.”Not all indentures started voluntarily, but they all ended in the same manner, for the most part, as is related in the story Molly Bannaky, by Alice McGill.Her life was spared, but the Justice sentenced Molly to seven years of bondage, to be served in a colony across the ocean. Having no family, Molly Walsh, age seventeen, said goodbye to England and boarded a ship.

After she landed in the New World, Molly worked for a planter on the eastern shore of Maryland. There the cannons fired at daybreak, calling the servants to work. Molly tended her master’s tobacco crops, pressing the tiny brown seeds into the earth and picking the worms from the flow-ering stalks. Her callused hands grew strong enough to control a team of oxen and to hold the plow steady. In her spare time, Molly sewed and nursed the sick for pay.After working for the planter for seven years, Molly was free to go. As the law required, the farmer gave her an ox hitched to a cart, a plow, a bag of tobacco seeds, a bag of seed corn, clothing, and a gun.

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Indentured servants could be found working at just about any job in the early days of the colonies.

Gallery 1.1 Indentured Servants