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The cover of Voyagers to the West

Voyagers to the West

Bernard Bailyn

Who were the people leaving Britain for America on the eve of the Revolution, and why did they go?

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At a glance

Author
Bernard Bailyn

Why read it

  • You will learn who actually emigrated in the years before the Revolution, by age, occupation, class and purpose
  • You will see how historians turn one long list of names into a picture of a whole movement of people
  • You will understand why British officials were alarmed by the flow of emigrants and how they tried to answer it

Who it is for

  • A descendant of eighteenth century emigrants curious who they were
  • A history student who wants to see how evidence becomes a story
  • Someone curious about migration then and now

Contents

  1. PREFACE
  2. I
  3. Background: The Magnet of the West
  4. INTRODUCTION
  5. An Expanded World, 1760–1776
  6. Conquest and Expansion
  7. The Farther Fringes
  8. The Surge of Immigration
  9. The Dilemma of British Policy
  10. Hillsborough’s Anxieties
  11. “America That Land of Promise, Is Their Cry”
  12. Explanations
  13. Solutions
  14. The Crisis of 1773: The Lord Justice Clerk and “The America Madness”
  15. Searching for the Facts: The Origin and Character of the Register of Emigrants
  16. The Compilation: Procedures
  17. Weaknesses and Omissions
  18. Windows into the Past
  19. II
  20. Dimensions
  21. INTRODUCTION
  22. Magnitudes, Locations, and Flow
  23. Magnitudes
  24. Locations
  25. Flow
  26. Identities and Motivations: The Dual Emigration
  27. Age
  28. Sex
  29. Groupings
  30. Quality, Occupation, and Class
  31. Indentured Servitude
  32. Purpose and Motivation
  33. Arrivals and Destinations
  34. Where Did the Emigrants Go?
  35. The Multiple Immigration
  36. Age as an Indicator: Work Force and Society
  37. Patterns in Transportation
  38. Purposes, Motives, Plans, and Expectations
  39. III
  40. Mobilizing a Labor Force
  41. INTRODUCTION
  42. The Demand
  43. Iron
  44. Construction
  45. Qualities and Deficiencies
  46. Ordering and Skills
  47. London
  48. The Provinces
  49. Convicts
  50. Recruitment
  51. Register Offices and Statute Halls and Fairs
  52. Public Notification
  53. Middlemen
  54. Gravesend
  55. Supply and Demand
  56. Enticement and Kidnapping
  57. Indentures and Shipping
  58. Sales and Distribution
  59. Shipboard Sales
  60. Calculations

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