Why Start a Colony?

Sort reasons into religious freedom and profit.

Warm-up, learn, try it together, practice, then a quick check. About 15 minutes.

What children learn in Level 44

Why did people leave home to start a colony? Georgia's standards name two big reasons: religious freedom and profit.
Religious freedom is the right to worship in your own way. In England, people had to follow the king's church. The Pilgrims came on the Mayflower in 1620 to worship their own way at Plymouth.
Puritans started Massachusetts for the same reason. Roger Williams started Rhode Island so everyone could choose their own religion. William Penn started Pennsylvania as a home for Quakers and people of many faiths.
Profit is money left over after paying your costs. Jamestown, in 1607, was started by a company hoping to find gold. It found none, but tobacco made money. Later, South Carolina grew rice to sell.
Georgia was started for several reasons: a fresh start for poor people from England, protecting the other colonies from Spanish Florida, and making money from crops.

Georgia Standards of Excellence in Social Studies:

SS3H3.a — Identify key reasons why the New England, Mid-Atlantic, and Southern colonies were founded (religious freedom and profit).