Question

Cartwright appears to be an amateur who was easily able to help transform the cotton textile industry. What details in his account support this view of his achievement?

Answer 1

The Frenchman who wrote the above description of Americans in 1782 observed
a very different society from the struggling colonial villages that had existed
in the 17th century. The British colonies had grown, and their inhabitants had
evolved a culture distinct from any in Europe. This chapter describes the mature
colonies and asks: If Americans in the 1760s constituted a new kind of society,
what were its characteristics and what forces shaped its "new people"?
Population Growth
At the start of the new century, in 1701, the English colonies on the Atlantic
Coast had a population of barely 250,000 Europeans and Africans. By 1775, the
figure had jumped to 2,500,000, a tenfold increase within the span of a single
lifetime. Among African Americans, the population increase was even more
dramatic: from about 28,000 in 1701 to 500,000 in 1775.
The spectacular gains in population during this period resulted from two
factors: immigration of almost a million people and a sharp natural increase,
caused chiefly by a high birthrate among colonial families. An abundance of
fertile American land and a dependable food supply attracted thousands of
European settlers each year and also supported the raising of large families.
European Immigrants
Newcomers to the British colonies came not only from England, Scotland,
Wales, and Ireland, but also from other parts of Western and Central Europe.

Many immigrants, most of whom were Protestants, came from France and Ger-
man-speaking kingdoms and principalities. Their motives for leaving Europe