Is it true that during the development of the US as a successful colony and later an independent nation much of the cream of European society was drawn to America for the freedom and opportunity? Or, was it almost exclusively the working class that emigrated?
If this is true, will the same thing happen to the cream of American society when the US eventually begins to decline relative to emerging economies?
Slightly off topic but the reason the US was succesful was the transfer of social and financial capital of British settlers to the new world, in contrast in South America the settlers were exploitative in nature and did not seek to create a functional European society. In North America however there was a proper law system and its laws were enforced.
>>977853
Only poor people went, why would successful people leave?
>>977877
fame, fortune, power, adventure, prestige, native girls, freedom, whole bunch of reasons
>>977853
Religious fanatics, indentured servants and some sensible people. Mostly the former two I reckon.
It was successful because it experienced near continuous economic growth between Jamestown and the Industrial revolution. Essentially you had European settlers governed by the rule of law given giants swaths of more or less virgin lands. Fifty acres of land could be had for pocketmoney so to say.
>>977884
they have all those things anyway at home
American muh heritage is pretty much Europe's rejects:
>insane Puritans who wanted to live in a Sharia law style state
>Scots-Irish white trash who tried to steal land in Ireland but left after being massacred and decided to go somewhere easier
>Irish peasants who were bullied by everyone in their homeland so much they had no food
>German revolutionaries who failed
>German equivalent of Puritans - Mennonites, Amish, etc
>Various Eastern European Slavs living in slav(e)ry for foreign aristocrats
>Loser Jews living in Eastern European shitshacks
Not exactly the cream of society
>>977939
>Scots-Irish white trash
>white trash
They considered it trash, not white.
>>977942
Sure thing Cletus
>>977965
all races were originally african m8
>>978021
Wrong, we Dutch are atlanteans.
>>977902
>and some sensible people
You mean con artists?
>>977965
Scots-Irish would be anglo-teutonic according to that graph.
>>978220
>>977853
The US is to big to fail.
>>977939
The same thing also happened in the Spanish colonies with expelled Jews, Morisocos and released criminals sent there to populate the area. In New Mexico there's a high prevalence of Jewish ancestry.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2000/12/mistaken-identity-the-case-of-new-mexicos-hidden-jews/378454/
