Introduction
Only a minority of emigrants from Europe to British North America in the eighteenth century came from the British Isles. Some English settlers, such as the authors of this petition from Pennsylvania to the authorities in London, found the growing diversity of the colonial population quite disturbing.
Read the attached document and answer the following questions:
What do the petitioners find objectionable about non-English migrants to Pennsylvania?
What does the petition suggest about who should be entitled to the benefits of freedom in the American colonies? Have you seen some of the same rhetoric today?
