Personal Finances.

Money was necessary for colonial development, and few of the migrants had enough of it to build a new country. They could, however, provide labor if someone else would contribute the funds. Capital, or the personal wealth used for business purposes and not for household consumption, was plentiful in the European cities the immigrants had left. Some immigrants were wealthy and had enough capital to finance their own endeavors. Other investors remained in England and provided the capital the settlers needed to develop the abundant natural resources of the American colonies. Eventually the economic success of settlers allowed them to establish local credit markets so that they could borrow money from neighbors. In the seventeenth century more capital was needed for agricultural development than for industry. The smaller farms of the northern colonies demanded far less investment capital than did the southern...