Politics.

The English Crown had a specific interest in wealthy investors creating a colonial empire. There were a variety of strategies to entice men to settle and develop the American colonies. The Crown could grant charters for land to individuals or groups, with political rights and privileges. King James I approved a joint-stock charter for Virginia in 1607 which would later include Plymouth Colony. Investors raised capital by selling stock in a company. This strategy shared profits and distributed economic risks of overseas business ventures. The Crown approved such ventures because they used private capital rather than royal funds. In 1629 the Massachusetts Bay Company received permission for its own charter, intending more to protect its Utopian religious ideals than to secure a profit for investors. Expansion in the region resulted in individual Crown charters for Rhode Island (1644), Connecticut (1662), and New Hampshire (1681). Proprietary charters granted an...