s. The great movement westward over the
Appalachian range which followed the War of 1812, the pilgrimages of
homesteaders to the northwest and the Pacific coast, find their
precedent in the exodus of these poor families from the tobacco fields
of Virginia.

In the last decade of the Seventeenth century the migration assumed such
large proportions that the Board of Trade became alarmed and directed
Francis Nicholson to enquire into its cause in order that steps might be
taken to stop it. The emigrant stream that directed itself northward did
not halt in eastern Maryland, for conditions there differed little from
those in Virginia itself. The settlers went on to the unoccupied lands
in the western part of the colony, or made their way into Delaware or
Pennsylvania. "The reason why inhabitants leave this province," wrote
Nicholson, while Governor of Maryland, "is, I think, the encouragement
which they receive from the Carolinas, the Jerseys, and above all from
Pennsylvania, which is so nigh that it is easy to remove thither. There
handicraft tradesmen have encouragement when they endeavor to set up
woolen manufactures."[8-11]

Although this explanation does not go to the root of the matter, it was
in part correct. The northern colonies held out far greater
opportunities for the poor man than the slave choked fields of
tidewater Maryland and Virginia. The industries of Pennsylvania and
Delaware and the Jerseys demanded a certain degree of skill and yielded
in return a very fair living. In other words, the poor settlers in
Virginia, finding that tobacco culture was now based upon the cheap
labor of African slaves, moved away to other localities where
intelligence still brought an adequate reward.

The Maryland House of Delegates, when asked to give their opinion in
this matter, thought that it was a desire to escape the payment of debts
which made some of the "meaner inhabitants" seek shelter in Delaware Bay
and the Carolinas. They came nearer the real cause when they added that
the low price paid by the merchants for tobacco obliged many to
leave.[8-12] Nicholson was not satisfied with this answer. "They will
not directly own," he wrote, "that setting up manufactures and
handicraft-trades in Pennsylvania, the large tracts of land held by some
persons here and the encouragement given to illegal traders are the
causes that make people leave this province. They would have it that
they wish to avoid the persecution of their