92 THE GREEN RISING 



certainties of cultivation in a new country, and the 

 further facts that often forests had to be cleared and 

 defenses maintained against the Indians, and the 

 task seemed almost insuperable. Capital was re- 

 quired, therefore, to make the start which had to be 

 provided in the form of ships, tools, and provisions. 

 Whether the object of the colonizing venture was 

 mining, fur trading, or some other enterprise, no 

 person could hope to succeed without the indis- 

 pensable capital. Usually no individual of means 

 cared to venture alone, owing to the many risks con- 

 nected with the enterprise. He preferred to asso- 

 ciate others with him and thus divide the risks. 

 Thus the founding of settlements and the exploita- 

 tion of the resources of the new country came to be 

 a business enterprise, indeed, it was one of the 

 greatest enterprises of the day." l It is estimated 

 that to establish a family in one of the colonies cost 

 some thousands of dollars, and in the seventeenth 

 century this was a very large sum. 



Fortunately the period of American colonial de- 

 velopment came at a time of great business pros- 

 perity in England. Gold had become plentiful, as a 

 result of Spanish conquests. Spanish gold gradually 

 filtered into the channels of trade and resulted in a 

 rise in prices. The profits of the trading and indus- 

 trial classes were greatly increased. Capital became 

 abundant and available for colonial enterprise. Im- 



1 Economic Development of the United States (1921), Chap. 

 Ill, p. 42. 



