Homestead mailing list

[DSanner106 AT aol.com]

In a message dated 10/21/2004 11:49:14 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
lurine AT softcom.net writes:

The English unloaded their prisons not only to Australia and NZ but also to
the U.S.  U.S. history books like to ignore this.
there is a fundamental difference though. Australia and NZ were penal 
colonies meant to be a place of punishment for murderers et al. The American 
colonies 
did recieve convicts not by sentence but by choice for minor offenses. My 
ancestor killed a deer in land belonging to the king and was offered the 
choice 
of a short prison sentence or to become a colonist in America. He chose to 
take 
the boat. Our family history has great detail of this story and other similar 
stories. Murderers were not dumped on our shores as a way of emptying 
prisons. Prostitutes were similarly offered the choice of the boat or prison 
and 
chose the boat in some cases. England wanted the colonies to succeed and 
begin 
sending wealth back , they would not sabotage their own efforts.
 



The greed was wealthy people who took out land grants, huge land grants.  It
had nothing to do with the making a fresh start.  They thought they would
make more money, big money.

You are right on this one, Penn and many others gobbled up millions of acres 
in land grants for either financial or political gain.
 
Drew