What were the political and social reasons Scottish immigrants moved from Scottland to the US?

Question

What were the political and social reasons Scottish immigrants moved from Scottland to the US?

Answer 1

Julie S is spot on.  Later people emigrated to the USA, and Canada in particular because of the Highland & Lowland clearances, when people were tossed off their lands here to make way for landowners sheep.  Other just went because they wanted to make something of themselves.  It's a bit like all of the Eastern Europeans coming to the UK today in a sense.

Answer 2

The US government was actively seeking workers. We were in our industrial period and needed as many workers as possible to settle the rest of the country. This time is now over and we no longer need foreign workers

Answer 3

Depends upon what era you are referring to.  In the early history of the US, some were transported, ie. they had no choice other than prison or execution, the reasons ranging from political prisoners of rebellions, to paupers, to petty thieves and criminals. Others came because of poverty. They had no hope of ever breaking out of their set place in the Class-system which existed in Britain, but in America, a person could make something of himself or herself, regardless of his/her background. Most of these came as bonded-servants and would be given passage to America, paid by the person who brought them over and would have to work off their passage upon their arrival as per their contract, a period which often lasted for seven years. At the end of their servitude,  they were set free so to speak,  and it was up to them to make something of their life in the New World.