"Voluntary emigration from the British Isles to the American plantations went into a steep decline after the year 1750, only to rise again sharply from 1770 and to reach epidemic proportions by 1773, a year of great economic hardship in Britain. Involuntary emigration, on the other hand, the forced transportation of criminals of almost every degree, rose sharply during the period, from a yearly total of 500 in 1750 to 1000 in 1774-75, showing that...