Overpopulation, hunger, and a desire to escape religious persecution were motivating factors for many people from during the era of north american colonization

All of these were motiving factors for people from England. Other people in other countries had different motivations. Spain and France initially put tight religious restrictions on those who wanted to relocate to the "New World." It should be remembered, of course, that the desire to accumulate or make wealth was a common motivation for many, regardless of their nationality.

populist movement, in u.s. history, politically oriented coalition of agrarian reformers in the middle west and south that advocated a wide range of economic and political legislation in the late 19th century. thus in 1892 their leaders organized the populist, or people's, party, and the farmers' alliances melted away.