Originally Posted by Dude
Originally Posted by indigo
You appeared to counter the idea in my post regarding religious persecution, calling it nonsense. I invited you to share a source which informed your view, and so far you have not. I have shared multiple sources which informed my view that religious persecution was a factor.
It looks like you've already abandoned your original position that "the ancestors/founders of the US were largely English and motivated by a quest for freedom from religious prosecution," and have moved to "religion was a factor," at which point we no longer have a disagreement.

Even your book from the Library of Congress contradicts your original position:
Quote
The New England colonies, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland were conceived and established "as plantations of religion." Some settlers who arrived in these areas came for secular motives--"to catch fish" as one New Englander put it--but the great majority left Europe to worship God in the way they believed to be correct.
1) You have misquoted my post.
2) I have not changed my position.
3) The LOC link supports and informs my view "...motivated by a quest for freedom from religious persecution"
4) Although you appear to have labeled religious persecution as "nonsense", you have not provided a source which informs your view(s).
5) Whereas I spoke of founding fathers and their ancestors being English as opposed to "Spaniards", you have changed the topic to demographics of the 13 colonies.

Originally Posted by Dude
But honestly, you could simply go to Wikipedia and find out why each colony was formed.
That is different than you providing a source which informs your view that what I posted was "nonsense."

Originally Posted by Dude
Demographics of Pennsylvania Colony
Quote
Germans – Thousands of Germans were also attracted to the colony and, by the time of the Revolution, comprised a third of the population.
Scotch-Irish – They [...] numbered about one-fourth of the population by 1776.
These are estimates, of course, but it leaves only about 42% of the population to be divided among the remaining groups: English, Native Americans, Africans, and "others." The English cannot have been a majority.
1) In general, a weebly website is not on par with Library of Congress and/or PBS. Students of history (and other topics) are often encouraged to seek out credible sources, and are encouraged to become familiar with distinguishing characteristics/features of credible sources.
2) The specific weebly website which you referenced does not provide basic information such as: author, sources, bibliography, purpose of website, etc.
3) The weebly website discusses the demographics of Pennsylvania only, not of all 13 colonies.
4) The weebly website does not discuss the motivation of settlers (freedom from religious persecution, etc)

In this post, the takeaway for the OP and others interested in resources for teaching their middle-school children US History would be: distinguishing characteristics/features of credible sources, Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab).