Frontiersmen
First read the proposed bills and then highlight the information
about your group which gives clues as to how you should vote.You are living to the west of the settled lands of the colony. You wish to be free and allowed to move when you please. You go into the town as seldom as possible and then only to get supplies or to sell the furs you have trapped. You hate the cities and towns because there are so many people there. If one area has too many people you move farther west. You have no real problems except those caused by the government. You don't particularly like either the colonial government or the government of the mother country. The government is always restricting your life by telling you where to hunt. It makes laws about which lands are open and which are closed. Those city people don't understand your problems. Sometimes the farmers bother you too. They keep pushing into your hunting areas. You have to keep moving west to keep away from civilization. You understand and care very little about economics and politics. You know very little about the laws of the colony except those that restrict your travel or the whiskey you manufacture. You only want your furs to sell at the highest possible price when you get them to market. Once in a while, you need the soldiers to help chase away some angry Indians. However, you know the Indians much better than the people in the East. You probably wouldn't have any problems with the Indians if the government wouldn't keep changing the land laws and breaking treaties. You dislike bankers because they are always selling open land to settlers who push you farther and farther west. You and your fellow frontiersmen are mainly concerned with free land, high fur prices, and keeping other countries out of your hunting and trapping territory.
Merchants
First read the proposed bills and then highlight the information
about your group which gives clues as to how you should vote.You are moderately wealthy although you are not rich. You often need bank loans to stay alive in the business world. You are relatively independent, with a good credit rating and a respectable bank account. Your store is located in a large town or city. You deal in both imports and exports as well as strictly domestic goods. You sell to the mother country and to the people in your town. You also have many customers from the surrounding farming communities who come into town for seed and tools. You are constantly accused of being a cheat because your prices seem high. The farmers don't understand that your profit margin is very small. You have become affluent only through scrimping and saving and by taking chances at the right times. You like some of the trade laws that make imported goods higher in price since you know their quality is better than the colonial products. However, you would like it much better if the mother country would allow you to trade more freely with other nations. You have been forced to smuggle goods into the Colonies just to stay in business. You often feel that the mother country is interfering in your business matters although you expect her to give you support when you need it.
Bankers
First read the proposed bills and then highlight the information
about your group which gives clues as to how you should vote.You are one of the wealthiest men in your town and a member of the wealthiest group in the colony. Although the number of bankers is quite small in relation to farmers and merchants, you and your fellow bankers have a financial advantage in colonial affairs. This type of control allows you to apply pressure on the other colonial groups. Your power is far greater than your numbers might indicate. You finance trade both in the Colonies and with the mother country. You lend money to farmers, merchants, and even to many individuals and businesses in the mother country. You feel you must constantly manipulate the situation so as to gain the most for yourself. Your money power also allows you to keep the political and economic centers of the colony in the major cities where banks are well established. The farmers dislike you because you are city dwellers and because they claim you charge high interest rates. But what do they know about finances? You also have occasional problems with the merchants, but most of the time you get along with them quite well. You lend them the money that allows them to increase their business. They get business and you get interest. You feel more comfortable with the upper classes from the mother country than with the frontiersmen and the farmers of the colony. You would like it if there were no trade barriers since that would increase the demand for your services. You don't want to rock the boat too much because that might hurt your financial dealings with the mother country.
Small Farmers
First read the proposed bills and then highlight the information
about your group which gives clues as to how you should vote.You are a small farmer living near the frontier, but still only a few days' journey from the nearest large town. You are poor and in debt most of the time. The banks lend you money to buy seed and other farm supplies, and they charge high interest rates. You have little love for the bankers or, for that matter, the merchants who charge high prices for seed and tools. You would like, someday, to have some kind of control of the prices they charge and of the interest rates the bankers require. You live a season-to-season existence and usually have quite a hard time making ends meet. Your tools and some of the other necessities you buy are mostly imported from the mother country. These items are heavily taxed because of the protective tariffs. The prices for imported goods are always quite high. The things you buy that are made in the Colonies are also over-priced because there is no competition. You also have problems selling your own products at a profit because your own expenses are high. You hope someday to acquire more land from your neighbor or possibly move west where there is still open land.