The English colonies in the New World were populated by families. This allowed for natural population increase and for England to ultimately dominate North America. England sent religious dissenters such as Quakers and Puritans to the New World, as well as the "deserving poor;" these people would otherwise become social problems in England. In the New World, they allowed England to claim more land and natural resources. England used Native Americans in proxy wars against the French, though the natives would ultimately be viewed as nuisances who should be removed from the land. England was also helped by its growing navy, which allowed it to defend its colonies from other powers, as well as guard raw materials coming back from the New World.

The Spanish used a system of missions in order to claim much of the American Southwest. They intermarried with native groups, but created a caste system that looked favorably on a person who had more European blood. Spanish governors worked the natives on large plantations and in gold mines, often in horrible conditions. Spanish missionaries did all they could to destroy native language and religion. Though Spain was initially the major player in the New World, it was crippled from its naval loss in 1588 to the English. The Spanish caste system in the New World led to independence movements among the native people in the nineteenth century—by 1850 Spain had little control over land in the New World.

The French used trading posts along a system of waterways to claim land in Canada as well as the interior of what would become the United States. French traders were more likely to intermarry with tribes for diplomatic and trade reasons. French missionaries were also more likely to print Bibles in native languages. The French also used native tribes as proxies in their wars against the English. Out of the three groups, France sent the fewest people to colonize North America; as a result, France would ultimately lose its North American holdings during the French and Indian War.

European colonies in the Americas varied in many important aspects. The only real similarity between the three countries colonial ambitions is that they were all done to make a profit for the motherland. The Spanish, as the first to breach the New World, attempted to loot the continent of its silver and gold. It did this by attempting to enslave the native populations and then conquering them. All three countries were able to weaken the Native Americans with a variety of germs for which the natives had not built up an immunity. After the Spanish conquered the lands from the indigenous people, they worked hard to acculturate and proselytize them to become Spanish. A complete new ethnic group of mixed Spanish-Indian descent emerged in Latin America as a result of this process (mestizo).  

The English attempted to establish colonies in the Americas that produced cash crops. A cash crop is generally a non-food item like cotton or tobacco and is marked by a lack of variety in farming. The English did not attempt to acculturate the Native populations and generally acquired their land and forced the Indians toward the frontiers. The Spanish and English were determined to build permanent colonies in the New World. The French, on the other hand, were not nearly as committed as the other two in building permanent colonies. Their numbers were much smaller and they were committed to trading with the Native Americans and had a much friendlier and symbiotic relationship with the Indians. The French, like the Spanish, had a missionary presence in the New World and attempted to 'Christianize' the native population.