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Democracy in Early America: Servitude
and the Treatment of Native Americans and Africans Prior
to 1740
by Wendy Thowdis |
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Materials
Sources for Documents and Articles
for the 5 Groups
Indentured Servants
"They Live Well in the Time of their Service,"
George Alsop Writes of Servants in Maryland, 1663
"The Poor Unhappy Transported Felon’s Sorrowful
Account," A poem by James Revel, 1680
"A Servant Uprising in Virginia, 1640"
- In 1640 six white servants and a black slave were
punished for stealing arms and a boat to escape to
a nearby Dutch plantation. From this brief court
decision that reviews the uprising and lists the
men’s punishments, we can infer the men’s
reasons for escaping and the planters’ fears
of future rebellions.
- http://www.nhc.rtp.nc.us/pds/amerbegin/permanence/text6/
text6read.htm
"Slavery and Indentured Servants"
"A Virginian Describes the Difference between Servants and Slaves in 1722,"
Robert Beverly
- Robert Beverly, "The History of Virginia in
Four Parts," ( London, 1722) found in:
Out of Many: A History of the American People-
Document Set, Volume I: To 1877, 3 rd edition,
ed. John Faragher, et al., Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle
River, New Jersey, 2000.
"The Experiences of an Indentured Servant in
Virginia," (1623): Richard Frethorne
- Richard Frethorne, "Letter to his Parents,
March 20, April The Records of the Virginia Company
of London, vol. IV, (Washington, D.C.: Government
Printing Office, 1935) ed.
Susan M. Kingsbury. Found in:
Out of Many: A History of the American People – Document
Set, Volume I: To 1877, 3 rd edition, ed. John
Faragher, et al., Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River,
New Jersey, 2000.
Also found in:
Speaking of America: Readings in U.S. History,
Volume I: To 1877, ed. Laura A. Belmonte, Wadsworth-Thomson
Learning, Inc., Belmont, CA, 2005, (pp. 25-7)
African Slaves
"The Diversity of Colonial Slavery"
"Some Memoirs of the Life of Job, Son of Solomon,"
Thomas Bluett, 1734
"The Stono Rebellion," 1739
"What were the major varieties of African Slavery
in eighteenth century America?": Eric Foner
- Give Me Liberty! An American History,
Eric Foner, W.W. Norton & Company, "Sampler",
2005, (pp31 – 36)
"Race, Gender, and Servitude in Virginia Law,"
(1661-1691)
- This passage includes examples of slave laws in
Virginia
- Speaking of America: Readings in U.S. History,
Volume I: To 1877, ed. Laura Belmonte, Wadsworth-Thomson
Learning, Inc., Belmont, CA, 2005, (pp. 27-9)
"Government: 1600-1775: Colonial Authority"
Native Americans
"The Narrative of the Captivity and the Restoration
of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson," (1682)
- Violent confrontations with Indians intensified
negative stereotypes held by English settlers. Most
Europeans characterized Indians as barbaric heathens
or, less frequently, "noble savages." Mary
Rowlandson wrote one of the most famous captivity
narratives.
- http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/
rownarr.html
- A short excerpt of this narrative that may be more "readable" for
students can be found in the following book of readings:
Speaking of America: Readings in U.S. History,
Volume I: To 1877, ed. Laura A. Belmonte, Wadsworth-Thomson
Learning, Inc., Belmont, CA, 2005, (pp. 36-9)
"Indian Affairs": William Kendall, 1679
- Far from being passive, Native Americans were active
agents who responded to threats to their land and
culture through physical resistance, cultural adaptation,
and the establishment of strategic alliances. As
this selection from William Kendall reveals, the
English felt forced to deal with Native Americans
as nations. This is an example of the English attempting
to make a treaty with Indian peoples.
- http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/documents/
documents_p2.cfm?doc=235
"Treaty with Massasoit," 1621
"Treaty-Making with the Indians (1683),"
Governor William Penn
"The Causes and Results of King Philip’s
War (1675)," Edward Randolph
- Randolph was sent over by the king as a special
agent of investigation. His reports are among the
most valuable documents on the period.
- http://wbrl.worldbookonline.com/nxt/gateway.dll (Type
the name of the article in the "Search" box
in the top right-hand corner)
"The Death of King Philip," 1676
"The Pequot Massacre at Fort Mystic," an
account by Captain Mason
- The Pequot Indians, inhabiting Connecticut and
Rhode Island, murdered an English trader who had
mistreated them and subsequently scalped 7 members
of an armed force sent against them to demand retribution.
This so enraged the English colonists that they decided
to exterminate the Pequot.
- http://wbrl.worldbookonline.com/nxt/gateway.dll (Type
the name of the article in the "Search" box
in the top right-hand corner)
"Were American Indians the Victims of Genocide?"
Guenter Lewy
- This article explores this question and presents
both sides of the story quite clearly (see pages
37-39)
- Annual Edition: American History Volume I:
Colonial through Reconstruction, 19 th edition,
ed. Robert James Maddox, McGraw Hill, Dubuque,
IA, 2007.
"Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies,"
(1542) Bartoleme de Las Casas
- Although this was written earlier than the English
settling Jamestown in 1607, de Las Casas presents
a compelling story about the Spanish mistreatment
of the Indians of Hispaniola.
- http://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/bdorsey1/41docs/02-las.html
- Also available in the following book of readings:
Speaking of America: Readings in U.S. History,
Volume I: To 1877, ed. Laura A. Belmonte, Wadsworth-Thomson,
Learning, Inc., Belmont, CA, 2005, (pp. 3-7)
"Sickness Among the Natives," William Bradford
(1633)
- By and large, the greatest cause of the destruction
of Native Americans was the introduction of European
diseases that their immune systems were unable to
fight. William Bradford, a Pilgrim leader of Plymouth
between 1622 and 1656, explains the devastating effect
disease had upon New England tribes.
- http://timmer.org/HISTORY_17A/Readings/Bradford.htm
Religion
"The Persecution of the Quakers," James
Cudworth (1658)
- From the first imprisonment of George Fox, founder
of the religious denomination know as the Quakers,
in 1649, its members were objects of continuous persecution.
At the time Cudworth, a magistrate in Massachusetts,
wrote this letter there were seldom less than 1,000
Quakers in English and colonial prisons.
- http://wbrl.worldbookonline.com/nxt/gateway.dll (Type
the name of the article in the "Search" box
in the top right-hand corner)
"The Penalty for Not Going to Church," The
County Court of Middlesex (1666)
- In its early days, New England was governed by
its clergymen. When any persons had the temerity
to stay away from the Puritan services, they were
likely ton be haled before the magistrates and punished
for non-attendance. This account gives the proceedings
against 3 who stayed away from the Puritan church
and were tried by the county court in Cambridge,
Massachusetts.
- http://wbrl.worldbookonline.com/nxt/gateway.dll (Type
the name of the article in the "Search" box
in the top right-hand corner)
"A Model of Christian Charity," John Winthrop
(1630)
- As the Puritan leader and first governor of the
Massachusetts Bay Colony, John Winthrop established "a
city on a hill," a New England model of reform
for those emigrating from old England.
- http://history.hanover.edu/texts/winthmod.html
"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,"
Jonathan Edwards (1741)
- In a Congregational church in Northampton, Massachusetts,
the Reverend Jonathan Edwards initiated the First
Great Awakening with a series of sermons. Invoking
the Old Testament Scriptures, Edwards argued that
God was rightfully angry with human sinfulness.
- http://edwards.yale.edu/major-works/sinners-in-the-hands-of-an-angry-god/
- A shortened version of this sermon can be found
in:
Speaking of America: Readings in U.S. History,
Volume I: To 1877; Laura A. Belmonte, Wadsworth-Thomson
Learning, Inc., Belmont, CA, 2005, (pp.63-4)
Early Signs of Democracy
"Colonial Exploitation – A Matter of Perception,"
1705, 1721, and 1726
- This book of lesson plans for Advanced Placement
teachers offers 3 readings, which demonstrate inconsistencies
in colonial attitudes toward equality.
"The Rights of Englishmen: Virginia," 1705
"Political Control in Massachusetts," 1721
"The Propriety of Colonial Subordination, a British View," 1726
- Advanced Placement U.S. History 1: The Evolving
American Nation-State 1607-1914, Roberta J.
Leach and Augustine Caliguire, The Center for Learning,
U.S.A., 2003 (pp.15-20)
"John Peter Zenger and Freedom of the Press,"
1733
" Maryland Toleration Act of 1649"
"Fundamental Orders of 1639"
"Ordinances for Virginia; July 24-August 3, 1621"
"The Mayflower Compact," William Bradford
(1620)
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