Courtney Slattery
Primary Source Assignment 1
American History
January 26, 2016
Primary Source Analysis Assignment 1
1. This type of document that I chose is a memoir from an indentured servant.
2. The author of this document is William Moraley. It was created in 1743 while he served time in the New World as an indentured servant. It was found in The Infortunate: The Voyages and Adventures of William Moraley, and Indentured Servant.
3. Yes, this source is a first-hand account. This document was written the same time it was happening. William Moraley wrote this because he expericed this situation personally first-hand. This document is a letter talking about William being an indentured servant in the New World. He tells stories that he
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I think one important piece of information in this source is talking about how he traveled hundreds of miles at no cost. How meat and drink was bestowed to him by all the subjects of Great Britain. William says Britain people try to out do one another in good nature and charity. He believes the new world is a poor mans country. Another important piece of information in this source of information is talking about how the New World produces not only almost every fruit, herb, and root in Great Britain it produces unknown items such as barley made for beer.
8. One thing William talks about during this time period is life as a servant. The author uses great details and really describes how the life of being a slave was in this time period. He talks about how all the servants sleep together and how his master treats him after he was released from prison. The second thing William talks about is how butter is very good but is expensive. Butchers meat, particularly pork, is cheaper than other meat this shows how some stuff was expensive or non-expensive in this time period.
9. The main theme represented in this source would be slavery. I think this because William talks about how the life of an indentured slave was and how African American slaves were treated through out this time
In this speech, given by William Pitt on the Excise Bill, at House of Commons on March 1763, he really wanted to claim for the rights of the poorest, colonists, patriots and quakers of America against the King George II. “The poorest man” symbolizes the colonists. “his cottage” means their rights and “the rain; storm; wind” are referring to the injustice they lived in. because of the king of England. This quote shows how the settlers have to support high taxes and tyrannies laws.
He portrayed the idea of sending the poor of England to America as colonists. Many Englishmen had this idea in mind before, but Hakluyt’s was particularly persuasive. With the hand of Her Majesty, England could send people over by ship to America. In America, the poor could get jobs and own portions of land, giving them the opportunity to feel useful and important. By gathering timber, planting crops, and using the resources around them to create rope, tar, and soap, the new colonists could create a growing colony.
William Stafford’s style of writing cultivated me in many ways. Throughout this piece, there has been many cliffhangers which want you to keep on reading. There were always questions such as, “what is going to happen next?” or “I wonder why this is happening.” Every question has an answer and all of mine were solved throughout the entire following of the writing.
What I will remember about this documents are that fact that to be able to stop slavery a lot of people need to risk their lives. It took persistent and courage for Abraham Lincoln to pursue this law. Slavery is never a good thing to discuss, but we have too. We need to educate ourselves from our past to help us not to make the same mistakes again. Tom’s life was about his faith and how he conquered obstacles in his life because of his will power.
The Infortunate is an autobiography written by an indentured servant named William Moraley. In his memoir, he talks about how he became an indentured servant, as well as some of the experiences he has encountered throughout his voyage into the New World. Through his words, readers are able to understand the hardships that indentured servants and slaves have gone through, and to capture what freedom is like for them during the 18th century. However, editors named Susan E. Klepp and Billy G. Smith were able to prove that Moraley has exaggerated several instances, which makes us question if his story is a valid primary source. This also makes us think about what could possibly be his intention in writing this memoir, or what he wanted people to take away from his story.
Fredric Douglass wrote, “What to the Slave is Fourth of July” in 1852. In this speech to the American public, Douglass states how great of a country American “was” and how great the forefathers “were”. In contrast to those statements he professes his reasoning for freeing slaves. However, Mary Rowlandson wrote, “A True History of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson” in 1682. This captive narrative takes place during the King Philips war, and depicts how the native Americans treated their prisoners of war.
In his letter he described his life as an indentured servant as one where he has nothing to comfort him but sickness and death. The life that he was living in colonial Virginia was one where you couldn’t escape or else you will be captured. Attempting it could of cause him to die, therefore he hoped his parents brought his escape but with his parents being poor there was no way of escaping the life of an indentured servant. Having no escape as an indentured servant, he wrote to his parents a letter asking that his parents bought out the indenture. In his letter, he wrote that he was trapped in a place filled of diseases that can make any body weak and leave you with lack of comfort and rattled with guilt.
Douglass encountered multiple harsh realities of being enslaved. For example, the ex-slave was practically starved to death by his masters on multiple occasions. In fact, “[He was] allowed less than a half of a bushel of corn-meal per week, and very little else... It was not enough for [him] to subsist upon... A great many times [he had] been nearly perishing with hunger” (pg 31).
In life, humans have many different traits that describes themself. In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, by Frederick Douglass shows life a slave in the nineteenth century. In the story, Douglass brings us back in time to show his experiences of the hypocrisy of human nature. Disputes with Douglass and his masters are seen throughout the story showing both the good and bad traits of human nature. American literature of the nineteenth century reveals that human nature embodies contrasting traits such as love and cruelty through the uses of literary devices.
The Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass shows the imbalance of power between slaves and their masters. In his book, Douglass proves that slavery is a destructive force not only to the slaves, but also for the slaveholders. “Poison of the irresponsible power” that masters have upon their slaves that are dehumanizing and shameless, have changed the masters themselves and their morality(Douglass 39). This amount of power and control in contact with one man breaks the kindest heart and the purest thoughts turning the person evil and corrupt. Douglass uses flashbacks that illustrate the emotions that declare the negative effects of slavery.
All the terrible and inhuman things that Douglass describes are the practical and usual things that happened in his time, they are not extraordinary. His true stories and multiple details from his life give the reader an idea about the effects of slavery on the life of different people in the
William Moraley’s failure in the American colonies was not due to laziness but being at the wrong place at the wrong time. His hard work and motivation to better his life just didn’t work in his favor. Even before his journey to America, Moraley had a string of bad luck. After his father’s death, he quarreled with his mother for his rightful fortune. But unable to acquire these funds he was reduced to poverty.
The early Virginia and New England colonies differed politically, socially, and economically due to the situations that the settlers faced. Throughout many of the letters written about some of the experiences of the earlier settlers, one can easily see a major difference in the way of life of the two colonies. Although many of these colonies differed in the way of life, each colony faced some similar things that they each had to overcome. These challenges made a massive difference in the way that each of the colonies started out and directly influenced the future for both colonies. When these challenges are faced, many of the settlers will create the foundations of their political, social, and economic systems.
Throughout the narrative, the author includes his personal stories about experiencing the violence of slavery first-hand. For example, on page 20, he writes about the first time he witnessed a slave, his own aunt, getting the whip. “The louder she screamed, the harder he whipped; and where the blood ran fastest, there he whipped longest…I remember the first time I ever witnessed this horrible exhibition… It struck me with awful force. It was the blood-stained gate, the entrance to the hell of slavery…” The author including his experience of his aunts whipping, in detail, appeals to the emotions of the reader.
He uses these experiences to show just how unjust the treatment towards slaves was. As a child, he was not allowed to learn like many of the white children were, they wanted to keep the slaves ignorant