Life In Colonial America

Life in the colonial period of American history was very different from the life we know so well today. Centuries before the technological revolution of the past twenty years life revolved around many different things that seem foreign to the people of today. Many documents written by people who experienced this very different life still exist for generations to read and think about what life was like in a certain time period and also serve as a good comparison tool between the time period the document reflects and the modern world.

Qualification of Sources

In A Statement of Manumission of Two Indian Slaves Belonging to John Hearn the document was prepared to inform all those concerned about a recent verdict made by the court of the colony

The important social values of colonial America can foreign to us because they are so far from our own today. For instance, in today’s society we generally see all people as equals despite their background, beliefs, etc. But back in the colonial era the colonists saw the natives they encountered below them just as the British Crown saw the colonists living in America below them as we can see when reading documents such as the one prepared by Isaac Levy as a protest to the British taking land that he owns rightfully and selling it without his consent. . In An Advertisement From September 13th, 1759 Printed in the South Carolina Gazette Levy makes this statement: “And whereas I am determined immediately, in all humble Manner, to present a Petition to his Majesty, setting forth my Right and Title to the same Moiety of the said Islands, in humble Hopes and Assurance of having the same restored and secured to me, agreeable to my Right and the Rules of Law and Justice.” * indicates Levy’s feelings that he has been wronged by the British Crown and that he holds the belief that just because they are higher ranked in society than he is does not mean they have the right to take things from him. On a different note, the rights of the natives (or perhaps lack thereof in some cases) were a major

Politics of the era was kind of like a food chain with the Crown of England at the head and then the colonists in America next, and the natives at the bottom. The natives were forced to do things for the colonists like the colonists were for the British. All of the documents seem to have some sort of legal component to them despite the form they are written in because all three documents deal with a type of legal dispute whether it be with England or simply over the ability of natives to understand a contract they are entering. Isaac Levy gives a word of warning to those who are looking to buy the property stolen from him by the Crown when he says, “Therefore I do hereby give Notice of, and Advertise the Public, and all such Persons that shall become Purchasers of the same Islands, of my said Claim, Right and Pretension.”* It begs the question if the natives were entitled to give a similar warning to the colonists who stole land from