Document Interpretation 2 calculus of

slavery summary
Elizabeth Sprigs was an indentured maiden who sailed to America
from Europe to start anew. While servicing her time as a maid she
suffered terribly due to the hard conditions she was exposed to, which
forced her to write home to her father. Persuading him to send her
some necessary items like dresses, undergarments, and shoes. In her
letter to her father, she seemed to be shameful and asking for
forgiveness for something that possibly occurred back home in England
which resulted in her moving to America. I assume she was exiled from
her home for disobeying her father, it could be wanting to venture out
to see the New World. It was a shared interest amongst young adults
who lived in England during the 1700s and mildly in the 1800s, that
were living in less than desirable conditions during the Old World.

This letter appears to be a genuine despairing plea to

reassemble her connection with family, due to her lonely existence in a
new land she regretted deeply for leaving everyone and a land she was
familiar with. Her document contains an emotional request for aid,
listing instances of how deprived servants and enslaved Africans were
being treated with harsh brutal activities. Questionable living quarters
which leaves her to question if she made the right decision by leaving
home. Reading the last line of the letter most people may think her
father banished her because she didnt want to care for her family or
follow his rules. Although. after reviewing it further I believe shes
requesting her father to have her services to be relinquished so she
can return home and serve him and her family instead. The underlying
context of this letter depicts the harsh depictable times of the 1700 &
the 1800s of the New World and its inhabitants.

In the seventeenth century, an indentured servants experience

was difficult. She wanted to become an indentured servant to be
established her own without her family. However, many struggled to
make it on their own at home in England and leaving to start over in a
new land that wasnt truly promised. Moving towards the eighteenth
century enslaved people were being imported, bought, and sold in the
Royal African Company. So, indentured workers services were
becoming a smaller amount due to the economic transition of slavery.
Many indentured and enslaved Africans were brutally abused and
subjected to severe labor. From Elizabeths account of what was going
on the plantations, she desperately wanted to return home because
she was living and being treated with respect at home. In Elizabeths
accounts of what was happening she felt it was the Masters duty to
provide his indentured servants with tools such as clothing, food and
proper shelter.

The corruption during these times and mistreatment of servants

and enslaved peoples deaths were tremendously high. They were
beaten, starved and when went feed they were giving scraps, she felt
she would surely succumb to her environment and never her family
again if she didnt leave and return home. This source is valuable to
me because I learned from Elizabeths point of view how she saw
slavery. Her letter states what other historical documents have on how
gruesome slavery in the 1700s were. Although, she discussed what she
witnessed and went through from working as an indentured servant.
Her story barley scratched the surface of slavery.