Elizabeth Sprigs, Letter to get Father

1. Why did Elizabeth become an indentured servant in Maryland?

The author of this letter, Elizabeth Sprigs, seems to be begging for forgiveness from her father. She is an indentured
servant in Maryland and in this letter Elizabeth is describing her troubles and hardships from her experience including
the hard labor, the malnourished meals, and the brutal whippings she is receiving. She seems to be trying to persuade
her father to send help in the form of clothing, especially shoes and stockings. Her father seems to have banished
Elizabeth from his sight and it might be due to her disobedience and from the letter she is writing to her father it may
have been that she was probably sent away by him for being an unruly child. Back in the seventeenth century having
indentured servants was more common but by the eighteenth century having the Royal African Company started slave
trade became more popular. The letter was written in 1756 when having indentured servants was less common. She
describes herself as disobedient in the letter so another reason for her being an indentured slave may be that she may
have left to America for what she thought may have been a better life against her fathers will.

2. What were the conditions that drove Elizabeth to be her father for aid?

Elizabeth described her work as an indentured servant as extremely hard. She goes on to describe how she is working in
stables with horses waste with no shoes or stockings, almost naked. She is only given a simple blanket at night to sleep
on the floor and for meals she was only feed Indian corn and salt. She briefly mentions slaving during Masters
pleasure and although she doesnt go into detail about being sexually assaulted women as both slaves and indented
servants were often viewed as ones property, which lead to men do whatever they pleased with these women.

Elizabeth finishes off her letter by addressing her extended family and friends back home.