Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Isaac Sotomayor
Prof. Johnston
History 7A #32194
15 March 2018
Document Interpretation 2: Calculus of Slavery
Elizabeth Sprigs writes the letter to her father on September 22nd, 1756. Letter to Get
Father is a primary source, as it is Elizabeth sending a plea for help to her own father. In the
letter, Elizabeth is very humble and pleading for forgiveness for being an undutiful child. She
appeals for pity through recounting her situation as an indentured servant and the extremely poor
living conditions that she endures. She had been banished by her father, but it is Elizabeth’s hope
that her father still loves her enough to send her some relief in the form of clothes.
The practice of indentured servitude would be used as a means to pay one’s passage to the New
World, which would last anywhere from four to five years (Brands, 66).
would not be as harsh, but Elizabeth paints the picture that the Masters would treat the
indentured much harsher. The line “I one of the unhappy Number, am toiling almost Day and
Night, and very often in the Horses drudgery, with only this comfort that you Bitch you do not
halfe enough, and then tied up and whipp’d to that Degree that you’d not serve an Animal, scarce
any thing but Indian Corn and Salt to eat and that even begrudged nay many Negroes are better
used, almost naked no shoes nor stockings to wear, and the comfort after slaving during Masters
pleasure, what rest we can get is to rap ourselves up in a Blanket and ly upon the Ground, this is
the deplorable Condition your poor Betty endures” is written in the language of someone who is
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at the end of their rope and asking for help from the bottom of her heart. I can’t help but feel
sorry for her and I hope that her father forgave and helped her.