3.1 William Penn, Pennsylvania Charter of Privileges and Liberties (1701)

Penn’s Arguments in Favor of Religious Liberty

• The spirit of God lives within all people, not just the elected.

  • Inner light - the spirit that guides people spiritually more than the Bible

  • Thus, the government cannot enforce religious worship in colonies.

The Rights of the Freeborn Subjects of England

• “Freeborn subjects of England“ refers to the promises to be enjoyed by the colonists

• The well-governing colonial territories and provinces would have a chosen annual Assembly chosen by freemen

• The Assembly should have the power to choose speakers and officers to prepare bills in order to pass laws

  • It should have all powers and privileges for an Assembly in accordance with the rights of England's free-born subjects.

3.2 Nathaniel Bacon on Bacon’s Rebellion (1676)

Rebel’s Main Complaints

• The government needs to lower the raised taxes placed upon them

• To get rid of the inhabitant Indians to make more room for small farmers and indentured servants that were promised and need land

Bacon’s Visions for the Indians in Virginia

• Bacon envisions the Indians in Virginia to be taken out of their society

  • He believes they are barbarous

3.3 Letter by an Immigrant to Pennsylvania (1769)

Johannes Hanner on America as a Free Country

• America has more opportunities and freedoms

  • Not having to pay tithes

  • Having an abundance of food

  • Free to settle where he wants

  • Religious freedom

How Europeans Learn about American Conditions

• Through hearsay and their own experience

3.4 An Apprentice’s Indenture Contract (1718)

Obligations of Each Party

• Apprentice must follow the master’s rule and apprentice shall not do anything illegal or anything without his master’s agreement

• Apprentice has to respect his master. In return, the master has to supply food, shelter, and clothes

• It is to be agreed upon that their relationship must improve

Limitations of Apprentice’s Liberty upon Indenture

• Apprentice cannot play any games such as cards or dice without his master’s permission

• They shall not allow to reveal his master’s secret and follow whatever master tells him or her what to do

• Apprentice has to respect his master and obey his commands in any places

• Apprentice is not allowed to damage his master

• Apprentice shall not commit fornication

• Apprentice is not allowed to buy or sell during this term

• Apprentice shall not be absent day or night from his master’s service without his permission

• Apprentice shall behave during his term

3.5 Memorial Against Non-English Immigration (1727)

Objections against Non-English Migrants to Pennsylvania

• The English helped more freedoms than non-English migrants when it came to land and trade

Groups Entitled to the Benefits of Freedom in the American Colonies

• Only the English are entitled to the benefits of freedom in the American Colonies

  • Reason: So they may “watch out“ for the foreigners activities

3.6 Gottlieb Mittelberger on the Trade in Indentured Servants (1750)

Aspects of the German immigrants offending Mittelberger

• Women suffering

• Children ages 1-7 almost never making the voyage

• Non-payers must remain in the ship till they are purchased and released by their purchasers

• The sick must often remain aboard for 2-3 weeks and frequently die

Accounts of the Trade of Indentured Servants

• The sale of human beings in the market on board the ship is carried on

  • Englishmen, Dutchmen, and High german people go on board the newly arrived ship that has brought and offers for sale passengers from Europe to select among healthy people such as they deem suitable for their business

  • They will bargain how long they will serve for their passage money

  • Most adults bind themselves in writing to serve 3,4,5 or 6 years for the amount due by them

  • People from ages 10-15 years must serve until they are 21 years old

  • Children are being sold by their parents like cattle

  • When a husband or wife has died at sea, when the ship has made more than half of her trip, the survivor must pay or serve not only for himself or herself but also for the deceased

  • When both parents have died over halfway at sea, their children, especially when they are young and have nothing to pawn or to pay, must stand for their own and their parents’ passage, and serve till they are 21 years old

  • When one has served his or her term, he or she is entitled to a new suit of clothes at parting; and if it has been so stipulated, a man gets, in addition, a horse, a woman, a cow

3.7 Women in the Household Economy (1709)

Most Important Work of Carolina Women

• Making clothes

• Canoing

• Providing assistance to their husbands in any servile work

Strictness of Gender Roles in Early Carolina

• Roles of Men

  • Go out to work and make money

• Roles of Women

  • Do things in the house

  • Occasionally help the husbands with work

• Generally, gender roles were not that strict in early Carolina