Browse Items (36 total)

This image is an illustration created by Howard Pyle of a court/church room where a trial is taking place. Two women are being accused by another woman of being a witch.

This is a first hand account by Gottlieb Mittelberger, who was a German schoolmaster and organist who traveled to Pennsylvania in 1750. He goes over the experiences he and others endured during travel to colonial America. The ships were extremely…

Fictional account by Daniel Defoe regarding the criminal entrepreneur Moll Flanders and her escapades in Colonial America

In this document, John Hale testifies in court that he witnessed Sarah Bishop having different “fits”. About midway through the document, it states that she had a vision of his children being dead. This is just one of the accusation that consisted of…

Collection of Laws of Virginia, beginning with the start of the Virginia Company in 1619

Powhatan was the paramount chief of 30 Algonquian speaking tribes of Virginia Indians that made up the Powhatan Confederacy. In the early part of the sixteenth century he maintained a somewhat civil alliance with the settlers of Jamestown. His famous…

The slave codes, though varying by state, set precedents of legal standing for both enslaved people, and slaveholders. It legalized racial hierarchy and denied any type of citizen worthy rights for people of color, and did little to protect the…

“Sir Thomas Dale to the president and counsell of the companie of adventurers and planters in Virginia” is a letter that was written by Sir Thomas Dale to the Virginia Company in England about the state of the colonies upon his arrival in 1611. Dale…

Richard Ingoldesby makes a direct request by way of letter to use the military might of the Iroquois League. Here he calls upon the Five Nations to participate in land raid against the French in Canada. This letter was written during the time of…

As European conflicts escalate outside of the North American continent, there was little attention paid to the colonies. The West Indies were identified as the crown jewels of the Americas, so if problems were to erupt their attention was focused…