Colonial America

Overview: By examining the lives of the colonists through their own words-in diaries, letters, sermons, newspaper columns, and poems-Colonial America: A History in Documents, Second Edition reveals how immigrants, despite their vast differences, laid the foundations for a new nation: the United States. One of the earliest documents is Sir Walter Raleigh's account of the failed colony at Roanoke, the first British settlement. The harrowing experiences of the first colonists are recorded in Captain John Smith's tale of Indian attack and starvation at Jamestown and in a young Massachusetts colonist's letter to his English parents pleading for supplies. A Catawba Indian's letter to the governor of South Carolina describing a devastating smallpox epidemic is evidence of the even greater toll that war and illness had on the Native Americans. From these difficult beginnings, the colonies developed into vibrant communities.^ A poem by a young Englishman sentenced to be deported is the story of one laborer who helped build the colonies. An exchange of letters between friends about choosing a husband provides insight into colonial family life. The title page of a book about evil spirits and