Discoveries of America: Personal Accounts of British Emigrants to North America during the Revolutionary Era

by Barbara DeWolfe, Bernard Bailyn

Overview

Discoveries of America is a collection of personal letters written by eighteen of the thousands of British emigrants who came to North America in the fifteen years preceding the onset of the American Revolution. These accounts are rare: few letters sent by emigrants during the colonial period exist. The letters reveal the motivations, experiences, characteristics, and emotions of these people, who populated America at a crucial time in its history, and provide new insights into the mechanisms of the British-American migration, especially the organization of personal networks of family and friends.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521386944
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	09/13/1997
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.91(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.67(d)

Table of Contents

Editor's Preface; Preface; Introduction; Note on Selection; Editorial Procedures; Part I. Nova Scotia: Narratives of Charles Dixon; Letter of James Metcalf; Letter of Luke Harrison; John Robinson and Thomas Rispin, 'Journey through Nova Scotia'; Part II. Middle Colonies: Letters of James Whitelaw; Alexander Thomson, 'News from America;' Letters of Hugh Simm; Part IV. Chesapeake: Letter of John Campbell; Letters of David Duff; Letter of Thomas Feilde; Part V. North Carolina: Letters of Alexander McAllister; Letter of Alexander Campbell of Ballole; Part VI. South Carolina and Georgia: Letters of Alexander Cumine; Letters of George Ogilvie; Letter of Thomas Taylor; Letter of Baikia Harvey; Letter of Hester Wylly.

Editorial Reviews

"Discoveries of America is a welcomed, meticulously researched addition to the study of the eighteenth-century North Atlantic world." The North Carolina Historical Review

"...this book...will fascinate readers with an interest in the complexities of migration of British emigrants who dared to cross the Atlantic and write home about their experience in the New World in order to invite others to follow their example." Marianne S. Wokeck, Michigan Historical Review

From the Publisher