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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).

In contrast to the enslavement of African Americans, I thought that indentured servitude

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.