HAPP 2

Richard Frethorne, Personal letter home to his family(1623)

H: This document was created during the initial English Colonization of the Americas. England was working to build an empire and extract wealth from their new colonies and in that process encountered and feared natives.

A: Richard Frethorne is likely addressing both his parents who seem to be back at England and he is sending the letter across the ocean. He is also likely addressing workers who are planning to arrive on America because he talks about what life is like there. This allows people to make judgmental calls on whether or not they should travel.

P: Richard Frethorne was likely a low class person taking an opportunity to start working and become wealthy. He believed that moving to America has many negative effects. He believes that the amount of labor one has to do for food and comfort is not worth it.

P: The author wrote this as a last letter to his parents to inform them to try to gather enough money to bring him back to England. He believes that this may be his last letter due to the fact that he may die from the circumstances in America. The lifestyle is very disturbing in America, people there are treated so poorly, almost as bad as slavery.