Read: A Short and True Description of New England by the Rev. Francis Higginson, 1629
Answer the following questions in complete sentences:
- What type of primary source is it?
- What is the date or approximate date of the source and where was it created?
- Who is the author/creator of the source?
- What was their intention for creating the source, and who was/were the intended audience(s)? What persons or groups were excluded?
- What does it say?
- How might certain factors (e.g. fear of censorship, attempt to curry favor) affect the content, style, or tone of the document?
- What type of blind spots, biases, weaknesses, or assumptions might the author have that affects his/her/their argument or objective?
- How are you (the historian) reading this document differently than the intended audience would have read it?
- Can you infer any effects or influences the document would have had in its own time?
- What does the document tell you about the period you are studying?