Comparing British Colonies: South Carolina, Jamaica, and the American Revolution
Artifact Description
A third strong example of primary source analysis place in context from my studies was my culminating project from the British Caribbean/Colonial America course. This assignment required students to create a comparative analysis between one of the British mainland American colonies and the British colony of Jamaica, focusing specifically on the conditions that led to Jamaica remaining loyal when the mainland colonies rebelled during the American Revolution. The colony to which I was assigned was South Carolina. As a requirement of this assignment, students were required to identify a substantial collection of primary sources to support their claims. I discovered a collection of primary sources from South Carolina dating from 1764-1776 collected and published in 1855 by R.W. Gibbes. This collection directly illuminated conditions in South Carolina and clearly distinguished it from conditions in Jamaica; these differing situations contributed to the decisions to rebel and to remain loyal, respectively. As an exercise, using contextual knowledge of the history that produced these documents was of central importance. Without context, the primary sources would not have been of value in the assignment. Generally, this assignment matched well with my philosophical stance towards the use of primary sources in the classroom, because a strong base of knowledge was built through prior coursework before analysis of the primary sources was required. Furthermore, the primary sources added to my broader understanding of the events I studied. In this way, primary sources may provide historical value unavailable from secondary sources.
Comparing South Carolina and Jamaica Colonies |