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The University of Michigan John Peterkin Letterbook |
Letterbook, 1817 August 14-1819 August 4
Virginia and Georgia, 136 pp.
John Peterkin, a Scotsman in his early twenties, boarded an immigrant ship in Liverpool in August, 1817, and sailed for Baltimore. Settling initially in Fredericksburg, Va., in July, 1818, Peterkin moved to Augusta, Ga., a place he found "semi-barbarous." During the first two years in his new country, Peterkin regularly wrote long, wonderfully descriptive letters to his relatives and "sweetheart," Harriet, and to relatives in Bellefonte, Pa. (near present-day State College), describing his travels in Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia. Peterkin was an exceptionally talented writer, who turned his attention to some of the most important issues of the early 19th century: the barbarity of slavery, the state of post-War of 1812 American society, the displacement of Indians, the meaning of democracy, and westward expansion.
M-2822.2
Subjects
Democracy
Georgia--Description and travel
Indians of North America
Scottish immigrants
Slavery
Virginia--Description and travel
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