Discoveries of America
Subtitle: Personal Accounts of British Emigrants to North America during the Revolutionary Era
Contributors: Bernard Bailyn (Foreword); Barbara DeWolfe (Editor)
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: September 13, 1997
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 252
ISBN-13: 9780521385428
Subjects: American history: c 1500 to c 1800; Immigration & emigration; United States; History - U.S.; Emigration And Immigration; United States - Revolutionary War; Social Science; History: American; USA; United States - Colonial Period; British Americans--Correspondence; History / United States / Colonial Period (1600-1775); British Americans; Emigration & Immigration; British; Correspondence; Immigrants; Nova Scotia
First sentence: ON May 21, 1772, the Dixon family "arrive'd before Fort Cumberland," Nova Scotia, where "things at first Glance wore a gloomy aspect."
Description: Discoveries of America is a collection of personal letters written by 18 of the thousands of British emigrants who came to North America in the 15 years preceding the onset of the American Revolution. These accounts are rare: Few letters sent by emigrants during the colonial period exist.

The letters reveal the motivations, experiences, characteristics, and emotions of these people who populated America at a crucial time in its history, and provide new insights into the mechanisms of the British-American migration, especially the organization of personal networks of family and friends.