1st Primary Source Report

Primary Document Report Name: John C. McKnight Date: 1801 Title of Document: For sale. The quantity of 389,565 acres of farm lands, in sixty adjacent tracts…situated in the county of Rutherford, district of Morgan, and state of North-Carolina…

Source: Documentation: S507 For Sale. The Quantity of 389,565 acres of Farm Lands….In the County of Rutherford, District of Morgan, and State of North Carolina. n.p., c. 1801. [1] page. NcD copy. Found the document at the Early American Imprints, Series II: Shaw-Shoemaker database

Explanation: This primary source is an advertisement for 389,565 acres of farm land located in Rutherford County, North Carolina. The author is not listed and the closest estimation for the date is 1801. It gives a very thorough description of the land and its resources, the uses of the land, the easy accessibility to big cities/towns, the population, and an overall idea of the region. The print and language of the document is eligible, but the print is small and the letter “s” looks like an “f,” which can make it difficult to read. Overall, the document provides a scholar with an example of the process of attracted emigrants to certain areas, a general idea of the region of Rutherford County and the agriculture based economy of the Early Republic.

Possible ways to use this document in a research paper or a lesson plan: This document could be used for a historical study of Rutherford County, North Carolina. It can help the researcher to understand why people moved into the area during the beginning of the nineteenth century. The document could also provide a scholar with a source for studying the agriculture and economy, advertising, accessibility of land, transportation, and even feelings toward the Native Americans during the turn of the century. For example, this document could be used in a lesson plan to show the students how the statement, “The county is far removed from Indian Inroads,” is added to attract people to the county and ask the students, “Why they thought it was added?” to express the feelings of fear and hate that the people had towards the Native Americans.

How does this document relate to other documents you have examined or heard before? I have never examined an advertisement around this period of time (1780-1820), but I have examined advertisements during the twentieth century. The difference between the two is that this document has more speech and the advertisements of the twentieth century were becoming more modern by using mainly visual aids and telling the observer what they wanted to hear or targeting a certain group of people. For example, the “we can do it” advertisement for woman during WWI, targeting woman and tried to acknowledge the importance of the woman’s role in the war, which was the home front. This document does hype up the Rutherford County area, but does not use visual aids or catchy slogans like the advertisements of the twentieth century.

Article URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3123241