What questions do historians ask to establish the historical context of primary sources?

Historical context involves understanding what events may have shaped the writing of a particular primary source. Gaining a deeper understanding of what events happened around the same time as the document gives the reader a better idea as to why the person is writing the document, who they may be influenced by, and how it lead to other events that unfolded during this era. To develop historical context, historians will answer the following questions:

1) What events happened before this document was written?

2) What key events happened after this document was written?

3) What people/ideas could this person have interacted with before writing this letter?

4) What is this person's point of view/bias?

- a.) african slaves and indentured servant’s

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