Colonial Williamsburg

Today I went to the town of Williamsburg, in colonial times, it represented what it was like to live in the 18th century colonies of British North America. It showed plays, where it showed the confusing waves of propoganda flowing in from both sides of the war, and how the war made it hard for the American citizens. It also showed how they made guns, and also how the wood workers and blacksmiths worked, and how they worked as well.  We also learned of the armory, and how they were stocked, how it worked, is that the heavy gunpowder barrels were stacked on the bottom floor of the building so that they could be moved around easier, on the second level, were the guns, packed and stacked in wooden boxes, and there were trap doors so that they could move them down easier. On the top story, were all of the light items, like tents, and food and water, also we learned,m that only the govenour could call the guns to be distributed in the event of an attak by enemy forces. We also learned that the Brittish tried to attak the colony, after they had burned the colony of Richmond to the ground. But they were pushed back, and than the town was a major staging area for American forces for a couple of major battles, like the battle of Yown town. We also learned that the French general, Laftett, played a major part in the revolutionary war, by commanding the majority of the french forces. Lastly,

18th century colonial court houses had to deal with a variety of differeent cases, but they were all minor fellonies. One consistent problem, was that the different money styles differed from each colony, and that alot of times, local salesmen wouldnt take the money, and would take the problem to the courthouse to be resolved. Another kind of case that sometimes came up, was people not going to church, they were allowed to switch religeons, but they had to notify the right people, and fill outalot of papers so that the churchs wouldnt expect them on masses. The last, and probebly most common case, was people complaining, and one of the examples of this type of case, was when they reinacted the case of a lady who was commplaining about the treatment of the meat at the marketplace, of which they resolved by stating a few facts, and generaly making the lady look stupid in front of the town.

In the town of Williamsburg, about 52% of the population, was made up of slaves. Which means that about everyone in the town had atleast one or two slaves at their house. slaves were brought from Africa, and were bought by traders along the coast by trading the townspeople guns. After being either captured or bought, they were packed onto ships, and sent to America, to be sold again to different people. The slaves had no rights, and were not allowed to testify in the court of law. In the revolutionary war, the Brittish army, promised all slaves that ran off to join their army, freedom, but the slaves that did, were used to preform suicidal tasks, and if they did survive, they were givin back to the Americans after the Brittish forces
surrendered.

The town of Williamsburg featured plays, that showed exiting, and scary times in the town. At one of them, a man ran onto the streets shouting the good news of the American forces finally beating the Brittish/German forces, in a acual big victory, this, obviously trying to display the exitement of the townspeople at the turning point of the war. A sad one was of a family in large debt to multiple people, and the father is drafted into the army, and is forced to leave the family to fight. This tragic scene obvliously trying to show the hardship and loss that the families of the town had to face. Another scary scene, was when the famous trater general, Bennidict Arnald, comes after burning Richmond to the ground, tells of great loss of American forces, and that all able body men are to join his army, or he will do the same to Williamsburg, what he did to Richmond.