Life in the United States has changed beyond recognition from life in
America in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In thousands of
ways people live differently. They work, they play, they eat, and they
even sleep differently. Then, there was no station wagon in the garage
to take the family to the beach or mountains over weekends and no
telephone at hand to call a friend to ask how to do tomorrow’s algebra
problem. Life was slower-paced than it is today, and was not complicated
by the machines that have become masters as well as slaves of our
society. The selections that follow will give you an insight into the
daily lives of several interesting early Americans. It is just as
important to understand how people lived in colonial times as it is to
know about wars and kings and presidents.