American Lit Unit 1: Colonialism

When did the Age of British Colonialism start and end?

Late 1500’s-1775

Which events marked the beginning of this era (late 1500s)?

English attempts to settle Newfoundland and Roanoke Island (off the coast of NC)

Which events marked the end of this era (1775)?

The start of the American Revolutionary War

Puritans

• members of a religious and social movement of the 1500's

and 1600's.

• Many American colonists

• Denominations like Congregationalism and Unitarianism developed from the principles of these people

• Considered the bible as the true law of God that provided frameworks for government

John Wycliffe

• His beliefs helped develop Puritanism

• Famous professor of philosophy at Oxford University during 1300’s

John Calvin

• His beliefs helped develop Puritanism

• Leader of the Reformation (1500s political movement that helped give rise to Puritanism)

Principles of Puritanism

• Emphasis of bible reading, prayer, and preaching in worship services

• Simplification of the rituals in sacraments

• More personal prayer, less prescribed prayer

• Stress of grace, devotion, prayer, and self-examination to achieve religious virtue

• Emphasis of education and hard work

What was the history of the term “Puritan”?

“Puritans” were initially members within a party of the Church of England who wished to purify the church + make further reforms than the Protestants did

Why did the Puritans decide to settle in North America?

They believed that reformation of the Church of England was impossible

Where did the Puritans settle?

Settlements in…

• Virginia

• along the New England coast

  • Massachusetts Bay Colony

  • Connecticut

How did the Puritans emphasize education

• founded Harvard and Yale

• required a system of grammar schools in the colonies

Separatists

People who disassociated entirely from the Church of England and established their own congregations

• Pilgrims are included in this category

Pilgrims

Separatists who…

• Sailed to America on the Mayflower

• Went to Holland

• Founded Plymouth Colony (now massachusetts) in 1620

Baptists

Separatists who moved to Rhode Island

Congregationalists

Separatists who joined the Massachusetts Bay Puritans

What religious sect did Puritanism continue to influence?

Protestantism

Spiritual beliefs of Puritans

• Innate depravity of man + predestination

• God had an active part in their daily lives

  • They would search for symbols to find God

• Effective business practices, but separation from worldly pleasures

• Feared humanistic learning would draw people away from the Church

Puritan diaries

The Puritans wrote about…

• Symbols from God (used metaphors to express them)

• How they saw Native people as devils

William Bradford

• 2nd governor of Plymouth colony

• Under his leadership, the colony survived droughts, debt, and crop failures

• Organized the first Thanksgiving in 1621

• Likely helped write The Mayflower Compact

• Ended program that required Pilgrims to share their resources (divided land/cattle among individual families) → privatization encouraged hard work

• Took responsibility of debt of Pilgrims

• Maintained peace with local Natives

  • Avoided involvement in the Pequot War (MA+CT vs. Pequot Natives in CT)

Of Pilmoth Plantation

• Book written by William Bradford

• The chief record of Pilgrim life

• Remained in manuscript for 200+ years until 1856, when it was published as History of Plymouth Plantation

John Carver

The first governor of Plymouth Colony

What was the role of English and other European colonists in the early 1600s?

• Settled along Eastern coast

• Produced first American colonial literature

  • Colonies of VA and New England produced the most important writings

  • Philadelphia emerged as literary center of the colonies in the 1700s

Captain John Smith

• Wrote A True Relation of… Virginia (1608)

  • Describes the establishment of Jamestown, everyday life of settlers, observations of the Native people

• Describes Pocahontas in The Generall Historie of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles (1624).

What is the story about Pocahontas and Captain John Smith that is proven to be false?

She saved his life when her father was about to execute him

Mary Rowlandson

Colonial Puritan woman who was captured by a Native group, who prompted her to read the bible to them. She remarked in her excerpt that although she was in captivity, they were very kind to her

• Her diary was published for read by the Puritans in England

Johnathan Edwards

• Greatest Puritan preacher and theologian

• Wrote learned essays reformulating traditional Calvinist doctrines, but also defending them

• Freedom of Will (1754)

  • Defended the doctrine of predestination

• Sinners in the hands of an angry God - depicts fire as torment and hell

Edward Taylor

• A clergyman widely considered to be one of the best Puritan poets

  • Intended poems to prepare his mind for the celebration of Communion

• Mingled vernacular with complex biblical interpretations

• Wrote “Ebb and Flow",” where he depicted fire in the light of warmth and love from God

Anne Bradstreet

A Puritan poet who was a woman and wrote poetry for her her father and husband, modifying her craft after her brother-in-law published her poetry and it gained attention

• Wrote The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America,

• Several Poems (1678)

  • “Contemplations” - poem about natural and human frailty

The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America

• First volume of American poetry ever published

• Published by Anne Bradstreet’s brother in law

By 1660 only __% of the Massachusetts population was a member of the church

20

The Half Way Covenant

Proposed in 1662 to allow new members into the Church; represents the ending of Puritan strictness

Factors influencing the decline of Puritanism

• Internal struggle induced by ruling class

• Massachusetts became a crown colony

• Many disliked the “closed” lifestyle and wanted to be self-reliant and optimistic

Emerging literary forms in the 1700s

Essay, satire, and novel

Benjamin Franklin

• Helped make Philadelphia a center of intellectual life

• At 17, ran away from Boston to Philadelphia (rags to riches) -→ influenced idea of American dream

• Writing emphasized practical intelligence and material success balanced by charity and public service

• Poor Richard’s Almanac

• More worldly than Puritans

Proverbs from Benjamin Franklin

• “A penny saved is a penny earned”

• “Little strokes, fell great oaks”

• “God helps them that help themselves.”

• “What you seem to be, be really.”

• “To err is to human, to repent divine; to persist devillish.”

What happened in 1775?

• Britain’s government declared Massachusetts (center of most of the protests) to be in rebellion

• British troops placed in Boston to take swift action against the rebels

• War broke out

Characteristics of those in search of religious freedom

• Self-reliant

• Industrious

• Happy with simplicity

• Temperate in all things

Mass hysteria in Puritans

• believed Satan was active in their daily life

• Irrational fears led to accusations

• No way to defend yourself against accusations

• Guilty by suspicion

Cotton Mather

• Puritan

• Believed illness was God’s punishment

• However, he wanted to explore the science of vaccinations as smallpox cases swept Boston

• Vaccinations were highly controversial

  • Interference with God’s plan

  • Idea of them came from Muslims

• Inoculated 300 people; only 6 died

• “bridge between Puritans and Rationalists”

Rationalism

The idea that God gave humans wisdom and left them to their own devices to decide things for themselves

• Differs from Puritanism

• Sir Isaac Newton

Deism

• Non-denominational

• Believe that the universe is orderly and people are inherently good

• Believe in the perfectibility of every human — strive to be the best version of yourself

• God wants people to be happy

• Doing good for other people is the best form of worship

• Ideas evident in the Declaration of Independence

• Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine

First Arrival of the Dutch/The Arrival of the Whites - Native American Account

• The Native Americans perceived the advancing ship as a floating island that carried the Mannitto (great or Supreme Being)

  • They prepared for his arrival, as it could entail a punishment or significant change

  • The leader of the white men gave them alcohol and gifts such as tools and axes afterward

• When the white people returned, they requested increasingly more things

The Coming of the White Man Revealed

• young woman dreamed of a floating island with living inhabitants

• a ship with white men arrived the next day, which the Natives mistook for this island

• a priest gave them writing in a complicated language to keep them ignorant

Christopher Columbus’s Letter of Discovery

• addressed to the King

• Sancta Marcia de Concepcion, Fernandia, Hysabella, Johana

• Business appeal to persuade funding

• Describes the customs he sees in the Natives, their affinity for anything shiny, their willingness to trade or to give due to fear

• Often depicts them as savages