Beginnings to 1700Background info in textbook: pp. 1-15

Christopher Columbus• First voyage from Spain--1492

• Searching for Asia, he landed in the Bahamas (He named the island San Salvador.)

• Mainland South America-1498• Central America--1502

• Several hundred Native American tribes already existed in the Americas by the time he arrived.

•First Native Americans could have arrived between 12,000-70,000 years ago

•European colonists did not arrive until the late 1500s

Columbus

• Wrote letters and memos to the Crown and to royal officials, providing the first written descriptions of America

• His letters described his discoveries and provided an account of the problems of colonization.

• What was his view of the natives?

Native American Culture and Influence

• Written records are scarce

• Focus on folklore and oral history

• Usually greeted colonists as friends

•Instructed Europeans in agriculture, woodcraft, and survival of “bitter northeastern winters” (7).

Literature of the PeriodNative Americans and Explorers

• Native American Tradition– Oral tradition– Focus on nature

• Explorers’ Accounts– Non-fiction: journals, letters, memos, briefs.– Descriptions of landscape, etc. of the New

World– “Briefs” were used to influence colonial policy

John Smith• Founded Jamestown (VA)—1607

– First successful English colony in America

• 1614 explored and named New England

• His story of his rescue by Pocahontas has been questioned—Did he exaggerate?– The story is well established in our culture today.

• Egoist: How much of his story is fact?

• Energetic promoter of the potential of the New World for English settlers

Pilgrims and PuritansPlymouth Colony

• Mayflower, 1620Plymouth Colony• Passengers were Puritans who were critical of

the Church of England. • Left England for Holland then came here.• Later called “Pilgrims” by William Bradford.

– In the past: tried to purify the Church from within– Now: chose to withdraw from the Church.

• Because of this, they became known as Separatists

• Eventually, Plymouth Colony was absorbed by Massachusetts Bay Colony

The Puritans’ Grand Purpose

“We shall be as a City upon a Hill, the eyes of all people are upon us; so that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken and so cause him to withdraw his present help from us, we shall be made a story and a by-word through the world.”

-John Winthrop, Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony

Massachusetts Bay Colony--1630• Like Plymouth, MBC was founded by

Puritans who wanted religious reform.• Led by John Winthrop on the Arbella• Unlike Separatists because they wanted to

reform the church from within.• Established a theocracy• Settlements in Boston, Charlestown,

Watertown, Lynn, Medford, etc. • Poet Anne Bradstreet came on the Arbella.

Pilgrims and PuritansValues and Beliefs

• Humans exist for the glory of God.• Natural depravity of humans

• The Bible is the sole expression of God’s will.

• Predestination (John Calvin’s belief): God has already decided who will achieve salvation and who will not.

• Hard work, self-discipline (“Puritan Ethic”)

• Education (The Puritans founded Harvard.)

How does Predestination work?

• No one knows if they are “chosen” so, all devout Puritans searched their souls with great rigor and frequency for signs of grace.

• The “elect” that will be saved mustn’t take election for granted, thus everyone must live as if they know they were elected

The Decline of Puritanism and The Great Awakening

By the early 1700s, people were attracted to more liberal Protestant groups

Great Awakening: 1720-Series of religious revivals—conservative reaction to the “Enlightenment”

-led in part by Jonathan Edwards -Preaching and religion itself became more emotional

–Straitlaced Puritanism was seen as “old fashioned,” but “the ideals of hard work, frugality, self-improvement, and self-reliance are still regarded as basic American virtues” (8).

Puritan Literature

• Wrote theological studies, hymns, histories, biographies and autobiographies with the purpose of spiritual insight and instruction

• Fiction and Drama = Sin

• Puritans did write poetry as a vehicle for spiritual enlightenment and moral instruction.

Puritan Literature

• The writing style of the Puritans reflected the plain style of their lives – spare, simple, straightforward .

• Puritan Plain Style characterized by short words, direct statements, and references to ordinary, everyday objects

Preview

• Literature of the Colonies– from The General History of Virginia by John

Smith– from Of Plymouth Plantation by William

Bradford– Captivity narratives

Preview

• Puritan Literature– “To My Dear and Loving Husband” by Anne

Bradstreet– from Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God by

Jonathan Edwards– The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne– The Crucible by Arthur Miller