United States

BEGINNINGS TO 1750:

THE UNITED STATES IS A LAND OF IMMIGRANTS.

THIS LAND WAS FOUNDED BY MEN AND WOMEN FROM

OTHER COUNTRIES WHETHER THEY CAME

OVER OF THEIR OWN FREE WILL, OR RATHER, THEY

WERE FORCED INTO SLAVERY AND BROUGHT

OVER AGAINST THEIR WILL.

Of America

20-40 thousand years ago

Ice age travelers crossed the Bering Strait from Siberia to what is now Alaska

Slowly they immigrated South from there

THE FIRST MIGRATION: ICE AGE TRAVELERS

By 1490s numerous groups of Native Americans (American Indians) were living all over North AmericaTheir societies were incredibly diverseEach has its own long history

THE FIRST MIGRATION: ICE AGE TRAVELERS

Aztec Empire in present day Mexico was the largest Native American civilization in the 1400s

!!!!There were already people here when the Europeans arrived in the 1500s!!!!

THE FIRST MIGRATION: ICE AGE TRAVELERS

1. First detailed European observations of life on the American continent were recorded in Spanish and French during the 1500s and 1600s

2. Wrote in letters, journals, and books describing America

a. Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) b. Francisco Vasquez de Coronado (1510-1554)

THE EUROPEANS ARRIVE: THE EXPLORERS

1. They hoped to fund further expeditions with what they wrote home about so they emphasized:

a. Abundance of gold b. Abundance of natural resources c. Peaceful nature of the people already here

2. 1492 – Columbus discovered America when he saw fire on the beach of San Salvador

THE EUROPEANS ARRIVE: THE EXPLORERS

THE EUROPEANS ARRIVE: THE EXPLORERS

1528 – Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca landed with another expedition on what is now the west coast of Florida

Left their ships and marched inland

They never returned

THE EUROPEANS ARRIVE: THE EXPLORERS

Ships waited for a year, then departed for Mexico assuming the party dead

De Vaca and his companions wandered in the Texas Gulf area for the next eight years in search of other Europeans who could help them get home

THE EUROPEANS ARRIVE: THE EXPLORERS

Vaca’s narrative of his journey is a gripping adventure story First hand account of the indigenous cultures of the

area They were alternately captives or companions of the

various native tribes that they encountered during their journey

Established May 14, 1607 by the London Company

Was named after the reigning English (British) monarch, James I

JAMESTOWN

JAMESTOWNIndian attacks,

starvation, and disease diminished the colony, but the London Company continually sent more and more men to replenish the dying…

For much of the first two years, John Smith was the sole leader of the colony until he returned to England in 1609

JAMESTOWN

By the end of 1609, after a severe winter, the settlers were prepared to return to England when a new shipment of supplies and men arrived.

Among those who arrived was John Rolfe, who ensured peace with the Indians by marrying Pocahontas.

JAMESTOWN

1) Explorers writings were not central to the development of the American literary tradition

2) Writings of the Puritans of New England have had the greatest impact on American Literature even to this day

THE PURITAN LEGACY

The moral, ethical, and religious convictions of the Puritans shaped American culture and character

PILGRIMS AND PURITANS

1620 – a small group of Europeans sailed from England on the Mayflower

William Bradford was one of the more famous and well-known of these Puritans. He wrote Of Plymouth Plantation over the course of 30 years.

The passengers were religious reformers, who were critical of the Church of England. Having given up hope of “purifying” the church from within, they chose instead to withdraw from the Church of England altogether.

PILGRIMS AND PURITANS

We know these individuals as the Pilgrims or the Puritans

In one sense, the Puritans were radical, since they demanded fundamental changes in the Church of England.

In another sense, however, they were conservative. They preached a plain, unadorned Christianity that contrasted sharply with the cathedrals, vestments, ceremony, and hierarchy of the Church of England.

PILGRIMS AND PURITANS

By 1630 – upwards of seven hundred Puritans had arrived in what would become known as America

1640 – as many as 20,000 English (British) Puritans had settled in what they called New England

PILGRIMS AND PURITANS

For these first settlers, religion was a personal inner experience. For Puritans, there was no need for an intermediary between God and the individual

They hoped to build a new society patterned after the word of God and create a “city upon a hill”, a community guided in all aspects by the Bible.

WHO WERE THE PURITANS?

Many Puritans were persecuted for their beliefs

Being jailed indefinitely

Having their ears lopped off

Being executedBeing drawn and quartered

TORTURE AND MUTILATION

Many Puritans were persecuted for their beliefs Blinded Hands or feet amputated Castration Ripping out of teeth and nails Judas cradle

TORTURE AND MUTILATION

Many Puritans were persecuted for their beliefs Boiled to death Tongue shredded Placed on the rack

TORTURE AND MUTILATION

At the center of Puritan theology was an uneasy mixture of certainty and doubt.

PURITAN BELIEFS

They believed with certainty that because of the fall of Adam and Eve most of humanity would be damned for all eternity.

They were also certain that God in his mercy sent his son Jesus Christ to earth to save particular people.

PURITAN BELIEFS

The doubt centered on whether or not you were one of the saved (the elect) or one of the damned (the regenerate).

PURITAN BELIEFS

How did you know if you were saved or not????

PURITAN BELIEFS

1. Simple, you never knew for sure if you were one of those that was to be saved, so it was imperative that you live as exemplary a life as possible

2. Many believed that you could feel God’s grace arriving, in an intensely emotional fashion

PURITAN BELIEFS

The inner arrival of God’s grace manifested itself by your outward actions

PURITAN BELIEFS

After receiving this grace you were “reborn” as a member of the community of “elect” or saints

PURITAN BELIEFS

Puritans believed that a covenant or contract existed between God and humanity

They believed that people should enter freely into agreements concerning their government

PURITAN POLITICS

The Mayflower Compact was one of the first such examples of this type of agreement.

PURITAN POLITICS

The Puritan form of government would be considered an theocracy: a state governed and under the immediate guidance of God

Puritans read the Bible as the real-life story of all creation, its fall, its wanderings, and the rescue of the human race

PURITAN BELIEFS: THE BIBLE IN AMERICA

Within this long narrative every Puritan could see connections to their own lives

Each Puritan was trained to see life as a pilgrimage, or journey, to salvation

Bible is the literal word of God, and reading it is a necessity for salvation

PURITAN BELIEFS: THE BIBLE IN AMERICA

While the Puritans were settling all along the east coast of what would become known as New England, there were also several southern colonies being settled as well.

THE SOUTHERN PLANTERS

THE SOUTHERN PLANTERS

These southern colonies differed greatly from the New England settlements; the climate, crops, social organization, and religion all varied drastically from the Puritan settlements of the North.

THE SOUTHERN PLANTERS

THE SOUTHERN PLANTERS

Beyond these Southern settlements lay large plantations, not small farms.

The image of these plantations has been highly romanticized over the last 200 years; however, the beautiful exterior of these locations covered up a very harsh and dismal reality.

Up to a thousand people, many of them slaves, might live and work on a single plantation.

THE SOUTHERN PLANTERS

THE SOUTHERN PLANTERS

The first black slaves were brought to Virginia in 1619, a year before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth.

THE SOUTHERN PLANTERS

These plantation owners were Church of England members who regarded themselves as aristocrats.

In other words, they were the wealthy elite of British society, who came to the Americas to create even more wealth for themselves.

By 1750, Puritanism was in decline everywhere, while the plantation system in the South was just reaching its peak…

THE SOUTHERN PLANTERS

The Age of Reason

The Age of Reason, or the Enlightenment began in the 1600s and 1700s with philosophers and scientists who called themselves rationalists.

The Enlightenment

THE AGE OF REASON

Rationalism – belief that human beings can arrive at truth by using reason, rather than by relying on the authority of the past, on religious faith, or on intuition

THE AGE OF REASON