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The Pilgrims' Journey on the Mayflower
The Pilgrims left Holland on September 6, 1620. They faced many hardships along their journey. The conditions aboard the ship were terrible for the passangers. They also had to turn around because the Speedwell had a leak, twice. So, once they had all of their problems conquered, they had for the most part smooth sailing other than the wheather. -
The Pilgrims' Arrival in the New World
The Pilgrims landed on November 11, 1620. After their long journey of 66 days, they were all tired and sea sick. They had a search pary go out and look for a reasonable settling place. They found one which looked to be an old Wampanog community. It had a plentiful water supply, good harbor, cleared fields, and location on a hill made the area a favorable place for settlement. -
The Puritans' Arrival in the New World pt.2
John Calvin's doctrine that God has already decided who will achieve salvation and who will not. The elect, or saints, who are to be saved cannot take election for granted, however. Because of that, all devout Puritans searched their sould with great rigor and frequency for signs of grace. The Puritans also believed in original sin("In Adam's fall, we sinned all.") and felt that they would accomplish good only through continual hard work and self-discipline. -
The Puritans' Arrival in the New World
The Puritans wrote mostly historical/factual documents, poetry, and sermons. Teh topics of their literature centered on self-reflection, the glorification of God, and sin and redemption. They did not write fiction or drama, which were considered sinful. The Puritans' style of writing can best be described as plain. They valued clarity of content over a clever style. An ornate or clever style would be a sigh of vanity, which was a sin. The Puritans believed in predestination or Calvinism, -
Wiliam Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation
Of Plymouth Plantation was published by William Bradford in 1651. He was born in 1590 and died in 1657. He was English Separatist leader in Leiden, Holland, and in Plymouth Colony. He was a signatory to the Mayflower Compact while aboard the Mayflower in 1620. This story is about the English Pilgrims and their pursuit of religious freedom. The Pilgrims were also called Puritans because they wanted to worship purely; some only wanted to reform the Church of England, but the Separatists prefer -
Of Plymouth Plantation pt.2
preferred to pull away from the Church completely and begin anew somewhere else. This story is about the Separatists' religious struggles in England and Holland, and finally of their sacrifices in America, where they eventually settled. -
Anne Bradstreet's "Upon the Burning of Our House" pt.2
possessions to dust. It is just, she believes, for those things are His, not hers. -
Anne Bradstreet's "Upon the Burning of Our House"
Anne Bradsrreet was born in 1612 and died in 1672. She was most prominent of early English poets of North America and first female writer in the British North American colonies to be published. Her work "Upon the Burning of Our House" was published on July 16,1666.
Her poem was about one night when she woke up to her house burning. She goes outside and watches as her house burns to ashes. When she can no longer watch her house burn, she gives thanks to God, who has reduced her house and -
Cotton Mather's Wonders of the Invisible World
Cotton Mather was born Feburary 12, 1663 and died on Feburary 13, 1728. Cotton Mather, FRS was a socially and politically influential New England Puritan minister, prolific author, and pamphleteer. His work was published in 1693.
It was ahighly entertaining but bleak first-person narrative, Jernigan depicts an unrepentant alcoholic who makes all the wrong choices and drifts from the periphery of respectable middle-class life. Both aware and unaware of the devastating consequences of his action. -
Colonialism
American literature during this time period was mostly political, and it came in the form of pamphlets, speeches, and newspapers/almanacs. The topics of their literature centered on politics: relations with Great Britain and the nature of government. Americans were still not writing any fiction or drama. The style of writing in most Colonial pieces can best be described as persuasive. Unlike the private soul-searching of the Puritans, much of what was produced by the Colonist was punblic writing -
Colonialism pt.2
Teh Eighteenth century is often characterized as the Age of Reason. Logical reasoning was a major technique used by the writers of this period. Writing offered sound, clear arguments in support of the causes. Personal writing also showed the reasoning process. The Colonists believed that people are by nature good, not evil. The Colonists also believed in free will, which is the opposite of predestination. -
Eward Taylor's "Upon a Spider Catching a Fly" pt.2
and taps its back. When the wasp tries to attack, the spider retreats. Next, a fly is caught on the web. The spider quickly approaches the defenseless insect and kills it. The poem becomes more universal, and it explains that Satan tries to entangle man into his trap through sin. God, however, can easily break Satan's web. -
Edward Taylor's "Upon a Spider Catching a Fly"
Edward Taylor was born in 1642 and dies on June 29 of 1729. He was a colonial American poet, pastor and physician. His had a very famous poem called "Upon a Spider Catching a Fly."
The poem's subject is a spider, who weaves a web to catch his prey. A wasp lands on the web and fights ferociously to escape. The spider, knowing the wasp can sting, gently creeps and taps its back. When the wasp tries to attack, the spider retreats. Next, a fly is caught on the web. The spider quickly approaches the -
Jonathan Edward's "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"
original sin, fueling American revivalism. In Edwards’ time, people believed God knows how all things are to be determined. And since they believed this to be true, Man cannot have free will. Edwards, however, believed one has the power to choose how one will act, -
Jonathan Edward's "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"
Jonathan Edwards was born on October 5, 1703 and died March 22, 1758. Jonathan Edwards was a revivalist preacher, philosopher, and Protestant theologian. His poem was published on July 8, 1741.
It was intended to plunge the fear of God into those who were being sinful. Many people could not understand the sermon without knowing about it's author first. Edwards provided crucial theological points on the problems of free will and original sin, fueling American revivalism. In Edwards’ time, people -
Benjamin Franklin's "The Speech of Polly Baker," "Dialogue with the Gout," and The Autobiography
Benjamin Franklin was born January 7, 1706 and died on April 17, 1970. He was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A renowned polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, freemason, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat.
He wrote "The Speech of Polly Baker," "Dialogue with the Gout," and The Autobiography. They were published on April 15, 1747, April 8, 1819, and 1990. All three were popular pieces of work. -
The Royal Proclamation
The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued by King George III. It followed Great Britain's acquisition of French territory in North America. After the end of the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War, which forbade all settlement past a line drawn along the Appalachian Mountains. -
The Stamp Act
The Stamp Act was put into effect on March 22, 1765. It was a law that required all colonial residents to pay a stamp tax on virtually every printed paper. Those included legal documents, bills of sale, contracts, wills, advertising, pamphlets, almanacs, and even playing cards and dice. -
The Townshen Acts
The Townshend Acts were a series of acts passed, beginning in 1767. The Parliament of Great Britain relating to the British colonies in North America. The acts are named after Charles Townshend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who proposed the program. -
The Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was a street fight that occurred on March 5, 1770. It was between a "patriot" mob and a squad of British soldiers. The mob was throwing snowballs, stones, and sticks. Several colonists were killed and this led to a campaign by speech-writers to rouse the ire of the citizenry. -
The Tea Act
Tea Act of 1773 was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain. The principal objective was to reduce the massive surplus of tea held by the financially troubled British East India Company in its London warehouses and to help the struggling company survive. The colonists were very upset. -
The Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a political protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, on December 16, 1773. The colonists dressed as Indians and boarded one of the ships in the Harbor. They threw all the tea overboard withing minutes. -
The Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable Acts were the American Patriots' term for a series of punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774. It was after the Boston Tea party. They were meant to punish the Massachusetts colonists for their defiance in throwing a large tea shipment into Boston harbor. -
Patrick Henry's "Speech in the Virginia Convention"
Patrick Henry was born on May 29, 1736 and died on June 6, 1799. Patrick Henry was an American attorney, planter and politician who became known as an orator during the movement for independence in Virginia in the 1770s. His work was published in 1775.
Henry begins by addressing the men who spoke before him that day in the House. These men had argued against staging a war against Britain; they are against the proposal Henry was about to make for the colony of Virginia to form a militia. -
Paul Revere's Ride
On the evening of April 18, 1775, Paul Revere was sent for by Dr. Joseph Warren and instructed to ride to Lexington, Massachusetts, to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock that British troops were marching to arrest them. After being rowed across the Charles River to Charlestown by two associates, Paul Revere borrowed a horse from his friend Deacon John Larkin. -
Lexington & Conord Battles
The Battles of Lexington and Concord, fought on April 19, 1775, kicked off the American Revolutionary War. Tensions had been building for many years between residents of the 13 American colonies and the British authorities, particularly in Massachusetts. On the night of April 18, 1775, hundreds of British troops marched from Boston to nearby Concord in order to seize an arms cache. Paul Revere and other riders sounded the alarm, and colonial militiamen began mobilizing to intercept the Redcoads. -
Thomas Paine's "Common Sense"
Published in 1776, Common Sense challenged the authority of the British government and the royal monarchy. The plain language that Paine used spoke to the common people of America and was the first work to openly ask for independence from Great Britain. -
Thomas Jefferson's Teh Declaration of Independence
Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743 and died on July 4, 1826. He was an American Founding Father, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence,
The Declaration of Independence is the statement adopted by the Continental Congress meeting at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies, then at war with Great Britain, regarded themselves as thirteen newly independent sovereign states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. -
Thomas Paine's The Crisis
Thomas Paine was born on Feburary 9, 1773. Thomas Paine was an English-American political activist, philosopher, political theorist and revolutionary. His work was published in 1776.
The American Crisis is a collection of articles written by Thomas Paine during the American Revolutionary War. In 1776 Paine wrote Common Sense, an extremely popular and successful pamphlet arguing for Independence from England. The essays collected here constitute Paine's ongoing support for an independent. -
The Battle of Saratoga
The Battles of Saratoga marked the climax of the Saratoga campaign giving a decisive victory to the Americans over the British in the American Revolutionary War. CONTENTS
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Fought eighteen days apart in the fall of 1777, the two Battles of Saratoga were a turning point in the American Revolution. On September 19th, British General John Burgoyne achieved a small, but costly victory over American forces led by Horatio Gates and Benedict Arnold. -
The End of the Revoultion
France entered the American Revolution on the side of the colonists in 1778, turning what had essentially been a civil war into an international conflict. After French assistance helped the Continental Army force the British surrender at Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781, the Americans had effectively won their independence, though fighting would not formally end until 1783.
