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The Pilgrims' Journey
The Pilgrims were orginally set sail, on the Mayflower, in July 1620, along with the Speedwell, but unfortunately they had to turn back to England. During their voyage to Newfoundland a storm hit the Mayflower, damaging one of the main support beams, thanks to one traveler, they were able to fix the main beam. They arrived in Newfoundland on November 11, 1620 -
Period: to
Puritanism - Colonialism
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Pilgrims' Arrival
After many months sailing the Pilgrims finally reached Newfoundland, They sailed up coast to Cape Cod, where they decided to make their first settlement. As soon as the first pilgrims set foot on Newfoundland they dropped to their knees and thanked God. Before all of the pilgrims settled on Newfoundland, the "leaders" decided the should make set rules and regulations on what should be acceptable in Newfoundland, these laws are also known as "The Mayflower Compact". -
Puritans' Arrival in the New World
The Puritans wrote mostly historical/factual documents, poetry, and sermons. The topics of their literature centered on self-reflection, the glorification of God, and sin and redemption. They did not write fiction or drama, which was 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 considered vanity, which was a sin. -
Puritans' Arrival Continued
The Puritans believed in predestination or Calvinsim, John Calvin's doctrine that God has alreday decided who will achieve salvation and who will not. The elect, or saint, who are to be saved cannot take election for granted, however. Because of that, all devout Puritans searched their souls with great rigor and frequency for signs of grace. The Puritans also believed in orginal sin and felt that they would accomplish good only through continual hard work and self-discipline -
William Bradford's "Of Plymouth Plantation"
Born: March 19th, 1590
Died May 9th, 1657
Published in 1651
William Bradford wrote a two-volume book of the Pilgrims harships while they first settled in America, along with the harships while they were at sea. The book goes on about how the Pilgrims faced their hardships at sea, and who had died while at sea.
The book continues to describe the harships the Pilgrims had while they were building homes for themselves, and the troubles they had with getting food. -
Anne Bradstreet's "Upon the Burning of Our House"
Born: March 20, 1612
DIed: September 16 1672
Anne Bradstreet was an incredible writer, "Upon the Burning of Our House" is one of her well known pieces. When you first start reading it tells the reader what had happneed that led up to the fire, and how Anne ran out of her burning house unscathed. She then goes on to be angry with herself for being so selfish, and that God simply is taking what is his.
The Puritans were like this, so her piece was seen as magnificent. -
Edward Taylor's "Upon a Spider Catching a Fly
Born: 1642
Died: June 29, 1729
This sermon, written by Edward Taylor, is a very symbolic piece. At the begining it is straightfoward, simply talking about a fly watching a wasp fly into the web of a spider, then being relaeased. But, then the piece begins to explain itself. The spider represents the devil, the fly is the sinner, and the wasp is the saint. -
Cotton Mather's Wonders of the Invisible World
Born: February 12, 1663
Died: February 13, 1728
In this piece Cotton Mather meant to expose Witchcraft, and support his friends in the government. He goes through the witch trials in detail. -
Jonathan Edwards's "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"
Born: October 5, 1703
Died: March 22, 1758
Really the entire point of this sermon is simple, we are all going to hell. Edwards's sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God", drove people from the church very upset, this sermon goes on about how you must put God first i order to maybe get a chance into Heaven. -
Benjamin Franklin and "The Speech of Polly Baker"
Born: January 17, 1706
Died: April 17, 1790
Publication of "The Speech of Polly Baker" is listed above, this "speech" was made by Ms. Baker when she was called to court again for having too many children without fathers. She
goes to defend her reasoning by asking why the fathers of her children are not fined as well as she is. She also argues why she is being fined at all, and says that if what she is doing is religiously wrong, then she should be religiously punished. -
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 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 wss produced by the Colonists was public writing. -
Colonialism Continued
The 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 teh causes. Personal writing also showed the reasoning process.The Colonists belived that people are by nature good, not evil. The Colonists also believed in free will, whihc is the opposite of predestination -
The Royal Proclamation
The Royal Proclamation that set guidlines for America, and helped when the Seven Years War. The document also stated that the land won form the Seven Years War was still considered Aboriginal Land, and could not be settled on. -
The Stamp Act
The Stamp Act was a law that put a tax on legal documents, bills of sale, contracts, wills, playing cards, and dice. -
The Townshend Acts
The Townshend Acts were a series of acts that increased taxes on everything. Americans boycotted this act by buying absolutely nothing from British imports. -
The Boston Massacre
We've all heard of the Boston Massacre, but did you know it technically wasn't a massacre at all? It was a dispute between redcoats and colonists where one soilder accidentally fired, then the rest fired. Very few colonists died from this so called massacre -
The Tea Act
The Tea Act was simply an increased tax on tea to help aid Britian out of debt. -
The Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party, was a boycott at the Tea Act. The Sons of Liberty wore mohawk indian outfits and raided a docked British ship, They took all the tea and poured it into the Boston Harbor. -
The Intolerable Acts
After the Boston Tea Party, the British made The Intolerable Acts. The purpose of these acts were to punish Massachusettes, and un-unify the colonies.The Acts closed down ports in Boston, forced colonists to house British soldiers, and put Massachusettes under martiel law. -
Patrick Henry's "Speech in the Virginia Convention"
Born: May 29, 1736
Died: June 6, 1799
"Give me liberty or give me death." The famous line in Patrick Henry's speech during the Virginia Convention. During this convention delegates were debating on whether or not to arm Virginia, this went on for 3 days, then Patrick Henry stood up and bean his famous speech. He tells the delegates that they have amazing opinions but he thinks they are wrong. After this speech finished everybody in the convention decided to arm Virginia. -
Paul Revere's Ride
"One if by land, two if by sea." We've all heard of the famous Paul Rever's ride. He rode to Concord to warn Sam Adams that the British were coming, and then he sent out to Lexongton to tell the townsfolk to take up arms. -
Lexinton and Concord Batlles
The first real batlle in the Revolutionary War. Although the colonists were outnumbered they fought hard and forced the British to retreat. -
Thomas Jefferson's The Declaration of Independence
Born: April 14, 1743
Died: July 4, 1826
We all know the document that stated our independence. But, did you know that he is mainly composed of things the king of england did, and didn't, do? Or that the group of individuals writting the declaration didn't want Ben Fanklin to write it for the fear he'd put a joke in it? Besides that, the document stated our reasons for seperating from Britain. -
Thomas Paine's The Crisis
Born: February 9, 1737
Died: June 8, 1809
During the Revolutionary War morale was low in the troops, America was slowly giving up. That's when Thomas Paine wrote The Crsis.
This piece scolds the soldiers who quit, and rose morale for those still in. It also gave a sense of comfort to the people of America that they can still when the war -
"Dialouge with the Gout" Benjamin Franklin
This dialouge is about Benjamin Franklin's gout. it starts with him in pain and complaining and the gout telling him who she is. As the dialouge progresses Madame Gout scolds Fanklin about his life style choices, and what he could do to help him with his gout. -
The End of the Revolution
The Revolutionary War did not end in a bloody battle, it actually ended in a treaty, The Treaty of Paris. The documented stated America's independence from Britian, thus ending the war -
Benjamin Franklin's The Autobiography
This autobigraphy is actually unfinished, and Franklin liked to call this book his memoirs. This book is what it says it is, an autobigraphy. In it Benjamin Franklin writes about his life, harships etc. In this piece he also says he attemped to make himself a better person by perfecting his flaws. He wrote down his major flaws and his goal was to go a full week before working on the next flaw. He never made it past his third flaw.
