English Literature Outline

English Notes on An Emerging Nation

I. The Meeting of Two Worlds

a. Europeans had no idea people had been living there for thousands of years

b. William Wood noted that the Native Americans believed the first ship the saw was a walking island.

            c. William Bradford explained North America as a harsh wilderness filled with beasts and wild men.

II. From colony to country

            a. First colony is Jamestown in 1607
            b. Many colonies by 1733

            c. Britain sent soldiers to fight the French Indian War

            b. Because the colonists had no representation in British parliament, they felt it was unfair to have to pay taxes.

III. Cultural Influences

a.     Puritan Beliefs

b.     Colonists believed God was helping the settlements thrive

IV. Ideas of the Age

a.     People began thinking more freely during The Enlightenment

1.     The Enlightenment lead to people thinking that a new system of government would be more effective

2.     Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, and Tomas Jefferson shaped the American Enlightenment.

b. The Great Awakening

1. United colonists via preachers like Jonathan Edwards

                        2. These ideas both caused people to question authority in general that would later lead to a revolution

V. The Native American Experience

            a. Native American cultures had no writing but spoke about 200 different languages

            b. Stories and myths were passed down by memory

VI. Exploration and the Early Settlers

1.     The Explorers

a.     Columbus recounted had four voyages to the Americas in 1492

b.     Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca chronicled his eight years wandering through Florida and Texas

c.      Samuel de Champlain was sent by the French and Dutch

2.     Early Settlers

a.     English people recorded their events in reports chronicles and journeys, such as Thomas Harriot who gave elaborate details describing North America’s landscape and animals

3.     Colonial Histories

a.     Captain John Smith sometimes wrote as well and his vivid writing created an enduring record of life in the colonies

b.     William Bradford, governor of Plymouth and John Winthrop Senior, governor of Massachusetts believed America to be god’s plan for a better society.

c.      Olaudah Equiano described his wrongful treatment and capture from his African home that he received as a slave in the West Indies

VII. The Puritan Tradition

1.     Writing was valued by Puritans

2.     Sermons and Other Writings

a.     Cotton Mather and Jonathan Edwards both included histories of the colonies in their works of literature

b.     They strongly believed that people would pay for their wrongdoings by serving eternity in hell.

3.     Puritan Poetry

a.     Anne Badstreet and Edward Taylor viewed poetry as a way of exploring the relationship between oneself and god.

VIII. Writers of the Revolution

1.     The focus on writing was either on political issues or religion for many historic American writers

2.     Pamphlets and Propaganda

a. Between 1763 and 1783 about 2000 pamphlets were published

            3. Writing that launched a Nation

                        a. Thomas Jefferson wrote pamphlets

                        b. Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, and George Washington helped write the constitution

            4. Voices of the People

                        a. Phillis Wheatley wrote of natural rights of African-Americans and pointed out the discrepancy between colonists

                        b. Abigail Adams, John Madison’s eventual wife, also called for rights of citizens