(Beginnings to 1800) From The American Experience

More than 12,000 years before Christopher Columbus reached North America, nomadic peoples had migrated across the Bering Land Bridge from Asia and settled across the continent. These peoples included explorers, fortune-seekers, missionaries, and those fleeing religious persecution. There were also enslaved Africans who made the journey against their will. Individuals wrote accounts of their experiences, creating the first written literature of North America.

Colonists from Europe did not reach the north American continent until the late 1500s.

Locations in: St. Augustine, Florida (1565) (click picture for video clip from Malick’s 2005 film the New World) Jamestown, Virginia (1607) Jamestown, Virginia

They learned about agriculture and woodcraft from Native Americans. They learned about maize and squash and bark canoes. These men and women were loyal and hardy, but without the help of those who knew the wilderness intimately, they would probably not have survived.

When: 1620 Where: Plymouth, Massachusetts Who: Religious reformers, Puritans How: The Mayflower Why: Tried to “purify” the Church of England, but thought they had a better chance in the New World What: Found a “city upon a hill,” a model community based on the Bible

The impulse to escape to a New World and build a reformed and uncorrupted society shaped Puritan lawmaking, social relations, and daily life. Puritanism eventually declined, but by around 1720 a revival called the Great Awakening brought some new converts.the Great Awakening Genuine old-fashioned Puritanism never reawakened, although the “Puritan ethic” of hard-work and self- discipline remained a basic American value. *Questions: What is predestination (next slide to find out)

Is based on John Calvin’s doctrine that God has already decided who will be saved. This concept made Puritans search every thought, action, and word for signs of grace. In hymns, sermons, histories, journals, and autobiographies, they aimed only for self-examination and spiritual insight. John Calvin

The Southern Colonies differed from New England in climate, crops, social organization, and religion. Large plantations, not small farms, were the core of the economy, and slaves, who had first been brought to Virginia in 1619, were the core of the plantations. Planters thought of themselves as hard-working but aristocratic, and their way of life was more sociable and elegant than that of the Puritans.

Who: Scientists like Galileo and Newton Philosophers such as Voltaire, Locke, and Rousseau Shocked Puritan beliefs. Why? They valued science, logic, and reason over faith. They believed that people are good by nature and capable of building a better society. *Question: Why would this idea shock or offend a Puritan? They spoke of a “social contract” that forms the basis of government, an idea that laid the groundwork for the American Revolution.

By the 18 th Century, the power of reason asserted itself in America. In speeches, pamphlets, essays, and newspaper articles, the spirit of the times called for debate, clear thinking, and reorganization of the political situation. The Declaration of Independence, for example, is not an outcry or an anarchic demand. It is a reasoned document, a controlled statement of the rational argument for independence.

Native Americans: People belonged to the land Forest, plains to be used by humans temporarily Lands and waters were life-giving environments Animals were part of the community Nature not to be feared, but honored Colonists: Land belongs to people Claimed by Spain, England, and France Measured, divided, bought, sold, and governed Property of Europeans kings and trading companies

Relations with Native Americans and the continued enslavement of African Americans left deep marks in American literature. In histories and captive narratives, we have some record of relationships between colonists and Native Americans, relations that ranged from trust to distrust, from friendship to hatred.captive narratives In narratives left by both slaves and slaveholders, we find heartrending stories of individuals, families, and communities scarred by slavery.

Historian Journals and histories Recorded social and political events Bradford’s Of Plymouth Plantation Preacher Hymns and sermons Articulate the will of God Instill the fear of God Edwards’ “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” Autobiographer Answers “What did I do and why did I do it?” Also: “What can you learn from my life?” Franklin’s Autobiography Equiano