What does it mean to be Individual? Puritanism and Early America (1492 – 1730)

Authors and Works ► Anne Bradstreet – Upon the Burning of Our House, July 10, 1666 / To My Dear and Loving Husband ► Jonathan Edwards – Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God ► William Bradford – Of Plymouth Plantation

Providence ► Noun ► Care; prudence; foresight ► Often with capital to signify God and God’s caring; “divine providence” ► The roofer displayed providence when he put the tarp over the enormous hole when the clouds appeared. ► With God’s providence, we can do anything.

Northern Puritanism ► – Pilgrims arrive at Plymouth Rock, Mass. They practice the Puritan religion. ► - Escape from the Church of England. English authority and majority. ► - The Three Puritan Beliefs (Instruction & Inspiration) ► - Grace – Cleansing of envy, vanity, and lust allowed individual to achieve spiritual harmony with God. Spent lifetimes searching for “grace”. Spiritual Autobiographies – accounts into those who find “grace” (A Puritan guide) ► - Plainness – no ornate cathedrals/stained-glass windows. Square wooden buildings, painted white or not at all, stripped of ornament and decoration. ► - Divine Mission – America was a place specially appointed by God, and therefore Puritans believed it was their mission to spread the word of God in the New World. ► Puritanism, as a way of life, lasted only about a century in America. ► - Due to Age of Reason and lack of faith in strict religions. ► ’s – Great Awakening – revival of Puritanism but short lived.

Individual or Society? ► Individual in Puritan Society ► - Defined according to religion. (Puritan – North & Church of England – South) ► - Individualism and free expression of thoughts suppressed for the “greater good”. Thoughts and actions prescribed according to tradition & religion. ► - Work for the betterment of society. ► - Was the individual completely suppressed during these times? How could one still maintain a sense of individuality while adhering to the traditions/beliefs carried over from Europe?

Anne Bradstreet (1612 – 1672) ► First North American woman to publish a book of poems and she is a Puritan WOMAN. ► Women writers? Yea right! - Step outside their appropriate sphere. - Step outside their appropriate sphere. - Frequently faced social censure. Reverend Thomas Parker to to his sister in England:“Your printing of a book, beyond the custom of your sex, doth rankly smell” (1650) - Frequently faced social censure. Reverend Thomas Parker to to his sister in England:“Your printing of a book, beyond the custom of your sex, doth rankly smell” (1650) - Crushing workloads and lack of writing time - Crushing workloads and lack of writing time - Unequal access to education. However, Bradstreet received extensive education, came from a influential, well-to-do family, but did not help her out with public support. - Unequal access to education. However, Bradstreet received extensive education, came from a influential, well-to-do family, but did not help her out with public support. ► Themes - culture and nature, spirituality and theology, faith and doubt, family, death, history.

Bradstreet Form, Style, Artistic Convention & Audience ► Puritan plain style -Simplicity, accessibility, and genre of tragedy, epic events, and devotion, unity with the divine. “Thy love is such I can no way repay. The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray. “ How do you think Bradstreet’s poems compared with women of this time? Of men? With the general Puritan society? How well do her themes travel across time? What elements seem to connect to contemporary concerns? What fails to relate? Why?

Willie B. ► William Bradford Born: Mar-1590 Birthplace: Austerfield, Yorkshire, England Died: 9-May-1657 Location of death: Plymouth, MA Push Broom: refined politician May1657Plymouth, MA15909-May1657Plymouth, MA ► Gender: Male Religion: Protestant Race or Ethnicity: White Occupation: Religion Religion ► Executive summary: Governor of Plymouth Colony

William Bradford ► Being thus passed the vast ocean, and a sea of troubles...they had now no friends to welcome them nor inns to entertain or refresh their weatherbeaten bodies; no houses or much less towns to repair to, to seek for succor...savage barbarians...were readier to fill their sides with arrows than otherwise. And for the reason it was winter, and they that know the winters of that country know them to be sharp and violent, and subject to cruel and fierce storms...all stand upon them with a weatherbeaten face, and the whole country, full of woods and thickets, represented a wild and savage hue. What does this passage reveal about the Pilgrim’s new beginnings in the New World? How would you react to this if you were planning to take a trip over to America?

Of Plymouth Plantation ► 3 separate passages dealing with the journey to America, surviving the harsh winter, and the relationship with the Native Americans.

The European Explorer, the African Individual, and Slavery ► - John Smith ► -drawing logical conclusions based upon written accounts ► - Goals and aims of Smith’s account. ► - Debunk myths ► - Provide realistic information on conditions/terrain ► - Olaudah Equiano, ► -Born 1745 in present day Nigeria. ► -At 11, sold into slavery, shipped first to Barbados and then to Virginia. ► -Mid 1760’s, bought freedom from Quaker slaveholder ► -The Interesting Narrative… published in 1789 ► - literary genre – form or kind of literature. (slave narrative) ► ► What makes Equiano’s personal account of his life as a slave so important to the future abolitionist crusade to end slavery in the United States? ► (FCA – 3 separate points 12 lines min.)