Puritan Settlement (1600s) Colonial Period (1700s) American Revolution ( )

Puritan Work Ethic Jonathan Winthrop, Massachusetts Bay Colony, “city upon a hill” (religious pride) Jonathan Edwards: “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” (basic nature of man = evil; must earn God’s grace)

Ben Franklin: Poor Richard’s Almanac (secularization of Puritan work ethic; 13 virtues; man = fallible, but capable of improvement) Thomas Jefferson: Declaration of Independence (basic rights of man; people = government; basic nature of man is good, free to create happiness) Abigail Adams: Letters (nascent women’s suffrage) Hector St. John de Crevecoeur: “What is an American?” (America as “melting pot”; America as greatest society)

Nationalism: excessive pride in one’s country American sense of self (national identity) Self- examination and criticism Beginning of real American literature Written by professional writers Influential and respected in Europe

Glorified nature, celebrated individuality Emotional rather than rational, intuitive rather than analytic Truth defined in absolutes (characters are all good or all evil; no “gray” area) Extraordinary characters in extraordinary situations ROMANTICISM

 Washington Irving (American anti-hero)  James Fenimore Cooper (frontiersman)  James C. Pennington (slave narrative)  Edgar Allan Poe (grotesque/arabesque literature)

 Featured American settings and American character “types”  First American to achieve international reputation  Perfected the American short story  “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” ▪ Memorable characters: Icabod Crane & the Headless Horseman ▪ Humorous satire ▪ Scary

▪ “Rip Van Winkle”  Unique character: antihero vs. Puritanical hero  “Local color”  American standards: hen-pecked husband, overbearing wife, mysterious apparition

▪ “The Devil and Tom Walker”  American twist to tradition folk tale  Satirizes Puritan values  Unique American setting with Gothic elements

▪ First successful American novelist ▪ Created first American adventure story: Leatherstocking Tales, series of 5 novels— an American epic ▪ Featured first American frontier hero: brave, self-reliant, democratic

 Natty Bumpo ( aka Deerslayer, Hawkeye, Leatherstocking)  Racial stereotypes: noble frontiersman, noble savage  Portrayed tragedy of Native American encounter with white civilization  Expostulated grandeur of the frontier

▪ James Pennington: “Escape: A Slave Narrative” ▪ Slavery: greatest national issue of the era

▪ Celebrated abroad more than in America ▪ Created modern short story: unity of character, detail, mood ▪ Created modern detective story

▪ Created psychotic murder story  “The Cask of Amontillado”  “Hop-Frog” ▪ Literary criticism: “The Philosophy of Composition” ▪ Poetry: “The Raven”, “Annabel Lee”, “To Helen”

Historical events that defined and influenced American culture and literature

Louisiana Purchase (1803) New western frontier from St. Louis, MO to Pacific Coast Louis & Clark Expedition (1803 – 1806) Exploration of western wilderness

Search for Northwest Passage connecting Mississippi with the Pacific No river, but Rocky Mts., etc.Friendly emissaries to Indians Sacagawea, woman with child, accompanied them Conquering the frontier became part of American culture Manifest Destiny: Expansion of U.S. through American territories is both justified and inevitable

▪ War of 1812 resisted by Madison  Americans wanted freedom of the seas  Westerners wanted to expand  General Andrew Jackson hero in victory of New Orleans  Dolly Madison saved portrait of George Washington in burning of Washington D.C. ▪ Results mixed, but reinforced bonds of American unity.

▪ The Missouri Compromise (1820) tried to unite a nation divided by slavery ▪ The Monroe Doctrine (1823) established foreign policy: Any intervention by external powers in American politics is considered hostile act against the United States

▪ Expanded democracy ▪ Champion of Westerners, common man, & individual rights ▪ Indian Removal Act 1830

▪ American belief in “Manifest Destiny”  Saw it as “God’s direction”, God’s manifest  Belief Americans were destined to conquer all American territories, from Atlantic to Pacific