1. Things to Know About American Literature

2. The United States is a land of immigrants. The Bering Strait is where the first people entered North America.

3. People were already in North America when the Europeans came in the 1400s. Christopher Columbus landed somewhere in the Bahamas in 1492. 1528 Cabeza de Vaca landed on the west coast of Florida. He went out to explore and didn’t come back. His people waited for him for a year before going back home. De Vaca wandered in the desert of Texas and Colorado for 8 years before he made it back home. His journals about the Indians he encountered were popular.

5. Although there were some popular writings before 1620, American literature is credited with starting in 1620 because that is when the Puritans came here to live. They landed on Cape Cod in December 1620. Over 10 years 700 more people came and in 20 years there were 20,000 people in the New England area.

6. Where is New England?

7. The Puritans venture was as much business as spiritual. Puritans = Pilgrims Puritans wanted to “purify” the Church of England because it was too tied to the government. They wanted to separate church and state. William Bradford led the group. Puritan religion was mixed with doubt and certainty. They believed that Jesus was the son of God and died for their sins to save them BUT no one knew if they were saved or not.

9. They based salvation on two things. 1) They could feel God’s grace arriving emotionally or 2) their lives and their outward behavior demonstrated their beliefs. Everyone wanted to be reborn but they were never sure. They “examined” their lives for signs of grace and they tried to be “good.” Puritan values are 1) self reliance, 2) industriousness, 3) temperance (moderation or self restraint, especially in eating and drinking alcohol), and 4) simplicity.

10. Puritans believed the original sin doomed us all. The original sin is Adam, Eve, the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Puritans believed people should enter into contracts freely concerning government. Before they left the boat (The Mayflower) they made the Mayflower compact outlining how they would be governed in the new world. Because of their beliefs, too much ethical stuff flowed into government (Salem Witch Trials).

12. Puritans used the Bible as a model for living. They used writing to examine and explore their inner and outer lives for signs of God. Writing was 1)Plain style, 2) no flowery language (figures of speech), 3) diaries and histories and sermons were the most common genres. Puritans saw life as a journey to salvation. The Bible was the literal word of God. They placed great emphasis on education so they could learn to read the Bible. Harvard was established in 1636 as a training school for ministers.

13. In 1639 the first printing press was set up in America.