Early American Literature and Life

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Early American Literature and Life

• The Puritans and Pilgrims

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Who were the Puritans and Pilgrims?

• Sept. 20, 1620 Pilgrims set sail for New World
  in hopes of practicing their faith without
  persecution. They wanted to move away from the
  Church of England.
• Why did they leave when they did?
• They arrive in early winter 1620.
• ½ of the pilgrims died during the first winter.

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• Puritans come a few years later.
• More intellectual than the Pilgrims.
• More driven by religious principles than the
  pilgrims in the south.
• Puritans didnt want to move away from the
  church they merely wanted to reform it.
• According to Fredrick Turner in Beyond Geography,
  the puritans viewed themselves as the new
  Isrealites, banished from their home country and
  chosen by God to establish a city on a hill
  amidst the evil and sinful nature of their new,
  untamed surroundings.

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Two Early American Historians
John Winthrop
William Bradford
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William Bradford fr. History of the Plimoth sic
Plantation

• Being thus arrived in a good harbor and brought
  safe to land, they fell upon their knees and
  blessed the God of heaven, who had brought them
  over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered
  them from all the perils and miseries thereof,
  again to set their feet on the firm and stable
  earth, their proper element. . . . But here I
  cannot but stay and make a pause, and stand half
  amazed at this poor people's present condition
  and so I think will the reader too when he well
  consider the same. Being thus passed the vast
  ocean and a sea of troubles before, in their
  preparation, . . . they had now no friends to
  welcome them, nor inns to entertain or refresh
  their weather-beaten bodies, no houses or much
  less towns to repair to, to seek for succor. It
  is recorded in scripture as mercy to the apostle
  and his shipwrecked company, that the barbarians
  showed them no small kindness in refreshing them
  but these savage barbarians when they met with
  them . . . were readier to fill their sides full
  of arrows than otherwise. And for the season, 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, dangerous
  to travel to known places, much more to search an
  unknown coast. Besides what could they see but a
  hideous and desolate wilderness, full of wild
  beasts and wild men? And what multitudes there
  might be of them, they knew not. Neither could
  they, as it were, go up to the top of Pisgah, to
  view from this wilderness a more goodly country
  to feed their hopes for which way soever they
  turned their eyes (save upward to the heavens)
  they could have little solace or content in
  respect of any outward objects. For summer being
  done, all things stared upon them with a
  weather-beaten face and the whole country, full
  of woods and thickets, represented a wild and
  savage hue. If they looked behind them, there was
  the mighty ocean which they had passed, and was
  now as a main bar and gulf to separate them from
  all the civil parts of the world. . . . May not
  and ought not the children of these fathers
  rightly say Our fathers were Englishmen which
  came over this great ocean and were ready to
  perish in this wilderness but they cried unto
  the Lord and he heard their voice and looked on
  their adversity. Let them therefore praise the
  Lord because he is good and his mercies endure
  for over.'"

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John Winthrop (1588-1649)History of New England

• Came to Massachusetts in 1630.
• "Mr. Hopkins, the governor of Hartford upon
  Connecticut, came to Boston, and brought his wife
  with him (a godly young woman, and of special
  parts), who was fallen into a sad infirmity, the
  loss of her understanding and reason, which had
  been growing upon her divers years, by occasion
  of her giving herself wholly to reading and
  writing, and had written many books. Her husband,
  being very loving and tender of her, was loath to
  grieve her but he saw his error, when it was too
  late. For if she had attended her household
  affairs, and such things as belong to women, and
  not gone out of her way and calling to meddle in
  such things as are proper for men, whose minds
  are stronger, etc., she had kept her wits, and
  might have improved t them usefully and honorably
  in the place God had set her.
• "He brought her to Boston, and left her with her
  brother, one Mr. Yale, a merchant, to try what
  means might be had here for her. But no help
  could be had."

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Puritan Beliefs

• Everyone is a sinner
• Gods son, Jesus, was sent to earth to save
  certain peoplethe elect.
• A person didnt know if he/she was one of the
  elect or one of the regenerate.
• Only saved by grace of God which arrived in an
  intensely emotional moment.
• Experiencing Gods grade led to outward
  Christian behavior.

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Puritan Values

• Self-reliance
• Industriousness
• Temperance (self-control)
• Simplicity
• (Sounds like Thoreau, without the religious
  fervor)

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Surely there is in all children...a stubbornness
and stoutness of mind arising from natural pride,
which must, in the first place be broken and
beaten down that so the foundation of their
education being laid in humility and
tractableness, other virtues may, in their time,
be built thereon. For the beating and keeping
down of this stubbornness parents must provide
carefully...that the children's wills and
willfulness be restrained and repressed, and
that, in time lest sooner than they imagine, the
tender springs grow to that stiffness, that they
will rather break than bow. John Robinson
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Puritan Rules

• The Puritans were a serious group of people who
  put God and hard work first in their lives. They
  rarely had any time for fun or good times. They
  believed in strict conformity and a very strict
  version of God. They wore very simple clothes and
  did not allow dancing, which they saw as sinful
  against God. They believed that witches were
  real, and that they make a deal with the devil
  for their magic powers. They worked together as a
  community to build their towns, but this often
  led to a fear of outsiders and nonconformity.
  People who dared to threaten this world order
  were either banished into the woods or were
  killed, sometimes accused of witchcraft. The
  Puritans believed in a "fire and brimstone"
  method of preaching, and led lives in fear of an
  angry God. Sometimes their strictness led to
  horrific things happening in their community,
  like the Salem Witch Trials.
• http//www.teachnet-lab.org/MBHS/Scragg/Crucible/l
  ife.html

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Puritan Society begins to break down
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Natural Forces undermining the Puritan way of
life

• 1. A person's natural desire to do good - this
  works against predestination.
• 2. Dislike of a "closed" life.
• 3. Resentment of the power of the few over many.
• 4. Change in economic conditions - growth of
  fishery, farms, etc.
• 5. Presence of the leaders of dissent - Anne
  Hutchinson, Roger Williams.

• 6. The presence of the frontier - concept of
  self-reliance, individualism, and optimism.
• 7. Change in political conditions - Massachusetts
  became a Crown colony.
• 8. Theocracy suffered from a lack of flexibility.
  
• 9. Growth of rationality - use of the mind to
  know God - less dependence on the Bible.
• 10. Cosmopolitanism of the new immigrants.

Perry Miller's Errand Into the Wilderness 1956
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• Excerpts from Anne Hutchinsons Creed
• That faith is not a receiving of Christ, but a
  man's discerning that he hath received him
  already.
• This witness of the Spirit is merely immediate,
  without any respect to the word, or any
  concurrence with it.
• The graces of Saints and hypocrites differ not.
• A Christian is not bound to pray except the
  Spirit moves him.
• A minister that hath not this new light is not
  able to edify others that have it.
• A man may have all graces, and yet want Christ.

(1591 1643)
For her views, Hutchinson was banished from the
Puritan community. Five years after her
husbands death, Anne, her servants, and five of
her children were killed by Mahican Indians. Her
former community members viewed this as Gods
wrath for her disobedience.
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Signs that the Puritan way of life was decaying

• 1. Visible decay of godliness.
• 2. Manifestations of pride - especially among the
  new rich.
• 3. Presence of "heretics" - Quakers and
  Anabaptists.
• 4. Violations of the Sabbath and swearing and
  sleeping during sermons.
• 5. Decay in family government.

• 6. People full of contention - rise in lawsuits
  and lawyers.
• 7. Sins of sex and alcohol on the increase.
• 8. Decay in business morality - lying, laborers
  underpaid, etc.
• 9. No disposition to reform.
• 10. Lacking in social behavior.

Perry Miller's Errand Into the Wilderness 1956
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Puritan Clergy
The Salem Witch Trials
and
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Cotton Mather (1663 1728)
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Witch Trials at a Glance

• In 1692 alone, legal actions were taken in
  Massachusetts against 154 individuals accused of
  the crime of witchcraft.
• Of the 154 prosecutions, 19 ended in execution
• 13 of which were women and 6 were men.
• Four individuals died while in prison
• One man was crushed to death under rocks during
  his interrogation.

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A list of the accused
Sarah Osborne Mary Osgood Elizabeth Paine Alice
Parker Mary Parker Sarah Pease Joan Peney Hannah
Post Mary Post Susanna Post Margaret
Prince Benjamin Proctor Elizabeth Proctor John
Proctor Sarah Proctor William Proctor Ann
Pudeator Wilmot Reed Sarah Rice Susannah
Roots Henry Salter John Sawdy Margaret Scott Ann
Sears Abigail Somes Martha Sparks Tituba
(slave) Job Tookey Mary Toothacker Margaret
(daughter of Mary) Toothacker Roger
Toothacker Hannah Tyler Martha Tyler Mercy
Wardwell Samuel Wardwell Sarah Wardwell Mary
Warren Sarah Wilds Ruth Wilford John
Willard Abigail Williams Sarah Wilson, Sr. Sarah
Wilson, Jr. Mary Withridge
Nehemiah Abbot Nehemiah Abbot, Jr. John
Alden Daniel Andrew Abigail Barker Mary
Barker William Barker, Sr. William Barker, Jr.
Philip English Thomas Farrer, Sr. Edward
Farrington
Martha Emerson Joseph Emons Mary English
Abigail Faulkner, Sr. Abigail Faulkner,
Jr. Dorothy Faulkner John Flood Elizabeth
Fosdick Elizabeth Fosdick (Jr.?) Ann
Foster Nicholas Frost Eunice Frye Dorcas
Good Sarah Good Mary Green Elizabeth
Hart Margaret Hawks Sarah Hawkes Dorcas
Hoar Abigail Hobbs Deliverance Hobbs William
Hobbs Elizabeth How John Howard Francis
Hutchens Mary Ireson John Jackson, Sr. John
Jackson, Jr. George Jacobs, Sr. George Jacobs,
Jr. Margaret Jacobs Rebecca Jacobs
Sarah Bassett Bridget Bishop Edward Bishop,
Jr. Sarah Bishop Mary Black Mary Bradbury Mary
Bridges, Sr. Mary Bridges, Jr. Sarah
Bridges Hannah Bromage Sarah Buckley George
Burroughs Candy (slave) Hannah Carrel Andrew
Carrier Martha Carrier Richard Carrier Sarah
Carrier Thomas Carrier, Jr. Bethia Carter,
Sr. Bethia Carter, Jr. Elizabeth Cary Mary
Clarke Rachel Clenton Sarah Cloyse Sarah
Cole Sarah Cole Elizabeth Colson Mary
Colson Giles Corey
Abigail Johnson Elizabeth Johnson, Sr. Elizabeth
Johnson, Jr. Rebecca Johnson Stephen Johnson Mary
Lacey, Sr. Mary Lacey, Jr. John Lee Jane
Lilly Mary Marston Susanna Martin Mary
Morey Sarah Morrill Rebecca Nurse
Martha Corey Deliverance Dane Mary
DeRich Elizabeth Dicer Rebecca Dike Joseph
Draper Ann Doliver Lydia Dustin Sarah
Dustin Rebecca Eames Mary Easty Esther Elwell
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The Great Awakening
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There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any
one moment out of hell but the mere pleasure of
God.
Jonathan Edwards (1703 1758)
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Some Biblical References to Sin and Hell

• Deuteronomy 2416
• every man shall be put to death for his own
  sin.
• Micah 719
• thou will cast all their sins into the depths
• 2 Thessalonians 23
• that man of sin be revealed
• James 115
• sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death
• Romans 3 6
• whosoever abidith in him sinneth not
• Romans 3 23
• For all have sinned and fallen short of the
  glory of God.
• Romans 623
• The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God
  is eternal life.
• Psalms 917
• the wicked shall be turned into hell