The South and the Middle Colonies

1. The South and the Middle Colonies Southern Colonies- small urban centers “tidewater aristocracy” privileged class - wealthy, educated, plantation owners 1000s of slaves, white indentured servants and relatively uneducated whites agriculture based on slave labor Middle Colonies - greater diversity - “sows seeds of toleration” Dutch, Swedish, French, German, Jew Geographically - large inland waterways and a balance of commercial, agriculture and manufacturing

2. Middle Colonies continued... Philadelphia -a Quaker city - is the unofficial capital founded by William Penn, a Quaker leader Penn’s Colony - Pennsylvania - he owned the land on which it existed. He “ordained a free commonwealth, bestowing wide privileges of self-government upon the people” in the “frame of government” “Liberty without obedience is confusion, and obedience without liberty is slavery.” mixed cultures and centrally located Quakers founded the University of Pennsylvania - 1st Secular college in America Fostered the development of science, medicine, journalism and government

3. Southern Colony - Plantation Owner William Byrd Introduction Secret Diary excerpt - husband/wife relations Secret Diary excerpt - Slave treatment

4. John Woolman - Quaker Focus on an “inner light” Personal relationship between oneself and God Focus was inward rather than judging others Woolman focuses on his development as a moral person. “Early Years” “On Merchandise” “Evidence of Divine Truth” “Slavery” “Taxes and War”

5. Crevecoeur A French aristocrat - travelled around America in the late 18th Century - In 1780 he published “Letters from an American Farmer” Based on travels in the colonies and discussed New England as a place unto itself, and described the brutality of slavery in the Southern colonies and much of his description is based on the middle colonies. • Rosseau’s natural man - idealization of man as inherently good when not encumbered by an artificial urban society • anticlerical - distrust in organized religion • physiocratic faith - belief in land and its natural products as the only true basis of wealth • humanitarian action He asked the question: What is an American? (back wall)

6. Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography His audience was his son - originally meant to be the first 24 years of his life but was persuaded by friends to continue it - he never got to his experiences during and after the revolution. He never published the account. Purpose is both to recount his life but to do so in a way that is instructional - and reflects those traits both negative and positive that have helped him to develop into the person he was. He is often viewed as the quintessential American or the prototypical American.

7. Franklin’s Autobiography When we think of the “quintessential American” as being represented by the Franklin of his Autobiography we see the following traits: independent thinker, tenacious, persistent, valued hard work, tried not to “waste” time, did not wear religion on his sleeve, patient, inquisitive and had a keen business sense based on order, logic, practicality These traits are shown in the experiences recounted in his Autobiography and the style and choices made in the Autobiography itself.

8. Questions to Consider Does he rise above his circumstances or is he a victim of them? Does he shape and form his time or is he shaped and formed by this time? What is the purpose of the thirteen virtues? What is the purpose of the time schedule? Is there ambiguity in his account? How would one describe his writing style? (stylized, ornate, ostentatious overly detailed OR simple, direct, unadorned, simple story to illustrate a theme) Does the story get told chronologically? Does he use bible passages? Why not? Is there any humor here? What happens when he sits in on the Quaker meeting? Why? Why doesn’t he appreciate poetry for its own sake? What does Franklin have when he shows up in Philadelphia?

9. The American Dream as personified by Benjamin Franklin in his Autobiography - If you work as hard as you can and always try to improve yourself mentally and morally and treat others well and are intelligent about it, you will succeed and prosper and excel in the things you do and be respected by your peers and in posterity. Protagonists from American Literature in search of the American Dream - Hester Prynne - The Scarlet Letter Jay Gatsby - The Great Gatsby Tom Joad - The Grapes of Wrath Antonia Cuzak - My Antonia

10. Enlightenment Values American writers of the revolutionary period, such as Paine, Jefferson, Franklin and Adams were products of and proponents of Enlightenment Values. Scene from the HBO miniseries “John Adams”

11. Scene from the HBO miniseries “John Adams” voting on the passage of the Declaration of Independence

12. Based on the preceding clips, what are some of the values and traits of the generation of American’s living in the revolutionary era?

13. Satire the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.

14. Explain the following quote taken from the biographical section of the reading (pg. 257) in a way that an elementary school student would understand. 5 minutes A rich farmer from Virginia had worked to help people “This Virginian planter-aristocrat had humanitarian sympathies as vigorous as Franklin’s, and though thirty-seven years his junior, he was just as much a product of the Enlightenment.”

15. Enlightenment Values • Deep commitment to reason • A trust in the emerging modern sciences to solve problems and provide control over nature • A commitment to the idea of progress in material wealth and in human civility • A belief in the essential goodness of human nature • An emphasis upon the individual as master of his fate and fortune • An engagement with the public sphere of discussion and action During this time these writers employed a primarily neo-classical style in their writing and emphasis in their thinking.

16. Ancient Greek Architecture Parthenon - Greece (448-432 B.C)

17. Neoclassical Architecture U.S. Capitol Building The White House

18. Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello George Washington’s Mt. Vernon

19. Neo-Classical Assumptions • Place of man in society is at the forefront of thinking. People have a responsibility living in a society. There is an emphasis of reason over passion • Natural passions aren’t necessarily a good thing • Social needs are more important than individual needs • Meaning can be found in order itself – order of nature, social hierarchies, government, religion, even in the order within literary forms. • Writers look to the classical past for stability and the order they desired.

20. Thomas Jefferson The Declaration of Independence First Inaugural Address from Notes on the State of Virginia Speech of Logan Letter to John Adams

21. Link to the group close reading assignment on Franklin and Jefferson writings.

22. Olaudah Equiano “...they made ready with many fearful noises, and we were all put under deck, so that we could not see how they managed the vessel. But this disappointment was the least of my sorrow.The stench of the hold...was so intolerably loathsome that it was dangerous to remain there for any time...now that the whole ship’s cargo were confined together, it became absolutely pestilential. the hold of a slave ship

23. Olaudah Equiano Equiano’s Travels: The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa the African (1789) • One of the first attempts of an African American to enter the literary world of Western culture. • Became the prototype of the slave narrative. • spiritual autobiography with a social protest dimension focusing on slavery • parallels the captivity narrative (http://public.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/slave.htm) • abruptly brought from a state of protected innocence to confrontation with evils of slavery and captivity • suffers from forced existence in an alien society • is unable to submit or effectively to resist • balances yearning for freedom against the perils of escape

24. “I was much astonished and shocked at this contrivance, which I afterwards learned was called the iron muzzle.”

25. Olaudah Equiano continued Frequently repeated motifs in a slave narrative http://public.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/slave.htm • Exposes physical and emotional abuses of slavery: scenes of whipping, sexual abuse, starvation, especially of women or children • Exposes (sometimes satirically) white owners' hypocrisy and inconstancy • Describes repeated raising of narrator's expectations only to have them dashed by whites • Describes quest for literacy • Describes quest for freedom • Includes vignettes of other character types and the experience of slavery: those who succeed and those who fail • Makes overt appeals to imagined audience • Details loss of significant family member(s) and the destruction of family ties

26. Prompt - 8 minutes Discuss comparisons and contrasts between Equiano and Wheatley.

27. Scene of the middle passage from the film Amistad

28. Equiano excerpted chapters Horrors of a slave ship Travels from Virginia to England He Purchases His Freedom

29. Who is speaking to whom and why? Wheatley young African American Slave Female Benevolent master provided an education Audience was white upper class She was writing for a particular audience. Where do her poems show a racial awareness? The very fact that she is capable of such work flies in the face of conventional wisdom about African Americans of the day. She puts her African origin’s up front in two poems: “On Being Brought from Africa to America” “To S.M., a Young African Painter, On Seeing His Works” Poem Links

30. Aspects of Freneau http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap2/freneau.html#aspects 1. Poet of American Independence: Freneau provides incentive and inspiration to the revolution by writing such poems as "The Rising Glory of America" and "Pictures of Columbus." 2. Journalist: Freneau was editor and contributor of The Freeman's Journal (Philadelphia) from 1781-1784. In his writings, he advocated the essence of what is known as Jeffersonian democracy - decentralization of government, equality for the masses, etc. 3. Freneau's Religion: Freneau is described as a deist - a believer in nature and humanity but not a pantheist. In deism, religion becomes an attitude of intellectual belief, not a matter of emotional of spiritual ecstasy. Freneau shows interest and sympathy for the humble and the oppressed. 4. Freneau as Father of American Poetry: His major themes are death, nature, transition, and the human in nature. All of these themes become important in 19th century writing.

31. Philip Freneau “neoclassical by training but romantic in essential spirit” 1. Fresh interest in nature. 2. The belief that nature is a revelation of God. 3. Humanitarian sympathy for the humble and oppressed. 4. The faith that people are naturally good. 5. That they lived idyllic and benevolent lives in a primitive past before the advent of civilization. 6. The radical doctrine that the golden age will dawn again when social institutions are modified, since they are responsible for existing evil. http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap2/freneau.html#aspects

32. Group Annotation/Discussion “To Sir Toby” “The Wild Honey Suckle” “The Indian Burying Ground”