Early American Literature and Life

1. Early American Literature and Life The Puritans and Pilgrims

2. 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.

3. Puritans come a few years later. • More intellectual than the Pilgrims. • More driven by religious principles than the pilgrims in the south. • Puritans didn’t 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.

4. Two Early American Historians John Winthrop William Bradford

5. 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.'"

6. 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."

7. Puritan Beliefs • Everyone is a sinner • God’s son, Jesus, was sent to earth to save certain people—”the elect.” • A person didn’t 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 God’s grade led to outward “Christian” behavior.

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

9. 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

10. 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/life.html Puritan Rules

11. Puritan Society begins to break down

12. 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. “Natural” Forces undermining the Puritan way of life: Perry Miller's Errand Into the Wilderness 1956

13. Excerpts from Anne Hutchinson’s 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 husband’s death, Anne, her servants, and five of her children were killed by Mahican Indians. Her former community members viewed this as God’s wrath for her disobedience.

14. 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. Signs that the Puritan way of life was decaying Perry Miller's Errand Into the Wilderness 1956

15. Puritan Clergy The Salem Witch Trials and

16. Cotton Mather (1663 – 1728)

17. 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.

18. 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

19. The Great Awakening

20. “There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell but the mere pleasure of God.” Jonathan Edwards (1703 – 1758)

21. Some Biblical References to Sin and Hell Deuteronomy 24:16 “every man shall be put to death for his own sin.” Micah 7:19 “thou will cast all their sins into the depths” 2 Thessalonians 2:3 “…that man of sin be revealed…” James 1:15 “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 6:23 “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.” Psalms 9:17 “the wicked shall be turned into hell”