Colonial America

The United States grew out of:

Religious controversy- people looking for a place where they could worship as they chose Desire of the monarchs to expand their empireHuman thirst for land, adventure and goldNations ridding themselves of surplus population

Criminals, vagrants (indentured servants), lack of employment

Historical Background

Native Americans usually, but not always, greeted the earliest European settlers as friends

They helped them with agriculture and woodcraft that helped them survive those first harsh winters

Native American Literature

When European settlers first encountered Native Americans, native literature was entirely oral (no systems of writing developed yet).

Folklorists have since recorded a rich variety of songs, legends, and myths.

One of the common characteristics in the literature of various native tribes is a deep respect for nature.

Literature of the Explorers

European expeditions to the Americas were recorded in journals – individual day-by-day account of events.

These accounts frequently stressed the rich potential of the new lands with the goal of persuading wealthy Europeans to continue to provide funding for the expeditions.

Literature of the Explorers

The explorer Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) is credited with discovering the Americas for Europeans, but the Norse Vikings actually arrived centuries before Columbus.

Columbus’s contact, however, led to the first successful establishment of European culture in the Americas.

Pilgrims and Puritans

The first colonies in the United States were started by religious reformers. The Mayflower passengers of 1620 were religious reformers (Puritans) who were critical of the Church of England and looking for religious freedom.They wanted to purify the church from within (we know them as Pilgrims). They landed in Plymouth, MA.

PLYMOUTH

First permanent settlement in New England

Half of 102 settlers died of starvation and sickness first year

Scarce food, uneducated leaders, could not fish or use the land, no animals, poor farmlands

Leader- William Bradford (1590-1657)

William Bradford

Bradford was elected Governor of Plymouth Colony for two 15-year terms.

He published his journal about the settlement with the title Of Plymouth Plantation.

He is credited as the first to proclaim the celebration that is now known as Thanksgiving.

The first literature follows the development of Colonial America. It begins with Native American literature that was told in oral tradition, and thus, no fixed versions exist.Explorer literature took the form of journal accounts stressing wealth of new land.Colonial literature is EXPOSITORY and is meant to repeat and explain.Religion dominated the Puritan/Pilgrim writings as that was a predominant part of their lives. Poetry was written as a form of spiritual enlightenment

Literature of Colonial America