1. American Literature
Beginnings – 1750
“A most interesting aspect of the earliest period of American
literature is that, for the most part, the writers were not really
Americans.”

2. Native Americans
 300+ groups, 200+ languages
 Oral tradition, so no written
history
 Song lyrics, hero tales, migration
legends, creation stories -
originally studied for content (not
literary quality)
**common characteristic: deep
respect for nature

3. Explorers
 Age of Exploration – late 15th century
 Columbus: Journal of the First
Voyage to America
 Also written accounts by de Vaca, de
Cardenas, de Coronado
**Interesting and valuable as these are, they’re not central to
the development of American literature in the way that
other early writings are.

4. Slave Narratives
 The Interesting
Narrative of the Life
of Olaudah Equiano,
an African Slave
 Equiano – purchased
his freedom & moved
to England to write
his autobiography, an
account of slaves
journeying to
America

5. Pilgrims vs. Puritans
Pilgrims – (Mayflower 1620) – critical
of Church of England, so they
withdrew.
*AKA “Separatists”
*Plymouth Colony

6. Puritans
-Intended to purify the Church from
within
*Massachusetts Bay Colony
*“City on a hill” philosophy - model
community guided by the Bible
“For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill, the
eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal
falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so
cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be
made a story and a byword throughout the world…”
~John Winthrop (Gov. of
colony), from a
sermon about the Arabella, on

7. Beliefs:
-humans exist for the glory of God
-the Bible is the sole expression of God’s
will
-predestination
-Puritan ethic (constant hard work and
self-discipline)
-humans are inherently evil and must
struggle to
overcome sinful natures
**religion is a personal, inner experience. Clergy

8.  Puritanism declined during the
early 1700’s, but revived briefly in
1720: the Great Awakening
Literature: theological
studies, hymns, histories, diaries, biograp
hies & autobiographies
Purpose = to provide spiritual instruction
& insight
(more concerned w/
content
than craft)

9. Education – important for males and
females
- founded Harvard College 1636
- set up 1st printing press 1639
- free public schools in Mass. 1647
The New England Primer – spelling/reading
& moralism
Bay Psalm Book – standard hymnal of the
time
Literary Style: the more info the better;
plain, clear statement

10. Southern Planters
 Connected closely to slavery (1st slaves
1619 – 1 year before Pilgrims)
 Not much literature prior to 1750 –
mostly of a practical nature (John
Smith’s The General History of Virginia)
 Unlike Puritans, this group was not
opposed to fiction or drama

11. To wrap it all up….
The authors from this unit are not
the great names in American
literature, but they are the
founders – they set the stage for
all who have followed.