Colonization of America We should all know that in 1492
Columbus sailed the ocean starting the rush to the New World. By
the mid 1600s people would pay a small fortune to leave the crowded
streets of Britain for the largely uninhabited colonies in the
west.
Slide 4
Colonial works were influenced by British writers, since
America was a colony during that period.
Slide 5
The works consist largely of historical and teaching
materials.
Slide 6
You also find a lot of letters, journals, narratives, and
histories from this period.
Slide 7
The Colonial Period spans the years 1607, when the English
settlers founded Jamestown, Virginia, to 1765, when the British
passed the Stamp Act and set off the American Revolution.
Slide 8
John Smith is considered the first American author - A True
Relation of Such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened
in Virginian. He wrote: and The General History of Virginia, New
England, and the Summer Isles. Other writers of the early colonial
period included Daniel Denton and William Penn.
Slide 9
Puritan poetry was common and very religious. One of the
earliest books of poetry published was the Bay Psalm Book. Anne
Bradstreet- Upon the Burning of House and To My Dear and Loving
Husband
Slide 10
Indian Encounter Books soon began including Indian
interactions. During the seventeenth century, people were very
curious as to what Indians were like and authors took notice,
describing Indian encounters in their books/journals. Famous
authors who included these encounters include but are not limited
to: Daniel Gookin, Alexander Whitaker, John Mason, Benjamin Church,
and Mary Rowlandson.
Slide 11
Cotton Mather was a historian who wrote the history of the
colonies to connect the Puritan leaders with the heroes of the
Christian faith. His works include: The Wonders of the Invisible
World and The Biblia Americana.
Slide 12
Calvinism Established by John Calvin in the 1500s, Calvinism is
a theology best-known for supporting predestination- a theory that
suggests you cannot escape your fate.
Slide 13
The Great Awakening The great awakening was a series of
religious revivals among Protestants in the American colonies, esp.
in New England, lasting from about 1725 to 1770. Literature in this
time was, as you can imagine, centered around religion. Jonathan
Edwards and George Whitefield represented the Great Awakening with
theology supporting Calvinism.
Slide 14
Jonathan Edwards Jonathan was a writer/priest who believed in
Calvinism. Edwards is famous for his Puritan Literature in which he
would try to scare people into Christianity. Probably his most
famous publishing was his first sermon, Sinners in The Hands of An
Angry God.