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For information on how to proceed, first see the FAQ for blocked users and the guideline on block appeals. The guide to appealing blocks may also be helpful. Other useful links: Blocking policy · Help:I have been blocked You can view and copy the source of this page: ==Colonial literature== [[File:Houghton STC 22790 - Generall Historie of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles, John Smith.jpg|right|thumb|[[John Smith (explorer)|Captain John Smith]]'s ''A True Relation of Such Occurrences and Accidents of Noate as Hath Happened in Virginia...'' (1608) can be considered America's first work of literature.]] The [[Thirteen Colonies]] have often been regarded as the center of early American literature. However, the first European settlements in North America had been founded elsewhere many years earlier, and the dominance of the English language in American culture was not yet apparent.Baym, Nina, ed. ''The Norton Anthology of American Literature''. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2007. Print. The first item printed in [[Pennsylvania]] was in [[German language|German]] and was the largest book printed in any of the colonies before the American Revolution. Spanish and French had two of the strongest colonial literary traditions in the areas that now comprise the United States, and discussions of early American literature commonly include texts by [[Samuel de Champlain]] alongside English-language texts by [[Thomas Harriot]] and [[John Smith (explorer)|Captain John Smith]]. Moreover, a wealth of [[oral literature|oral literary]] traditions existed on the continent among the numerous different [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native American]] tribes. Political events, however, would eventually make English the lingua franca as well as the literary language of choice for the colonies at large. Such events included the English capture of the Dutch colony of [[New Amsterdam]] in 1664, with the English renaming it New York and changing the administrative language from Dutch to English.Henry L. Schoolcraft, "The Capture of New Amsterdam," ''English Historical Review'' (1907) 22#88 674–693 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/550138 in JSTOR] From 1696 to 1700, only about 250 separate items were issued from the major printing presses in the American colonies. This is a small number compared to the output of the printers in [[London]] at the time. London printers published materials written by New England authors, so the body of American literature was larger than what was published in North America. However, printing was established in the American colonies before it was allowed in most of England. In England, restrictive laws had long confined printing to four locations, where the government could monitor what was published: London, York, Oxford, and Cambridge. Because of this, the colonies ventured into the modern world earlier than their provincial English counterparts. Back then, some of the American literature were pamphlets and writings extolling the benefits of the colonies to both a European and colonial audience. [[John Smith (explorer)|Captain John Smith]] could be considered the first American author with his works: ''A True Relation of Such Occurrences and Accidents of Noate as Hath Happened in Virginia...'' (1608) and ''The Generall Historie of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles'' (1624). Other writers of this manner included [[Daniel Denton]], [[Thomas Ashe (writer)|Thomas Ashe]], [[William Penn]], [[George Percy]], [[William Strachey]], [[Daniel Coxe]], Gabriel Thomas, and [[John Lawson (explorer)|John Lawson]]. ===Topics of early prose=== [[File:LettersFromAnAmericanFarmer.png|thumb|left|[[Letters from an American Farmer]] is one of the first in the canon of American literature, and has influenced a diverse range of subsequent works.]] The religious disputes that prompted settlement in America were important topics of early American literature. A journal written by [[John Winthrop]], ''The History of New England'', discussed the religious foundations of the [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]]. [[Edward Winslow]] also recorded a diary of the first years after the ''[[Mayflower]]'s'' arrival. "[[A Model of Christian Charity|A modell of Christian Charity]]" by John Winthrop, the first governor of Massachusetts, was a Sermon preached on the ''[[Arbella]]'' (the [[flagship]] of the [[Winthrop Fleet]]) in 1630. This work outlined the ideal society that he and the other Separatists would build in an attempt to realize a "Puritan utopia". Other religious writers included [[Increase Mather]] and [[William Bradford (1590-1657)|William Bradford]], author of the journal published as a ''[[Of Plymouth Plantation|History of Plymouth Plantation, 1620–47]]''. Others like [[Roger Williams (theologian)|Roger Williams]] and [[Nathaniel Ward]] more fiercely argued state and church separation. Others, such as [[Thomas Morton (colonist)|Thomas Morton]], cared little for the church; Morton's ''The New English Canaan'' mocked the [[Puritan]]s and declared that the local Native Americans were better people than them.Skipp, Francis E. ''American Literature'', Barron's Educational, 1992. Other late writings described conflicts and interaction with the Indians, as seen in writings by [[Daniel Gookin]], [[Alexander Whitaker]], [[John Mason (c.1600-1672)|John Mason]], [[Benjamin Church (ranger)|Benjamin Church]], and [[Daniel J. Tan]]. [[John Eliot (missionary)|John Eliot]] translated the [[Bible]] into the [[Algonquin language]] (1663) as [[Mamusse Wunneetupanatamwe Up-Biblum God]].''A Short History of Boston'' by Robert J. Allison, p.14 It was the first complete Bible printed in the Western hemisphere; [[Stephen Daye]] printed 1,000 copies on the first printing press in the American colonies.the Bay Psalm Book exhibition at the Library of Congress 2015 Of the second generation of New England settlers, [[Cotton Mather]] stands out as a theologian and historian, who wrote the history of the colonies with a view to God's activity in their midst and to connecting the Puritan leaders with the great heroes of the Christian faith. His best-known works include the ''[[Magnalia Christi Americana]]'' (1702), the ''[[Wonders of the Invisible World]]'' and ''The Biblia Americana''.{{fact|date=January 2021}} [[Jonathan Edwards (theologian)|Jonathan Edwards]] and [[George Whitefield]] represented the [[First Great Awakening|Great Awakening]], a religious revival in the early 18th century that emphasized [[Calvinism|Calvinist thought]]. Other Puritan and religious writers include [[Thomas Hooker]], [[Thomas Shepard (minister)|Thomas Shepard]], [[John Wise (clergyman)|John Wise]], and [[Samuel Willard]]. Less strict and serious writers included [[Samuel Sewall]] (who wrote a diary revealing the daily life of the late 17th century), and [[Sarah Kemble Knight]].{{fact|date=January 2021}} New England was not the only area in the colonies with a literature: southern literature was also growing at this time. The diary of [[Planter class|planter]] [[William Byrd II|William Byrd]] and his ''[[The History of the Dividing Line]]'' (1728) described the expedition to survey the swamp between Virginia and North Carolina but also comments on the differences between [[Native Americans in the United States|American Indians]] and the white settlers in the area. In a similar book, ''Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West'', [[William Bartram]] described the Southern landscape and the Indian tribes he encountered; Bartram's book was popular in Europe, being translated into German, French and Dutch. As the colonies moved toward independence from Britain, an important discussion of American culture and identity came from the French immigrant [[J. Hector St. John de Crèvecœur]], whose ''[[Letters from an American Farmer]]'' (1782) addresses the question "What is an American?" by moving between praise for the opportunities and peace offered in the new society and recognition that the solid life of the farmer must rest uneasily between the oppressive aspects of the urban life and the lawless aspects of the frontier, where the lack of social structures leads to the loss of civilized living. This same period saw the beginning of [[African-American literature]], through the poet [[Phillis Wheatley]] and the [[slave narrative]] of [[Olaudah Equiano]], ''[[The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano]]'' (1789). At this time American Indian literature also began to flourish. [[Samson Occom]] published his ''A Sermon Preached at the Execution of Moses Paul'' and a popular hymnbook, ''Collection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs'', "the first Indian best-seller".Gray, Richard. ''A History of American Literature''. Blackwell, 2004. ===Revolutionary period=== [[File:Memoirs of Franklin.jpg|right|thumb|[[The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin]] (1793)]] The Revolutionary period also contained political writings, including those by colonists [[Samuel Adams]], [[Josiah Quincy II|Josiah Quincy]], [[John Dickinson (delegate)|John Dickinson]], and [[Joseph Galloway]], the last being a loyalist to the crown. Two key figures were [[Benjamin Franklin]] and [[Thomas Paine]]. Franklin's ''[[Poor Richard's Almanac]]'' and ''[[The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin]]'' are esteemed works with their wit and influence toward the formation of a budding American identity. Paine's pamphlet ''[[Common Sense (Book)|Common Sense]]'' and ''[[The American Crisis]]'' writings are seen as playing a key role in influencing the political tone of the time. During the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]], poems and songs such as "[[Nathan Hale]]" were popular. Major satirists included [[John Trumbull (poet)|John Trumbull]] and [[Francis Hopkinson]]. [[Philip Morin Freneau]] also wrote poems about the War. During the 18th century, writing shifted from the Puritanism of Winthrop and Bradford to Enlightenment ideas of reason. The belief that human and natural occurrences were messages from God no longer fit with the budding anthropocentric culture. Many intellectuals believed that the human mind could comprehend the universe through the laws of physics as described by [[Isaac Newton]]. One of these was [[Cotton Mather]]. The first book published in North America that promoted Newton and natural theology was Mather's ''The Christian Philosopher'' (1721). The enormous scientific, economic, social, and philosophical, changes of the 18th century, called the [[American Enlightenment|Enlightenment]], impacted the authority of clergyman and scripture, making way for democratic principles. The increase in population helped account for the greater diversity of opinion in religious and political life as seen in the literature of this time. In 1670, the population of the colonies numbered approximately 111,000. Thirty years later it was more than 250,000. By 1760, it reached 1,600,000. The growth of communities and therefore social life led people to become more interested in the progress of individuals and their shared experience in the colonies. These new ideas can be seen in the popularity of [[Benjamin Franklin]]'s ''Autobiography''. Even earlier than Franklin was [[Cadwallader Colden]] (1689 - 1776), whose book ''The History of the Five Indian Nations'', published in 1727 was one of the first texts published on [[Iroquois]] history.Colden, Cadwallader, and John G. Shea. ''The History of the Five Indian Nations Depending on the Province of New-York.'' New York: T.H. Morrell, 1866. Colden also wrote a book on botany, which attracted the attention of [[Carl Linnaeus]], and he maintained a long term correspondence with Benjamin Franklin.Gitin, Louis L. ''Cadwallader Colden: As Scientist and Philosopher.'' Burlington, Vt, 1935.Hoermann, Alfred R. ''Cadwallader Colden: A Figure of the American Enlightenment.'' Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 2002. Return to American literature. 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