Early American Writing

Table Of Contents

Introduction
Prefigurations (1): Native American Mythology
WINNEBAGO: This Newly Created World
CHEROKEE: How the World Was Made
BERING STRAIT ESKIMO: Raven Creation Myth
HOPI: How the Spaniards Came to Shung-opovi, How They Build a Mission, and How the Hopi Destroyed the Mission
IROQUOIS: Iroquois or Confederacy of the Five Nations
Prefigurations (2): The Literature of Imagination and Discovery
ANONYMOUS: from The Saga of Eric the Red (c. 1000)
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS (1451?-1506): from a Letter to Lord Raphael Sanchez, Treasurer to Ferdinand and Isabella, King and Queen of Spain, on His First Voyage (1493)
AMERIGO VESPUCCI (1454-1512): from Mundus Novus (Letter on His Third Voyage to Lorenzo Pietro Francesco de Medici, 1503)
THOMAS MORE (1478-1535): from Utopia (1551)
ALVAR NUÑEZ CABEZA DE VACA (1490?-1557?): from The Narrative of Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca (1542)
PEDRO DE CASTEÑEDA (1510?-1570?): from The Narrative of the Expedition of Coronado (c. 1562)
PETER MARTYR (1455-1526) and RICHARD EDEN (1521-1576): from The Decades of the New World or West India (1555)
MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE (1533-1592): from Of Cannibals (1580)
THOMAS HARIOT (1560-1621): from Brief and True Report of the New-found Land of Virginia (1588)
SIR WALTER RALEIGH (1544-1618): from The Discovery of Guiana (1595)
MICHAEL DRAYTON (1563-1631): To the Virginian Voyage (1606)
RICHARD HAKLUYT (1552?-1616): from The Famous Voyage of Sir Francis Drake (1628)
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564-1616): from The Tempest (1611)
FRANCIS BACON (1561-1626): from The New Atlantis (1627)
SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN (1567-1635): from The Voyages of Samuel de Champlain (1604-1618)
GEORGE HERBERT (1593-1633): from The Church Militant
The Literature of Settlement and Colonization
JOHN SMITH (1580-1631): from A True Relation of Such Occurrences and Accidents of Noate as Hath Hapned in Virginia Since the First Planting of That Collony (1608); from A Description of New England (1616)
JOHN COTTON (1584-1652): from God’s Promise to His Plantations (1630)
ALEXANDER WHITAKER (1585-1616?): from Good News from Virginia (1613)
JOHN WINTHROP (1587-1649): from A Modell of Christian Charity (1630)
WILLIAM BRADFORD (1590-1657): from Of Plymouth Plantation (1630-1651):
from Chapter I #The Separatist Interpretation of the Reformation in England, 1550-1607#
from Chapter II #Of Their Departure to Holland and the Troubles and Difficulties They Met with There. Anno 1608#
from Chapter III #Of Their Settlement in Holland and Their Life There#
from Chapter IV #On the Reasons and Causes of Their Removal#
from Chapter IX #Of their Voyage, and How They Passed the Sea, and of Their Safe Arrival at Cape Cod#
from Chapter XI #The Remainder of Anno 1620: Starving Time; Indian Relations#
from Chapter XIX #Anno Domini 1628: Thomas Morton of Merry-mont#
from Chapter XXXII #Anno Domini 1642: Wickedness Breaks Forth#
from Chapter XXXIII #Anno Domini 1643: The Life and Death of Elder Brewster#
THOMAS MORTON (1579?-1647): from The New English Canaan (1637)
THOMAS HOOKER (1586?-1647): from A True Sight of Sin (1659)
ANN HUTCHINSON (1591-1643): from The Examination of Mrs. Ann Hutchinson at the Court at Newtown (1637)
THOMAS SHEPARD (1605-1649): The Covenant of Grace (1651)ANN BRADSTREET (1612?-1672): The Prologue (1650)
The Author to Her Book
Before the Birth of One of Her Children
Contemplations
To My Dear and Loving Husband
A Letter to Her Husband, Absent upon Publick Employment
In Memory of My Dear Grand-Child Elizabeth Bradstreet, Who Deceased August, 1655, Being a Year and a Half Old
Here Follows Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House (July 10, 1666)
To My Dear Children
ROGER WILLIAMS (1613-1683): from The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution (1644)
from The Hireling Ministry None of Christs (1652)
SAMUEL DANFORTH (1626-1674): from A Brief Recognition of New England’s Errand into the Wilderness (1671)
MICHAEL WIGGLESWORTH (1631-1705): from God’s Controversy with New-England (1662)
MARY ROWLANDSON (1635?-1678?): from A Narrative of the Captivity and Restauration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson (1682)
EDWARD TAYLOR (1644?-1729): from God’s Determinations Concerning His Elect (c. 1680): The Preface; The Souls Groan to Christ for Succour; Christ’s Reply
from Prepatory Meditations: First Series Meditations (1, 8, 38, 39)
from Occasional Poems: Upon a Spider Catching a Fly; Huswifery; The Ebb & Flow
SAMUEL SEWALL (1652-1730): from The Diary of Samuel Sewall (1674-1729)
from Phaenomena quaedam Apocalyptica (1697)
from The Selling of Joseph (1700)
COTTON MATHER (1633-1728): from Magnalia Christi Americana (1702):
A General Introduction
Galeacius Secundus: The Life of William Bradford, Esq., Governor of Plymouth Colony
SARAH KEMBLE KNIGHT (1666-1727): from The Journal of Madam Knight (1704-1710)
EBENEZER COOK (1670-c. 1732): from The Sot-Weed Factor; or, a Voyage to Maryland, &c. (1708)
ROBERT BEVERLEY (c. 1673-1722): from The History and Present State of Virginia (1705):Chapter I: Showing What Happened in the First Attempts to Settle Virginia, Before the Discovery of Chesapeake Bay
Chapter II: Containing an Account of the First Settlement of Chesapeake Bay, in Virginia, by the Corporation of London Adventurers, and Their Proceedings During Their Government by a President and Council Elective
Chapter III: Showing What Happened After the Alteration of the Government From an Elective President to a Commissionated Governor, Until the Dissolution of the Company
WILLIAM BYRD II (1674-1744): from The Secret Diary of William Byrd of Westover (1719-1720)
FRAY CARLOS JOSÉ DELGADO (1677-c. 1750): Report made by Rev. Father Fray Carlos Delgado to our Reverence Father Ximeno concerning the abominable hostilities and tyrannies of the governors and alcaldes mayores toward the Indians, to the consternation of the custodia (1750)
JONATHAN EDWARDS (1703-1758): Sarah Pierrepont (1723)
from Personal Narrative (1740)
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God (1741)
from A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections (1746)
from The Nature of True Virtue (1765)
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (1706-1790): The Way to Wealth (Preface to Poor Richard Improved) (1758)
Address to the Public; from the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, and the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage (1782)
from Information to Those Who Would Remove to America (1784)
Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America (1784)
Speech in the Convention at the Conclusion of Its Deliberations (September 17, 1787)
from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1784, 1788)
Letter to Ezra Styles (March 9, 1790)
ELIZABETH ASHBRIDGE (1713-1755): from Some Account of the Early Part of the Life of Elizabeth Ashbridge…Written by Herself (1807)
JONATHAN MAYHEW (1720-1766): from A Discourse Concerning Unlimited Submission and Non-Resistance to the Higher Powers (1750)
JOHN WOOLMAN (1720-1772): from Some Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes (1754)
FRANCISCO PALOU (1723-1789): from Life of Junipero Serra (1787)
Native American Literature in the Colonial Period
North American Indian Oratory
CHIEF POWHATAN(1609)
CHIEF CANASSATEGO (1742)
CHIEF LOGAN(1774)
CHIEF PACHGANTSCHILIAS(1787)
CHIEF TECUMSEH(1810)
Literature of the Early Republic
GEORGE WASHINGTON (1732-1799): from The Farewell Address to the People of the United States (September 17, 1796)
THOMAS JEFFERSON (1734-1826): from Autobiography
from Notes on the State of Virginia (1785):from Query IV. #A Notice of Its Mountains?#
from Query V. #Its Cascades and Caverns?#
from Query XI. #A Description of the Indians Established in that State?#from Query XVII. #Religion?#
An Act for Establishing Religious Freedom in the State of Virginia (1786)
First Inaugural Address (March 4, 1801)
Letter to James Madison (December 20, 1787)
Letter to Dr. Benjamin Rush (April 21, 1803)
Letter to Peter Carr (August 19, 1785)
Letter to Thomas Law, Esq. (June 13, 1814)
JOHN ADAMS (1735-1826): from the Preface to A Defense of the Constitutions of Government (1787)
J. HECTOR ST. JEAN DE CREVECOEUR (1737-1818): from Letters of an American Farmer (1782):from Letter III. #What is an American?#
from Letter IX. #Thoughts on Slavery; On Physical Evil; A Melancholy Scene#
THOMAS PAINE (1737-1809): An Occasional Letter on the Female Sex (1775)
from the Introduction to Common Sense (1776)
from Of the Religion of Deism Compared with the Christian Religion, and the Superiority of the Former over the Latter (1804)
WILLIAM BARTRAM (1739-1823): from Travels Through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida (1791)
ABIGAIL ADAMS (1744-1818): Letters to John Adams:
March 31, 1776
April 5, 1776
July 13, 1776
August 14, 1776
April 10, 1782
GUSTAVUS VASSA #OLAUDAH EQUIANO# (1745-1797): from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Oloudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, Written by Himself (1789)
HUGH HENRY BRACKENRIDGE (1748-1816): from Modern Chivalry (1792): Chapter I; Chapter III; Chapter V
JOHN TRUMBULL: “The Liberty Pole” from M’Fingal (1782)
The Federalist Papers (1787-1788):
No. 1 #Alexander Hamilton# (1787)
No. 10 #James Madison# (1787)
JUDITH SARGENT MURRAY (1751-1820): On the Equality of the Sexes (1790)
TIMOTHY DWIGHT (1752-1817): from America (1790)
PHILIP FRENEAU (1752-1832): On the Emigration to America (1784)
The Wild Honey Suckle (1786)
The Indian Burying Ground (1787)
On Mr. Paine’s Rights of Man (1791)
PHILLIS WHEATLY (1753?-1784): On Being Brought from Africa to America (1773)
On the Death of the Rev. Mr. George Whitfield (1770)
To S. M., A Young African Painter, on Seeing His Works (1773)
JOEL BARLOW (1754-1812): from Advise to the Privileged Orders in the Several States of Europe (1792)
The Hasty Pudding (1793)
ROYALL TYLER (1757-1826): Choice of a Wife (1796)
Prologue to The Contrast (1787)
HANNAH WEBSTER FOSTER (1758-1840): from The Coquette; or, the Life and Letters of Eliza Wharton (1797)
SUSANNA HASWELL ROWSON (1762?-1824): Preface to Charlotte Temple (1794)
Explanatory Notes