STUDENT’S ENCYCLOPEDIA OF GREAT AMERICAN WRITERS

Volume I: Beginnings to 1830

Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers Volume I: Beginnings to 1830

Andrea Tinnemeyer

Pa t r i c i a M. Ga n t t , Ge n e r a l Ed i t o r Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers, Beginnings to 1830

Copyright © 2010 by Andrea Tinnemeyer

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Student’s encyclopedia of great American writers / Patricia Gantt, general editor. v. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. Contents: [1] Beginnings to 1830 / Andrea Tinnemeyer — [2] 1830 to 1900 / Paul Crumbley — [3] 1900 to 1945 / Robert C. Evans — [4] 1945 to 1970 / Blake Hobby — [5] 1970 to the present / Patricia Gantt. ISBN 978-0-8160-6087-0 (hardcover: acid-free paper) ISBN 978-1-4381-3125-2 (e-book) 1. Authors, American—Biography—Encyclopedias, Juvenile. 2. American literature—Encyclopedias, Juvenile. I. Tinnemeyer, Andrea. II. Gantt, Patricia M., 1943– PS129.S83 2009 810.9’0003—dc22 [B] 2009030783

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Text design by Annie O’Donnell Composition by Mary Susan Ryan-Flynn Cover printed by Sheridan Books, Ann Arbor, Mich. Book printed and bound by Sheridan Books, Ann Arbor, Mich. Date printed: June 2010 Printed in the United States of America

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This book is printed on acid-free paper. Contents

Acknowledgments vi Washington Irving 203 List of Writers and Works Included vii Thomas Jefferson 214 Series Preface xi Cotton Mather 235 Volume Introduction xii Thomas Morton 250 Judith Sargent Murray 259 John Adams and Abigail Adams 1 Samson Occom 269 William Bradford 12 Thomas Paine 278 Anne Bradstreet 21 Mary White Rowlandson 291 Charles Brockden Brown 43 Susanna Haswell Rowson 297 William Cullen Bryant 51 Catharine Maria Sedgwick 305 Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca 62 John Smith 314 Samuel de Champlain 71 Edward Taylor 330 Christopher Columbus 80 Phillis Wheatley 348 James Fenimore Cooper 96 John Winthrop 363 J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur 107 Jonathan Edwards 115 Appendix I: List of Writers Included Olaudah Equiano 134 in All Volumes of the Student’s Hannah Webster Foster 145 Encyclopedia of Great American Writers 375 Benjamin Franklin 155 Appendix II: Chronological List of Philip Morin Freneau 174 Writers Included in All Volumes of Jupiter Hammon 189 the Student’s Encyclopedia of Great Handsome Lake 199 American Writers, by Birth Date 378 Acknowledgments

would like to express my gratitude to Jeff Soloway Last, I want to dedicate this book to my family, Iat Facts On File for his patience, guidance, and especially Eddie, Riley, and Magnolia, and to the thoughtfulness. I would also like to thank Pat Gantt doctors who saved Riley’s life this past year: Dr. for believing in my abilities to steer the ship of this Penny Harris, Dr. Barbara Botelho, and Dr. Peter volume through its journey. My colleagues at The Chira. My most profound thanks for returning our College Preparatory School have been invaluable young boy to us. sources of knowledge, laughter, and wisdom.

vi List of Writers and Works Included

John Adams (1735–1826) and “Before the Birth of One of Her Children” (1678) Abigail Adams (1744–1818) 1 “To My Dear and Loving Husband” (1678) Correspondence of John and “A Letter to Her Husband, Absent upon Abigail Adams Public Employment” (1678) Autobiography of John Adams (1807) “In Memory of My Dear Grandchild, Elizabeth Bradstreet, Who Deceased William Bradford (1590–1657) 12 August, 1665, Being a Year and a Half Old” and “In Memory of My Dear Of Plymouth Plantation (1630, Grandchild Anne Bradstreet, Who 1644–1650) Deceased June 20, 1669, Being Three Years and Seven Months Old” (1678) Anne Bradstreet (1612–1672) 21 “To My Dear Children” (1867) “In Honour of that High and Mighty “For Deliverance from a Fever” (1867) Princess, Queen Elizabeth of Happy Memory” (1643) Charles Brockden Brown “A Dialogue between Old England and (1771–1810) 43 New” (1643) Wieland (1798) “The Prologue” (1650) Edgar Huntly (1799) “To the Memory of My Dear and Ever Arthur Mervyn; or, Memoirs of the Year Honored Father” (1653) 1793 (1798–1800) “In Reference to Her Children, 23 June, “Somnambulism, a Fragment” (1805) 1659” (1659) “Here Follows Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House July 10th, William Cullen Bryant 1666” (1666) (1794–1878) 51 “On My Dear Grandchild Simon “Thanatopsis” (1814, 1817, 1821) Bradstreet, Who Died on 16 November, “The Yellow Violet” (1814, 1821) 1669, Being But a Month, and One “To a Waterfowl” (1815, 1818, 1821) Day Old” (1669) “To Cole, the Painter, Departing for “As Weary Pilgrim” (1669) Europe” (1829) “The Author to Her Book” (1678) “The Prairies” (1832, 1833) “To Her Father with Some Verses” (1678) “To the Fringed Gentian” (1847) “The Flesh and the Spirit” (1678) “Abraham Lincoln” (1865)

vii viii Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca Olaudah Equiano (1745–1797) 134 (1490–1556) 62 The Interesting Narrative of the Life of “The Account: Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, Vaca’s Relacíon” (1542) the African, Written by Himself (1789)

Samuel de Champlain (1570–1635) 71 Hannah Webster Foster (1758–1840) 145 The Coquette; or, the History of Eliza The Voyages of Samuel de Champlain Wharton (1797) (1604–1635) The Boarding School: Or, Lessons of a Preceptress to Her Pupils (1798) Christopher Columbus (1451–1506) 80 Journal of the First Voyage to America (1492) Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) 155 Letter to Luis de Santángel (1493) Poor Richard’s Almanac (1732–1757) Narrative of the Third Voyage (1498) “The Way to Wealth” (1757) Letter to Ferdinand and Isabel (1503) “An Edict by the King of Prussia” (1773) “Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be James Fenimore Cooper (1789–1851) 96 Reduced to a Small One” (1773) “The Ephemera, an Emblem of Human The Pioneers (1823) Life” (1778) The Pilot (1824) “Information to Those Who Would The Last of the Mohicans (1826) Remove to America” (1782) The Deerslayer (1841) “Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America” (1784) J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur “Speech in the Convention” (1787) (1735–1813) 107 The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1788, 1791) Letters from an American Farmer (1782)

Philip Morin Freneau (1752–1832) 174 Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758) 115 “The Power of Fancy” (1770) “A Divine and Supernatural Light” (1734) “A Political Litany” (1775) “The Images of Divine Things” (1737–1741) “The House of Night” (1779) A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising “On the Emigration to America and Work of God in the Conversions of Many Peopling the Western Country” (1785) Hundred Souls (1737) “The Wild Honey Suckle” (1786) “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” (1741) “The Indian Burying Ground” (1787) A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections (1746) “Part 2: The News” (1790) The Freedom of the Will (1754) “On Mr. Paine’s Rights of Man” (1791) The Great Christian Doctrine of Original “To Sir Toby” (1792) Sin Defended (1758) “On the Religion of Nature” (1795) List of Writers and Works Included ix

“On the Causes of Political Degeneracy” (1798) the Instruction of Negro-Servants in “On the Universality and Other Attributes Christianity (1706) of the God of Nature” (1815) Bonifacius: An Essay to Do Good (1710) “On Observing a Large Red-Streak The Christian Philosopher (1720) Apple” (1822) Manductio ad Ministerium (1726) “To a New England Poet” (1823) Thomas Morton (1579–1647) 250 Jupiter Hammon (1711–1806) 189 New English Canaan (1637) “An Evening Thought: Salvation by Christ, with Penitential Cries” (1760) Judith Sargent Murray “An Address to Miss Phillis Wheatley, (1751–1820) 259 Ethiopian Poetess, in Boston, Who “Desultory Thoughts upon the Utility Came from Africa at Eight Years of of Encouraging a Degree of Self- Age, and Soon Became Acquainted Complacency, Especially in Female with the Gospel of Jesus Christ” (1778) Bosoms” (1784) “An Address to the Negroes in the State of New York” (1786) “On the Equality of the Sexes” (1790) “Sketch of the Present Situation of America, 1794” (1794) Handsome Lake (1735–1815) 199 The Medium, or Virtue Triumphant (1795) “How America Was Discovered” (1799) The Traveller Returned (1796) The Story of Margaretta (1798) Washington Irving (1783–1859) 203 “Observations on Female Abilities” (1798) “Rip Van Winkle” (1819) “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” (1820) Samson Occom (1723–1792) 269 “A Short Narrative of My Life” (1768) Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 214 “A Sermon Preached by Samson Occom, Declaration of Independence (1776) Minister of the Gospel, and Missionary Notes on the State of Virginia (1785) of the Indians; at the Execution of Letter to Peter Carr (1787) Moses Paul an Indian” (1772) Letter to Handsome Lake (1802) Letter to Benjamin Hawkins (1803) Thomas Paine (1737–1809) 278 Letter to Nathaniel Burwell (1818) Common Sense (1776) Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson (1821) The American Crisis (1776–1783) The Age of Reason (1794) Cotton Mather (1663–1728) 235 The Wonders of the Invisible World (1693) Mary White Rowlandson Magnalia Christi Americana (1698) (1637–1711) 291 The Negro Christianized: An Essay to The Soveraignty and Goodness of GOD, Excite and Assist That Good Work, Together with the Faithfulness of His x Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

Promises Displayed; Being a Narrative “Christ’s Reply” (1680) of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. “The Joy of Church Fellowship Rightly Mary Rowlandson (1682) Attended” (1680) Preparatory Meditations before My Susanna Haswell Rowson Approach to the Lord’s Supper (1682–1725) (1762–1824) 297 A Metrical History of Christianity (ca. 1695) Charlotte Temple: A Tale of Truth (1791) Phillis Wheatley (1753–1784) 348 Catharine Maria Sedgwick “On the Death of Reverend Mr. George (1789–1867) 305 Whitefi eld, 1770” (1773) Hope Leslie, or Early Times in the “To the Right Honorable William, Earl of Massachusetts (1827) Dartmouth” (1772) “Cacoethes Scribendi” (1830) “To Maecenas” (1773) “A Reminiscence of Federalism” (1834) “On Being Brought from Africa to America” (1773) John Smith (1580–1631) 314 “To the University of Cambridge in New England” (1773) A True Relation of Virginia (1608) “A Farewell to America” (1773) Generall Historie of Virginia, New- England, and the Summer Isles (1623) “To the King’s Most Excellent Majesty” The True Travels, Adventures, and (1773) Observations of Captaine John Smith (1630) “Thoughts on the Works of Providence” Advertisements for the Unexperienced (1773) Planters of New England, or Any Where “To S. M., a Young African Painter, on (1631) Seeing His Works” (1773) “Letter to Samson Occom” (1774) Edward Taylor (ca. 1642–1729) 330 “To His Excellency General Washington” (1775, 1776) God’s Determinations Touching His Elect (1680) “Liberty and Peace” (1784) “The Preface” to God’s Determinations Touching His Elect (1680) John Winthrop (1588–1649) 363 “The Soul’s Groan to Christ for Succor” A Modell of Christian Charity (1630) (1680) The Journal of John Winthrop (1630–1645) Series Preface

he Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American and then subentries on the author’s major works. TWriters is a unique reference intended to help After each subentry on a work is a set of ques- high school students meet standards for literature tions for discussion and/or writing. Another set of education and prepare themselves for literature study broader discussion questions appears near the end of in college. It offers extensive entries on important each author entry, followed by a bibliography. The authors, as well as providing additional interpretive entire five-volume set therefore contains more than helps for students and their teachers. The set has 1000 discussion questions. These questions make been designed and written in the context of the up perhaps the most important and useful features national standards for English language arts, cre- of the set, encouraging further creative thought and ated by the National Council of Teachers of English helping students get started on their own writing. and the International Reading Association, the two Many of the questions reference not only the subject professional organizations that have the most at stake literary work or author but also related works and in high school language arts education (see http:// authors, thus helping students to make additional www.ncte.org/standards). literary connections, as emphasized by the literature The volume editors and many of the contributors standards. to this set not only are university scholars but also The authors and works included in the set have experience in secondary school literature educa- were selected primarily from among those most tion, ranging from working as readers of Advanced popular in the high school classrooms—that is, Placement examinations, to developing high school those often featured in secondary-school literary literature curricula, to having taught in high school anthologies and textbooks; those often appearing English classrooms. Although the volume editors all on age-appropriate reading lists; and those most have extensive experience as scholars and university often searched for in Facts On File’s online literary professors, they all have strong roots in high school database Bloom’s Literature Online, used primar- education and have drawn on their experience to ily in high schools. In addition, we have endeav- ensure that entries are stylistically appealing and con- ored to include a range of writers from different tain the necessary content for students. backgrounds in all periods, as well as writers who, The set’s five volumes are organized chronologi- though not perhaps among the very most popular cally, as many literature textbooks and anthologies today, appear to have been unjustly neglected and are. This system is convenient for students and also are gaining in popularity. No selection could be facilitates cross-disciplinary study, increasingly com- perfect, and those writers favored by scholars and mon in high schools. For example, a section on the critics are not always as popular in the high school Civil War in history class might be accompanied by classroom, but the general editor and volumes edi- the study of Walt Whitman and Stephen Crane in tors have attempted to make the set’s coverage as English class. To help students find what they need, useful to students as possible. each volume contains two lists of all the authors Above all, we hope that this set serves not only to included in the set: one organized chronologically instruct but also to inspire students with the love of and the other alphabetically. literature shared by all the editors and contributors Within each volume, authors are presented alpha- who worked on this set. betically. Each author entry contains a biography Patricia M. Gantt

xi Volume Introduction

arly American literature is an exciting and diffi culty in maintaining the prejudices they previ- Eoften bewildering amalgamation of voices. The ously held about America’s indigenous population. authors commonly taught today in surveys of the Other captivity narratives addressed in this volume period had a variety of backgrounds and had equally include John Smith’s famous tale and that of the varied reasons for writing. Included in this volume explorer Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, whose time are authors identifi ed as explorers, colonists, former among native peoples resulted in his transformation slaves, ministers, founding fathers, poets, farmers, from conquistador to healer and reformer. Cabeza and journalists. The explorers wrote in different de Vaca’s narrative provides an example against languages and hailed from different countries, such which to place the other accounts. His insistence as France (Samuel de Champlain), Italy (Christopher that natives are more moral than the conquistadors Columbus), Spain (Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca), makes his account of captivity vastly different from and England. What they all had in common is that the more conventional tales presented by Mary they explored and wrote about territory that later White Rowlandson and John Smith. became part of the United States of America. One of the greatest poets of early America was Many authors included in this volume write from Rowlandson’s contemporary, the Puritan minister the perspectives of newly forged identities, whether Edward Taylor, whose work was only published as colonists arrived in a new land, or converts to long after his death. Taylor too examined landscape a new religious faith, or people freed from slavery and other elements of nature as encoded messages or captivity. The most prominent writers among from God that he needed to meditate on in his own the early colonists were Puritan ministers born writings. As had his predecessor, the poet Anne in England. One of them, John Winthrop, com- Bradstreet, Taylor turned to writing to seek solace pared his new home to “a city upon a hill,” thus for diffi cult times, such as after the deaths of family projecting onto the newfound landscape an image members. for future generations to emulate. For Winthrop, The transformation of other people’s identities, his new identity was to be a model for later Ameri- as embodied in the conversion of individuals to cans. Other early Puritan writers who immigrated a particular form of Christianity, was the central to the new colony, such as William Bradford and aim of many Puritan settlers, particularly Cotton Anne Bradstreet, were just as spiritually minded, Mather. He writes not only on the subject of the often seeing the American landscape as a means of conversion of African slaves, “The Negro Chris- gaining paradise on earth. The land’s provisions for tianized,” but also on the temptations that Puritans its colonists were to them symbolic of God’s divine themselves faced in the form of witchcraft. Mather’s love for his chosen people. documentation of the Salem witch trials has pro- Some early writers found themselves forced vided literary scholars, sociologists, and historians by events into adopting a new identity. A Puritan with a wealth of information on how the Puritans female voice in the wilderness, Mary White Row- conducted their trials, what their beliefs were, and landson wrote what historians have identifi ed as the how they justifi ed the deaths of several women and fi rst female captivity narrative, a disjointed tale of young girls. Another infl uential minister was Jona- the time she spent with native peoples. In her tale than Edwards, whose famous sermon “Sinners in and in most tales involving prolonged contact with the Hands of an Angry God” is an unforgettable American Indians, Europeans colonists reveal some expression of the Puritan mentality.

xii Volume Introduction xiii

Subsequent writers were not so purely religious the war: the Declaration of Independence. Here, in outlook. As the colonists established themselves Thomas Jefferson articulated the central beliefs in the new land, many of their authors chose to that the former colonists were willing to shed tackle the diffi cult social and political issues of blood for: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. their time, such as the colonists’ relations with It is telling that the Declaration of Independence the English government, the persistence of slavery appears as a piece of literature in American litera- and domestic servitude, and the cause of democ- ture courses and as a central document examined racy and attendant rights for women. The event in American history courses as well. As literature, that galvanized these voices and forged a national the Declaration, as well as the changes made in it identity was of course the Revolutionary War, in by Jefferson’s peers, provides readers with insight which the original thirteen colonies fought for into the common interests held by members of the their independence from England. The greatest original thirteen colonies as well as their disputes, pamphleteer among the revolutionary writers was especially over the issue of slavery. Jefferson’s docu- Thomas Paine. Through the plain style of his work, ment refl ects the loftiest, most sublime views of Paine introduced ordinary readers to many of the democracy on paper, and the enthusiasm that this central ideas of the Revolution, such as political founder had for America is also refl ected in his and economic independence from England. Paine’s more personal, yet equally public document, Notes writing was purposefully straightforward and did on the State of Virginia. not employ the eloquent, even lyrical language that The personal ramifi cations or potential effects of would appear in the writings of other founders, the American Revolution may be explored in a vari- such as Thomas Jefferson. Rather, Paine’s Com- ety of texts addressed in this volume. One notable mon Sense promoted itself as a direct and reason- example is the lively and intimate correspondence able series of arguments for the separation of the of Abigail and John Adams, in particular the letter colonies from England, then represented by King in which Abigail uses humor earnestly to request George. Another writer famous for his revolution- the inclusion of women in the discussions about ary passion was Philip Morin Freneau, sometimes rights. Another important example is the poetry called the “poet of the American Revolution.” of the emancipated slave Phillis Wheatley. Many of Ben Franklin was another writer immersed in her poems not only examine fi gures from the Rev- politics, but his achievement was much richer and olution, such as her panegyric for George Wash- more varied than Paine’s. Using the common lan- ington, but also revel in its spirit of freedom and of guage and images that distinguish Paine’s rheto- inalienable rights, hinting gently and indirectly at ric, Benjamin Franklin took on various personas to the limitations of revolutionary ideals as applied to launch his critiques not only at the British govern- the enslaved. ment, but also at the foolish people in America as Other authors who provide insight into the insti- well. His Poor Richard’s Almanac offered contem- tution of slavery include Olaudah Equiano, whose porary readers entertaining essays on such various fi rst-person account of early childhood in Africa topics as government rule, personal economy, and and of the middle passage to America marks the other forms of homespun wisdom. His Autobiogra- fi rst such description to appear in print from the phy likewise painted a public face for a private man, perspective of a former slave. His narrative should referring to his own attempts to create an elevated be considered alongside other major early Ameri- image of himself as a learned, moral, and sophis- can life writings, such as those of Benjamin Frank- ticated gentleman and providing readers with a lin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams, as well guideline to self-improvement. as the work of other fi gures living at the margins The ideas of the American Revolution are seen of American life, such as Samson Occom, Jupiter most clearly in the actual document that launched Hammon, and Phillis Wheatley. xiv Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

In his own autobiographical work, entitled A American literature started to come into its Short Narrative of My Life, Samson Occom reveals own in the early 19th century. The natural world, the diffi culties facing a converted Mohegan who is not only the natural resources of America, but the no longer fully culturally associated with his own beauty, splendor, and distinctive quality of Ameri- tribe, but is also not completely acknowledged or can landscapes, became the central subject matter embraced by white Christians. Similarly, Jupiter for the poets William Cullen Bryant and the novel- Hammon, a minister and poet, reveals the diffi cult ist James Fenimore Cooper, whose Leatherstocking position of converted Africans who were not fully (Leather-Stocking) Tales were the fi rst great suc- embraced with the attendant rights and privileges cesses in the American novel. Of course, nature had as fellow European Christians. Hammon spoke already been an important infl uence on American directly to fellow slaves, most famously in his 1786 writers. Philip Morin Freneau’s nature poems are “Address to the Negroes of the State of New York,” usually regarded as more successful than his politi- urging them to seek solace for their enslaved condi- cal ones. Even Thomas Jefferson, in his Notes on the tions by looking to the life to come and reading key State of Virginia, elevates his prose beyond a simple passages in the Bible. recitation of facts to wax poetic about the profound The “woman question” was a central topic for beauty he found in the American landscape. many important writers of the new nation. Just as To other writers, the landscape was also a source the private letters exchanged between John and Abi- of anxiety and fear. Through the psychologically gail Adams touch upon the possibility of suffrage for probing prose of Charles Brockden Brown, pre- women, the public articles of Judith Sargent Murray decessor to later fi gures such as Edgar Allen Poe, in The Gleaner consider many of the popular beliefs whose works Brown was fi rst to publish, readers and arguments employed to deny women the right to can penetrate the minds of mentally disturbed and full citizenship. Hannah Webster Foster’s Charlotte distressed fi gures. Brown transplanted the gothic Temple cautions women against the seductive pow- novel to an American landscape. Similarly, Wash- ers they might succumb to if they travel away from ington Irving situates his famous tales “Rip Van home and fi nd themselves without the sage advice of Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” in a female friends or their mothers. On the surface, the dangerous American landscape that acts almost as novel might seem to work assiduously against the its own character in the stories, hiding threats to movement for women’s rights, and yet its insistence the pusillanimous teacher Ichabod Crane and cra- on the power of women’s knowledge and experience dling the drowsy Rip Van Winkle. works to justify different types of intelligence other Early American literature not only laid the foun- than that acquired through schooling. The subject dation for the great American writers of the future, of women’s education is taken up in Foster’s other but also provides a strange and often powerful novel, The Boarding School. pleasure to lovers of literature today. John Adams (1735–1826) and Abigail Adams (1744–1818)

You will see, in a few days, a Declaration setting forth the causes which have impelled us to this mighty revolution, and the reasons which will justify it in the sight of God and man.

(John Adams in a July 3, 1776, letter to Abigail Adams)

I will never consent to have our sex considered in an inferior point of light. Let each planet shine in their own orbit. God and nature designed it so—if man is Lord, woman is Lordess— that is what I contend for.

(Abigail Adams in a July 19, 1799, letter to Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody)

John Adams’s Early Life the eldest of whom was John Adams, the future John Adams, best known as the second president of president. the United States, was born on October 30, 1735. The elder John was a deacon, a farmer, and a Yet Adams left behind an extensive diary and auto- shoemaker who, as had his predecessors, lived in biography, as well as numerous essays, letters, and Braintree, Massachusetts, and who wanted a college political documents. education for his son with the hope that he would Born and raised in the North Precinct of Brain- enter the ministry. The younger John enjoyed out- tree, Massachusetts (incorporated as the town door activity far more than intellectual work. When of Quincy on February 22, 1792), Adams was a he told his father that he would rather not pursue fourth-generation New Englander and the descen- that path, his father assigned him the task of dig- dant of Puritans. Adams’s great-great-grandfather, ging a ditch on their property. After two days of Henry Adams (ca. 1583–1646), arrived in the late backbreaking work, the younger John decided that 1630s and settled near Mount Wallaston, in Brain- studying Latin grammar might be a good idea after tree, near Boston. He lived with his wife, Edith, all (Diggins 18). and eight sons and one daughter. In 1751 Adams entered Harvard College when Henry’s son Joseph, born in 1626, married he was 15 years old. He studied Greek and Latin, Abigail Baxter. Joseph Jr. (1654–1737), one of logic, rhetoric, physics, and, in his senior year, moral Joseph and Abigail’s 12 children, married Han- philosophy and metaphysics (Diggins 18). When he nah Bass, who was a great-granddaughter of John graduated in 1755, he accepted a teaching position and Priscilla Alden “of the Plymouth landing and at a grammar school in Worcester. Teaching during Mayflower epic” (Diggins 17). In turn, John and the colonial period was a particularly poorly paid Priscilla had a son named John—this was Presi- profession so he began to look at other options. dent John Adams’s father. John married Susanna Soon Adams began to study law in the offices Boylston, who was from a well-known Massachu- of James Putnam in Worcester, Massachusetts, setts medical family, and they had three sons— in August 1756. On November 6, 1758, he was

1 2â Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers admitted to the Suffolk County Bar. In 1762 the Shaw Peabody (1750–1815). And “Parson Smith young lawyer was admitted as a barrister before the joyfully baptized each babe the first Sabbath of Superior Court of Judicature. its life and dutifully recorded the act in his parish Adams’s first published pieces appeared dur- records” (Akers 3). ing summer 1763, when the Boston Evening Post As someone who had no access to formal edu- and the Boston Gazette printed articles signed by cation, Abigail advocated an education for girls “Humphrey Ploughjogger” and “U.” in the public schools that was equal to the educa- tion boys received. Abigail herself was educated at Abigail Smith Adams’s Early Life home. She learned to read and write and had access Abigail Smith Adams was born in Weymouth, to the personal libraries of her father and mater- Massachusetts, on November, 11, 1744 (November nal grandfather. She showed interest in philosophy, 22 by the Gregorian calendar). Though perhaps theology, Shakespeare, the classics, ancient history, best known as the wife of John Adams and the first government, and law. Richard Cranch, her sister first lady to live in the White House, she was an Mary’s suitor and, later, husband, tutored Abigail avid letter writer, who maintained correspondence in French and “challeng[ed] her mind with the with many people during the revolutionary and fine points of English literature” (Crane 745–765). early republic periods. People with whom she cor- By the time Abigail was in her thirties, “her intel- responded include her husband during his lengthy lectual social climbing” gave her access to Homer, absences; Mercy Otis Warren, a political satirist, Plutarch, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Jonathan Swift, dramatist, and poet; and James Lovell, a Massa- Montaigne, John Locke, Pope, and Molière among chusetts delegate to the Continental Congress. others (Crane 746). Abigail’s parents were William Smith (1706–83), a Congregationalist minister, and Elizabeth Quincy John and Abigail Adams (1721–75). Her father was born in Charlestown, On October 25, 1764, 29-year-old John Adams Massachusetts (January 29, 1706), and died in Wey- and 20-year old Abigail Smith married in Wey- mouth, Massachusetts (September 1783). William, mouth. They had three sons and two daughters: Abigail’s father, was an ordained minister of the Abigail “Nabby” Amelia Adams Smith (1765– North Parish Congregational Church of Weymouth. 1813), John Quincy Adams (1767–1848), Susanna He was “descended from a prosperous family of Adams (1768–70), Charles Adams (1770–1800), merchants with branches in South Carolina and the and Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832). The West Indies,” yet “his parents pointed him toward arrival of the Adamses’ firstborn in 1765 coincided Harvard College and the ministry” (Akers 2). closely with John’s entrance into public political Abigail’s mother, Elizabeth (born in Brain- discourse. The pattern inextricably linking family tree, MA; died in Weymouth), was a member of and politics continued throughout their lives— the prominent Quincy family. Elizabeth was the even extending into subsequent generations. daughter of John Quincy, a member of the colo- Adams entered into public politics as a response nial governor’s council, a colonel of the militia, to the Stamp Act of 1765. This act meant that for and a speaker of the Massachusetts Assembly. John the first time in history colonists had been taxed Quincy held the latter post for 40 years, until his directly, and when news of this legislation reached death at age 77. He died in 1767 just three years Boston, people “exploded in anger. Tax collec- after his granddaughter, Abigail, married John tors were tarred and feathered, stamp seals seized Adams. and burned, effigies hung and bonfires lit, and William Smith and Elizabeth Quincy married in the house of Peter Oliver, Lieutenant Governor 1740. They had four children: Mary Smith Cranch Thomas Hutchinson’s brother-in-law, was stormed (1741–1811), Abigail Smith Adams (1744–1818), and smashed into shambles; soon after, Hutchin- William Smith (1746–87), and Elizabeth Smith son’s own luxurious house full of paintings, silver, John Adams and Abigail Adams 3 china, and rare books was gutted” (Diggins 24). as commander in chief on June 15. Two days later Adams, shocked by the violence and mob rule, his wife, Abigail, and his eldest son, John Quincy “wondered whether liberty could survive the pas- Adams (approximately one month shy of his eighth sions of a mob riot” (Diggins 25). birthday), witnessed the battle of Bunker Hill from Adams wrote A Dissertation on the Canon and Penn’s Hill in Braintree. Then in July, John Adams the Feudal Law, which was published in the Bos- was elected to the Massachusetts Council, a posi- ton Gazette during the months of August through tion he held until April 1776. On October 28, October 1765. The essays, originally published 1775, Adams was appointed chief justice of Mas- anonymously, later appeared in London, and in this sachusetts, but he never served in the position and work he “was attempting to explain the meaning resigned on February 10, 1777. of America to America and to the world” (Diggins His absence from home for most of 1775 con- 25). According to John Patrick Diggins, “The Dis- tinued the following year, 1776. He attended the sertation signaled Adams’s most radical moment Continental Congress from February to Octo- when he seemed to be questioning authority in the ber. He wrote his “Thoughts on Government” in name of liberty and obedience in the name of resis- March and April. Abigail, who was quite familiar tance” (25). with her husband’s political work and philosophy, On the night of March 5, 1770, in Boston shots wrote the famous “Remember the Ladies” letter on rang out. British soldiers had killed two towns- March 31; in it she suggested that women should people and mortally wounded three others. Among be recognized by the new government. those killed was Crispus Attucks, the fi rst per- Adams served on the committee to draft a dec- son of African descent to be killed “in the cause laration of independence and gave the principal of American freedom” (Diggins 26). As a conse- speech in favor of the resolution for independence. quence of the Boston Massacre, as the event came The resolution was approved on July 2. The text to be known (so dubbed by Sam Adams, John’s was debated and the document was adopted on cousin), an arrest warrant was issued for Captain July 4. Afterward, he drafted the “Plan of Trea- Thomas Preston on March 6. Preston, a 40-year- ties,” which was to be a blueprint for the new coun- old Irishman and the offi cer in charge of the troops try’s foreign policy. involved in the shooting, was arrested in the middle From January to November 1777, Adams of the night, and eight soldiers under his command attended the Continental Congress. He was away were arrested hours later. John Adams success- from home when Abigail gave birth to a still- fully defended the British soldiers and was elected born daughter, Elizabeth, on July 11. Congress the Boston representative to the General Court; elected Adams, along with BENJAMIN FRANKLIN it “was a mark of Adams’s legal attainments that and Arthur Lee, to a joint commission to France. he instantly assumed the role of senior counselor Adams departed for France in February 1778, tak- on the weightiest legal and constitutional issues” ing his young son John Quincy Adams, who was (Grant 89). merely 10 years old. They sailed on board the frig- In 1774, when Adams was elected a Massachu- ate Boston and arrived in Paris on April 8; there setts delegate to the fi rst Continental Congress in they took up residence with Benjamin Franklin. Philadelphia, the period of long separations between On May 8, John had his fi rst audience with Louis John and Abigail began. It was during these periods XVI. of separation that most of the letters between the While John and his eldest son were in France, couple were written. The Boston Gazette published Abigail had “discovered an opportunity to develop his “Novanglus” essays in January–April 1775. For her entrepreneurial skills; she became a merchant” much of the remainder of that year (May–July, Sep- (Gelles 509). Abigail began by selling goods that tember–December), he attended the second Conti- John had sent from France to help supply their nental Congress. He proposed George Washington domestic needs. Soon Abigail began to request 4 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers specifi c items: “Such were the beginnings of a 29 John was commissioned by Congress to con- business that was to become a more complex and clude a commercial treaty with the Netherlands. important source of income in the next six years. As On May 2, 1781, John presented a memorial it became apparent that John could provide Euro- to the States General of the United Provinces call- pean goods to his wife without too much trouble, ing on it to recognize and conclude a commercial the amount and variety of goods escalated” (Gelles treaty with the United States and then published 510). Thus, Abigail provided a means, in effect, to the memorial as a pamphlet in English, French, and subsidize her husband’s political career. Dutch. Then on June 15, 1781, Congress revoked On February 11, 1779, John learned that the John Adams’s commissions to negotiate Anglo- joint commission was superseded by Benjamin American peace and commercial treaties in favor Franklin’s appointment as minister to France. of creating a joint commission of Adams, Franklin, John and John Quincy Adams sailed from Lori- John Jay, Henry Laurens, and THOMAS JEFFERSON ent to Boston on board the French frigate Le Sen- to negotiate a peace treaty. Despite this personnel sible. Abigail wanted their son to travel with John switch in negotiating for an Anglo-American treaty, because “his going out into the world was the Adams returned to Paris to discuss the proposed best way to improve his understanding and sense Austro-Russian mediation of the war and opposed of responsibility” (Diggins 30). Furthermore, she American participation without prior recognition chose to stay behind because the trip itself was a by Austria and Russia of American independence. dangerous two-month ordeal, plus her husband, as Adams fell seriously ill in Amsterdam with a a prominent rebel, could be tried for high treason fever. His son Charles left the Netherlands for and locked up in the Tower of London to await America on board the South Carolina. And John’s hanging if the ship were captured. Their children, “A Translation of the Memorial to the Sovereigns Abigail felt, should have at least one parent if the of Europe . . . into Common Sense and Intelligi- worst were to happen. ble English” was published. Shortly after the State Shortly after his return to Massachusetts in General of the Netherlands recognized American August, he proposed founding the American Acad- independence on April 19, 1782, Adams presented emy of Arts and Sciences, which was incorporated his letter of credence as minister plenipotentiary in 1780. During September and October he drafted from the United States to William V, stadholder of the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780, which the Netherlands. On April 22 he took up residence was adopted on October 25, 1780. John Adams in the Hôtel des Etats-Unis at The Hague, the fi rst composed “A Translation of the Memorial to the American legation building in Europe. After suc- Sovereigns of Europe . . . into Common Sense and cessfully negotiating treaties with the Netherlands, Intelligible English” between April 19, 1780, and including trade treaties and a loan of 5 million July 14, 1780. It was published in Amsterdam in guilders with a syndicate of Amsterdam bankers, November and in London in January 1781. he traveled to France. Once in Paris, he, Benjamin On June 29, 1780, Congress commissioned John Franklin, and John Jay signed the preliminary peace Adams to raise a loan in the Netherlands. John, treaty between the Americans and Great Britain. John Quincy, and Charles Adams traveled from John Adams stayed in Europe during 1783 and Paris to Amsterdam. While in Amsterdam, John 1784. He traveled among Paris, The Hague, and Adams wrote his “Letters from a Distinguished Amsterdam negotiating treaties. On September American” in July 1780; they were published in 3, 1783, he signed the defi nitive peace treaty with London in 1782. In 1780 John spent much of his Great Britain. He suffered another serious fever time traveling between the Netherlands and France during September and October 1783. Once recov- negotiating treaties. Between July 27 and August ered, he spent the remainder of the year traveling 10, John and his sons John Quincy and Charles with John Quincy Adams to England, where they traveled from Paris to Amsterdam. On December visited London, Oxford, and Bath. John Adams and Abigail Adams 5

On June 20, 1784, after an extended absence political career continued when he was reelected from her husband, Abigail sailed from Boston for vice president in February 1793, and then, in 1796, England with her daughter Nabby. They arrived in narrowly defeated Jefferson in the presidential London on July 21 and were reunited with both election. John Adams and John Quincy Adams by the end Shortly after Adams was sworn in, a diplo- of the month. From August 1784 to May 1785, the matic crisis between the United States and France Adamses resided at Auteuil, near Paris. Then, after arose. The new French government, a fi ve-headed John Adams was named the fi rst American minis- executive committee called the Directory, “had ter to Great Britain, the family moved from Paris to refused to accept the credentials of America’s min- a house in Grosvenor Square in London. In June ister to France, Charles Pinckney, and ordered him 1785 John Adams, Abigail, and Nabby were pre- expelled from the country” (Diggins 96). The Jay sented to King George and Queen Charlotte. Treaty, which “had America siding with England In 1786 Thomas Jefferson visited John Adams and breaking the alliance it had with France dur- in London to negotiate commercial treaties with ing the Revolution” had upset the French govern- Tripoli, Portugal, and Great Britain. While he was ment. Adams sent an envoy to France, and French there, Jefferson and Adams toured English gar- offi cials, dubbed X, Y, and Z, solicited bribes. dens. Later in the year, John and Abigail visited the President Adams declared a state of quasi-war with Netherlands to exchange ratifi cations of the treaty France and published the XYZ papers to document with Prussia. In September John began his three- French attempts to bribe American diplomats. volume A Defence of the Constitutions of the United French ships attempted to confi scate goods travel- States. The following year, in July and August, the ing between the United States and Great Britain. Adamses took care of Mary “Polly” Jefferson, Jef- Adams then proposed, and Congress approved, the ferson’s nine-year-old daughter, and her traveling creation of the Department of the Navy. companion, Jefferson’s slave Sally Hemings. Abi- In July President Adams signed the Alien and gail grew quite fond of Polly. Years later, it would Sedition Acts, laws that were designed to curtail be the occasion of Polly’s untimely death at the age foreign infl uence and criticism of the government. of 25 that compelled Abigail to contact Jefferson The acts became a serious point of contention in after years of separation. the presidential race between Jefferson and Adams, Adams petitioned Congress to allow him to an election in which Jefferson prevailed. return home in 1787. After a farewell audience In September 1800 Alexander Hamilton with George III in early 1788, John and Abigail attacked the Adams administration with the pub- returned to Massachusetts and moved into their lication of his Letter from Alexander Hamilton, new home. The next year began a new chapter in Concerning the Public Conduct and Character of John’s political life when he was elected the fi rst John Adams, Esq. President of the United States, a vice president of the United States. He took the letter highly critical of the president, which Adams oath of offi ce on April 21, 1789, in New York. His would address two years later when he began writ- written work continued after he began the serial ing his autobiography. Then in October 1800, “Discourses on Davila.” The title was taken from American diplomats concluded the Convention Enrico Caterino Davila, the 17th-century author of of Mortefontaine with France, ending the quasi- Historia delle guerre civili di Francia, “an eighteen- war, and the Franco-American alliance of 1778. In hundred-page chronicle of the French civil wars of November Adams became the fi rst president to live the late sixteenth century” (Grant 364). in the White House. On December 1, 1800, John In 1790 John and Abigail moved to the new and Abigail’s son Charles Adams died in New York U.S. capital, Philadelphia. Then in May 1791, John City. Later that same month, Jefferson defeated was elected president of the Academy of Arts and Adams in the presidential election. On the eve of Sciences, a role in which he served until 1813. His Jefferson’s inauguration on March 4, 1801, Adams 6â Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers packed up his belongings and retired to his farm in Adams that continues to be an authoritative source Quincy. for material not yet reedited in the ongoing Adams The retired president began writing his auto- Papers project (Shuffelton vii). In 1876 Charles biography in 1802, a project that continued until Francis Adams published a single volume of letters 1807. Upon hearing of the death of Jefferson’s written by John and Abigail, for “as Charles Francis daughter, Polly, Abigail wrote a letter of condo- Adams saw it, the American Revolution had typi- lence to John’s former political rival. In 1807 John cally been portrayed in terms of the great men like wrote 10 letters to Mercy Otis Warren to protest Patrick Henry, James Otis, George Washington, her History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of Thomas Jefferson, and Samuel Adams who were the American Revolution. His literary efforts con- thought to have made it.” What Charles thought tinued into 1809, when he began a series of letters was missing from these early histories were accounts to the Boston Patriot. Adams resumed his cor- that “recognize the ‘moral principle’ behind the respondence with Jefferson in January 1812, and Revolution” (Shuffelton vii). Such a history would their exchange provided insight into the philosoph- include the work of his grandfather and suggests ical beliefs of two former revolutionaries. that other Adamses, aside from John Adams as dis- Abigail Adams, who managed to avoid various cussed in his own autobiography, also believed that outbreaks of smallpox during the revolutionary the second president’s political contribution to the period, succumbed to typhoid fever on October revolutionary effort was misunderstood. 28, 1818. Adams died on July 4, 1826, the 50th The most famous exchange, or certainly the most anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, widely anthologized, between the two begins with just hours after his old friend and rival Jefferson. a March 31, 1776, letter from Abigail to John:

I long to hear that you have declared an inde- pendency. And, by the way, in the new code of Correspondence of John and laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you Abigail Adams to make, I desire you would remember the ladies Both John Adams and Abigail Smith Adams cor- and be more generous and favorable to them responded with multiple people, including each than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited other, for much of their lives. Letter writing was an power into the hands of the husbands. Remem- important medium for communication during the ber, all men would be tyrants if they could. If 18th century—particularly for people like John and particular care and attention is not paid to the Abigail Adams, who were separated by war, political ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, duty, and family duty for months or years at a time. and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws Indeed, just reading the letters between John and in which we have no voice or representation. Abigail gives a sense of the trials and tribulations (Adams, Letters 148) that led up to, occurred during, and remained after the American Revolution. Their exchange also pro- John, in turn, responds in a April 14 letter: vides contemporary readers with rare insight into the relationship between an extraordinary man and As to your extraordinary code of laws, I cannot woman in the late 18th century. but laugh. We have been told that our struggle Their grandson, Charles Francis Adams, first has loosened the bands of government every- published a collection of his grandmother Abigail’s where; that children and apprentices were dis- letters in 1840. By the end of the decade, four more obedient; that schools and colleges were grown editions of that collection appeared. Their grand- turbulent; that Indians slighted their guardians, son then edited and published between 1851 and and negroes grew insolent to their masters. But 1856 a 10-volume collection of the writings of John your letter was the first intimation that another John Adams and Abigail Adams 7

tribe, more numerous and powerful than all and Abigail exchanged several letters in which they the rest, were grown discontented. . . . Depend began to clear the air regarding past political dis- upon it, we know better than to repeal our mas- agreements (Levin 412–413). Abigail, however, culine systems. (Adams, Letters 154) cut off the correspondence on October 25, 1804, because she did not want to enter “a correspon- Because of Abigail’s famous call to “remember the dence on ‘political topicks’ when she had written ladies,” there is much debate over the level of seri- him” (Levin 418). ousness with which her comments should be taken Jefferson, however, held on to the letters and for- and whether or not such statements constitute warded copies of his correspondence with Abigail some type of feminist consciousness. to Dr. Benjamin Rush on January 16, 1811 (Levin In “Political Dialogue and the Spring of Abi- 419). Rush, in turn, sought to reconcile Jefferson gail’s Discontent” Elaine Forman Crane suggests and Adams and succeeded when the latter wrote that “Abigail expropriated republican ideology and a letter to Jefferson on January 1, 1812 (Diggins gave it a gendered twist that was both subtle and 153–155; Grant 440–442), and the two men cor- nuanced. She connected political philosophy to responded for much of the remainder of their lives, women’s rights, but did so deviously—and in the discussing a variety of subjects including philoso- grand tradition of eighteenth-century European phy, politics, religion, and their own experiences of literature” (745). In other words, Abigail uses lan- aging. These letters provide insight into two minds guage from the revolutionary effort and applies it behind the Declaration of Independence. to the situation of women. Abigail frequently discusses politics with her hus- For Discussion or Writing band, so the political aspect of that letter in itself is 1. Abigail and John Adams wrote about a variety not unusual. In fact, she passes on local news per- of subjects including improving the political sta- tinent to the Revolution whether it is her report on tus of women. Using Abigail’s letter of March witnessing the battle of Bunker Hill (1775) from 31, 1776, to her husband as a launching point, Penn’s Hill in Braintree or local sentiment regard- locate and discuss the views that each expresses. ing revolutionary activities. Along with discussions 2. Critics have viewed the correspondence between of politics and political philosophy, Abigail and John and Abigail Adams as documents that John correspond on more mundane matters, some provide an intimate portrait of 18th-century of which provide a glimpse into the everyday lives domestic life. How do they express the roles of regular citizens—including the consequences of they occupy as husband and wife? infl ation during revolutionary times, labor short- 3. Compare Abigail’s letters with John with ANNE ages, and outbreaks of smallpox. BRADSTREET’s poems written to her husband. Both Abigail and John exchanged letters with How do they imagine themselves as wives? How other people as well. Both corresponded with do they view their husbands? Thomas Jefferson and Mercy Otis Warren. In fact, after the infamous break between Jefferson and John Adams, Abigail was the fi rst to broach that (1807) divide. On May 20, 1804, Abigail wrote to Jeffer- Autobiography of John Adams son after learning that his daughter, Mary “Polly” The autobiography is divided into three parts, Jefferson Eppes, had died on April 17, 1804. The called “Part One: To October 1776”; “Part Two: former fi rst lady knew Polly from their days in Lon- Travels and Negotiations, 1777–1778”; and “Part don, when Jefferson’s daughter, then nine years Three: Peace, 1779–1780.” Adams himself created old, felt lonely. Thus, when news of Polly’s death these divisions and Adams himself explained the reached Quincy, Abigail reacts with genuine sor- purpose in writing his own story at the outset of row. After Abigail’s letter of condolences, Jefferson his project. Including the fi rst paragraph of this 8 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers work in its entirety allows Adams’s purpose and setts. Adams felt that he had been misunderstood style in this work to become clear: and misrepresented. Indeed, while Adams was seeking reelection in 1800, Alexander Hamilton As the Lives of Phylosophers, Statesmen or attacked the Adams administration in his “Letter Historians written by them selves have gener- Concerning the Public Conduct and Character of ally been suspected of Vanity, and therefore few John Adams, Esq.” Adams chose to present his side People have been able to read them without of the story in an autobiography. disgust; there is no reason to expect that any Within the pages of the fi rst section of his auto- Sketches I may leave of my own Times would biography, Adams was intently self-scrutinizing. be received by the Public with any favour, or He chastised himself for acting in a false or self- read by individuals with much interest. The ish manner and examined his own actions, words, many great Examples of this practice will not and motivations in a merciless manner. In the past, be alledged as a justifi cation, because they were critics and historians have attributed this almost Men of extraordinary Fame, to which I have obsessive level of self-scrutiny to his Puritanism. no pretensions. My Excuse is, that having been His biographer John T. Morse views Adams as “an the Object of much Misrepresentation, some of admirable specimen of the New England Puritan my Posterity may probably wish to see in my of his generation, not excessively straitlaced in own hand Writing a proof of the falsehood of matters of doctrine, but religious by habit and by that Mass of odious Abuse of my Character, instinct, rigid in every point of morals, conscien- with which News Papers, private Letters and tious, upright, pure-minded, industrious” (6). public Pamphlets and Histories have been dis- Similarly, the biographer Page Smith would echo graced for thirty Years. It is not for the Public Morse’s conception of Adams as a traditional but for my Children that I commit these Mem- Puritan: “Protestant Christianity, Calvinist in its oirs to writing: and to them and their Poster- temper, if increasingly relaxed in its dogma, domi- ity I recommend, not the public Course, which nated [Braintree’s] life, shaped it, directed it, made the times and the Country in which I was born it in its own view at least, an important arena in and the Circumstances which surrounded me the universal drama of salvation. To spend one’s compelled me to pursue: but those Moral Senti- boyhood in such a community meant to bear its ments and Sacred Principles, which at all haz- imprint for life on the conscious and subconscious ards and by every Sacrifi ce I have endeavoured levels of one’s existence” (5). For these biographers, to preserve through Life. (253–254) then, Adam’s autobiography and its attentiveness to self-correction and introspection are in accordance In short, he feels misrepresented and wants to with Puritan doctrine and the general atmosphere clarify his life and actions to his children. Perhaps of his childhood home, which Adams could not because he does not intend his work to be read by but breathe in and be infl uenced by. Recent crit- the public, the autobiography develops as a particu- ics, however, have examined the autobiography’s lar aspect of his life comes to mind. He works by indebtedness to the indomitable fi gure of Cicero. association rather than chronology, and later on in Adams’s affection for and admiration of Cicero the work he begins to pull entries from his diaries were rich and deserve attention as a means of under- and inserts them into the autobiography. standing his infl uence on Adams and his self-portrait John Adams began writing his autobiography in the autobiography. As did Cicero, Adams believed on October 5, 1802. He had lost his bid for a sec- himself to be misunderstood and unappreciated. ond term as president to Thomas Jefferson in 1800. In a poignant and candid letter to his friend Ben- Famously, he packed up his family and left Wash- jamin Rush, Adams wrote, “Mausoleums, statues, ington on the eve of Jefferson’s inauguration in monuments will never be erected to me. Panegyrical 1801 to retire to private life in Quincy, Massachu- romances will never be written, nor fl attering ora- John Adams and Abigail Adams 9 tions spoken, to transmit me to posterity in brilliant It is on the basis of his oratorical skills that colors” (reported in Farrell 505). This mourning for a Adams pits himself against fi gures whose position lack of public recognition and celebration was a deep in the public limelight cast him into the shadows emotional connection Adams felt with Cicero, who of obscurity. Such fi gures with whom Adams con- was convinced “all Rome was admiring the wisdom, tended in his Autobiography for glory and fame activity, integrity, and benevolence of his adminis- include THOMAS PAINE, Thomas Jefferson, and tration” when in fact he had been forgotten. Simi- Benjamin Franklin. On the subject of Franklin, larly, when Adams returned to America after years Adams writes condescendingly of his use of the spent abroad in diplomatic service, he “returned [to] spoken word, “He has the most affectionate and one third of my best friends dead—another third insinuating way of charming the woman or the superannuated, and the remaining third grown man that he fi xes on. It is the most silly and ridicu- unpopular” (reported in Farrell 506). Further con- lous way imaginable, in the sight of an American, nection with Cicero included their mutual belief in but it succeeds, to admiration, fulsome and sickish the power of language and the infl uential role of the as it is in Europe” (2:121). statesman-orator. Adams dismisses the centrality of Paine’s Com- Adams’s attempts to fashion himself as the likes mon Sense, stating, “It has been a general opin- of Cicero is readily apparent in his autobiography, ion that this pamphlet was of great importance in in which he opens with his own career as an orator. the Revolution. I doubted it at the time and have Early in his autobiography, he frames his rhetori- doubted it to this day” (3:335). Adams writes fur- cal skills in public speaking as a key characteristic ther that this “star of disaster [only] gleaned from and a strength recognized widely by his peers and those he saw the common place arguments con- those in positions above him. He makes much of cerning independence” (3:330). Adams continues, a speech he gave in town, a speech according to “[Paine] came from England, and got into such the historian James Farrell that is “insignifi cant” company as would converse with him, and ran “by conventional historical standards,” yet rises to about picking up what Information he could, con- assume “great importance as [Adams’s] fi rst public cerning our Affairs, and fi nding the great Question act, which set the pattern for the narration of later was concerning Independence. . . . Dr. [Benjamin] rhetorical events” (513). Not surprisingly, Adams Rush put him upon Writing on the Subject, fur- inserts himself into a more distinguished position nished him with the Arguments which had been in national history by highlighting his July 1776 urged in Congress an hundred times, and gave him speech as the pinnacle of his Autobiography and an his title of common Sense” (Adams, Diary 3:330). essential moment in national history. Farrell char- Though Adams admits that “the Arguments in acterizes “Adams’s speech for independence—his favour of Independence I liked very well,” he is less showcase, his master stroke, his tour de force—[as] impressed with “his Arguments from the old Testi- the last great oratorical moment related in the fi rst ment,” calling them either “honest Ignorance, or section of his Autobiography” (520). Read in this foolish Supersti[ti]on . . . or from willfull Soph- light, Adam’s use of sections from his diary, let- istry and knavish Hypocricy on the other” (Adams, ters, and paraphrases of his speeches in the follow- Diary 3:330–331). And, as Farrell states, “Rather ing two sections is explained as secondary to this than being a hero of the Revolution, Paine, as pivotal moment, his independence speech. Crit- Adams portrayed him, is little more than a hack ics have cited the odd mixture of narrative, diary writer who lacked, ‘Veracity, Integrity or any other entries, excerpts from letters, and paraphrases in Virtue’ ” (Farrell 517). Adams’s Autobiography as a central reason for the As for Thomas Jefferson, Adams treats him a bit absence of substantial critical accounts of it. The more kindly than Paine. While admitting to Jef- critic Bernard Bailyn believes “the Autobiography ferson’s skills with a pen, he nonetheless takes him hardly exists as an integral document at all” (242). to task for having never spoken in public. Adams 10 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers believes Jefferson “could stand no competition” often intentionally distorting accounts of his own from orators in Congress with regard to “elocu- participation in the American experiment. . . . At tion and public debate” (reported in Farrell 517). the same time, he created a self-portrait that could Adams concludes his written battles with these validate his claim to the title of America’s patriot- fi gures of the Revolution by including the vener- orator” (Farrell 510). able father of the nation, George Washington, in the following statement: “The examples of Wash- For Discussion or Writing ington, Franklin, and Jefferson are enough to show 1. John Adams is particularly interested in leaving that silence and reserve in public are more effi ca- a legacy in writing while wanting to be remem- cious than argumentation or oratory” (3:336). bered as an orator. Consider the relationship Adams attributes his own rhetorical prowess, between oral and written communication in most particularly his ability to speak extemporane- Adams’s time. How does that differ from the ously, to the absence of his mark on national history. relationship between oral and written commu- As he opines in his autobiography, “I never wrote a nication in our own time? speech beforehand, either at the bar or in any pub- 2. Locate and examine passages in which John lic assembly, nor committed one to writing after Adams draws from classical sources in his auto- it was delivered” (3:310). In other words, because biography and diaries. What role does allusion Adams spoke in the moment and never committed have in his work? his speeches to paper, posterity is deprived of an 3. John Adams writes about Thomas Paine’s Com- accurate portrait of his skills and thus of his right- mon Sense in his autobiography, his diary, and ful position in the history of the republic. letters to his wife, Abigail. Examine these pas- L. H. Butterfi eld, editor of the Diary and Auto- sages. Does his view of Common Sense change biography of John Adams, writes that John Adams over time? “was jolted by an earthquake into starting a diary. 4. How does Adams characterize Jefferson’s politi- With this record of a young schoolmaster’s daily cal opposition to him in his autobiography? In thoughts and experiences, the family records may his diary? be said truly to begin. . . . The habit of making and keeping written records became as persistent a trait among the Adamses as the distinctive conforma- tion of their skulls” (xiii). This legacy in writing FURTHER QUESTIONS that Adams began with his diary and continued ON ADAMS AND ADAMS with his autobiography, as well as more public doc- AND THEIR WORK uments and writings, continued in the following 1. In his correspondence, diary, and autobiography, generations. John Adams laments that he will not occupy a James M. Farrell makes compelling arguments more prominent position in national history. regarding John Adams’s desire to be remembered, Compare the hopes and aspirations Adams particularly as an orator, in “John Adams’s Autobi- held for the republic with those of Franklin and ography: The Ciceronian Paradigm and the Quest Jefferson. Are they the same? Do the men see for Fame”: “Even in the fi rst histories of the Revo- their roles in the nation differently? If so, how? lution and commentaries on his administration, If not, what might account for Adams’s relative Adams saw evidence that his part in the Ameri- obscurity? can historical drama would be misrepresented, his 2. Abigail Adams is most famously known for a motives misunderstood, his character mistreated, phrase in her letter to her husband in which and his historical image misshaped” (505). Indeed, she pleads that he “remember the ladies” much of the earlier portions of his autobiography in drafting the Constitution. Compare the are used to correct “what he saw as inaccurate and remarks Abigail Adams makes in favor of the John Adams and Abigail Adams 11

rights of women with those of more outspoken ———. “ ‘Syren Tully’ and the Young John Adams.” fi gures such as JUDITH SARGENT MURRAY. Are Classical Journal 87 no. 4 (May 1992): 373–390. their arguments similar? What is their basis for Gelles, Edith. Portia: The World of Abigail Adams. suffrage? Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 1992. Grant, James. John Adams: Party of One. New York: WORKS CITED AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2005. Adams, John. Diary and Autobiography of John Adams. Levin, Phyllis Lee. Abigail Adams: A Biography. 1989. Edited by L. H. Butterfi eld. 4 vols. Cambridge, Reprint, New York: Thomas Dunne Books—St. Mass.: Belknap Press/Harvard University Press, Martin’s Press, 2001. 1961. Massachusetts Historical Society. Adams Family ———, and Abigail Smith Adams. The Letters of John Papers: An Electronic Archive. Available online. and Abigail Adams. Edited by Frank Shuffelton. URL: http://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/ New York: Penguin Books, 2004. aea/. Accessed April 23, 2009. Akers, Charles W. Abigail Adams: A Revolutionary McCullough, David. John Adams. New York: Simon American Woman. 3d ed. New York: Pearson- & Schuster, 2008. Longman, 2007. McGlone, Robert E. “Deciphering Memory: John Bailyn, Bernard. “Butterfi eld’s Adams: Notes for a Adams and the Authorship of the Declaration of Sketch.” William and Mary Quarterly 19 (1962): Independence.” Journal of American History 85, 238–256. no. 2 (1998): 411–438. Butterfi eld, L. H. “Introduction.” In Diary and Morse, John T., Jr. John Quincy Adams. New York: Autobiography of John Adams. Edited by L. H. But- Houghton, Miffl in, 1880. terfi eld. Vol. 1. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press/ Shuffelton, Frank. “Introduction.” In The Letters of Harvard University Press, 1961. John and Abigail Adams. Edited by Frank Shuffel- Crane, Elaine Forman. “Political Dialogue and ton. New York: Penguin Books, 2004. the Spring of Abigail’s Discontent.” William Smith, Page. John Adams. Westport, Conn.: Green- and Mary Quarterly 56, no. 4 (October 1999): wood Press, 1969. 745–774. Thompson, C. Bradley. “Young John Adams and Diggins, John Patrick. John Adams. New York: Holt- the New Philosophic Rationalism.” William and Time, 2003. Mary Quarterly, 3d ser., 55, no. 2 (April 1998): Farrell, James M. “John Adams’s Autobiography: The 259–280. Ciceronian Paradigm and the Quest for Fame.” Trees, Andy. “John Adams and the Problem of New England Quarterly 62, no. 4 (December Virtue.” Journal of the Early Republic 21, no. 3 1989): 505–528. (Autumn 2001): 393–412. William Bradford (1590 –1657)

What could they see but a hideous and desolate wilderness, full of wild beasts and wild men—and what multitudes there might be of them they knew not.

(Of Plymouth Plantation)

illiam Bradford was born in 1590 in Auster- church remained for 12 years before journeying Wfi eld, Yorkshire, as the only son of William to what is currently the United States. During his Bradford and Alice Hanson and was baptized on time in Amsterdam, Bradford earned a living as a March 19 of the same year. His father, who was weaver and taught himself Dutch in order to com- a yeoman farmer, died when William was but a municate with the locals. In his religious pursuits, year old. His mother, who was the daughter of Bradford worked assiduously on Latin and Hebrew, a village shopkeeper, remarried, and care for the languages deemed essential for religious leaders young William fell to his grandfather and uncles. and scholars. His appetite for knowledge led him When he reached the age of 12, William joined a to acquire a considerable library, which he took group of Separatists led by William Brewster, who aboard the Mayfl ower. By the time of his death in would later be a founding member of the Plymouth 1657, Bradford’s library had grown to nearly 400 Colony. William expressed an earnest desire to read volumes, including John Foxe’s Acts and Monu- the Bible, and in his writings, such as Of Plymouth ments, John Speed’s Prospects of the Most Famous Plantation, he would often quote from the Geneva Part of the World, Peter Martyr’s De Orbe Novo, version. As Brewster was in the nearby village of Jean Bodin’s De Republica, and Pierre de la Pri- Scrooby, the young Bradford soon moved there. mauday’s French Academy (Morison xxxvi). His involvement in the Separatist Church, later While in Amsterdam in 1613, Bradford met and called the Congregational Church, would continue married his fi rst wife, Dorothy May. She accom- throughout his lifetime and would deeply infl u- panied him in 1617 on their famed voyage and ence his view of himself and the colony in New died by drowning while their ship was anchored England. In his biography of Bradford, COTTON in Provincetown Harbor. Although Bradford does MATHER reports that Bradford’s relatives scorned not mention her death in Of Plymouth Plantation, and scoffed at the young man for becoming a he learned of it during his absence from the May- church member in 1606. fl ower when he joined an expedition to explore When the church, following the leadership Cape Cod. She had accidentally fallen overboard of JOHN SMITH, John Robinson, and William and drowned before anyone could offer her help. Brewster, quit England to seek out religious free- Historians such as Samuel Eliot Morison attribute dom in Amsterdam, Bradford set sail with them. the silence surrounding Dorothy Bradford’s death He used the money he had inherited from his to the belief that it was suicide rather than accident family to purchase a home in Leyden, where the (xxiv). Probably the rumor of Dorothy’s suicide

12 William Bradford 13 originates in an article written in Harper’s New thy Bradford’s Journal,” she documents repeated Monthly Magazine in June 1869, entitled “William nightmares of her dead baby and reports that Brad- Bradford’s Love Life.” ford has been dreaming about Alice. These fi ctional This article, essentially a historical romance, journal entries abruptly end, followed by a love let- begins with the theory that William Bradford ter from Bradford to his beloved Alice, reminding was originally in love with the woman who would her of his fi rst proposal and expressing his interest become his second wife, Sarah Carpenter South- in her as a future wife. It is quite interesting that the worth. As the story begins, Bradford is in London unnamed author of this fi ctional tale should turn awaiting departure for Holland, has already pro- to the tale of William Bradford, a leading Puritan posed to Alice, and is impatiently waiting for her fi gure, and address him as a character second to response. Alice, however, described as a “spoiled the two women in his life—Alice Carpenter South- little beauty,” artfully demurs, postponing her worth and Dorothy May. It is also quite telling that decision until the following morning. She even the author follows the same format Bradford does belittles Bradford when he remains at her house in Of Plymouth Plantation: She incorporates letters awaiting her answer, teasing him, “Truly the elders and journal entries. Perhaps because of this ele- of your church did ill to entrust their mission to ment of the story, or perhaps because of the popu- such a dreamer and laggard as yourself” (135). lar interest in the fate of Bradford’s fi rst wife, this He responds seriously, describing “our people fi ctional tale has become part of the lore associated [as] mindful to remove to some country over seas with the arrival of the Mayfl ower. where shall be room for all and opportunity for all In 1621, when Bradford was 31, he was elected to thrive by honest labor” (136). Bradford’s dedica- governor of Plymouth Colony. His election fol- tion to the church prevails over his own love life, lowed the death of its fi rst governor, John Carver. as evidenced from his absence the following days Bradford remained governor, being reelected 30 from dear Alice’s home. She learns through her times to the offi ce, until 1656. The only gap in his father that Bradford and “the deputies from the 30-year span as governor was a fi ve-year period in dissenting folk at Leyden had returned thither,” which Edward Winslow and Thomas Prence served. and heartbroken, Alice readily agrees to marry In 1623, when additional members of the Leyden Edward Southworth (136). church sailed for the colony, Bradford met his sec- Bradford learns that Alice is married and, as she ond wife, a widow named Alice Southworth, who has, he quickly marries the next available woman, had two sons by her previous marriage. Together Dorothy May. She agrees to marry him even the two bore a family of three additional children, though she is aware of his recent heartbreak about two sons and a daughter. Alice. When they make their fated trip to America He began his most famous work, Of Plymouth aboard the Mayfl ower, Bradford requests that May Plantation, in 1630, “sure . . . that New England and their newborn baby join him. Initially, Doro- would be the model for Old” (Daly 561). The nar- thy was to remain behind with her mother, only to rative recounts the rise of the Separatist Church join Bradford in the future after she and the baby out of the forced Catholicism under James I of were well and sturdy enough for the journey. When England, and the rifts and divisions separated that Bradford learns that Alice’s husband has passed faction even further. Critics believe that Bradford away, and that she will be traveling to America to began work on his chronicle in 1630 because it was join her father, Bradford requests that Dorothy join a historical moment in which he felt confi dent and him and leave their child behind with her mother. assured of the colony’s success in fulfi lling their spe- In true melodrama form, the Harper’s Monthly cial covenant with God as his chosen people. Just author writes, “and that day she began to die.” In two years later, in 1632, his greatest hope would one of the last sections of the story, entitled “Doro- turn to despair as he was witness to a hurricane, the 14 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers loss of their furs in a ship that sank, their near star- fi rst dialogue, Bradford reframes the past less as vation, and the departure of the young members of the necessary isolation of one sect from all others the colony for Duxbury and Marshfi eld. Dejected, who were prone to various forms of idolatry or sin, Bradford quit writing the journal in 1648 and only and more as part of a larger trend with the French, returned to it in 1650 to write out a list of passen- Dutch, and Scots, their former enemies (Sargent gers on the Mayfl ower. 406). In the spirit of casting the Separatists with a The critic Mark Sargent believes that Bradford larger body somewhat removed from the Church of attempted to return to his task of recording the England, Bradford writes of a “Church of Christ” colony’s history with a series of three dialogues with “visible Christians professing faith and holi- that attempted to reconcile its past with its present. ness” (406). He goes further in his attempts to Entitled “A Dialogue or the Sume of a Conference recast the past by imagining an “implicit covenant” between Som Younge Men Borne in New England existing between the Separatists and the Church of and Sundery Ancient Men That Came Out of Hol- England (406). The voice of the ancients in Brad- land and Old England 1648,” the dialogues were a ford’s fi rst dialogue admits to their former mistake genre popular among Elizabethan Separatists (Sar- in insisting upon “too rigid” a separation: “Out gent 390). Sargent attributes the survival of the fi rst of some mistake and heat of zeal . . . [they had dialogue to Bradford’s nephew, Nathaniel Morton, shunned] communion in lawful things with other who copied it into the Plymouth Church Records godly persons” (reported in Sargent 407). (391). The second dialogue has been lost, but the Bradford also takes pains to dissociate the Sep- third was found among Thomas Prince’s collection aratists from Robert Browne, a fi gure whom the of books and manuscripts in 1826 (391). Through youth in Bradford’s dialogue imagine to be a leader an analysis of the two extant dialogues, Sargent for the sect. John Cotton is invoked by the young, argues, readers can discern “many of the pressures who cast Browne, the author of A Treatise on the that were diverting [Bradford’s] attention from the Reformation without Tarrying for Any, as the “fi rst chronicle” (392). Among those pressures were the inventor and beginner” of the Separatist move- “signs of reconciliation between Puritan Congre- ment, with his publication functioning, as Sargent gationalists and Presbyterians” that began in 1648 describes it, as their “chief manifesto” (407). In his (Sargent 400). Bradford was emboldened by the reinvention of the Pilgrims’ collective past, Brad- attacks on the Separatists in the late 1640s and thus ford not only removes the taint of Browne, who took up pen again to work out the dialogues (Sar- was labeled an “apostate,” but also distances them gent 401). Bradford’s chief accuser was the Scottish altogether from the title of Separatist. The conspic- Presbyterian minister Robert Baillie, who in 1645 uous absence of this term leads Sargent to write: published Dissuasive from the Errors of Time, which “ ‘Separatism’ was now as much an allegation as it contained a direct attack on “a small company at was a creed, and Bradford wore the title with both Leyden” (reported in Sargent 402). Baillie argues respect and reluctance” (408). that the Separatists undermined the possibility of By the third dialogue, written between 1648 and reforming a national church. He engaged in a heated 1652, Bradford returns once again to the confi dent debate, through publications, with John Cotton and voice that dominates much of his text. This assured- Edward Winslow, a chief ally to Bradford and mem- ness is due in part to Oliver Cromwell’s military ber of the Plymouth Colony who returned to Eng- victories against Charles II and the Scots. Bradford land to answer charges against the colony. interprets these triumphs as vindications for the Bradford revisits the early history of the Sepa- Congregational Church, which he now uses as a self- ratist Church in the wake of criticisms against him identifying term rather than Separatists. Flush with and his colony for their intolerance of Anabaptists, this success, Bradford again returns to the Deutero- a charge launched against Bradford in 1645 that nomic formula shaping Of Plymouth Plantation. he omitted from Of Plymouth Plantation. In his He views the Pilgrims as an exemplary colony that William Bradford 15 sparked the religious change in England. This image The format of the poem is quite signifi cant since was diffi cult to create and sustain, given the real- the inverted triangle was viewed as both a symbol ity of the Plymouth Colony in 1652, just fi ve years of the Holy Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost) before Bradford’s death. The churches in Plymouth and the symbol of morality in the 17th century lacked steady ministers, and Bradford felt the need (Westbrook 103). What also makes the poem so to reinvent the colony’s past in order to keep it rele- signifi cant is that it exists at all. Given the Puritans’ vant and central to movements in England and Mas- general distrust of all art forms because they could sachusetts. Critics argue that by the time Bradford seduce the reader and writer into worldliness and began his third dialogue, he had stopped working play upon the writer’s natural inclination to the on Of Plymouth Plantation altogether. sin of pride, there is a scarcity of Puritan poetry. Some of the additional writings included in this Bradford’s use of this form to convey his desire third dialogue that were not part of the series of to learn Hebrew gives readers an indication of the conversations provide readers with insight into one deeply profound connection he made between the of the subjects that began to preoccupy Bradford’s language and its access to the Bible, referred to mind, the study of Hebrew. The inside cover of his as the “Law” and “holy texte” in the body of the third dialogue contains the Hebrew alphabet, and a poem. Many religious scholars believe that learn- Hebrew verse from Proverbs appears on the manu- ing Hebrew is essential to understanding the Bible script’s cover page. Further, Bradford included three in its original language, stripped of its layers of passages from Psalms in Hebrew on the Dialogue’s interpretation and translation. For Bradford, who cover page, all indications of his growing interest describes himself at the beginning of the poem in and ease with this ancient language. In a picture as “growne aged,” the quest for a more personal poem roughly dated in 1650, Bradford expresses his and spiritual connection to God and the Separatist own desires to acquire knowledge of Hebrew: religion through linguistic skill is in keeping with his current situation. The Separatist movement Though I am growne aged, yet I have had a has been rendered obsolete, even an obstacle to longing the reconciliation of the branches of Christianity, desire, to see with my owne eyes, something of and the colony has not fulfi lled his deepest wishes. that most Bradford’s only solace, then, lies in a retreat to his ancient language, and holy tongue, in which religion, and a deeper understanding of it gained the Law, through knowledge of the language in which it and oracles of God were write; and in which was written. The biographer Percy Westbrook God, believes that Bradford probably taught himself and angels, spake to the holy patriarchs of old Hebrew, with the aid of a Hebrew grammar book time; and what names were given to things, and Hebrew lexicon, which were both in William from the creation. And though I cannot Brewster’s extensive library (102). attaine too much herein, yet I am refresh- His choice of the poetic form was not limited to ed, to have seen some glimpse hereof; the poem cited; indeed, on his deathbed, Bradford (as Moyses saw the Land of ca- expressly requested that his executors be mindful can a farr of) my aime and of his various writings, to include both Of Plym- desire is, to see how the words outh Plantation and poems that were found in a and phrases lye in the “little book with a black cover.” Westbrook declares holy texte; and to that although the original book has been lost, the discerne somewhat contents were preserved by Thomas Willett, the of the same, 15-year-old son of John Willett, who was one of the for my owne, executors of Bradford’s will. In an attempt to edify contente. young Willett, it is quite likely that he was made 16 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers to copy out Bradford’s poems (Westbrook 104). mentions a few central leaders in the formative time The very titles of the poems refl ect Bradford’s own of the Puritan movement and church: John Smith, requests on his deathbed: “I commend unto your John Robinson, and, most famous of the three, Wil- wisdom and discretion some small books written liam Brewster (9–10). The latter formed the Sepa- by my own hand to be improved as you shall see ratist congregation at Scrooby, Nottinghamshire, meet; in special I commend to you a little book with which Bradford joined as a young man (xxiii). After a black cover wherein there is a word to Plymouth, meeting together in worship for a year, the group a word to Boston, and a word to New England with determined to fl ee to Amsterdam, where they might sundry useful verses” (reported in Westbrook 104). enjoy religious freedom (10). Chapter 2 addresses the trials the Separat- ists faced, both on land and at sea, once they had resolved to abandon England for Holland. The fi rst (1630, 1644–1650) Of Plymouth Plantation company climbed aboard ships supposedly bound Of Plymouth Plantation is Bradford’s most famous for Amsterdam only to discover that they had been work. The narrative recounts the rise of the Eng- betrayed when they were robbed, and their pos- lish Separatist Church from the time of mandated sessions rifl ed through and ransacked (12). Their Catholicism under James I and proceeds to describe second attempt to board ships was hurried by the the journeys the Separatists undertook, the estab- unexpected appearance of an armed company, which lishment of a new colony in Massachusetts, and resulted in the separation of men from their wives the diffi culties faced by the colonists. He began and children, since the men were the fi rst to board writing the work in 1630, probably because at this (13). Although the families were reunited eventually, time he felt confi dent and assured of the colony’s Bradford depicts the ordeals faced by the separated success in fulfi lling its promise. Just two years later, family members with considerable emotional reso- in 1632, his hopes would turn to despair, as he nance. While the men faced rough sea conditions was to see the colonists suffer through a hurricane, and prayed for God’s deliverance, the women and the loss of their furs in a sunken ship, their near- children, without homes to return to, were shuttled starvation, and the departure of the young mem- between constables, who were uncertain of where bers. Dejected, Bradford quit writing the journal in to place them. Bradford appears to undermine the 1648 and only returned to it in 1650 to write out wives’ anxieties by writing that the constables were a list of passengers on the Mayfl ower. “glad to be rid of them in the end upon any terms Chapter 1 of the chronicle likens the Separatist for all were wearied and tired with them” (14). The struggle against “popery,” “popish trash,” and “rel- women and children appear to be more a nuisance ics of that man of sin” to an epic battle against Satan. for the various constables than the loyal and suf- As he begins the fi rst chapter, Bradford chronicles fering male members of the Puritans who endured how “Satan hath raised, maintained, and continued hardship as testimony to their faith. against the Saints, from time to time, in one sort Oliver Cromwell’s victory in England, coupled or other” (3). The Saints, or God’s chosen people, with widespread reform within the Church of Eng- as the Puritans preferred, were martyrs and true land, made it rhetorically impossible for Bradford to Christians who resisted conversion to the ceremo- characterize the Separatist Church against the image nies and rituals that were associated with Catholi- of a popish and religiously intolerant England. In cism. The tale then does not pursue a “broadside fact, Bradford concedes this point, albeit in 1646 at Catholicism” but rather builds a “case for Sepa- and on the back of one of the pages of the fi rst chap- ratism” (Sargent 398). As they “shook off the yoke ter: “Full little did I think that the downfall of the of Antichristian bondage,” they joined to form the Bishops . . . had been so near, when I fi rst began Separatist Church, which would be called the Con- these scribbled writings” (reported in Sargent 398). gregational Church in later years (9). Bradford briefl y Bereft of an image of England against which to rally William Bradford 17 his Separatists, Bradford turned instead to dissen- in these things, and so shall crave leave in some like sion within the group, forged by the unorthodox passages following . . . that their children may see teachings of John Smith. The fl ock loyal to John with what diffi culties their fathers wrestled in going Smith had “fallen into contention with the church,” through these things in their fi rst beginnings; and so the leaders Robinson and Brewster determined how God brought them along, notwithstanding all to remove to Leyden “before they were any way their weaknesses and infi rmities” (46). engaged with the same” (16). Having remained in In his description of the initial departure from Leyden for 12 years, the Separatists decide to leave Leyden to Southampton, aboard the Speedwell, and embark once again on a journey, this time to Bradford refers to the colonists as “pilgrims,” and the New World. Bradford enumerates the reasons historians credit this fi rst use of the term as infl u- for their departure, stating that he does so to dispel encing future references to the Mayfl ower company the “slander” that they were importuned to remove as pilgrim fathers (47). The voyage was not without to New Netherland, or were infl uenced by “any incident, as leaks were discovered twice in the lesser newfangledness or other such like giddy humor” of the two boats, causing delays in Dartmouth and in (22, 23). Indeed, as historians and critics alike Plymouth. Eventually, the smaller ship was deemed remark, Bradford was especially sensitive to criticism unseaworthy, and its passengers and their luggage launched against him and the Separatists, and it is were removed to London while the Mayfl ower set from a defensive position that he writes his tale and sail alone (52–53). Among those who voluntarily resumes it after a 10-year silence. quit the voyage were Mr. Cushman and his family, The dangers presented by a harsh environment, whose absence from the enterprise Bradford seems the brutality of savages, and that of the Spaniards, to deal with in an especially harsh manner, includ- who already had colonies in Florida and the South- ing an admission that those reading the enclosed let- west, were listed as central reasons to select Guiana ter written by Cushman while the ship was being over America, but ultimately, Bradford writes, they repaired will “discover some infi rmities in him (as decided “to live as a distinct body by themselves who under temptation is free)” (54). In dealing so under the general government of Virginia . . . and roughly with Cushman, Bradford reveals a tendency to sue His Majesty that he would be pleased to grant to punish and publicly humiliate those who have them freedom of religion” (29). When the king disappointed him in one manner or another; this refuses to grant their request, they begin consulta- pattern of ridicule will continue throughout the nar- tions with the Virginia Company directly and obtain rative, most especially when the colony fi nds itself a patent under the name of John Wincop; despite all challenged economically, politically, and religiously. of their effort and considerable fi nancial loss, the Chapter 9, which details their landing at Cape Separatists did not make use of this patent (34–35). Cod, contains the most famous passage from Of Instead, they relied upon Thomas Weston, who Plymouth Plantation and provides a singular read- procured a patent for them, and, after much debate ing of the American wilderness that the critic over the conditions for their colony in America, they David Laurence believes was nearly two centuries embarked. Bradford includes a list of the conditions, before its time. “The depiction of the Pilgrims’ commenting on the two amendments from the landing at Cape Cod stands out almost freakishly original, as well as letters from the future governor within Bradford’s writing and also from the entire of the colony, John Carver, and Robert Cushman, seventeenth-century context. No mere backdrop to who was a chief organizer of the Mayfl ower expe- the event, the setting functions as the crucial fi gure dition but who did not sail on this ship because of that reveals the Pilgrims’ relation to spirit” (56). his disputes with Weston’s articles (38, 42–46). He Bradford himself pauses and stands “half amazed justifi es including such correspondence and dwell- at this poor people’s present condition,” noting ing so minutely on the details leading up to their the lack of any of the comforts of civilization such journey on the Mayfl ower: “I have been the larger as houses or friends, as well as the hostile “savage 18 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers barbarians” who inhabit the “hideous and desolate and the annals of the second, which spans 1620 to wilderness” (61–62). Some of this sense of despair 1632, as given over to the fulfi llment of the Deu- stems from the season: “summer being done, all teronomic formula. As Bradford’s numerous refer- things stand upon them with a weather-beaten ences to this particular gospel, and to God’s special face, and the whole country, full of woods and providence on the Pilgrims attest, he imagined the thickets, represented a wild and savage hue” (62). recording of their history as didactic in principle, Markedly absent from Bradford’s account of their providing future generations with lessons on their arrival is the self-assured sense of God’s benevo- privileged relationship with God. “This belief in the lence, his guiding hand in taking his chosen people validity of earthly evidences” was a central compo- to such an ominous and forbidding place. The very nent of the Deuteronomic formula, which expected land itself appears to be alive and endowed with rewards and other signs of God’s preference to the characteristics of its native inhabitants, for be bestowed on the select people with whom he Bradford employs similar adjectives, including sav- had formed a covenant (Daly 558). Viewed in this age and wild, indiscriminately for both. Laurence light, Bradford’s selective recounting of history in argues, “The sublimation of anxiety into exultation the years following 1632 becomes more clear. “He is the true subject of the passage” (57). In writ- records only those events which affect or clarify the ing of the landscape in such a manner, Bradford, in progress of his colony” (562). Thus, the death of Laurence’s estimation, shifts the very phenomenon his fi rst wife, Dorothy, along with those of other that challenges the Pilgrims’ legitimacy into a sym- individuals not central to the grand design are sim- bol of their triumph (57). Despite their presence ply omitted from the account. in a hostile environment in winter, Bradford and He does provide brief detail of the death of the his pilgrims prevail, and in their survival they tran- colony’s fi rst governor, John Carver, who appears to scend the obstacles facing them. have suffered a stroke or aneurism: “He complained Bradford immediately follows this account of greatly of his head and lay down, and within a few their dismal fi rst landing with assurances of their hours his senses failed, so as he never spake more till favor with God, and their praise of him for taking he died, which was within a few days after” (86). them to the “desert wilderness” (63). God’s favor is Carver’s wife, described by Bradford as “a weak attributed repeatedly to the events that follow their woman,” dies fi ve or six weeks afterward (86). Thus fi rst explorations of the landscape of New England. ends the life of the fi rst governor and begins Brad- They discover corn and seed to plant and are left ford’s position of supreme power as both religious unharmed by the American Indians who attack and civil leader (86). Interestingly, Bradford refers them. All of these events serve Bradford as “a spe- to himself and his election to the governorship in cial providence of God” (63–70). After their “First third person, although he uses fi rst person at other Encounter,” Bradford writes, “Thus it please God times in the account, such as his initial description to vanquish their enemies and give them deliver- of the Mayfl ower’s landing. It is quite likely that ance; and by his special providence so to dispose such a rhetorical device was employed for the sake of that not any one of them were either hurt or hit, humility, as the pilgrims were admonished to place though their arrows came close by them and on God as the agent of all the good events or fortunes every side of them” (70). Other instances of divine that befell them, and as they were to share equally intervention include the drowning of a man who in food, housing, and so forth, and thus cultivate a had cursed the Pilgrims immediately juxtaposed communal rather than individual identity. with the tale of the near-drowning of a young Pil- The appearance of Squanto, the surviving mem- grim, John Howland, who “became a profi table ber of the Patuxet tribe who had acquired English as member in both church and commonwealth” (59). a slave and traveler in England and Newfoundland, Shortly after this account, Bradford ends the fi rst was heralded by Bradford as “a special instrument book. The critic Robert Daly reads the fi rst book sent by God for their good beyond their expecta- William Bradford 19 tion” (81). Through Squanto, who served as an inter- Bradford’s characterization of his most famous preter and intermediary fi gure between the Pilgrims enemy, THOMAS MORTON, would also fall under and neighboring tribes, especially the Wampanoag, question, even during the former’s own lifetime. who were led by Massasoit, a peace treaty was bro- Daly attributes Bradford’s great conviction to initial kered. Bradford details the six terms mutually agreed beliefs in the veracity of his account of the “former upon, which included a pact between the two cul- pettifogger of Furnival’s Inn” (564, 205). Seeing tures to aid each other in war and to traffi c in trade Morton as the embodiment of all possible threats with each other unarmed (80–81). As a result of to the Pilgrims, Bradford labels him the “Lord of Squanto’s intervention on the pilgrims’ behalf, they Misrule,” who he claims “maintained (as it were) a engaged with several neighboring tribes in trade, to School of Atheism” (205). On the basis of Bradford’s include the lucrative fur trade. In relating the “fi rst accusations against Morton, which included traffi ck- Thanksgiving,” which Bradford refers to as a “small ing in guns and alcohol with the local tribes, Morton harvest,” there is no mention of Squanto or other was arrested and returned to England. The modern American Indians. Rather, Bradford seems intent historians Minor W. Major and Robert Daly believe on dispelling the disparaging remarks made regard- that the accounts were not factual but were based ing the quantity of food that they report enjoying: rather in Bradford’s “prejudices,” meaning his con- “Many afterwards writ so largely of their plenty viction that the Plymouth Colony was destined for here to their friends in England, which were not greatness and that Morton posed a “great threat” to feigned but true reports” (90). The historian John its destiny (Minor 1–13, Daly 564–565). Even with H. Humins provides a more detailed account that the removal of Morton, the Plymouth Colony was includes the presence of Massasoit and 90 of his war- not safeguarded against further calamity. riors, who engaged with the Pilgrims in a somewhat After 1632 and the arrival of the larger and more friendly display of their military prowess (61). prosperous Massachusetts Bay Colony, Bradford’s Squanto, as Humins reports, has been given Of Plymouth Plantation begins to take on a differ- undue credit for ensuring the pilgrims’ survival, ent form, shifting in voice and form, as Robert Daly as his desire to gain fame and notoriety at the believes, from eloquence and self-assurance to “a expense of Massassoit threatened to undermine tedious account of unsorted administrative details” the very peace agreement he helped to forge (54). (557). A host of events, including the prosperity of When Massasoit begins to mistrust Squanto for the Massachusetts Bay Colony in contradistinction fear that he has been purposefully creating strife to the natural and human-caused disasters that befell between the Massachusetts, he demands that the Pilgrims, forced Bradford to abandon the narra- Bradford return him to the Wampanoag to receive tive of progress and divine intervention (Daly 566). a just punishment. Bradford reveals the indis- His own people migrated to other colonies in search pensable role Squanto has begun to fi ll when he of more arable land to plant crops, and Bradford lik- refuses to hand over the Patuxet, who later dies ens the departure to “an ancient mother grown old (99). Bradford’s characterization of him was dif- and forsaken of her children” (334). fi cult to sustain, however, once he learned that The Pequot War in 1637, in which the colonists Squanto was selling protection against smallpox prevailed, seems to be a singular event in a series of under the pretext that the Pilgrims could control unfortunate disasters. In a chapter entitled “Wicked- the disease: “He made them believe they kept the ness Breaks Forth,” Bradford details “the breaking plague buried in the ground, and could send it out of sundry notorious sins,” employing a language amongst whom they would” (99). After Squanto’s that makes these various acts seem like a plague or death, peace resumed between the pilgrims and contagion, as though the appearance of one prompted Massassoit and his tribe, thus justifying Captain others to follow. One reason, Bradford cites, “may be Myles Standish’s preference for the sagamore over that the Devil may carry a greater spite against the the ambitious interpreter (70). churches of Christ and the gospel here . . . that Satan 20 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers hath more power in these heathen lands, as some 2. Many of the early travelers suffered adversity, have thought, than in more Christian nations, espe- harsh conditions, and loss. How does Brad- cially over God’s servants in them” (316). ford address these hardships? Do they detract Bradford concludes this tale that would have from or contribute to the overall success of the chronicled the exemplary progress of Plymouth endeavor? Compare Bradford’s treatment of dif- Colony but instead records its rise and fall, with fi cult times with that of Smith, a traveler who the much anticipated but never realized return of was not so bound by religion. Edward Winslow from England. He leaves entries for the years 1647 and 1648 entirely blank, as a WORKS CITED AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES testament to the inability to marshal the events of Anderson, Douglas. William Bradford’s Books: “Of those times in the spirit of the Deutoronomic for- Plimmoth Plantation” and the Printed Word. Balti- mula. Instead, he provides a list of the passengers more: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003. who journeyed with him on the Mayfl ower, stating, Daly, Robert. “William Bradford’s Vision of His- “I have thought it not unworthy my pains to take tory.” American Literature 44 (January 1973): a view of the decreasings and increasings of these 557–569. persons and such changes as hath passed over them Delbanco, Andrew. The Puritan Ordeal. Cambridge, and theirs in this thirty years. It may be of some use Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1989. to such as come after; but however I shall rest in my Howard, Alan B. “Art and History in Bradford’s Of own benefi t” (443). Plymouth Plantation.” William and Mary Quar- terly (1971): 237–266. For Discussion or Writing Humins, John H. “Squanto and Massasoit: A Struggle 1. Compare Bradford’s characterization of Squanto for Power.” New England Quarterly 60 (March with John Smith’s of Pocahontas. How have 1987): 54–70. these images of red/white encounter been per- Kelso, Dorothy Honiss. William Bradford. Available petuated in American literature and culture? online. URL: http://www.pilgrimhall.org/Bradford How do these intermediary fi gures aid in the william.htm. Accessed April 23, 2009. colonial enterprise? Laurence, David. “William Bradford’s American Sub- 2. Thomas Morton appears as diabolical to Brad- lime.” PMLA 102 (1987): 55–65. ford as the Amerindians, if not more. How does Major, Minor W. “William Bradford versus Thomas Bradford transform this fellow Englishman into Morton.” Early American Literature 5 (Fall 1970): an instrument of the devil, and to what end? 1–13. Consider Morton’s critique of Bradford in New Morison, Samuel Eliot, ed. “Introduction.” In Of English Canaan. Plymouth Plantation. New York: Modern Library, 1967. Philbrick, Nathaniel. Mayfl ower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War. New York: Viking, 2006. FURTHER QUESTIONS ON Sargent, Mark L. “William Bradford’s ‘Dialogue’ BRADFORD AND HIS WORK with History.” New England Quarterly (September 1. Consider the language Bradford employs to 1992): 389–421. describe the American landscape. In what ways Webber, David Jay. William Bradford Web Site. Avail- is it echoed by other early settlers such as ÁLVAR able online. URL: http://www.angelfi re.com/ NÚÑEZ CABEZA DE VACA, Smith, and JOHN ny4/djw/williambradford.html#writings. Accessed WINTHROP? How do their details of their nat- April 23, 2009. ural surroundings elucidate their relationship Westbrook, Percy D. William Bradford. Boston: with the native populations? Twayne, 1978. Anne Bradstreet (1612–1672)

I am obnoxious to each carping tongue / Who says my hand a needle better fi ts.

(“The Prologue”)

n the same year that the poet Anne Bradstreet Anne and her family had their fi rst taste of “the I(née Anne Dudley) contracted smallpox and blazing heat of an American June” (Rich ix). They nearly died, she also married. She was 16. We know also had their fi rst glimpse of the immensity of the this because years later she wrote about the illness American wilderness, the close quarters of a Salem in “To My Dear Children,” a memoir she left her home, and their fi rst understanding of meager children to aid in their spiritual development after provisions. her death: “About sixteen, the Lord laid his hand In England Anne Bradstreet’s father, Thomas upon me and smote me with the smallpox. When I Dudley, had been a steward to the earl of Lincoln. was in my affl iction, I besought the Lord and con- The Dudley family lived at the earl’s manor house fessed my pride and vanity, and He was entreated in Sempringham, where Anne had access to the of me and again restored me.” Had Bradstreet not earl’s sizable library. She read the great Renaissance listed her age, we would have only known that she poets Sir Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser, and prob- suffered from the illness sometime around the year ably John Milton, Ben Jonson, and William Shake- she married, or we might not have known at all. speare (Martin 21). It would be an understatement There are no records of her birth. to say that her life in the New World offered fewer We do know that in 1630, when she was about comforts than what the family had left behind. 18 years old, she left the England she knew to board While her family held no tremendous stature, their the ship Arbella with her parents, siblings, and new needs were met, and they lived on a large estate. husband, Simon Bradstreet. Under the reign of As the poet Eavan Boland writes, in England, for a Charles I, there was growing threat of excess taxa- time, the Dudleys “lived in the shadow and peace tion to pay for the king’s military exploits in Europe. of greatness” (179). Contrast this image to the one According to Rosamond Rosenmeier, Anne’s father painted in a letter Thomas Dudley sent from Amer- felt the growing tension directly. Founding mem- ica to the countess of Lincoln in England: bers of the Massachusetts Bay Company, her father and new husband had worked out a plan to emi- There is not a house where is not one dead, and grate to New England as part of the new venture, some houses many . . . the natural causes seem but also in order to escape political and religious to be in the want of warm lodging and good persecution (37). diet, to which Englishmen are habituated at Their sea voyage across the Atlantic was to last home, and the sudden increase of heat which six weeks. When they landed in Massachusetts Bay, they endure that are landed here in summer . . .

21 22 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

for those only these two last years died of fevers give up her own control over her body and life to who landed in June or July, as those of Plym- that higher power, if only to maintain a sense of outh, who landed in winter, died of the scurvy. structure and reason. Adrienne Rich posits that “in (Cited in Rich x) a society coarsened by hardship and meager in con- solations, any religious doubt must at times have In the same letter Dudley also complains that in made everything seem dubious” (x). It is indeed their fi rst Salem home, there was no table or desk arguable that Bradstreet herself would have had to to compose the letter he was writing, and that the struggle to locate some control over her own life, Dudleys and the Bradstreets, all living under one being passed, as young women were, from father to roof, were cramped into one room with a fi replace. husband. Even her fi rst book was published with- Even though her father and husband were found- out her control or knowledge. Raised a Puritan, ing members of the Massachusetts Bay Company Bradstreet practiced a religion that encouraged the and would each eventually become governor and belief in which every affl iction, every woe, every lead a prosperous life, the initial move to New setback was an opportunity for a lesson and an England took them to an environment that was exercise of God’s will upon his chosen people. more confi ned indoors and vaster than they had There is a tension, however, always at play ever imagined outside. in Bradstreet’s life and work, between what she For the young Anne Bradstreet, this was quite observes in the world around her and what she is a change, tempered perhaps only by the lengthy told, and much energy is spent trying to reconcile sea journey’s poor conditions, which offered a the two. She acknowledges the times she was “sit- brief period of adjustment. Of her fi rst response ting loose from God”: fi nding joy in the physical to America she would later write, “I found a new world, questioning Puritan doctrine or the exis- world and new manners, at which my heart rose. tence of God, privately musing that Catholicism But after I was convinced it was the way of God, I might have the same merit as the Puritan order. In submitted to it and joined the church at Boston.” her poetry, this too plays a role alongside the twin Rosenmeier is careful to point out that “new man- impulses to resist and to yield. The critic Wendy ners” are not necessarily bad manners, but that Martin makes note of these tensions: they represent new habits and ways of living that were foreign to Anne Bradstreet: the ways people Although she played the role of a dedicated kept house, their responses to tight quarters, their Puritan and a dutiful daughter and wife, Brad- basic coping mechanisms in such a wild and unpre- street often expressed ambivalence about the dictable terrain (73). Critics agree that Bradstreet’s male authorities in her life, including God, her phrase “at which my heart rose” refers not to any father and husband, and the literary critics and welcoming feeling, but to feelings of rebellion and authors whose models she initially copied. On disgust: Her heart rose against these new man- one hand, she very much wanted their approval ners. After refl ection, Bradstreet resigns herself to and, on the other, she was angered by their her situation because “it is the way of God.” Note denial of the value of her experience and abili- her use of the word submitted. A theme that arises ties. (16) often in Bradstreet’s poetry is that of resistance fol- lowed by resignation—to death, to her husband’s Critics’ responses to Bradstreet’s relationships with absence, to the patriarchy, and to God. men are as varied and complex as her own formu- A woman often visited by sickness and lameness lation of resistance and resignation. Even though (her fi rst poem we know of, written at the age of her husband was 11 years her senior and a man 19, was entitled “Upon a Fit of Sickness, Anno. she married when she was, even by the standards 1632”) now living in a land plagued by death and of the time, a bit young to marry, she loved him hardship, Anne Bradstreet in some ways needed to passionately, or grew to. This love is evidenced by Anne Bradstreet 23 her marriage poems. Rosenmeier speculates that street would demonstrate—especially as her poetry the marriage was something planned by her family. matured—that a woman poet can exist simultane- Anne’s husband, Simon, was almost like a son to the ously in traditional and nontraditional roles, her Dudleys, having been orphaned at 14 and taken to poetic nature deeply embedded within her con- work under Anne’s father for the earl, and the dif- sciousness, not her clothes. ference in their ages meant that he was equipped to Worthy of note is the literary period into which take care of her (Rosenmeier 38). Anne Bradstreet Anne Bradstreet entered. While she is indeed the is a complex fi gure; she took pleasure in her life as fi rst published American poet (and a woman, a wife and mother of eight, and, unlike many other too), her work is also tied to a long tradition of Puritan women, she was given the space to read, European poetry, on the heels of the English write, and refl ect—and was essentially respected for Renaissance. Eavan Boland observes that in 1612 it by both men and women. Bradsteet was born “in an England that had been Although Anne had no formal education, her nine years without its imperious queen, and would, father made sure to expose her to language and in another four, lose William Shakespeare and the literature. Lacking a university education him- raffi sh ethos of the Tudor world” (179). Boland self, Thomas Dudley was tutored in England by surmises that the young Anne must have heard an Oxford graduate. According to biographers, stories of the great Elizabethan age, as evidenced he encouraged his daughter to read and probably by her elegies celebrating Queen Elizabeth and Sir taught her Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and French. Philip Sidney in her fi rst book. But the England Equipped with these tools, a motivated reader of Anne was born into was a country slowly shifting, the era could approach any text and understand it. under the strain of unrest, verging on the edge of Her father valued books so much he took his library civil war. Had she stayed in England, Boland con- along with him to the New World. Anne had access cludes, Anne Bradstreet probably would not have to all his books and absorbed their breadth and been offered the same freedoms in her writing as style in her own early poetry. she had in her new continent. After England’s res- Most notably, the French Calvinist poet Guil- toration of the Crown, “women,” Boland claims, laume Du Bartas is seen as a great infl uence on her “would be considered bait for princes, rather than work. In fact, in an introductory verse to her fi rst poets in their own right.” And Anne Bradstreet book, Nathaniel Ward refers to her as “a right Du would have remained voiceless as a poet. “She Bartas girl,” implying that her work exists only as left a poetic tradition in which she would almost a clever imitation. While celebrating her ability as a certainly have remained anonymous and founded poet, Ward diminishes her achievement by compar- another in which she is visible, anomalous, and cru- ing her to male poets and showing both a sense of cial” (Boland 181). disdain and trepidation toward women who choose Still, New England had its own brand of unrest to write. In the last two lines of his poem he sug- and dangers for women. Anne Bradstreet’s careful gests that a woman writer can do no more than handling of authority—private resistance accompa- dress up in her male counterparts’ clothing, this nied by resignation—kept her safe from the fates of “right Du Bartas girl,” Anne Bradstreet, is “shod her own sister, Sarah Keane, and Anne Hutchin- by Chaucer’s boots, and Homer’s furs, / Let men son, both excommunicated from the church at look to’t, lest women wear the spurs.” Note his Boston and exiled from the community for over- implication that women will be good poets only stepping their intellectual and religious bounds in disguise, and that these trappings—the boots, (Martin 16–17). Both Bradstreet’s father and her the furs, the spurs—are not inherent qualities to husband sat on Hutchinson’s trial. Thomas Dud- women writers, but simple accoutrements that are ley, then deputy governor, was a magistrate, and easily removed when the woman is needed in her Simon Bradstreet was an assistant at the General more traditional roles. Paradoxically, Anne Brad- Court proceedings. According to Rosenmeier, 24 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

Simon Bradstreet “does make a point of saying that a threatening wilderness—does tie the body to reli- he is not opposed to women’s meetings and thinks gious piety, and illness, in the form of the venereal such meetings ‘lawful’ ” (83). Thomas Dudley, disease Anne’s sister was accused of spreading, or however, vehemently opposed Hutchinson and the Anne’s own illness, was regarded as an opportunity antinomians. While there are no records of Anne for either judgment and condemnation or spiritual Bradstreet’s reactions to the Hutchinson trials, we cleansing and self-examination. We know that Anne can be sure that she was aware of the proceedings. viewed her own illnesses as entrances into a closer Perhaps the absence of a response by her indicates bond with divinity by way of punishment for hav- why she avoided the same fate. ing at the age of 14 or 15 what she called a “carnal Ten years later, Anne’s closest sister, Sarah Keane, heart,” one that valued worldly desires and pleasures was also heard preaching, but not on American soil. over God’s will. In her spiritual memoir she surmises She had followed her husband back to England after that “it pleased God to keep me a long time without he abandoned her. John Winthrop’s brother, Ste- a child, which was a great grief to me and cost me phen, reported to him that his “she Cosin Keayne many prayers and tears before I obtained one.” Her is growne a great preacher” after hearing her speak inability to conceive is viewed as God’s will—his openly about religion (Martin 59). He was far from pleasure—and the delay, albeit painful, is something impressed, and the use of the term great preacher is Bradstreet accepted, possibly aligning herself with laced with irony. When she returned to Massachu- Abraham’s wife, Sarah, in Genesis. Similarly, her setts without her husband, she was charged with great illness, “a lingering sickness like a consump- “ irregular prophesying in mixed assemblies ” (quoted tion together with a lameness,” which inspired her in Rosenmeier 93). What is more, her husband had fi rst poem, is perceived as a correction applied to her previously sent letters to John Wilson and Joseph moral sensibilities. One could also read causality, Cotton proclaiming that Sarah had “ ‘impoisoned’ as Anne probably did, in her sickness in 1632, her his body with syphilis” (quoted in Rosenmeier 93). supplication to God, and the conception of her fi rst As is often the case with such accusations, there is no child, born the next year. evidence that Sarah had given him the disease. Laura For contemporary readers, this sense of punish- Ulrich observes, “ Attacks upon religious dissenters ment meted out by God as infi rmity may also imply frequently included charges of sexual irregularity, as that any disfi gured or ill person during that period though disruption on one social boundary inevita- was perceived by Puritans as having turned away bly entailed the disruption of another ” (quoted in from God. This of course is the danger of 17th- Rosenmeier 93). The couple divorced, and Sarah century Puritan ideology. So it might be surprising was banished. Critics differ over the degree of that during Anne Bradstreet’s long illness, her fam- Thomas Dudley’s anger at his daughter; there are ily’s absence from the Boston church was tolerated. reports of disinheritance and there are reports of Rosenmeier concludes that it was quite possible a small sum left to her after his death. To be sure, that Anne’s illness coupled with the winter weather living in such proximity to these events, through kept her family home. After all, the Bradstreets and family and geography, must have been distressing Dudleys would have had to cross water to attend for Anne Bradstreet, a woman with a strong mind church services in Boston, already an all-day under- and her own ideas about God and nature. Unlike taking in itself (75–76). Rosenmeier points out that her sister, she let her ideas leak out quietly through absence from church was more common than we her poetry and private meditations rather than in the would expect, and not cause for condemnation. church. “Only by careful execution of her prescribed Apparently, a woman’s preaching in mixed com- responsibilities could she escape [their] fate,” claims pany was more odious. Wendy Martin (17). Anne’s illness allowed her not only to discover Puritan belief—and probably any belief system a more private form of faith than that being prac- on the edge of famine, death, and what could seem ticed in the church; it also helped her recognize her Anne Bradstreet 25 own mortality. It is quite possible that her deepened poet and the work, followed by three anagrams of understanding of the body allowed her to differ in Anne Bradstreet’s name. Nathaniel Ward wrote the thinking from the predominant feelings of shame the simultaneously condescending and celebra- associated with the body that one would expect in tory verse introduction, honoring the remarkable Puritan culture. Bradstreet’s discussion of the body nature of her accomplishment in a man’s arena and its functions is characterized by Rosenmeier as while also suggesting that she is merely putting on “frank and positive” (4). As her great-nephew COT- the trappings of a poet. John Woodbridge, the man TON M ATHER will echo years later, she sees the activity who took the book to London, wrote an epistle to of the bowels as vital and, in some ways, miraculous: the reader that declared Bradstreet’s piety and dis- “ ‘transmutation . . . but not excretion’ ” (Rosenmeier cipline as a wife and mother, and her remarkable 4). This differs sharply from the Puritan ideology of achievement in the creation of these poems: the intestinal process as the fi lthy and horrendous “ ‘loathsomeness of the inner man’ ” (Rosenmeier 4) It is the work of a woman, honored, and esteemed or EDWARD TAYLOR’s view of the body as a “dung- where she lives, for her gracious demeanor, her hill.” Physicality, according to Puritan doctrine, was eminent parts, her pious conversation, her cour- the antithesis of the soul’s fl ight, yet for Anne Brad- teous disposition, her exact diligence in her place, street, it is a source of fascination, despair, and pas- and discreet managing of her family occasions, sion—ultimately, a route to God. Consequently, the and more than so, these poems are the fruit but physical world—bodies, death, fi re, nature, love—is of some few hours, curtailed from her sleep, and also a wellspring for her poetry. other refreshments. (A3) The Bradstreets and Dudleys packed up house and moved to new outposts many times. Critics He is sure to protect her dignity in what most speculate that Bradstreet began writing in earnest Puritans would consider her primary occupations, after her family’s move to Ipswich in the mid-1630s. those of wife and mother. Hence, she has stolen The poems she was writing during this period were only from herself in the creation of these poems. celebrated by many at the time, but the majority This move makes her seem all the more disciplined of them have lost their luster, or at least pale in as both mother and poet. In case her piety is not comparison to her later poems. The poet Adrienne already clear, he adds that he has decided to publish Rich surmises that had Bradstreet stopped with these poems without the author’s knowledge, “to these early poems or simply carried on with similar bring to public view what she resolved should never work, she would have possibly become “at best a in such a manner see the sun” (A3). In actuality, literary fossil” (xiii). when Woodbridge returned to Massachusetts and When her brother-in-law the Reverend John placed the book in her lap, Bradstreet’s feelings Woodbridge traveled back to England in 1647 to were mixed. Certainly the thrill of seeing one’s negotiate with King Charles, he took a manuscript work in print was great, but she would have pre- of Anne Bradstreet’s collected poems with him, ferred to have had the opportunity to revise the without Bradstreet’s knowledge. He arranged for poems, clean up the rhyme structures, and correct the book to be published in London. No other any errors. This is clear in her later poem, “The manuscript by a resident of the New World had yet Author to Her Book,” which, through a clever been published. Bradstreet’s The Tenth Muse Lately fi gurative conceit of motherhood and child rearing, Sprung Up in America, or Several Poems Compiled narrates the story of the publication of this book, with Great Variety of Wit and Learning, Full of her “rambling brat.” Delight was the fi rst. When the book was published Despite Bradstreet’s reservations, the book did in 1650, Bradstreet was 38 years old. quite well on both sides of the Atlantic, listed in The book was prefaced by a variety of intro- the Catalogue of the Most Vendible Books in Eng- ductory comments written by men endorsing the land in 1658 (Martin 29). The book contained 26 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers her Quaternions, four long poems of four sections importance, remembering that, in a way, he was each, covering the four elements, humors, ages Anne’s fi rst teacher and literary guide; she read of man, and seasons. The book also included her from the books in his library. No doubt—and this “Dialogue between Old England and New,” her is evident in some of the poems—she wanted to elegies for Queen Elizabeth and Philip Sidney, and write poems that would please him and correspond the one poem from the book that is still consid- to his aesthetic tastes, his notions of the qualities ered a truly important part of her work and of our that made a poem good. Let us not forget, too, history, “The Prologue.” Vacillating from modesty Dudley’s role in Anne Hutchinson’s trial and his to feminist outrage and back, “The Prologue” is disappointment with his daughter Sarah when she impressive in its quiet, revolutionary tone. It is the was excommunicated. Perhaps Anne Bradstreet only poem from The Tenth Muse to be discussed in worried about how he might receive and judge her this volume. work. Wendy Martin speculates that Critics and poets agree that Bradstreet’s great- est work was yet to be done. The poems in The perhaps her father’s death in 1653 as well as Tenth Muse do indeed follow their infl uences a bit the publication of her work in 1650 gave her too closely; they seem lofty, “elaborate and con- the psychological freedom necessary to express ventional,” writes Boland. “The public tone often herself more openly. The more honestly she falters; the language rarely shines” (Boland 183). wrote of her emotional and religious tensions There is a “clumsy percussion” (183) to the work, and her desire for recognition and her love of as if, Josephine Piercy observes, Bradstreet was “a life on earth, the more accomplished her poetry beginner doing fi nger exercises” (xi) at a piano. became. (17) Piercy, along with other critics and poets, is quick to point out that if Bradstreet had known the work Eavan Boland describes the ways Bradstreet’s was to be published, The Tenth Muse might have poetry changed after her father’s death in terms of become a much different book. And she soon set subject, emotion, tone, and music—all elements about revising it for a second edition. still considered crucial to lyric poetry today. She The second edition, which corrected some por- notes that Bradstreet’s “subjects closed in” to tions of the fi rst and included newer poems, did not the world she was experiencing. Instead of writ- reach print until six years after Anne Bradstreet’s ing “elegies for lost courtiers,” Bradstreet was death in 1678. One can easily imagine this self- exploring her feelings, marriage, and home. Her scrutinizing and proud poet revisiting and revising elegies were instead for her grandchildren and for her poems again and again. Her later poems are her burned-down house. Boland notes that as the the ones for which she is best known. They are the music of the poetry shifted to something richer and most revolutionary in content and the most impor- fuller, “the volume turned down” and “the voice tant to literary and cultural history. They become became at once more private and more intense” more personal, dealing more with the daily strug- (183–184). She was writing her best and most gles she witnessed in her life, and responding also moving poetry. The lines were no longer strained, to the majesty and vastness of the New England or if they seemed so, it was probably an intended landscape. component in the poem’s craft, or a shift integral In 1653 Thomas Dudley died. This is an impor- to the meaning of that line. tant moment for Bradstreet. Critics and poets It was in this period that Bradstreet wrote what note that after her father’s death, Bradstreet began some consider her best poem, “Contemplations,” crafting different poems. It would be a mistake to a long and diffi cult poem of 232 lines that some say that Dudley’s death was the only experience to contend is the fi rst American nature poem. In it, change her work, but we also must recognize its the poet reconciles her admiration for the earth Anne Bradstreet 27 and its creatures with her own awe at God’s cre- poems “were sharp and musical and impossible to ation. The sun is asked, “How full of glory then overlook” (Boland 187). must thy Creator be, / Who gave this bright light It is arguable that in this period Bradstreet’s luster unto thee?” The poem’s eighth stanza prefi g- poetry became, as Josephine Piercy notes, an “out- ures Emerson’s or Hawthorne’s journeys through let for pent-up emotions created by her environ- the New England landscape: “Silent alone, where ment” (Anne Bradstreet 116). Her passions for her none or saw, or heard / In pathless paths I lead my husband, her grief over outliving her grandchildren, wand’ring feet.” The mastery of these lines is that her deep sadness over the house fi re that destroyed, they at once celebrate nature, its untrampled paths, as she attests, not only possessions but memories and display a self-consciousness of the poet’s act are expressed in these poems, where the poet also of making: It is through these pathless paths that seeks a means of comprehension and synthesis, she, the poet, leads her “wand’ring feet,” punning sometimes seeking the hand of God, to make sense on the term used to defi ne poetic meter, feet. This of unruly situations beyond her control. pun, while at once quite clever, is equally modest, A great deal of Bradstreet’s life was indeed because she admits they wander. She constructs beyond her control: her health, her early marriage, a self in her poems that is awestruck, intelligent, her emigration from England to America, the pub- approachable, and fallible. lication of an unready book. Through synthesis of her varied and often contradictory roles of daugh- Other poems Bradstreet wrote in her later years ter, wife, sister, mother, grandmother, Christian, approach subjects that had not previously been writ- and poet, she is able to locate a sense of a multidi- ten about from a woman’s perspective, with images mensional self in which all experience is one. “She culled from daily life. Interestingly, Bradstreet’s came to enact in her life and in her work a world greatest contribution to literature might very well of action, faith, expression, family, and ordinary lie in her confi dence in covering new territory with adventure. . . . And so she generates a poem in her subjects. Adrienne Rich notes, “Her individu- which they are indivisible, from a sensibility that is alism lies in her choice of material rather than in not divided” (Boland 188–189). her style” (xix). In an age that did not reward indi- The mother of eight children, Anne Bradstreet, vidualism as it is recognized today, writing some- her cheeks scarred from the smallpox that nearly thing new and different was a brave thing to do. killed her as a teenager, died at the age of 60. She Bradstreet wrote movingly about the deaths of her was quite frail at the end of life, “wasted to skin young grandchildren and the burning of her house and bone . . . much troubled with rheum,” her son in 1666. These poems, in their quiet lyric intensity Simon wrote (quoted in Martin 76). She questioned and in their powerful imagery, make daily colonial and wrestled with Puritan ideas of God, of behav- life extremely present for her readers. That she felt ior, of the divisions between this world and the the power to privilege her daily experience in verse next, and sought her own defi nitions. As Wendy is remarkable. Boland asks, “Where did she get Martin writes, “Her faith was based on a profound permission for this?” (185). It is a good question. desire to remain connected to life, whether in this Bradstreet’s later poems carved new spaces of pos- world or the next. Repeatedly, she observes that sibility. No longer derivative, Bradstreet’s poetry— if it were not for death and decay, earth would be her marriage poems, for instance—may employ heaven” (76). extended metaphors, such as the hunt, that origi- Anne Bradstreet has had a profound impact on nate in English Renaissance love sonnets, but the poetry, most notably in the 20th century and beyond. difference arrives in the occasion for her poems— In 1959 John Berryman published a long poem her husband’s absence. She turns what might be a entitled Homage to Mistress Bradstreet. In it, he con- familiar masculine image into her own. These later jures up and commingles with what he imagines to 28 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers be the spirit of Anne Bradstreet. Although the poem confi dent enough in her own literary skill to add is a great technical feat and was considered master- her own voice to theirs. Rather than returning to ful in its time, feminist scholars and poets alike have the conventional stance of humility often affected come to understand his construction of Bradstreet as by young or new poets when faced with the daunt- merely that: a construction of a woman created by a ing legacy of their predecessors, Bradstreet instead man. Eavan Boland characterizes Berryman’s quest considers the grandness of Queen Elizabeth I to be as “the poet’s voice usurping the very identity [Brad- deserving of additional praise, stating: “No Phoe- street’s] he is seeking out” (178). Still, she admits, nix pen, nor Spenser’s poetry / No Speed’s nor his poem drew Bradstreet to her attention when she Camden’s learned history / Eliza’s works, wars, was a young poet. More than 100 years before Wil- praise, can e’re compact” (19–21). Bradstreet’s liam Wordsworth would celebrate the common man, strategy is rather clever; instead of placing herself Bradstreet was celebrating common, everyday female and her poem in direct comparison with those of experience, while also defending her abilities as a more famous learned men, she instead makes the female poet. This, along with her observations on argument that there can never be enough praise of nature, has infl uenced contemporary women poets Queen Elizabeth I, and thus her offering must be such as Eavan Boland, Mona Van Duyn, Mary Oli- welcomed and even necessary. ver, and Adrienne Rich. Bradstreet’s legacy is this: The aspect of Elizabeth that seems most appeal- that her work invites readers to identify with her, ing to Bradstreet appears early in the poem: “She so that women poets of any era, when they read her, hath wip’d off th’ aspersions of her sex” (29). are strengthened. Elizabeth’s position as a strong, admirable, even bellicose queen makes her a celebrated fi gure for women everywhere. Bradstreet attributes Spain’s attack on Britain to Philip II’s underestimation of a “In Honour of that High and female ruler and considers Britain’s sound defeat of Mighty Princess, Queen Elizabeth the Spanish Armada to be a triumph over such sex- of Happy Memory” (1643) ist assumptions: “She taught them better manners, In the proem, or preface, to this elegy for Queen to their cost” (32). Interestingly, it is Queen Eliza- Elizabeth I, Bradstreet faces the diffi cult task of beth’s military record rather than other aspects of placing herself and her tribute “ ’mongst hundred her reign that garners most attention from Brad- hecatombs of roaring verse” (11). As she will later street in her poem. She references the queen’s write in her famous poem “The Author to Her ordered attack on Portugal under the command of Book,” Bradstreet employs the poet’s conceit of Sir Francis Drake, the defeat of Philip II of Spain’s poverty and humility. Bradstreet relies upon Queen armada, as well as the submission of the Irish under Elizabeth’s graceful “acclamations of the poor Hugh O’Neill, second earl of Tyrone, to the Brit- as rich” to “deem [her] rudeness [in writing the ish Crown (44–47, 55–56). Elizabeth’s military poem] is no wrong” (16–17). Because the queen victories are attributed less to the men who carried never cast aspersions on the work of the poor, them out and more to her own wisdom; Bradstreet Bradstreet’s own verse, which “bleating stands compares her to Minerva and Pallas Athena, the before thy royal hearse,” might be just as welcomed Roman and Greek goddesses of wisdom, respec- by the queen as the famous works written on her tively (58, 60). behalf by Sir Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser, John The poem concludes with its praise of Elizabeth Speed, and William Camden that Bradstreet ref- as an extraordinary queen and exemplary symbol of erences in the opening lines of the poem proper women’s potential: “Nay masculines, you have thus (12, 19–20). Even as Bradstreet acknowledges the taxed us long / But she, though dead, will vindi- greatness of these literary predecessors, she feels cate our wrong” (97–98). Anne Bradstreet 29

For Discussion or Writing land respond to these charges. Almost like a lawyer 1. Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603; the major in a court case trying England, Bradstreet provides works dedicated to her were published at least a long list of specifi c crimes that Old England has 20 years before Bradstreet penned her elegy. committed, to include the execution of those tout- Why might Bradstreet have felt compelled to ing royal bloodlines: Edward V and Richard, who write “In Honour of . . . Queen Elizabeth”? were murdered by Richard III, and Lady Jane Grey, 2. Bradstreet offers two epitaphs for Elizabeth. who was executed by Queen Mary (112–113). Compare them to one another. How do they Aside from these murders, which were committed differ in tone and subject matter? Consider by those who wished to possess the British throne them both in the context of the poem and in its themselves, Bradstreet delves into the source of particular celebration of Queen Elizabeth. England’s woes: “punishments ordain’d on high” 3. Compare Bradstreet’s praise of Elizabeth with (85). Old England confesses her “sins—the broach Sor Juana’s “In Reply to a Gentleman from of sacred Laws” (90). As a Puritan, Bradstreet identi- Peru.” What arguments against women do the fi es the Church of England and the Roman Catholic two poets address? How do they counter these Church as two corrupting factors that have brought arguments? about “Idolatry.” As specifi c examples of the means by which England has sinned, Old England delin- eates: “foolish superstitious adoration / Are lik’d and countenanc’d by men of might / The Gospel “A Dialogue between is trod down and hath no right / Church Offi ces Old England and New” (1643) are sold and bought for gain / That Pope had hope One of Bradstreet’s earliest poems, “A Dialogue to fi nd Rome here again / For Oaths and Blasphe- between Old England and New” provides a dif- mies did ever ear / From Beezlebub himself such ferent aesthetic and subject matter from the more language hear” (92–98). New England’s response is personal and spiritual concerns that will occupy rather militant: Burn all items associated with the her later, more well-known works. The poem’s for- Anglican and Catholic Churches and attack the seat mat, a dialogue, is rather unusual for Bradstreet, of Catholicism, Rome (232–237, 266–281). although it is certainly a traditional form. Brad- street embodies two separate voices in the poem: For Discussion or Writing Old England, who is characterized by a “wailing 1. Bradstreet is by no means the only early Ameri- tone” and “mournful guise,” and New England, can author to focus on England’s religious intol- who, though her “humble child,” offers sage advice erance or its supposed slide into moral depravity. and guidance for the mother’s future. She casts the Consider how the dialogue form of this poem relationship between the colony and England as compares with works of other authors such as daughter and mother, respectively, and thus seems JOHN WINTHROP and WILLIAM BRADFORD who to naturalize their relationship. This dynamic, make similar points in different formats. however, is ruptured in the fi nal portion of the 2. How does the metaphor of family, used by poem, in which New England calls for the end of Bradstreet to compare Old England to a mother monarchical rule and the shift to Parliament as the and New England to a daughter, compare with source of legal and moral authority. THOMAS PAINE’s use of the family metaphor in As a dialogue, the poem allows Bradstreet not Common Sense? only to launch criticisms at England for the violence 3. “A Dialogue between Old England and New” and bloodshed that have resulted from monarchical concludes, “Farewell, dear mother; Parliament, rule and religious intolerance for Puritans like Brad- prevail” (294). What arguments does Bradstreet street who fl ed to America, but also to have Eng- offer for the elimination of the succession of 30 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

kings? How does her argument for the destruc- For Discussion or Writing tion of monarchical rule in England compare to 1. Discuss the poem’s fi nal image, which compares PHILIP MORIN FRENEAU’s in “On the Causes of unrefi ned ore to gold. How does Bradstreet Political Degeneracy,” BENJAMIN FRANKLIN’s convey humility here? How does the image sub- “An Edict by the King of Prussia,” or Thomas vert typical assumptions of value? Paine’s Common Sense? 2. Addressing the poem as an argument, locate and discuss Bradstreet’s thesis.

“The Prologue” (1650) “The Prologue” introduces readers to Bradstreet’s “To the Memory of My Dear and feminism and her subtle deployment of humility. Ever Honored Father” (1653) This poem is a prime example of her ability to criti- As Bradstreet notes in the full title of the poem, cize the patriarchy while appealing to it through her father, Thomas Dudley, passed away on July 31, consistent claims of inferiority as a female poet. 1653, at the age of 77. He had been the governor The fi rst four stanzas lure the reader through of the Massachusetts Bay Colony for four separate repeated claims of imperfection in the face of the terms and had served as deputy governor under great poets she admires. Bradstreet assures the JOHN WINTHROP, with whom he had several con- reader that her “obscure lines,” her lack of skill, fl icts. In her elegy, Bradstreet acknowledges both and her “foolish, broken, blemished Muse” make aspects of her father’s identity. She refers to his her inferior simply because nature made her a key role in the founding of the Massachusetts Bay woman. Unlike Demosthenes, who overcame a Colony in the following lines: “One of thy Found- speech impediment through his art, she suggests ers, him New England know” and “True Patriot of her “weak or wounded brain” cannot be cured and this little Commonweal” (23, 27). Because of her is unable to compete with the poetry of men. father’s notoriety, Bradstreet writes in the poem: Then the tone shifts dramatically: “I am obnox- “Nor was his name, or life lead so obscure / That ious to each carping tongue / Who says my hand pitty might some Trumpeters procure. / Who after a needle better fi ts.” Comparing the needle asso- death might make him falsly seen / Such as in life, ciated with domesticity to the typically masculine no man could justly deem” (13–16). The lines work pen, she reveals the attitudes she anticipates from in two ways: They assure the reader that Dudley’s male readers. They will think either that she is fame and reputation will shield him from any other lucky or that she stole the ideas. In a way, that is characterization, either by a devoted daughter or how Nathaniel Ward portrays her in his verse intro- by those fi lled with “malice” and “envy” (11). In duction to her own book. other words, Dudley’s prominence, which makes Following the vein of her feminist argument, him the target of those animated by “malice” and Bradstreet is still able to maintain the charming “envy,” also protects him from them because he modesty of the early stanzas, but she also suggests is too well known for false tales about him to be that her poetry is more earthy and real than the believed. That said, Bradstreet, too, is hampered in overpolished work of men. Refusing the tradi- her elegy for her father; she cannot praise him too tional laurel wreath (“I ask no bays”), she prefers much for the same reason that others cannot chas- the domestic herbs of here and now: “thyme or tise him or cast dispersions on his character. parsley,” wholesome, humble. By maintaining her Bradstreet eschews the traditional aspect of an humility throughout the poem, she highlights the elegy, which is to offer praise in remembrance and “pomposity and cruelty of those male writers and honor of the person who died. She does so not only critics who disdain women” (Martin 32). because such a turn is in keeping with Puritan tra- Anne Bradstreet 31 dition, but also because it helps to temper the feel- birds leaving the nest and taking fl ight—under- ings held by those who believed Dudley to be too mines Bradstreet’s pleas for her children to return desirous of the power that John Winthrop wielded home, making this request seem both unlikely over the Massachusetts Bay Colony. She writes: and unnatural. Tellingly, when Bradstreet details “Nor honour pufft him up, when he had part; / the lives of her second- and third-born children, Those titles loathed, which some do too much love both daughters, she is silent on the plea for their / For truly his ambition lay above” (36–38). Brad- return. Perhaps because both daughters have mar- street’s father, a good Puritan, sets his sights above ried and created families of their own, Bradstreet worldly accomplishments and rewards, for “he a cannot impose a mother’s wish on daughters who, Mansion had, prepar’d above” (50). too, have become mothers. She seems content that the fi rstborn daughter, who originally married and For Discussion or Writing moved “Southward,” has “norward steered with fi ll 1. Compare Bradstreet’s view of her father to John sails” (18). The daughter’s proximity seems enough Winthrop’s characterization of Thomas Dudley to content the mother bird, and yet of the second- in his journal. born daughter, also married but living “where 2. How does Bradstreet’s description of her father Aurora fi rst appears,” Bradstreet makes no plea for compare with her other poem written for him, a return home or a move closer to home (25). “To Her Father with Some Verses”? How does Similarly, the gender expectations that a mother the theme of debt appear in both poems? has for her “cocks” and “hens” appear yet again 3. Offer an interpretation of the opening line of when Bradstreet details the life of the second-born the poem: “By duty bound, and not by custome son: “One to the academy fl ew / To chat among the led.” learned crew; / Ambition moves still in his breast 4. How does Bradstreet cope with the loss of her / That he might chant above the rest” (27–30). father in this poem compared with her later One can imagine the mother vicariously delight- poems in which she expresses her feelings on the ing in the ambitions of her son, and thus express- loss of her grandchildren? ing pride as a parent in a manner more befi tting Puritan women. Indeed, she seems to impose high expectations on the most recent son who has left home: “My fi fth, whose down is yet scarce gone, / “In Reference to Her Children, Is ’mongst the shrubs and bushes fl own, / And as 23 June, 1659” (1659) his wings increase in strength, / On higher boughs Bradstreet sustains a bird metaphor throughout this he’ll perch at length” (33–36). By imagining the poem in which she captures a moment in her life son as a recently matured bird, “whose down is yet when her role as mother is somewhat in fl ux. Of her scarce gone,” Bradstreet makes her expectations eight children, “eight birds hatched in one nest,” for his success and achievements seem natural. she describes the current lives of the eldest four, When “his wings increase in strength,” Bradstreet who have matured, left home, and begun careers or anticipates that he will abandon the lowly position families of their own. Although the bird imagery he currently occupies “ ’mongst the shrubs and that casts leaving home as taking fl ight seems to bushes” for “higher boughs.” make these movements seem natural and in accord Bradstreet unites the children when she dis- with the progression of life, Bradstreet maintains a cusses how she worries over them, even more than constant refrain for their return. Even of her fi rst- she did when they were still in her household and born son, Bradstreet pleads, “Leave not thy nest, under her care and supervision. She lists a variety of thy dam and sire / Fly back and sing amidst this dangers that might befall them, fearing that in pro- choir” (11–12). The use of a natural metaphor— tecting them too much she has kept them ignorant 32 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers of the perils that might lie ahead of them. These house is not only her “dwelling place”; its impor- fears are quickly allayed, however, as Bradstreet tance lies deeper than that, in Bradstreet’s particu- shifts to the topic of her own inevitable fl ight to “a lar relationship to her complex identifi cation with country beyond sight.” The poem concludes with domesticity. the belief that in their tales of her and her love for In her early poem “The Prologue,” Bradstreet them, Bradstreet “thus gone, amongst you I may rejects the misogynist notion that she is better suited live” (90). to traditionally female duties such as sewing than she is to writing. At the end of that poem, however, For Discussion or Writing she privileges parsley or thyme, domestic herbs, over 1. As in her poem “To My Dear Children,” Brad- the laurel wreath thought, by men, to crown great street anticipates her own death, writing of it in poets. Later, in her “The Author to Her Book,” she a very frank and open manner. How does her confl ates the act of writing with child rearing and treatment of a topic that understandably must be domesticity even further: She dresses the child-book diffi cult for her children to read, much less con- in “homespun” cloth. The “needle” and the “pen” template, differ in this poem from that in “To are at odds, in that the expectations prescribed to My Dear Children”? To what extent does the women counter those offered to men. But Bradstreet form of the poem account for this difference? fi nds ways to embrace the paradox as unifying. 2. What insights into 17th-century domestic life As in this poem’s catalog of what will never hap- might readers derive from reading this poem? pen in this house, one way to read this poem is through its absences and omissions, essentially in what remains unsaid. Note that there is no refer- ence in the poem to any place where she wrote: no “Here Follows Some Verses desk, no special table, and no ink bottle. Bradstreet upon the Burning of Our House includes places where she lay and sat, but the clos- July 10th, 1666” (1666) est she approaches to discussing writing is in the The tension between the substantial, material couplet “No pleasant tale shall e’er be told / Nor world and the spiritual realm is again enacted in things recounted done of old.” Those are stories this poem, yet another elegy, but this one for her told, not poems, not books. A closer look at the house and belongings turned to ash. The other, poem’s epigraphic subtitle, “Copied Out of a Loose less noticeable tension at play in this poem, the one Paper,” is quite telling. Her beloved books, her own that seems impossible to untangle in all her work, poems in progress, her pen, her ink, all are gone; lies in the reconciliation of domestic identity with hence, she must write the poem on “loose paper” her identity as a poet. Ultimately, the two tensions and start again, perhaps through the writing of this are intertwined here. The domestic sphere, the poem that laments the loss of her domestic space. house, the place of Bradstreet’s duty as a Puritan Worthy of note is her husband’s absence. He wife and mother, is gone. was in London at the time and writes in his diary When Bradstreet grieves for her home, she that his father-in-law’s library of 800 books was mourns also her own identity as a woman in her destroyed, and that his own books and papers culture and in her religion. This is evident in some were lost. Anne, on the other hand, wakened by of the most moving lines of the poem: “Under the fi re’s “thund’ring noise,” misses the furnish- thy roof no guest shall sit, / Nor at thy table eat a ings, the comfort, the ability to provide for guests. bit.” After cataloging many of the material objects This could be a strategic move to make the poem’s that are also witness to marriage and family—the speaker seem more common. trunk, the chest—she arrives at this image of the However painful the fi re may be, for both poet absence of guests—hence, the absence of her hospi- and reader, Bradstreet’s focus is on the lesson she tality and her ability to provide nourishment. The must gain from tragedy. Here lies the poem’s overt Anne Bradstreet 33 tension. She moves from near personifi cation of Simon is blown “i’ th’ bud.” Bradstreet rational- the beloved house to a litany of introspective ques- izes the senseless deaths by offering that they were tions accusing the speaker of caring too much for “cropped by th’ Almighty’s hand; yet is He good.” the things of this world. Ending on an affi rmation The semicolon after hand is signifi cant. It marks a of “that mighty Architect[’s]” “house on high” quick shift in perception, tone, and temperament. that awaits her, the poet seeks—and in this case, Referred to as a caesura, the abrupt division of the fi nds—some comfort in her faith. line seems too swift, too hasty. More tellingly, the word order of the second half of the line, “yet is He For Discussion or Writing good,” inverts the subject and verb when it is not 1. Consider the similarities between this poem necessary for the rhyme or meter of the poem; the and “The Flesh and the Spirit.” In each poem, line would sound the same either way. We invert how is heaven portrayed in comparison to earth? subject and verb when we form questions. It is very Compare the dialogue in this poem between possible that Bradstreet intends this not to be so two sides of the self and the dialogue between much a sea change as an expression of doubt. the two sisters in “The Flesh and the Spirit.” Throughout the poem she implores herself and 2. Consider the importance of marking the date in the reader to accept God’s will quietly and not the title of this poem and in the elegies to her question it. But this advice rings hollow—what she grandchildren. knows they should do, but not what she feels. This is 3. Compare Bradstreet’s resolve to deny the things especially apparent in the line “Let’s say He’s merci- of the material world for the treasures of heaven ful as well as just.” The poet could have used count- with MARY WHITE ROWLANDSON’s view of her less words to evoke certainty here, if that is what she own losses after her and her children’s captivity was after; “let’s say” could become “we know,” for in The Sovereignty and Goodness of GOD. instance. But the construction as it is is more honest, more human. She knows they are supposed to say these things, but she still has trouble understand- ing God’s mercy or justice in the deaths of these “On My Dear Grandchild children. Simon Bradstreet, Who Died on 16 November, 1669, Being But a For Discussion or Writing Month, and One Day Old” (1669) 1. How do you account for lines 5 and 6, “With This poem marks the loss of two grandchildren in dreadful awe before Him let’s be mute, / Such fewer than six months. In three years Anne Brad- was His will, but why, let’s not dispute,” given street herself will die, but now she grieves for her the presence of the poem? Is Bradstreet sincere third grandchild taken by death, this one “no sooner in calling for silence and acceptance of God’s came, but gone, and fall’n asleep.” The elegies for will? her granddaughters Elizabeth and Anne devote not 2. Compare the tone, imagery, and ultimate mes- more than two lines specifi cally to Christ or God; in sage in this poem with Bradstreet’s other two this poem Bradstreet focuses much more on accept- marking the premature deaths of her grandchil- ing God’s will, or at least trying to accept it. dren. In what ways are they similar? In what The dead children are represented by “three ways do they differ? fl owers.” In each elegy, in fact, Bradstreet plants fl oral imagery: Anne is a “withering fl ower,” while in the elegy for Elizabeth the poet modifi es Shake- (1669) speare’s famous sonnet: “Summer’s lease hath all “As Weary Pilgrim” too short a date” becomes, in her elegy, “buds Three years prior to her death, Bradstreet com- new blown to have so short a date.” The baby posed “As Weary Pilgrim,” a contemplative poem 34 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers anticipating the ultimate end of all her “sins,” “clay house mold’ring away,” anticipates the day “cares,” and “sorrows” (20). As the poem opens, when the “corrupt carcass” is transformed into a Bradstreet casts herself in the role of “weary pil- “glorious body [that] shall rise” (22, 35–36). The grim, now at rest” (1). The metaphor is an apt resurrection of the body is a power reserved “by one because the Puritans referred to themselves Christ alone” (38). Such a moment when “soul and as pilgrims once they arrived in America; by using body shall unite” becomes the poem’s ultimate this term, Bradstreet identifi es the religious context hope as it shifts from the early images of decay for her poem as well as the conventional sense of and suffering in a hostile environment to “lasting the term, one who has journeyed. As does a bird, joys” that “ear ne’er hear nor tongue e’er told” (39, she “hugs with delight her silent nest,” grateful for 41–42). having all dangers in the “past, and travails done” (2, 6). Once again, the pilgrim metaphor operates For Discussion or Writing on two levels: It represents the toils and strife that 1. As Bradstreet does, Emily Dickinson imagines are humans’ fate in a postlapsarian world, and it Death or Christ as a bridegroom in her famous signifi es the refl ections of a person for whom death “Because I Could Not Stop for Death.” Com- is nearer than life. pare the use of this characterization of either For Bradstreet’s “weary pilgrim,” life offers death or Christ in the two poems. nothing more than suffering, psychological, spiri- 2. How does Bradstreet’s anticipated spiritual tual, and physical. The second stanza represents deliverance relate to that of her fellow Puritan the landscape itself as hostile: fi lled with a “burn- and poet EDWARD TAYLOR in “The Soul’s Groan ing sun,” “stormy rains,” “briars and thorns,” and to Christ for Succor”? “hungry wolves.” For the pilgrim anticipating the end of life, these antagonistic elements no longer pose a threat because “He erring paths no more (1678) shall tread” (11). The dangers of an earthly exis- “The Author to Her Book” tence are identifi ed as the results of treading a Responding to the publication of her book with- sinful path, or living a life of sin, which was con- out her knowledge, Anne Bradstreet narrates the sidered to be an inevitability for Puritans given the process by which her brother-in-law and minis- fall of humankind with their expulsion from Eden. ter—“friends, less wise than true”—planned to As further support for Bradstreet’s link between print the book in England. Through an extended suffering on earth and the sinfulness of the fl esh, metaphor, a conceit, she represents her book as a the second stanza concludes with the metaphor of child. Addressing this child-book, this “ill-formed diet: “Nor wild fruits eat instead of bread” (12). offspring of [her] feeble brain,” heightens the Readers should be attentive to the presence of the stakes for a poet and mother in Puritan society, morally corrupt adjective wild as a descriptor of writing about poetry and child rearing in such a fruits as well as the marked absence of any adjec- way that they are inseparable, hovering together as tive describing the bread. Bradstreet makes clear metaphor. Although the poem’s conceit structure that the abandonment of the “erring paths” is inti- is infl uenced by the English metaphysical poets mately linked to abstaining from a diet of “wild Bradstreet read, it differs greatly in subject. Brad- fruits.” The weary pilgrim is no longer tempted street’s ability to cast herself as the book’s multifac- by the ways of the physical world, nor victim to its eted mother, and to do so modestly, lovingly, and devices for suffering. cruelly, performs feats of wit that rival any of her This theme of renunciation of the physical world predecessors’. for the spiritual gifts of the afterlife informs the Although the poet initially wants to reject the remainder of the poem, in which Bradstreet, her book for being prematurely published/born, hid- Anne Bradstreet 35 eous, and deformed, she cares for it because it is and stock. It does not behave like an Elizabethan hers: “Yet being my own, at length affection would or Italian sonnet but is held together by the swift / Thy blemishes amend, if so I could.” She lov- structure of heroic couplets, common to much ingly attempts to revise, noticing the way her alter- of Bradstreet’s poetry, every two lines rhyming ations make matters worse. Aware of the uneven together. The form is thus at odds with the poem’s meter in her early poems, Bradstreet cleverly puns content because Bradstreet fl outs the traditional on the word feet in the line “I stretched thy joints structure of the sonnet even as the poem itself dis- to make thee even feet.” As the poet dresses the plays a very traditional sense of fi lial obligation. She book-child, she can fi nd nothing but “homespun seems to derive the sense of singularity that allows cloth,” an image that connects domestic life to her to divorce herself from these traditional sonnet the act of versifying, comparing the cloth’s weft forms by focusing on her singularity in repaying and weave to the placement of lines and the use her debt to her father: “Such is my debt, I may not of language. They are inseparable. Unlike children say forgive / But as I can, I’ll pay it while I live.” raised in a home, however, this child signifi cantly In the body of the poem, Bradstreet never has no father, emphasizing the solitary act of writ- alludes specifi cally to a father and a daughter; the ing by the female author. In the poem Bradstreet title is the only part of the poem that tells its reader acknowledges that she alone has created something what kind of relationship the conceit represents fatherless, imperfect, cherished, and worried over. (Rosenmeier 42). Bradstreet recognizes, from the beginning of her apostrophe to this man, the tre- For Discussion or Writing mendous debt she owes to her father. He is “dear” 1. Do you see the poem’s fi nal act, sending the to her in more ways than one: beloved and costly book-child out the door, as abandonment or as to repay. a release of the book back to the public? Is it an Her characteristic modesty weaves its way act of submission, or is it a recognition of the through this poem, but it is more somber than in book as a separate, imperfect entity? “The Prologue.” Burdened with the awareness that 2. What role does Bradstreet envision for the poet her father’s investment (spiritual, emotional, educa- or for the audience in this poem? How does this tional) in her has not paid off in the way she would role differ in her poems directly addressed to her have hoped, she questions her own worth. She feels fl esh and blood children such as “To My Dear she has squandered what he has given her; now it Children” or “In Reference to Her Children, 23 “amounts but to this crumb.” Her “stock,” her June, 1659”? worth, is “so small” her only means of partial repay- 3. Compare Bradstreet’s sense of herself as a poet ment is “this simple mite.” Although not entirely and the role that poetry should have to that of clear, a reasonable interpretation of “this crumb” Sor Juana, who writes of herself as a poetess in and “this simple mite” could be this very poem, “In Reply to the Gentleman from Peru.” this speck of verse that is anything but simple. Aware, in the sonnet’s turn, that she is the only one who can pay off her fi lial bond, she proclaims that it is a lifelong debt to continue paying until (1678) “To Her Father with Some Verses” her death. As “The Author to Her Book” does, this poem employs a conceit to compare the relationship For Discussion or Writing between Bradstreet and her father to fi nancial 1. Consider why Bradstreet feels the debt will not indebtedness. The sonnet is tight and quick- be paid until she dies, rather than in the here- moving, employing the language of fi nance used after. How does this relate to other Puritan in the 17th century with words like principle, yield, notions of fi lial obligation? 36 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

2. Compare Bradstreet’s emotional debt to her mindedness is mere hallucination, grasping “at shad- father in this poem to the dynamic she reveals in ows which are not.” In short, they are typical sisters, “To the Memory of My Dear and Ever Honored with a bit more enmity between them than most. Father.” Flesh berates her sister for having no substan- 3. Consider this poem in comparison to “The tial existence, for living on “Nothing but medita- Author to Her Book,” in which Bradstreet tion.” Her attempts to convince Spirit to enjoy the describes herself as “poor.” How does this use of pleasures of the earth at fi rst surprisingly refer to the language of economic status work for famil- qualities many value highly: industry and honor. ial relationships or those that exist between an But these are tricks; industry has its rewards, and artist and her work? honor confers fame. In her answer, Spirit reminds her sister of all the times she tricked her in the past. She has sworn to defeat her. Wendy Martin explains that “in the Christian ethos,” the battle between (1678) “The Flesh and the Spirit” body and soul “is resolved only with the destruc- The verse dialogue was quite popular among tion of the body” (51), and Spirit desires to be the poets in Bradstreet’s time. On the other side of victor. Spirit’s passionate description of heaven the Atlantic, Andrew Marvell composed verse differs little in substance from the attempts Flesh dialogues between the resolved soul and created makes to convince her sister to give in to secular pleasure, and between the body and the soul. pleasures. Both places are described in terms of this There are parallels between their poems, notes the world: cities, gold, pearl, what can be gained there, critic Wendy Martin, but “Bradstreet stresses the beauty, sparkle, pleasure. Martin notes, “Her belief pleasures of eternity” (52). in heaven was actually a sublimated expression of Curiously, Bradstreet’s experience with her her love of life on earth” (6). own sick body only briefl y enters into her dialogue For a poet so in love with this world, it is sur- between the fl esh and the spirit, without acknowl- prising that the struggle between the fl esh and the edging that in periods of illness she felt closest to spirit is easily won by Spirit, the fi gure who, once God. In her poem both Flesh and Spirit are por- she defeats her sister, will be crowned, in her vic- trayed more through the desires that separate them tory, with a laurel wreath, not parsley or thyme, and the pleasures offered by their respective realms. the wreaths requested in Bradstreet’s “Prologue.” Flesh is the embodiment of desire and pride. There In this, her most assured presentation of Puritan are pride and anger in Spirit, too, but she is a fi g- ideology, the poet’s reservations are evident. ure ever looking upward. Bradstreet seems mostly concerned with the interaction between the two For Discussion or Writing fi gures and the rhetoric each uses to convince the 1. Compare and contrast the values expressed in other of the superiority of earth or heaven. They Bradstreet’s “Prologue” and “The Flesh and the are complementary parts of the same whole. Spirit.” How are earthly concerns portrayed? It is important to note that the poem’s speaker How are the skies portrayed? hears the conversation; rather than present the dia- 2. How does Bradstreet differ from Edward Taylor logue on its own, Bradstreet uses an intermediary in perceptions of the fl esh? party who listens in. Flesh and Spirit are two sisters, twins with different fathers: The father of Flesh is Adam, and the father of Spirit is God. They bicker. They fi ght. Spirit refers to Flesh’s disingenuous “Before the Birth of One nature: “Thou speak’st me fair, but hat’st me sore, of Her Children” (1678) / Thy fl att’ring shows I’ll trust no more.” Flesh, Although Anne Bradstreet successfully gave birth on the other hand, wonders whether Spirit’s high- to eight children, this poem is evidence of her very Anne Bradstreet 37 real fear of death in childbirth, and the frequency of 2. How does the kind of motherhood addressed such deaths among 17th-century women. Accord- here relate to the motherhood presented in ing to Rosamond Rosenmeier, “Since mortality “The Author to Her Book”? rates for both mother and infant were high, the 3. Imagine Bradstreet’s poem functioning in the birth event was fraught with peril, but so too was same way as HANNAH WEBSTER FOSTER’s advice it laced with signifi cance. Prayer preceded sexual to young women in The Coquette or The Board- intercourse and accompanied the newborn into ing School. How do the two writers imagine roles the world” (19). Given that the spiritual and physi- for women across the span of a century in Amer- cal importance of these events was so high, Anne ica? Are their ideas different across time? Does Bradstreet seems the perfect author to intertwine religion play such an important role for both them. Again, we witness the poet’s complex inte- authors in defi ning the position that women can gration of a female act with the traditionally male and should occupy? act of writing poetry. Strikingly, the poem reads as one written by a soldier going into battle, in effect the male equivalent, in mortality rate, of giving (1678) birth. In the form of a farewell letter, Bradstreet “To My Dear and Loving Husband” honestly speaks of those fears, “not,” as Adrienne Anne Bradstreet’s love poems to her husband shine Rich observes, “from dread of what lies after death, because they surprise her readers. Taking on the but from the thought of leaving a husband she passionate forms of the Renaissance poets Edmund loves and children half-reared” (xvii). Spenser and Sir Philip Sidney before her, in writ- Addressed to her husband, Simon, this poem ing love poetry to her husband she steps out of the points to a relationship of equals, the woman here boundaries set for Puritan women and sets foot wise and strong. She speaks with authority and in more masculine occupations. She subverts the bravery about death and tries to comfort her hus- roles prescribed to her. Another way these poems band with her recognition of the grim situation surprise, especially this one, is that they are poems they may face. Theirs is a relationship of equals, rooted in marriage. Unlike Sidney and Spenser, uncommon at the time. Her use of the term friend Bradstreet celebrates a love that is attainable and suggests partnership and true fondness. Worthy of continuous. In so doing, she refreshes the genre note is the exclusion of men from the infant’s deliv- while still utilizing traditional constructions and ery in the 17th century. Should she die, Bradstreet well-worn tropes. recognizes, they may not have access to each other “To My Dear and Loving Husband” has a logic beforehand. to it, an if-then construction. Each heroic couplet is Bradstreet asks her husband to “look to my little its own logical unit in the argument the poem sets babes, my dear remains. / And if thou love thyself, forth. If the fi rst line of the couplet is about the hus- or loved’st me, / These O protect from stepdame’s band’s love for the wife, the second line will be also, injury.” She pragmatically recognizes the possibil- and then the next line will switch back to the wife, ity of remarriage. Customarily, Puritan widowers each line building toward the poem’s concluding in New England did not live alone; her husband “then” moment, when the speaker, part wife, part would—and did, after her eventual death—need cavalier, reveals to the husband through reason that the help of a woman in his home; the stepdame was they should continue loving each other in order to as inevitable as death. fi nd, through love, eternal life. It is a tightly ordered poem. Curiously, it is two lines away from being a For Discussion or Writing full sonnet and seems somewhat incomplete. 1. Compare the ways children replace their absent As a cavalier poet does, Bradstreet compares parents in this poem and in “A Letter to Her notes with an audience, but it is an imagined audi- Husband.” ence of “ye women,” not men. The common tropes 38 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers of “mines of gold” and riches are deployed but then each member takes an equal part in the union made new because the acts of mining or producing (116). Bradstreet asserts her importance in the riches had previously been reserved for men trying relationship, which makes these poems seem at to impress women. Tackling these tropes, as well as once particularly modern for a woman, while also the love unquenched by a river, Bradstreet has the echoing the techniques and themes used by male freedom to compose in New England the kind of poets in England, bravely presenting them through poem men like Donne and Marvell write in her old a female perspective. England. In the two-verse “Letter[s] to Her Husband upon Public Appointment” Bradstreet’s charac- For Discussion or Writing terization of her relationship with her husband is 1. In this poem Bradstreet refers to a love she “can at once spiritual and natural, acknowledging the in no way repay.” How does this debt differ physicality of their union. In the fi rst, she portrays from the one described in “To Her Father with herself as the earth, and he as the sun, who, when Some Verses”? he is away, benights her days, leaving her chilled in 2. The poem concludes with a move to life after a frozen landscape: “My chilled limbs now numb death, guaranteed by their love. Compare this lie forlorn.” His absence, read through the meta- notion with the shift away from worldly plea- phor of the zodiac, creates the winter (Capricorn), sures suggested in “The Flesh and the Spirit.” and his presence, as her sun, carries in the summer Which is closer to Puritan doctrine? (Cancer). Some critics view the sun image as a pun 3. Compare the relationship Bradstreet has with on the Son, implying that their union is one sanc- her husband, as indicated in this poem, with tioned by Christ and that her husband is a guiding Edward Taylor’s courtship poem for his future force in her life. Bradstreet also references Genesis wife, Elizabeth, entitled “This Dove and Olive with her fi nal lines, “fl esh of thy fl esh, bone of thy Branch to You.” bone,” suggesting that their union is ordained by God, created by God. But this comparison to prelapsarian Adam and Eve also conjures, quite literally, the reality of the “A Letter to Her Husband, Absent fl esh. It is through fl esh that she remembers and Upon Public Employment” (1678) welcomes her husband home. When he is away, Leading on, it seems, from the two-in-one premise she remembers him through their children, “those set up in “To My Dear and Loving Husband,” fruits which through thy heat I bore.” Through Bradstreet moves toward a poignant cry in “A Let- this very frank recognition of the couple’s sexuality ter to Her Husband Upon Public Employment.” and parenthood, Bradstreet conveys a recognition Previously, that image served as exaltation of the of the cycle of life and the gifts of the body. She couple’s love, ultimately persuading the husband sees in their children “true living pictures of their to “persevere” in their love. “A Letter to Her Hus- father’s face.” Likewise, in the image of the “glow- band,” however, responds to a greater strain, her ing breast, / The welcome house of him my dearest husband’s lengthy absences from Ipswich to work guest,” Bradstreet simultaneously addresses physi- in Boston, and her despair without him. Again we cal desire and the heart beating inside that breast. see the image of two as one, phrased as a remind- The second letter to her husband presents the er—“If two be one, then surely thou and I”—but marriage as natural by comparing it to varied ani- now it is followed by a question of lament, rather mal species’ reaction to separation from their mate. than a celebration: “How stayest thou there, while By beginning with the image of the deer, she I at Ipswich lie?” The two-as-one theme occurs hearkens back to images of the hunt often used in again in “Another [Letter to Her Husband].” If 16th-century love sonnets written by men, such two are one, Rosamond Rosenmeier suggests, as Wyatt’s “Whoso List to Hunt.” But here, it is Anne Bradstreet 39 the doe seeking out her buck, waiting, hoping to would tempt the married couple to lose sight of detect some sign of his return. She thus subverts God. . . . Similarly, it was important not to love the common, masculine trope, while also lament- one’s children excessively” (69). She cites Benjamin ing her husband’s absence. Comparing her state to Wadsworth’s treatise in 1712: “ ‘Let this caution be the mullet fi sh thought to leap, suicidally, to shore minded, that they don’t love inordinately, because when her mate is caught, Bradstreet expresses a death will soon part them’ ” (quoted in Martin level of sorrow deeper than in the other marriage 69). According to this ideology, Bradstreet loves poems. She feels she “seem[s] no wife” without her too much the things of this world, and doing so husband’s physical presence. constitutes a transgression. By lamenting the loss of her grandchildren, For Discussion or Writing Anne Bradstreet seeks some sense of reason for 1. The last two lines of each poem have a different their departure, a lesson about attachment. Not rhythm than those that precede them. Instead only does poetry provide her the “outlet” that Jose- of fi ve stresses, there are four. Why do you think phine Piercy writes of, but we can see the poet’s Bradstreet crafts her poem this way? How does striving to come to terms with her grief and having this rhythm affect the ending? trouble doing so. The poetic form of these poems 2. Small words like here, there, where, thence, and is the elegy, whose purpose is to lament and “fi nd hence are very important to these poems. In consolation in the contemplation of some perma- their use, does Bradstreet ultimately confl ate nent principle” (Preminger 215). However, locat- their separate meanings? In other words, do ing a sense of consolation proves diffi cult with each these repeated markers dissolve the difference of these elegies. The lessons seem thin compared between them? with the enormity of her grief. 3. JOHN ADAMS AND ABIGAIL ADAMS spent several One could say that the frequency of deaths years apart while he was functioning as an emis- among children in the 17th century may have sary for the fl edgling republic. Compare the necessitated the doctrine of not loving one’s chil- letters between John and Abigail Adams with dren too much, a protective measure against grief. Bradstreet’s “letter” to her husband. How do Bradstreet’s elegies present contemporary read- they imagine their relationship? ers with the harsh reality of child mortality in the Massachusetts colony. But the poems are also sig- nifi cant because Bradstreet recognizes the tragedy of her condition: As her full life is nearing its close, “In Memory of My Dear Grandchild, her grandchildren are mown down, having barely Elizabeth Bradstreet, Who Deceased lived. It goes against what is assumed to be the August, 1665, Being a Year and a natural order of things. Half Old” and “In Memory of My Dear The elegy for her grandchild Elizabeth takes its Grandchild Anne Bradstreet, Who form as a sonnet with a complicated rhyme scheme. Deceased June 20, 1669, Being Three Most of the lines are ordered in iambic pentameter (1678) Years and Seven Months Old” meter, which helps contain the poet’s sorrow. All In her marriage poems and in these poems mark- but one. In the fi nal line, which attempts to con- ing the death of her grandchildren, Bradstreet is fi rm God’s reason, which is beyond our earthly perceived by contemporary readers to portray the control, “Is by his hand alone that guides nature role of loving wife and mother. But Puritan dogma and fate,” the rhythmic structure breaks down. warned that earthly love may distract the fl ock Instead of the fi ve-beat line structure of the rest from their duty and love of God. Notes Wendy of the poem, this fi nal line has six stresses, and the Martin: “Although they accepted the necessity meter is far less regular. In resigning the baby’s of marriage, Puritans worried that conjugal love death to the sphere of God and accepting his power 40 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers and control, Bradstreet displays uncertainty via the zeal we fi nd in other Puritan works. Bradstreet line’s irregularity. It is as if the poet is trying to only wants her grown children to “pick any benefi t make herself believe that the religiously acceptable out of” her letter. She is not aiming to change their solution should dry her tears. lives or immediately save their souls. Rosamond In the elegy for her grandchild Anne, the poet’s Rosenmeier observes that “nowhere do we meet grief is even more palpable in her images of muta- a jeremiad; nowhere does Bradstreet rail at her bility. She recognizes she has pinned hopes on “fad- readers, even when her readers are family members ing things” and likens the child to “a bubble, or the to whom she is writing instructions about how to brittle glass, / Or like a shadow turning as it was.” live their lives” (4). Bradstreet’s own experience The bubble will burst, the glass so fragile it will of doubt and affl iction narrated in “To My Dear break, and the turning shadow—her grandchild a Children” is key to her understanding of struggle’s mere shade, and then—one turn and she is gone. role in the pilgrimage of any soul. The letter is a These lines deeply grieve for the child’s absence as thoughtful and revealing work of prose and has they mourn the transient, brittle nature of life on proven to be one of the most important docu- earth. The poet seeks consolation in the proximity ments to help biographers and critics understand of her own death, which will reunite them. Bradstreet’s life, childhood, theological outlook, and response to the New World. For Discussion or Writing Her memoir reveals the undecorated life exam- 1. In both elegies to her granddaughters, Brad- ined. Here we are not witnessing a poet in her street uses the term lent. Discuss the different effort to maintain the measure of a line or adhere meanings of the term and how they contribute to form. Openly confronting her early doubts and to the poem. affl ictions, Bradstreet presents the source for her 2. Compare the manner in which Bradstreet treats poems’ patterns of observation or grief followed the deaths of her granddaughters to her treat- by resignation and acceptance. She fi nds a direct ment of that of her grandson in “On My Dear relationship through her life between affl iction or Grandchild Simon Bradstreet.” Do her poems hardship and what she views as deepening her rela- reveal gender expectations for them? tionship with God: 3. Cotton Mather attributes deaths to God’s judg- ment in The Wonders of the Invisible World. How Among all my experiences of God’s gracious does his belief differ from Bradstreet’s as dem- dealings with me, I have constantly observed onstrated in these two elegies to her deceased this, that He hath never suffered me long to sit granddaughters? loose from Him, but by one affl iction or other hath made me look home. . . . I have no sooner felt my heart out of order, but I have expected correction for it. “To My Dear Children” (1867) Some time near her death Bradstreet composed a Every hardship and illness is a “correction” for turn- short prose memoir in the form of a letter to aid ing away. Seen through this lens, the hasty lessons her children in their spiritual development after her provided in her elegies become perhaps more under- departure. It was published long after her death. standable; she is trying to come to terms with loss Ever modest, Bradstreet provides an apology: that she interprets as a divine lesson. This is symp- “This was written in much sickness and weakness, tomatic of the Puritan notion of the elect: that they and is very weakly and imperfectly done, but if you are God’s chosen people, so they must be the ones can pick any benefi t out of it, it is the mark which most guided by God. However, Bradstreet imagines I aimed at.” This is the last sentence of the letter. that her Puritan contemporaries’ experience of the Critics make note of the absence of the forceful divine is more complete: “I have often been per- Anne Bradstreet 41 plexed that I have not found that constant joy in my within and out.” One could interpret this descrip- pilgrimage and refreshing which I supposed most of tion of her illness both as the physical agony she the servants of God have.” At least she is honest. endured and as the spiritual crisis she underwent. Her honesty in this letter sinks deeper than what Bradstreet draws upon Puritan belief by casting any other Puritan would admit. She confesses her these physical symptoms within a spiritual light: doubt, “many times by atheism how I could know “Beclouded was my soul with fear / Of thy displea- whether there was a God.” She then convinces sure sore, / Nor could I read my evidence / Which herself of God’s presence through observing the oft I read before” (9–10). The term beclouded is ordered beauty of the earth and seasons, “the daily worthy of mention because it is a visual and thus providing for this great household upon the earth.” physical means of describing something that exists Bradstreet also discloses her early doubts of the beyond the material world. A beclouded sky is a sky Puritan elect. She asks, “Yet why may not the Pop- crowded by darkening clouds; Bradstreet uses this ish religion be the right? They have the same God, visual image to explain how her fear overwhelmed the same Christ, the same word. They only inter- her soul, an intangible and invisible aspect of her. pret it one way, we another.” These doubts reveal This fear was so great that it rendered invisible the mind of an independent thinker. Although she the link between the physical (her illness) and the casts herself as “an untoward child” of God, she spiritual (the state of her soul), thus the line “Nor conveys throughout this letter a sense of self-exam- could I read my evidence.” Perhaps the fear of God’s ination, awareness, and introspective theology. “displeasure sore,” or more specifi cally the anxiety that stems from the belief that her illness might be a For Discussion or Writing harsh sentence from God, causes her to lose the abil- 1. Bradstreet interprets the act of writing this let- ity to consider the spiritual implications of her fever. ter as going through the labor of birth again. In her documentation of the prayers and pleas Contrast this idea to the fi nal sentence of the she offered to God during her illness, Bradstreet letter, and discuss how freedom plays in her certainly gives evidence of the interpretation of understanding of her role in her children’s lives. her illness as a means of purging her body of its 2. How does the poet’s presentation of heaven and evils. Bradstreet refers to the illness as a trial, a test hell in this letter compare to those conveyed by of her faith: “Though know’st my heart, and hast the Puritan fathers such as John Winthrop? me tried” (15). She repeats the very pleas for heal- ing that she offered up while ill, and they are for her soul, for the very source of her spiritual salva- tion. “O heal my soul . . . though fl esh consume to (1867) “For Deliverance from a Fever” nought” (17–18). Tellingly, despite her prayers for In this poem, published posthumously, Bradstreet her soul and her praise of God’s mercy, Bradstreet ultimately praises God for his redemption of her, does not directly mention spiritual renewal but drawing heavily on the Puritan interpretation of instead the termination of her corporeal pain and the body’s illness. Because Puritans were ever alert suffering. Bradstreet writes, “Thy rod Thou didst for signs of God’s grace or disfavor as indications remove / And spared my body frail” (21–22). of an individual’s position as a member of the elect, illness took on a spiritual dimension. One was not For Discussion or Writing merely ill, but rather being punished by God or 1. Compare Bradstreet’s spiritual view of ill- else being given the opportunity to search one’s ness with Cotton Mather’s as evidenced in The soul and purge oneself and one’s body of the evils Wonders of the Invisible World, which recounts associated with the fl esh and with life on earth. the Salem witch trials. How do the two writ- Bradstreet opens the poem with this double sense ers address the Puritan connection between the of illness in the third line when she refers to “pains physical and spiritual realms? 42 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

2. Unlike in other poems, in this poem Brad- Boland, Eavan. “Finding Anne Bradstreet.” In Green street employs direct quotations to represent her Thoughts, Green Shades: Essays by Contemporary interactions with God. How do these reported Poets on the Early Modern Lyric, edited by Jonathan prayers differ from the poem as a whole, which F. S. Post. Berkeley: University of California Press, can be viewed as a prayer of deliverance? 2002. Gordon, Charlotte. Mistress Bradstreet: The Untold Life of America’s First Poet. New York: Little, Brown, 2005. FURTHER QUESTIONS ON Martin, Wendy. An American Triptych: Anne Brad- BRADSTREET AND HER WORK street, Emily Dickinson, Adrienne Rich. Chapel Hill: 1. Several of Bradstreet’s poems address the issue of University of North Carolina Press, 1984. personal tragedy, whether it be an illness, the loss Piercy, Josephine. Anne Bradstreet. New York: Twayne, of a house, or the loss of a loved one. Examining 1965. a few of these poems together, what conclusion ———. “Introduction.” In The Tenth Muse (1650), might you draw about how Bradstreet copes with Facsimile Edition. By Anne Bradstreet. Gainesville, loss? How do her views of loss relate to the Puri- Fla.: Scholars’ Facsimiles and Reprints, 1965. tan belief that one should shun aspects of worldly Preminger, Alex. Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and existence in favor of the rewards of heaven? Poetics. Enlarged ed. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton 2. Bradstreet is a lone female voice in early Ameri- University Press, 1974. can poetry. How does she cast herself as a writer Rich, Adrienne. “Anne Bradstreet and Her Poetry.” in her poetry? To what extent are her poems The Works of Anne Bradstreet, edited by Jeannine limited by the restrictions placed on women? Hensley. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1967. WORKS CITED AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Rosenmeier, Rosamond. Anne Bradstreet Revisited. Anne Bradstreet. Available online. URL: http://www. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1991. annebradstreet.com/. Accessed April 23, 2009. White, Elizabeth Wade. Anne Bradstreet: “The Tenth Anne Bradstreet Archive. Available online. URL: Muse.” New York: Oxford University Press, 1971. http://www.ferris.edu/htmls/colleges/artsands/ Woodbridge, John. “Epistle to the Reader.” In The langandlit/bradstreet/. Accessed April 23, 2009. Tenth Muse (1650), Facsimile Edition. By Anne Blackstock, Carrie Galloway. “Anne Bradstreet and Bradstreet. Gainesville, Fla.: Scholars’ Facsimiles Performativity.” Early American Literature 32, no. and Reprints, 1965. 3 (1997): 222–248. Laurie Clements Lambeth Charles Brockden Brown (1771–1810)

Of all the forms of injustice, that is the most egregious which makes the circumstances of sex a reason for excluding one half of mankind from all those paths which lead to usefulness and honor.

(Alcuin: A Dialogue)

orn on January 17, 1771, to Quaker parents in tion writing. More specifi cally, Korobkin argues BPhiladelphia, Charles Brockden Brown grew that Brown’s familiarity with the law shaped Wie- up in a liberal household fi lled with books. Because land, not only in its meditations on questions of of his poor health, he was oftentimes indoors dur- judgment, but also in its very structure of Clara’s ing his childhood and expressed an early penchant functioning as both a lawyer and a witness. The for writing essays and poetry. Writing would be the legal cases presented in Sir William Blackstone’s dominant force in Brown’s life, which he referred Commentaries on the Laws of England and Sir to as a means of expressing a “soaring passion and Geoffrey Gilbert’s The Law of Evidence create the intellectual energy” (Watts 2). His father, Elijah, foundation for Brown’s fi ctional treatment of the and mother, Mary Armitt Brown, enrolled him in laws of evidence and the fallibility of eyewitnesses the Friends Latin School at the age of 11, and he and their testimony (Korobkin 724–725). Many studied with Robert Proud. Six years later, at the critics believe Brown drew on the gruesome tale age of 17, he graduated. of James Yates, a religious fanatic who under God’s Because Quakers were opposed to college edu- guidance killed his wife and four children in 1781, cation, Brown honored his parents’ request and as the basis for Wieland. The law and its processes worked for six years in the law offi ces of Alexander of determining truth and guilt would be the topic Wilcocks. Brown vented his frustration over his obli- for other novels that attempted to plumb the psy- gation to study a career that he deemed to narrow chological depths of its characters such as Arthur his intellect: “I should rather think that he can only Meryn and the deceitful Welbeck. derive pleasure, and consequently improvement, In 1787, at the age of 16, Brown began the fi rst from the study of laws, who knows and wishes to of what would become a series of efforts undertaken know nothing else” (Watts 32). However, he ulti- throughout his short life to cultivate and support mately disappointed them when he decided not to the talents of budding writers. This fi rst endeavor, pursue a legal career (Korobkin 723). He explained called the Belles Letters Club, sought to foster and to his family about his moral objections to work- support the literary talents of its members. When he ing in a profession that would have him defending delivered the keynote address for the club, Brown guilty parties or furthering unjust causes. spoke of reason as “the authority which exerts over Although Brown did not pursue a career as a obedience” but insisted that it needed to be tem- lawyer, the critic Laura Korobkin believes that pered by “the invigorating infl uence of the fancy” Brown’s legal work signifi cantly informed his fi c- (Watts 29). His biographer Steven Watts believes

43 44 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers that Brown’s advice regarding the balance between ably, in that same year (1798), Brown published reason and fancy was quite personal. According Wieland and seems to have written most, if not all, to Watts, Brown was prone to “attention-seeking, of Arthur Mervyn. The following year he began despairing outbursts [that] seem to have become publishing and editing the Monthly Magazine an emotional habit by his early twenties” (52). and American Review. In the same year, Brown These feelings of despair affected his writing, as he renamed the magazine The American Review and repeatedly boasted to friends about various literary Literary Journal, and it remained in print under projects that he would begin and then promptly this new title until 1802. In the following year, abandon (Watts 52, 78). In his correspondence, he published two political pamphlets opposing the Brown fi rst addresses the concept of a divided self, a Louisiana Purchase. These notable pamphlets gave private versus a public, that would manifest itself in him the kind of public attention that he had previ- his fi rst novel, Skywalker (Watts 79). Brown’s letters ously failed to garner for his literary works. In this also reveal the deep anxiety he suffered around writ- pamphlet, Brown assumes the persona of a French ing. Of the young writer’s emotional vacillations, counselor of state who writes to Napoléon about Watts writes that “Brown’s frustrated psychological the strategic and economic advantages of the Loui- energy, literary commitments, and desire for social siana territory (Ringe 130). success comprised a coiled motivational spring. Its In that same year (1803), Brown launched a new release powered a tremendous outpouring of fi ction periodical, the Literary Magazine and American during the last two years of the century” (80). Register. In his “Editor’s Address to the Public,” When Brown left Philadelphia and moved to he proclaimed the goals of his work: “In ages like New York in 1796, he relied upon the introductions this, when the foundations of religion and moral- made by his dear friend Dr. Elihu Hubbard Smith. ity have been so boldly attacked, it seems necessary Smith had met Brown in his hometown of Phila- . . . to be particularly explicit as to the path which delphia and suggested that when Brown moved to the editor means to pursue. He therefore avows New York, he consider joining a group of liberal- himself to be, without equivocation or reserve, the minded individuals called the Friendly Club. The ardent friend and willing champion of the Chris- chief pastime of the Friendly Club was to discuss tian religion . . . [and] shall scrupulously aim at the the works of many of the radical authors of his time, promotion of public and private virtue” (reported such as Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin’s in Watts 155–156). The morally ambiguous epony- Political Justice and Caleb Williams (Ringe 19). mous character, Arthur Mervyn, seemed a fi gure of Aside from the friendships Brown made through the past in Brown’s dedication to promoting and this club, he could rely upon the playwright Wil- publishing works that contained moral virtues. His liam Dunlap, who would later write the fi rst biog- often anthologized short story “Somnambulism, a raphy of Brown, to offer him support in launching Fragment,” fi rst appeared in this new magazine in his literary career. Indeed, the combined support of 1805. In that tale, the narrator fi nds himself lack- these two close friends, Dr. Smith and Mr. Dunlap, ing the kind of self-control that Brown earnestly encouraged Brown to write his fi rst book, Alcuin: pursued in his own life and in his courtship of A Dialogue, which advocated women’s rights (19). his future wife, Elizabeth. Watts traces the arc in Smith was Brown’s publisher for this two-part text Brown’s politics from “youthful utopian radical to that appeared in April 1798. stodgy middle-age conservative” (25). These politi- Both Brown and Smith fell ill with yellow fever, cal positions, Watts believes, follow the national contracted from an Italian physician who lived trends as America transitioned from its days as an briefl y in Smith’s home. Dr. Smith’s exposure early republic into a nation shaped by a rising bour- proved fatal. Brown’s good friend Dunlap provided geois and the emergence of liberal capitalism (25). him with a place to mourn their mutual friend’s At the turn of the century, in 1800, Brown death, as well as recover from the fever. Remark- began his courtship of Elizabeth Linn, a woman Charles Brockden Brown 45 to whom he would be engaged for over four years. ing tales that continue to engage readers. On Feb- Once again, Brown’s Quaker upbringing stood ruary 22, 1810, Charles Brockden Brown died of between him and his desires. Elizabeth’s family tuberculosis. He was only 39 years old. was devoutly Presbyterian, and they did not look fondly on the prospect of their daughter’s marrying a man of a different faith. Indeed, the Brown fam- (1798) ily’s Quaker beliefs, which include pacifi sm, caused Wieland them to be briefl y removed to Virginia during the Brown’s gothic tale of infanticide and patricide, American Revolutionary War on the false charges aided by religious fanaticism and the practiced arts that Brown’s father was sympathetic to the British. of a rogue, is in many ways a meditation on the Nevertheless, Brown worked assiduously to make unforeseen impact that people’s actions can have himself beloved by Elizabeth’s family, and he suc- on others. ceeded. Their extended courtship made him close Told retrospectively from the diary of Wieland’s to every member of the Linn household, especially sister, Clara, this novel is an American gothic tale to Elizabeth’s brother, John. As testament to his of extraordinary events that befall one family after closeness with John, Brown published “Sketch of its encounters with Carwin. The novel opens with a the Life and Character of John Blair Linn” in 1805, tale of the patriarch, who is nearly maniacally taken a year after the death of his brother-in-law, as an up with his own sense of sin and desire for constant introduction to Linn’s poem Valerian (Ringe 130). study of Scriptures. Although the father does not Perhaps the most telling example of Brown’s close- belong to any organized religion, he does remain ness with the Linn family occurred on their actual faithful to his own form of worship, which involves wedding day. Elizabeth’s father, who was a Presby- spending the Sabbath in an outdoor church of terian minister, performed their wedding ceremony sorts. It is this outdoor site that proves a source of on November 19, 1804 (Watts 148, 154). Brown’s mysterious power and ultimate madness and death parents made their displeasure at the union known for the family. While he is attending his own pri- by remaining absent from the wedding. The Quaker vate worship, members of the family see a bright meeting in Philadelphia censured Brown because light, hear the discharge of a gun or cannon, and of marrying outside his religious faith (Watts 154). hear the moans of their father. He appears man- Despite this controversy, however, Charles and gled, somewhat in shock, and delivers what seems Elizabeth appear to have had a very happy, albeit to be a half-truth of the source of his injuries. A short marriage. In their fi ve years together until his few days later, he dies. death in 1810, Elizabeth gave birth to four chil- Wieland himself hears the voice of his wife, dren: twin boys in 1805, their son Eugene in 1807, Catherine, telling him that he is wanted back at and their daughter Mary in 1809 (Watts 154). home. Wieland’s dear friend and brother-in-law Because of his deep interest in the unconscious, Pleyel also learns from the disembodied voice of his Brown’s infl uence on the American renaissance sister that his beloved, Baroness Theresa de Stol- writers Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne berg from Germany, has died. Wieland’s sister hears is easily recognized. In fact, Poe himself praised voices, too, that sound like murderers plotting her Brown’s work. In his lifetime, he had written sen- death from her nearby closet. Wieland and Pleyel, timental fi ction, gothic novels and fragments, his- however, are awakened from their slumber and rush torical reports, editorials, and countless letters to to her aid not because of anything that she said or family and friends. Some critics believe that he is did, but because they hear a voice warning them remembered more for those fi gures of the Ameri- to awake and aid one of their own who is dying. can renaissance whom he infl uenced and who suc- The same voice of the murderer who suggested ceeded him; others believe that in his sudden burst running her through with his sword awakens her of literary talent and energies, he produced intrigu- as she sleeps outdoors near a stream on the family 46 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers property. This time, the voice repents its previous Wieland goes to Clara’s abandoned house and is designs for her murder and warns her to stay away visited by a veiled specter, who orders him to take from the exact location for fear of death. The voice his wife to the house in order to kill her. When his intimates that her fate, should she divulge this servant gives him a packet of letters, Pleyel fl ies for warning to anyone else or should it be unheeded, Europe. Only after the deaths of Catherine and her will be similar to her father’s. children does Clara learn from her uncle that Pleyel A bedraggled stranger, whom Clara spots wan- fl ed to Europe in search of his love, Baroness The- dering near her home, produces an uncommon resa de Stolberg, who had reported her own death reaction in her. She fi nds herself crying and unable in order to conceal herself in her pursuit of Pleyel to keep the man’s face out of her mind. Indeed, she in America. feels compelled to commit it to memory by draw- The novel reaches its dramatic peak when Wie- ing a portrait of him. Even the portrait seems to land, hearing voices that he believes to be divine, exude some unexplained power over her. When she agrees to take his wife to Clara’s empty house and shows it to Pleyel, he playfully promises to discover murder her. Their children soon follow as victims who this man whom Clara has clearly fallen in love of Wieland’s madness. In courtroom testimony, with is. While in a coffeehouse in town, Pleyel Wieland calmly relays the tale of bloody murders espies Carwin, having known him previously when by characterizing his actions as sanctioned by God. the two met in Spain. Although a native of Eng- While confi ned, Wieland twice breaks out of his land, Carwin had taken a Spanish surname, con- shackles and travels to the houses of Clara and verted to Catholicism, and declared that he would Pleyel, intent on completing his sacrifi ces to God. live out his days in his newly adopted country. Wieland escapes from custody and arrives at his Carwin assiduously defl ects all of Pleyel’s inquiries sister’s house, intent on fulfi lling his “divine call- into Carwin’s current habiliment as a rustic and his ing” and adding her to the list of the dead. Just return to America. prior to his arrival, Carwin confesses to Clara his Carwin quickly becomes a frequent visitor powers of ventriloquism and his morbid curiosity to Wieland’s house, and once they feel comfort- in determining how virtuous and brave she was, as able enough in his presence, they begin to recite well as plumbing the depths of Wieland’s religious the tales of disembodied voices heard by Wieland, fanaticism. When Wieland threatens Carwin, he Pleyel, and Clara. To their surprise, Carwin does makes a hasty retreat, and Clara is left alone with not appear disjointed or shocked by their tales; her mad brother. Carwin returns to the house and rather, he becomes an animated and gifted sto- hurries upstairs, where he speaks to Wieland as if ryteller, weaving tale after tale of similar extraor- he were the disembodied celestial voice who fi rst dinary events eventually attributed to human bid him to sacrifi ce his family. Carwin commands agency rather than to God or some supernatural Wieland to return to a rational state, recognize that phenomenon. he alone is responsible for the murders of his family When Carwin appears in Clara’s closet near members, and desist in his current plans of killing midnight and vaguely threatens to rob her of her his own sister. Briefl y restored to himself, Wieland virtue, Pleyel believes Carwin and Clara are lov- grabs the penknife that Clara had recently been ers. As he approaches the house at night, he hears holding and stabs himself in the neck. what he takes to be the voices of Carwin and Clara, The novel concludes after a three-year break in which are really just a trick of Carwin’s ventrilo- which Clara and her uncle have moved to Montpel- quism. The next morning, Pleyel upbraids Clara for lier and been joined by Pleyel, after the death of what he imagines to be the loss of her virginity to his wife, the baroness. Clara also relates the story such a fi end as Carwin and informs her that he is of how Louisa Conway was orphaned. As Carwin known to be a thief and a murderer. While Clara affected her own family, Louisa’s parents, the Stu- goes into town to plead her innocence to Pleyel, arts, were likewise unduly infl uenced by a malevo- Charles Brockden Brown 47 lent character named Maxwell, who, failing in a stances surrounding these two deaths, he follows duel against Louisa’s father, contrived his revenge his own compulsion to absolve Clithero of his over- by attempting to seduce his wife, Louisa’s mother. whelming guilt and remorse, in the hope that he In order to fl ee Maxwell’s infl uence, and the loss can rehabilitate him into society. of her reputation, Louisa’s mother disguises her- Critics have commented at length on Brown’s self and travels with her daughter to America. Clara detailed and romantic incorporation of the Amer- concludes that people should be cautious about ican landscape in his gothic tale of murder, stat- the amount of infl uence they allow another person ing that Edgar’s frequent forays into the unknown to exercise over them; had this admonition been wilderness surrounding his rural village mirror his heeded, she argues, Wieland, his wife and children, psychological plumbings into the motivations of and both of Louisa’s parents might all be alive. Clithero, a fi gure who symbolizes the dangers of a reversion to a life lurking on the periphery of civili- For Discussion or Writing zation and its hallmark, domesticity. Edgar begins 1. Compare the undue infl uence Carwin and Max- to resemble the object of his curiosity and his daily well exercise in Wieland to characters in the musings (Clithero) when he sleepwalks, waking to short fi ction of Poe and Hawthorne. Can you fi nd himself deep within a pit, fi tted only with a trace Brown’s infl uence on these later writers? shirt, pants, and a tomahawk. His act of “going 2. Many critics consider Wieland an attack on native” occurs when he kills the gray panther also rationalism. How might you explore this read- occupying the pit by throwing the tomahawk at its ing of the novel in your own essay? skull, and this act is confi rmed by his escape from the pit only to fi nd himself among four “brawny and terrifi c fi gures,” whom he does not at fi rst cor- rectly identify as American Indians. The occasion (1799) Edgar Huntly transports Edgar back to the murder of his own In his preface to this tale, Brown consciously parents at the hands of American Indians in the last adapts the “gothic castles chimeras” of European of the Indians wars and to a larger history of race literature to fi t the “native of America”: “incidents relations in the region of Norwalk, where Edgar of Indian hostility, and the perils of the Western and his uncle reside. wilderness.” As such, he draws deeply on the He murders an American Indian by lodging his American landscape to narrate a psychological tale tomahawk in the man’s chest, rescues a female cap- of an insane murderer whose appearance, nation- tive, and fi nds himself wholly disoriented as the two ality, instincts, and natural dwellings and haunts effect an escape through an unknown landscape: make him the outsider of American civilization and “No fancy can conceive a scene so wild and deso- thus present, along with gray panthers and Ameri- late than that which now presented itself” (chapter can Indians, the dangers lurking on the edges of 18). These actions—deliberate attacks upon sym- the newly formed republic. bols of the American version of the gothic—appear Edgar Huntly journeys farther and farther into necessary for Edgar Huntly’s return to the civilized the wilderness, leaving the vestiges of domesticity world and for the conclusion of the novel. (his uncle’s home and the home of their neighbor, Inglefi eld) in pursuit of a madman whose wild For Discussion or Writing nature young Edgar believes himself capable of 1. How might you compare Brown’s characteriza- taming. The source of Clithero’s atavism seems to tion and use of American Indians with that of be the murder, in self-defense, of his beloved Cla- JAMES FENIMORE COOPER? rice’s father, and the subsequent death, by shock 2. How does the tale of Edgar’s rude education in and heartbreak, of his patroness and the sister of the wilderness compare to Natty Bumppo, Coo- the murdered man. Once Edgar learns the circum- per’s protagonist in the Leatherstocking Series? 48 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

Arthur Mervyn; or, Mervyn, Brown introduces readers to a poten- Memoirs of the Year 1793 (1798–1800) tially unreliable narrator who might prove guilty of being “a tissue of ingenious and plausible lies” as As the novel takes place while a pestilence rages in his accusers testify. Because his marriage to Achsa the city, it is not surprising that its chief motifs are Fielding, an older European Jewish woman, calls charity and human compassion in the face of certain death and adversity. On multiple occasions, Arthur into question Arthur’s proclaimed affi nity for Eliza is the recipient of charitable acts. Indeed, the novel Hadwin and a moral life, the critic Emory Elliott opens as Arthur Mervyn, suffering from yellow argues that it purposely “send[s] the reader back, fever, is miraculously rescued and nourished back to with a new skepticism, to the beginning of Arthur’s health by an unnamed narrator and his wife. Soon testimony” (144). after his departure from his paternal roof, Arthur Dr. Stevens admits that had he read or heard gains employment and residence with a wealthy Arthur’s tale, he would not have believed it, “but the man named Thomas Welbeck. Later in the novel, face of Mervyn is the index of an honest mind” (218). the hardworking farmer, Mr. Hadwin, gives Arthur The degree to which Stevens trusts and defends the room and board in exchange for his labors on the accused to “maintain his faith in humanity” refl ects family farm. Even Colvill, the manipulative school- Brown’s sense of the psychological aftermath of the master who seduced Arthur’s sister and precipitated Revolutionary War (Watts 160). His setting of Phil- her suicide, is not without compassion. As Welbeck adelphia during a yellow fever epidemic is emblem- informs Arthur, Colvill took him in and nursed atic of “the mercenary world of post-Revolutionary him back to health. When Arthur hazards his own America” (160). In such diffi cult times, Arthur life to search for Susan Hadwin’s fi ancé, Wallace, in must try to adapt; the reader, too, must devise a the city, he is taken in and given food and a place more nuanced system for analyzing characters like to sleep by a neighbor living next door to the house Mervyn who surpass the black-and-white limitations where Wallace was recently employed. of “guilt” and “innocence.” Yet, just as much as the novel provides read- ers with multiple examples of human charity and For Discussion or Writing compassion, it also includes the stuff common to 1. Arthur Mervyn mentions BENJAMIN FRANK- the gothic genre—hidden motives, dying requests, LIN as an author whose books he has read, and treachery, seductions, and theft. When the fam- Charles Brockden Brown expressed an admira- ily friend Wortley visits the narrator’s house and tion for the founding father. How might you reveals that he met Arthur before, the narrative compare Franklin’s autobiography to Mervyn’s quickly switches to the voice of the titular character, own narrative of moving from the country to who tells of his fl ight from his parental home after the city, and from rags to riches? Is the compari- the death of his mother and his father’s unseemly son favorable or critical? marriage to a woman of low character. A simple lad 2. Critics have debated the true nature of Arthur from the country, Arthur is repeatedly duped by Mervyn. Provide textual evidence in favor of his people, including the calculating Thomas Welbeck, innocence and his guilt. What conclusion might who takes him in under the pretext of employing you draw from your fi ndings about the protago- him as an amanuensis. nist or life in postrevolutionary times? The second volume, published in New York in 1800, tests the reader’s faith in and reliance on eyewitness testimony, as the narrator’s friend, Mrs. (1805) Althorpe, begins to relate an entirely different tale “Somnambulism, a Fragment” of Arthur’s childhood, his relationship to his step- Although “Somnambulism, a Fragment” was pub- mother, and the circumstances under which he left lished anonymously in the Literary Magazine and his paternal home. Thus, in the fi gure of Arthur American Register in 1805, many critics and schol- Charles Brockden Brown 49 ars of Brown believe that it is his own work and ever, Althorpe’s actions actually cause her murder. base their belief on Brown’s use of a somnambulist His combined love for Miss Davis and mortifi cation in his novel Edgar Huntly as well as Brown’s com- that she is engaged to another manifest themselves mon practice of supplying some of his own prose to in this ultimate act, in which he interprets killing her the magazine when editions were found short. The as avenging her death at another man’s hands. tale opens with a fragment from a Vienna Gazette covering the tale of a “young lady shot dead upon For Discussion or Writing the road” and the evidence that pointed to a youth 1. Compare Brown’s employment of sleepwalking who committed the crime “while asleep, and was in “Somnambulism” and Edgar Huntly. How entirely unknown to himself.” Thus, Brown pro- do these moments of somnambulism forward vides readers with the essential plotline of the story the tale’s plots? To what degree do they provide in order that he might dispense with these more insight into the psychology of characters? conventional narrative techniques and focus instead 2. How does Brown’s tale compare to Poe’s “The on the psychology behind his young protagonist, Tell-Tale Heart,” in which another criminal Althorpe. As the tale goes, Althorpe makes several functions as the narrator of the tale? unsuccessful attempts to woo an already engaged 3. One possible fi gure suspected of the murder is woman staying at his uncle’s house, a Miss Con- Nick Handyside. How does this character com- stantia Davis. His desires to accompany Miss Davis pare to the unlikely character of the Hessian and her father during a nocturnal journey are warrior involved in Washington Irving’s “Leg- also thwarted as neither father nor daughter sub- end of Sleepy Hollow”? scribes to the level of danger and alarm that the protagonist feels, admittedly inexplicably, about their proposed journey. When Althorpe wakes the following morning, he learns from his uncle that FURTHER QUESTIONS ON Miss Davis was indeed shot the previous evening, BROWN AND HIS WORK just as Althorpe’s dream portended, and the story 1. Charles Brockden Brown incorporates the ends with her death at the local doctor’s home. unconscious in nearly all of his writings. Com- For Althorpe the evening concluded with him in pare two of his works and draw conclusions a “profound slumber,” waking the following morn- about his use and sense of the unconscious. Is ing with “images [that] were fl eeting and transient it like a separate character? How does the use but the events of the morrow recalled them to my of the unconscious comment upon questions of remembrance with suffi cient distinctness.” When free will or determinism? recollecting his memories of the previous night’s 2. Brown incorporates unreliable narrators into dreams, Althorpe inverts the roles he and others his tales, particularly in “Somnambulism” and played in real life. In his dreams, “his ideas were Arthur Mervyn. Reviewing these two texts, full of confusion and inaccuracy.” All he recollects, consider the position or positions that readers he states, is that his efforts to protect Miss Davis must take when they cannot entirely rely upon were futile. Thus, most of his dream was taken up the narrator’s perspective. What larger argu- with pursuing the guilty, whom he imagines to ments or statements might Brown be making have worn “an artful disguise.” Readers familiar about reality and truth through his use of the with the psychology of dreams or the workings of unreliable narrator? the subconscious would see in this phrase an indi- rect admission of guilt by Althorpe. He terminates WORKS CITED AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES his chase of the guilty party with a physical attack Allen, Paul. The Life of Charles Brockden Brown. Del- that “terminated his career with a mortal wound.” mar, N.Y.: Scholars’ Facsimiles and Reproductions, Rather than avenge the murder of Miss Davis, how- 1975. 50 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

Baym, Nina. “A Minority Reading of Wieland.” In Elliott, Emory. Revolutionary Writers: Literature and Critical Essays on Charles Brockden Brown, edited Authority in the New Republic, 1725–1810. New by Bernard Rosenthal. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1981. York: Oxford University Press, 1982. Berthold, Dennis. “Charles Brockden Brown, Edgar Kafer, Peter. Charles Brockden Brown’s Revolution and Huntly, and the Origins of the American Pictur- the Birth of American Gothic. Philadelphia: Univer- esque.” William and Mary Quarterly 41, no. 1 sity of Pennsylvania Press, 2004. (1984): 62–84. Korobkin, Laura H. “Murder by Madman: Criminal Charles Brockden Brown Electronic Archive and Responsibility, Law, and Judgment in Wieland.” Scholarly Edition. Available online. URL: http:// American Literature 24, no. 4 (2000): 721–750. www.brockdenbrown.ucf.edu. Accessed April 23, Ringe, Donald A. Charles Brockden Brown. New York: 2009. Twayne, 1966. Charles Brockden Brown Society. Available online. Rosenthal, Bernard. Critical Essays on Charles Brock- URL: http://www.brockdenbrownsociety.ucf. den Brown. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1981. edu/. Accessed April 23, 2009. Warfel, Harry R. Charles Brockden Brown: American Crain, Caleb. American Sympathy: Men, Friendship, Gothic Novelist. 1949. Reprint, New York: Octagon and Literature in the New Nation. New Haven, Books, 1976. Conn.: Yale University Press, 2001. Watts, Steven. The Romance of Real Life: Charles Dunlap, William. The Life of Charles Brockden Brown Brockden Brown and the Origins of American Cul- with Selections from the Rarest of His Printed Works. ture. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, Philadelphia: James P. Parke, 1815. 1994. William Cullen Bryant (1794 –1878)

Weep not that the world changes—did it keep / A stable, changeless state, ’twere cause indeed to weep.

(“Mutation”)

illiam Cullen Bryant, one of the “fi reside fl ower pilgrims, was an industrious housekeeper Wpoets” or “schoolroom poets” of early Amer- who taught her children that “if you are never idle, ica, is best known for such poems as “Thanatopsis,” you will fi nd time for everything” (qtd. in Brown “To a Waterfowl,” “The Prairies,” and “The Death 10). Bryant later praised his mother’s “excellent of Slavery.” However, any account of his literary practical sense” and “sensitive moral judgment” achievements must also acknowledge his work as (qtd. in Phair 92). Affi rming the youth’s talents, editor in chief of the New York Evening Post for his fi rst poem was published in 1807, and his politi- almost 50 years. In this position, Bryant wrestled cally satirical poem “The Embargo” was published with the most important social issues of his time, in 1808. such as slavery, states’ rights, and free speech. Placed in a sophomore college class at age 16 As a youth, Bryant loved the outdoors and rev- as a result of his careful preparation in foreign eled in the natural beauty of his family residence languages, Bryant began study at Williams Col- in Cummington, Massachusetts. The infl uence of lege in 1810 (Peckham 13). At college he partici- nature’s fragility and terror is witnessed in Bry- pated actively in a literary society, for these groups ant’s poetry describing aspects of New England. were the center of all social life at colleges in early He has been called “the American Wordsworth” America (Peckham 15). However, Bryant was at for his refl ective nature poetry akin to that of Wil- Williams for less than one year. He returned home liam Wordsworth in Great Britain (Wortham 281). with hopes of attending Yale University, but there When the adult Bryant rebelled at the demands were inadequate funds. Instead, it was decided that and crowds of city life, he bought a family home Bryant would work in the legal profession as a way on Long Island in 1843, and this historic residence to earn a living. In 1811 he began studying the law called Cedarmere is still open to the public today. in a lawyer’s offi ce in order to prepare for admission His early family life was important for Bryant’s to the bar (Brown 51). personal and intellectual development. At the age While continuing to compose poetry, Bryant of 10, he was translating Latin poetry. His father, completed his legal training in fewer than four Dr. Peter Bryant, was a medical doctor who encour- years (Brown 71). For instance, he wrote “The Yel- aged his son to achieve and helped to provide low Violet,” a poem about fl owers that, in a style a good education, but Dr. Bryant died young in that would prove typical for Bryant, described the 1820. William Cullen Bryant’s mother, Sarah Snell fl ower but also offered a moral or lesson (Brown Bryant, who happened to be a descendant of May- 72). He may also have composed “To a Waterfowl”

51 52 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers in 1815 during the months before beginning his ter are yet further varied by causes that exist in our legal practice, and since its publication in 1818, own country” (250). The previous year, Sedgwick “To a Waterfowl” has always been honored as an had mentioned Bryant as a man of high reputation important American poem. who could contribute to the new “native literature” By 1817 Bryant, who had never been enthusi- as well, and she in fact had dedicated Redwood to astic about being a lawyer, was already dissatisfi ed Bryant (Brown 112, 118). with the job. He did practice law from 1816 to 1825 Bryant’s friendship with Catharine Sedgwick in Great Barrington, Massachusetts (McLean 13). began in 1820, when she asked him to contribute Ultimately, despite his leaving the legal profession, hymns for an anthology. Although he was a mem- Bryant’s training in this area provided him effec- ber of the Congregationalist Church, Bryant had tive background for engaging in the civic issues been raised Calvinist but was no longer strict in of his time as a newspaper editor. After 1817 the his denominational affi liation, so he provided fi ve favorable response to his poem “Thanatopsis,” fi rst hymns for the Unitarian songbook (Brown 93). published in the North American Review, inspired The hymns and Bryant’s other poetry suggest that him to try a different line of work for which he Bryant believed in eternal life and the basic tenets felt himself better suited—editing and writing for of evangelical Christianity, although he ultimately a magazine or newspaper. Because it was Bryant’s became a Unitarian (McLean 66). The Sedgwick father who submitted poetry to a literary journal family encouraged Bryant to relocate to New York on behalf of his son, there was some confusion and fi nd his fortunes in writing in the metropolis about the authorship of the poem. Bryant fi nished (Brown 120; Peckham 74–79). By 1825 Bryant was revising “Thanatopsis” to his satisfaction in 1821 in New York to work as junior editor. (Brown 102). In 1825 he was hired as coeditor of a literary The year 1821 was an excellent year for Bryant, gazette, which went through several mergers and both personally and professionally. He published name changes before closing in 1827 (Phair 3–5). Poems, a book of only 44 pages but superior qual- Bryant then decided to take a more practical course ity (Brown 101). He delivered a long poem, “The of employment in journalism rather than in litera- Ages,” at the Harvard College Commencement ture. In 1826 he joined the editorial staff of the (McLean 13). Bryant knew he had literary talent, New York Evening Post. In 1829 he became the but he was nervous about entering the literary fi eld editor in chief, succeeding William Coleman in full-time and actually became ill with nervousness that role, and he held the editor’s position until his about writing and presenting the Phi Beta Kappa death in 1878 (Peckham 219). Bryant invested him- poem for Harvard (Brown 97–100). Also in this self both fi nancially and personally in the Post, and banner year, Bryant married Frances Fairchild, he did not avoid the business end of it, demonstrat- beginning a happy union that lasted until her death ing that a poet can be pragmatic in his professional in 1866. Their fi rst child, also named Frances and life. One remark in a private letter is often quoted: known as Fanny, was born in 1822. “Politics and a belly-full is better than poetry and Bryant’s acquaintance with the novelist CATH- starvation” (qtd. in Brown 168). ARINE MARIA SEDGWICK, with whose brother Nevertheless, Bryant did not relinquish poetry Charles he had roomed in college, was among the or aesthetics. In 1832 he published another vol- meaningful literary connections Bryant sustained ume, called Poems, which the North American throughout his life. In his 1825 review of Sedg- Review described as “the best volume of American wick’s novel Redwood, Bryant praised the book for poetry that has yet appeared” (qtd. in Phair 170). elevating America’s “national character” at home The poem “To the Fringed Gentian,” composed and abroad. He called for literary traditions based in 1829, is among his important poems from this on native materials, saying that U.S. writers should period. In 1842 he published The Fountain and “show how the infi nite diversities of human charac- Other Poems and continued publishing poetry William Cullen Bryant 53 throughout his editorial career. The recent critic St. Nicholas (Corby 74). Bryant also admired and Thomas Wortham says of Bryant’s poetry that his was a friend of JAMES FENIMORE COOPER, famed “refl ections on human mortality and the transience writer of the Leather-Stocking Tales, including of all things are countered by a liberal faith in the The Last of the Mohicans, one of very few early sanctity and benevolence of progress” (281). American authors who was close to earning a living Appreciation of Bryant’s cultural contexts through creative literature, and a novelist who built requires understanding Bryant’s position as one of his career on characters and landscapes particular the “fi reside poets.” This is an academic designation to the United States. also including Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John In addition to Bryant’s accomplishments and rec- Greenleaf Whittier, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and ognition as a poet, most of his time from the 1830s James Russell Lowell. A “Fireside poetics” includes until his death in 1878 was devoted to the practices the ideas that poetry played a benefi cial role “in the of editing a daily newspaper. As editor of a major world of human affairs and sympathies” and that paper like the Evening Post, Bryant “wielded enor- creating a national American literature was impor- mous infl uence in regard to the civic and political tant (Wortham 286). The name relates to the idea questions of his many days” (Wortham 280). These of expressing in verse “ancient, hearthside truths, diverse issues included slavery, sectionalism, the [and] eternal verities” (Wortham 286). An exem- national bank, currency stabilization, the creation plary text of the fi reside poets, Whittier’s 1866 of Central Park, the need for prison reform, labor poem “Snow-Bound,” establishes the fi replace as a rights, copyright laws, and freedom of the press symbol of “an intimate community” that “refl ected (McLean 21–22). Bryant did not seek to enter poli- national habits” and common values (Sorby 37). tics, preferring to stay outside elected offi ce and to Fireside poets were representative, not rare creative be an advocate for the good of the people through artists, because their works “typifi ed values and journalism, and he even repudiated suggestions in desires that in the minds of thoughtful men and 1872 that he should run for president. women in the nineteenth century were synonymous Bryant’s editorial participation in the cultural with culture or civilization” (Wortham 286). The debate about slavery and abolition demands par- works of the fi reside poets comforted the listener ticular attention. While he expressed disapproval of or reader, as did the work of Robert Frost in the slavery as early as 1820, in the 1830s as an editor, he early 20th century. They are also sometimes called was not immediately actively calling for the end of schoolroom poets because their works were often all slavery in the nation. As did some other cultural studied in school, memorized, and given as recita- leaders of the time, Bryant erroneously thought tions by American schoolchildren (Sorby xiii). that slavery would inevitably expire by itself but In Bryant’s poetry and literary criticism, he pro- should not be extended into newly acquired terri- moted nationalism and individualism for American tories (McLean 89–90). In an 1833 editorial in the literature. In an 1818 article for the North Ameri- Evening Post, he supported the Colonization Soci- can Review, Bryant criticized the trend toward ety, which sought to return slaves to Africa, and poetic imitations of European styles. He supported he “feared that antislavery agitation would produce and tried to compose uniquely “American” poet- violence and divide the Union” (Brown 215). But a ry—for instance, he depicted plants and animals series of events made him realize that a free Ameri- found in America, not Europe—although, because can society was gravely threatened by the existence of the diffi culty of categorization, critics have dif- of slavery within its boundaries. Among the legal fered about how unique, quintessentially Ameri- issues were the Fugitive Slave Law, the Missouri can, or brilliant Bryant actually was. His works Compromise of 1850, the move to annex Texas, the were considered such American “classics” even in martyrdom of the abolitionist Elijah Lovejoy, and the 1870s that they were chosen to “authorize” the the censorship of mail. He began writing ardently opening of an important new magazine for youth, against slavery. 54 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

Bryant’s principled stance against slavery hurt ant and the Evening Post also criticized President the fi nances of the Evening Post, as some advertis- Lincoln when necessary; for instance, in 1862 Bry- ers withdrew their business. In 1847 he placed the ant’s editorials faulted Lincoln for not pursuing following slogan above the masthead of the editori- the war more aggressively and for not being strong als: “Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Trade, and Free enough for the cause of abolition. The 1866 poem Speech,” the beliefs of the Barnburner wing of the “The Death of Slavery” is a nationalistic denun- Democratic Party (Brown 330). He supported the ciation of slavery with criticism of the people who Wilmot Proviso, which would forbid extending had defended the immoral institution and might slavery into new lands (Brown 339). By 1849 Bry- still oppose freedom even after legal emancipation ant was actually hated in the South because of his of formerly enslaved persons (McLean 107). The editorials against slavery. poem “The Death of Lincoln” includes the stanza However, Bryant had also been giving news- “Thy task is done; the bond are free / We bear thee paper space to the Southern perspective, such as to an honored grave / Whose Proudest monument by reporting on the speeches of politicians and shall be / The broken fetters of the slave.” reprinting proslavery editorials (Brown 344–345). Although Bryant’s editorial rhetoric demon- Bryant remained affi liated with the Democratic strates how fi ery he could become, some readers Party because it still honored several of his basic of Bryant’s poetry, in his own era and today, have tenets—“states’ rights, free trade, and freedom characterized him as too calm and self-collected, from government interference in the private affairs particularly when contrasted to the exuberance of the people” (Brown 359). Despite complaints associated with Walt Whitman or Edgar Allan Poe. that the Evening Post was erasing its previous stance For instance, James Russell Lowell’s satirical poem against slavery, Bryant wrote that the newspaper A Fable for Critics in 1848 cha racter izes Br ya nt as “a still opposed slavery but considered that there were smooth, silent iceberg” because “He’s too smooth multiple issues at stake (Brown 360). By 1854 Bry- and too polished to hang any zeal on.” Of course, ant had left the Democratic Party fi nally, and the Lowell’s including Bryant among the authors lam- newly formed Republican Party became the gath- pooned also indicated the importance of Bryant as ering place for antislavery advocates. Furthermore, a poet. After the anonymous publication of A Fable in 1855 the confl icts between free settlers and for Critics, critics began commenting on the ques- slaveholding settlers in Kansas made people realize tion of whether Bryant was actually an “iceberg” in that party label by itself did not mean as much as style and temperament (Phair 176). But even if it is actions. true that Bryant contained his energies and acted Despite his preferred candidates’ not winning rationally, Judith Phair is among those who suggest the presidential election of 1856, Bryant editorial- that “there was a great deal of heat beneath the icy ized on the duty of antislavery advocates to work demeanor” (6). For instance, he had a quick temper through their state legislatures, even if the president in his youth, and Bryant’s editorials “attest to the and the Congress would not help them (Brown editor’s ability to write both eloquently and feel- 386). In the Supreme Court Dred Scott case, Bry- ingly about the condition of mankind” (Phair 8). ant disagreed strongly and publicly with the deci- Bryant published few statements about his own sion, arguing that the Constitution was violated. work, preferring to let his life speak for itself. In Bryant continued to be an antislavery advocate and 1851 his “Reminiscences of the Evening Post” in 1860 championed the cause of electing Abraham focused on policies of the paper and identifi ed him Lincoln to the presidency of the United States. with the publication. In 1876 the poem “A Life- After Lincoln’s election, Southern states began time,” written in quatrains, presents his life as a seceding from the union, and Bryan declared “Pea- series of orderly vignettes. Family had remained cable Secession an Absurdity” (Brown 421). While very important for the editor. He enjoyed married supporting the Union cause in the Civil War, Bry- life with Frances and told his daughters of how William Cullen Bryant 55 much her insights had mattered to him: “I never “Thanatopsis” (1814, 1817, 1821) wrote a poem that I did not repeat to her and take Some controversy exists over the actual date on her judgment upon it. I found its success with the which Bryant wrote “Thanatopsis,” with some public precisely in proportion to the impression it critics placing the date as 1811 and William Cul- made upon her” (qtd. in Bigelow 193). His second len Bryant II arguing persuasively for 1813, the daughter, Julia, remained unmarried and accom- same year as an epidemic in Massachusetts, the panied her father on many of his travels abroad. death of his young friend’s bride, and his disap- Bryant’s elder daughter, Fanny, married in 1842, pointment upon learning that his father’s fi nancial somewhat against her father’s initial wishes; her standing prohibited him from entering Yale Col- husband, Parke Godwin, was a well-known writer lege. In either case, Bryant was rather young at the and became an early biographer of William Cullen time, either 18 or 20. What critics all agree upon Bryant in 1893. Near the end of his career, Bryant’s translations is the means by which the poem came into print: of Homer’s Iliad (1870) and Odyssey (1871) were his father, discovering it, recopied it and submit- well received. Critics stated that this English trans- ted it to the North American Review, where it lation was signifi cant for American literary history was published. The critic Robert Ferguson agrees and was “the most truly poetic,” possessing “the with other scholars who recognize in Peter Bry- noble simplicity of Homer” (Phair 178–179). In the ant’s actions the father’s desire to put into practice 1870s Bryant was heralded by one critic as forming, the very principle he himself lived by: a balance along with James Fenimore Cooper and WASHING- between vocation and literature (442). TON IRVING, “the early triumvirate of American lit- As the poem opens, Bryant introduces the recip- erature” (Phair 45). His last major poem was “The rocal dynamic between humans and nature available Flood of Years” (1876), which can be read as more “to him who in the love of nature holds / com- conventionally religious than his early works and as munion” (1–2). Such a sympathetic understanding “an answer to the religious doubt expressed in the permits Nature to “glide / Into his darker musings, great poem of his youth, ‘Thanatopsis’ ” (Brown with a mild / And healing sympathy, that steals 515). His very last poems, in the year of his death, away / Their sharpness, ere he is aware” (5–8). included one about the birthday of George Wash- Bryant’s notion here renders Nature as a know- ington and one about the Spanish author Cervantes ing friend who has the ability to dull one’s depres- (Brown 515–516). sive or morbid thoughts, even without one’s being After Bryant’s passing in 1878, other authors conscious of the friend’s effort. Such a power ren- appreciated his important qualities and his con- ders humans at the mercy of Nature, who exercises tributions to American letters. They consistently unknown and unseen infl uence. Given Nature’s gift noted Bryant’s “love of nature, loyalty to the dem- for soothing troubled minds, the narrator next sug- ocratic way of life, and rugged integrity” (McLean gests that readers given over to thoughts of death 134). Walt Whitman wrote admiringly of Bryant in should “go forth, under the open sky, and list / Specimen Days as “pulsing the fi rst interior verse— To Nature’s teachings” (14–15). They should avail throbs of a mighty world—bard of the river and themselves of the lessons that Nature makes avail- wood, ever conveying a taste of the open air, with able of how the dead become one with the earth scents as from hay fi elds, grapes, birch-borders” and are indistinguishable from the elements. (qtd. in McLean 135). It is for William Cullen Bry- Lest the reader fear a lone return to the earth ant’s poetry about nature and mortality, as well as after death, Bryant’s narrator assures him or her that for his committed work as an editor of the New he or she will exist in “one might sepulcher” with York Evening Post, that he would be remembered “the powerful of the earth—the wise, the good” (37, into the next century and beyond. 35). Its breadth, spanning from the “Barcan desert” Amy Cummins to the Oregon, demonstrates the expansiveness of 56 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers this communal tomb. Critic John Scholl explains (435). Agitated by a successful but unsatisfying that Bryant uses Barcan because of the heralded position as a lawyer, Bryant, according to Ferguson, trek of his neighbor, General Eaton, through 600 writes poetry that reveals those anxieties, harnessing miles of desert in Barca to meet with Hamet Pasha, them in the service of emotionally resonant verse. the sovereign of Tripoli (248). “Oregon,” Scholl Such a poem, Ferguson states, is “The Yellow Vio- believes, appears because it was the original name of let,” which appeared in 1814. the Columbia River, which became famous in 1807 As with most of Bryant’s nature poems, this one when tales of Lewis and Clark were published (248). begins with a description of the natural setting, and The whole world functions as a tomb, as “all that the object of the poem within it. At the beginning breathe / will share thy destiny” (60–61). Bryant’s of spring, “when beechen buds begin to swell,” Bry- treatise on death is to consider it a common fate of ant witnesses the “sweet fl ower” “alone in the vir- all humanity, and to recognize that the world is fi lled gin air” (6, 8). The violet distinguishes itself for its with those “that slumber in its bosom” (50). early bloom, which occurs in the “sunless” month of Cognizant of the common fate of all, including April and precedes the more colorful and audacious “the speechless babe and the gray-headed man,” fl owers that appear the following month. Unlike the the narrator encourages his readers to “live” so “loftier fl owers [that] are fl aunting nigh,” the yel- that when death arrives, it will seem to be a fi nal low violet “peeps from the last year’s leaves below” sleep: “like one who wraps the drapery of his couch (20, 4). Despite its demure nature, Bryant, ever the / about him, and lies down to pleasant dreams” observant traveler in the woods, notices this fl ower, (80–81). which “stayed my walk” (22). However, Bryant admits that despite his notice For Discussion or Writing and celebration of the yellow violet, “midst the 1. Consider why critics, and Bryant himself, gorgeous blooms of May / I passed thee on thy might concern themselves with the actual date humble stalk” (23–24). The appearance of these when “Thanatopsis” was written. Why might it other colorful but unnamed blossoms creates a matter? marked contrast in Bryant’s treatment of the yel- 2. Bryant’s poem looks to nature to soothe his low violet; originally “bathed . . . in [the sun’s] concerns about an impending death. How does own bright hue,” it is soon after lessened in the it compare to the lessons PHILIP MORIN FRE- poet’s esteem: “slight thy form, and low thy seat” NEAU offers in “The House of Night”? (15, 17). While the fl ower undoubtedly remains the same, the change in the environment in which Bryant sees it drastically shifts his valuing of it. He recognizes the moral lesson contained in his own (1814, 1821) “The Yellow Violet” capriciousness by comparing it to the abandonment Numbered among Bryant’s most honored poems, of early friendships by those fi red by worldly ambi- “The Yellow Violet” likewise appears during the tions: “So they, who climb to wealth forget / The period when the poet unhappily followed the friends in darker fortunes tried” (25–26). Count- career of a lawyer. In the personal tensions Bryant less biographers and critics alike remark on these experienced as a lawyer between 1811 and 1830, lines as emblematic of the shift in Bryant’s life from critics locate the material and emotional depths that a desire to continue his education as a “man of let- formed his creative voice as a poet. Robert Ferguson ters” to his pragmatic choice of law and later jour- is so bold as to declare all poems written by Bryant nalism as his career paths. after 1830 lesser, as they mark the period in which the poet exhibits a “growing serenity of tone and For Discussion or Writing mood that robbed the later poetry of urgency and 1. Trace the Calvinist sentiments expressed in the strength by removing all possibility of confl ict” poem. William Cullen Bryant 57

2. The poem concludes with the resolution to meaning that it instructs even when there seems to remain attentive to the violet despite the distrac- be no evidence of its presence or its infl uence. And tions of other more showy and visible fl owers. yet, the wild goose’s fl ight itself serves as proof or What larger message does Bryant convey with evidence of this higher “Power.” this conviction? Bryant’s description of the landscape for this 3. Philip Morin Freneau’s “The Wild Honey lone bird’s fl ight bears discussion, as his attention Suckle” also singles out a particular fl ower and to American territory is a hallmark of his poetry. creates a moral or lesson around it. Compare The sky itself appears as a hopeful but also awe- the two poems and their lessons. Are they par- inspiring element that is “illimitable” (15). The ticularly American? Why or why not? infi niteness of the very element that the bird trav- els in calls to mind the need for a “power whose care” guides it (13). The bird’s own tireless fl ight is another source of inspiration in the poem as the (1815, 1818, 1821) “To a Waterfowl” narrator remarks, “all day thy wings have fanned Because “To a Waterfowl,” one of Bryant’s most . . . yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome land” (17, celebrated poems, appeared with an article writ- 19). The bird’s quest seems to drive it onward in ten about his friend the landscape painter Robert the “cold, thin atmosphere” as the promises of “a F. Weir’s painting An Autumnal Evening, critic summer home, and rest” constitute its just reward William Cullen Bryant II believes other critics (18, 22). Having witnessed the bird’s fl ight until it have been confused regarding the circumstances is no longer visible, the narrator retains the image surrounding the poem’s genesis (183). When the and its meaning “on my heart” (26). article on Weir appeared in the New York Mirror, it was accompanied by Bryant’s poem, quoted in full For Discussion or Writing (184). As Bryant II remarks, it would be incongru- 1. Briefl y explain Bryant’s line “lone wandering, ous for a wild goose to scan the landscape for a but not lost” (16). What is its meaning? How summer home while in the middle of a Massachu- does it contribute to the poem’s tone? setts winter (183). This brief controversy or misun- 2. Given the confusion about the poem’s incep- derstanding aside, Bryant’s poem was immediately tion, what role might the seasons play in the celebrated by the famous British poet and literary poem’s meaning? Does it matter that the goose critic Mathew Arnold as “the best short poem in is searching for a “summer home” “midst fall- the English language” (reported in Bryant 181). ing dew” in “the last steps of day”? In the poem, Bryant opens by wondering about 3. What is the lesson learned from observing the the destination of a solitary bird he spies in fl ight. bird in fl ight? How does this lesson compare By beginning the poem with such a question, he with that in “Thanatopsis”? sets for himself and the reader the same mood of 4. Consider Freneau’s “On the Religion of Nature” inquiry and uncertainty. Thus, from the fi rst stanza and compare the two poets’ conclusions about through the fi nal one, in which the narrator has the relationship between nature and religion. discovered “the lesson thou hast given,” the nar- rator is looking to Nature to provide guidance and insight (27). Certainty arrives in the fourth stanza when the narrator declares, “There is a Power “To Cole, the Painter, whose care / Teaches thy way along that pathless Departing for Europe” (1829) coast” (13–14). By capitalizing power, the narrator Thomas Cole, a close friend of Bryant, wrote in gives the impression of a source outside but con- “Essay on American Scenery” of the American trolling nature. Whether this power is God or Fate, landscape’s being “destitute of many of those it has the ability to “teach” along a “pathless coast,” circumstances that give value to the European” 58 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

(reported in Ferguson 433). As a member of the of wilderness compare to Freneau’s “The Wild Hudson River school of painters, Cole was com- Honey Suckle”? mitted to the preservation and depiction of those 2. In what ways is the poem specifi cally addressed aspects of nature characteristic of an American to his friend Cole or to fellow painters? How landscape. Cole’s value for the American character does the poem address the visual element that is of the natural setting was also embraced by Bryant, the purview of painters? who wrote to his brother John, advising him about 3. Cole’s landscapes, as detailed by Bryant, are void the need to write from experience and observa- of a human presence. The observer in paintings tion: “Let me counsel you to draw your images, in is, naturally, outside the frame, viewing from a describing Nature, from what you observe around museum wall or some other man-made space. you. . . . The skylark is an English bird, and an How does this dynamic of unpeopled space and American who has never visited Europe has no human observer relate to Bryant’s casting of his right to be in raptures about it” (reported in Fer- narrative presence in “Thanatopsis,” “The Prai- guson 433). Thus, Bryant considers the fl ora and ries,” and “To a Waterfowl”? fauna of America to be a central and commanding difference between the new nation and its Euro- pean ancestors. He lauds Cole’s “glorious canvas” (1832, 1833) as a testimony to the beauties of America’s natural “The Prairies” world: “lone lakes—savannas where the bison roves In his initial description of the prairies as “the gar- — / Rocks rich with summer garlands—solemn dens of the Desert,” Bryant imagines them an oasis, streams— / Skies, where the desert eagle wheels a place set apart from its surroundings. The sense of and screams—” (5–7). In cataloging these particu- isolation and exceptionalism continues as he pictures lar images of America, most especially the desert “the encircling vastness”: “Lo! they stretch / In airy eagle and bison, Bryant follows his own advice undulations, far away” (6–7). Their sheer expanse to his brother and celebrates those very animals is reminiscent of an “ocean,” especially with the inherent to the native landscape. Notice also that motion of “surface rolls” brought on by the wind. aside from an occasional animal, the landscapes are When Bryant contemplates the source of this solitary. wind, however, the poem begins to shift from He admits that “fair scenes shall greet thee a timeless and geographically vague locale to a where thou goest” but undermines the beauty he landscape rich with history. Bryant imagines the imagines Cole to encounter in Europe with his use “breezes of the south,” and their origins: “ye have of adjectives to describe the two lands. America is played / Among the palms of Mexico and vines “our own bright land,” but in Europe the scenes are / Of Texas, and have crisped the limpid brooks / “different” not only because of traces of humankind That from the fountains of Sonora glide” (18–21). throughout, but also because “life shrinks from the Thus, Bryant imagines a ripple effect of the com- fi erce Alpine air” (3, 10, 12). Rather than offer a list mon winds that blow south of the United States’ of the natural beauties to be found in Europe, Bry- border, to include Texas, which was still a territory ant instead remarks on the evidence of continual of Mexico although it would become a republic human occupation: “everywhere the trace of men in just four years. The geographical remoteness of / paths, homes, graves, ruins” (10–11). these southern climes is all but erased as he wit- nesses the breezes’ effect on the prairies. For Discussion or Writing The sense of a historic past, however, becomes 1. Bryant emphasizes the “wildness” inherent in more immediate as he “think[s] of those / Upon an American landscape that contrasts it sharply whose rest [his horse] tramples” (38–39). As in with European scapes. How does this notion “Thanatopsis,” Bryant imagines the landscape to William Cullen Bryant 59 be a common grave, but rather than its holding the “To the Fringed Gentian” (1847) people of his generation, he considers the bones of Bryant dedicates his poem to a rare but beautiful “the dead of other days” interred in the ground fl ower located primarily on the eastern seaboard. beneath his horse’s hooves (40). These people, The fringed gentian was not only the subject for who predate the American Indians, are described Bryant’s poem, but also has been celebrated in as “mound-builders,” who were coterminous with verse by Emily Dickinson and Henry David Tho- the Greeks and their erection of the Parthenon (60, reau. Its rarity stems from its deep blue color and 50). In imagining their lives upon the landscape, its appearance in November, a time at odds with before the “red man came,” Bryant gives to Amer- nature, which is then in the throes of winter. Bry- ica a hoary past to rival Europe’s (58). ant recognizes the fl ower’s bloom as an incongru- The confl ict between white men and red men ous source of life in surroundings that portend is also chronicled in the poem with the tale of a winter and death: “when woods are bare and birds captive man who marries a native woman, “yet are fl own / and frost and shortening days portend ne’er forgot—the wife / Of his fi rst love, and their / the aged year is near his end” (10–12). The fl ow- sweet little ones / butchered” (83–85). Thus, er’s appearance in autumn serves as a reminder and the landscape is witness to scenes of brutality and an assurance that there can be hope in the most events that prove the fl eeting and helpless nature dismal of circumstances, such as those represented of humankind. Just after this tale, Bryant men- by the surrounding woods. tions the removal of the American Indians to a In isolation, and amid harsh and uninviting place “nearer to the Rocky Mountains,” “a wilder conditions, the fringed gentian “doth thy sweet hunting ground” (92–93). Also absent from the and quiet eye / look through its fringes to the sky” prairies are the bison and the beaver. All seem to (13–14). In this anthropomorphizing of the fl ower, have abandoned this landscape for remoter climes it appears coquettish, as though its “fringes” were in response to “the sound of advancing multitude” eyelashes or the ends of a veil concealing a young (116). woman. Its demure nature is also inconsistent with Despite his awareness and chronicling of the vari- the supposed heartiness of a plant that must sustain ous animals and peoples who have inhabited and will itself in the rigors of late fall and early winter. And inhabit the prairies, Bryant is able to return to the in this image, the incongruent life amid death and solitary contemplations originating in the poem’s decay, the beautiful source of inspiration and hope initial lines. With the appearance of a “fresher wind,” in wintry climes, and the singular fl ower unac- “I am in the wilderness alone” (123–124). companied by violets or columbines, Bryant fi nds sympathy with his own condition. The fl ower, in For Discussion or Writing its almost unearthly blue tint, seems in sympathetic 1. Ferguson believes that “Prairies” “begins as relation to the sky from which it receives its name. a description of that setting but becomes an Bryant describes the shocking blue of this fl ower imaginary political history of the region” (448). with the term cerulean, a reference both to a pig- Reread the poem for evidence in support of Fer- ment fi rst introduced in 1821 and to the Latin root guson’s interpretation. word caeruleum, meaning “sky” or “heavens.” 2. How does the expansiveness of Bryant’s “Prai- In the fi nal stanza, Bryant opines that the fl ow- ries” compare to the democratic sweep charac- er’s bravery will inspire him when “the hour of teristic of Walt Whitman’s poetry? What are the death draw near to me / Hope, blossoming within political feelings animating the two poets? my heart” (18–19). As with the image of the soli- 3. What might be the source of the wind that tary fl ower, blooming in nearly impossible condi- “breaks my dream” and places the poet “in the tions, Bryant aspires to fi nd hope within his heart wilderness alone”? as he approaches his own death. 60 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

For Discussion or Writing ers “shook with horror at thy fall” (8). But Bryant 1. As “Thanatopsis” does, Bryant’s “To the Fringed does not dwell so much on the nation’s loss as on Gentian” links observations in nature to thoughts the gift of freedom Lincoln gave in proclaiming the on mortality. How is death represented in the two freedom of the nation’s enslaved. This is the topic of poems? Does it matter that one poem narrows its the poem’s third stanza, which imagines the Eman- subject to a particular species of fl ower while the cipation Proclamation as having been the president’s other writes of nature in general? crowning glory, and now “the proudest monument 2. Read Dickinson’s “God made a little gentian” [which] shall be / The broken fetters of the slave” and compare its treatment of the bloom to Bry- (11–12). Critics mention how Bryant, in his role as ant’s. What larger theme does each poet tether editor of the New York Evening Post, encouraged to the fringed gentian? Lincoln to free the slaves. His voice was infl uential 3. Bryant’s two famous poems occasioned by par- with the president, as these same critics note his ticular fl owers, “To a Fringed Gentian” and “The position as adviser to Lincoln on matters of cabinet Yellow Violet,” both expand out from the indi- appointments (Ferguson 432; Spivey 99–103). vidual blossoms, which function as symbols of The critic Robert Ferguson argues that Bryant’s larger issues impacting the narrator and human- “insistence upon a direct link between poetry and kind in general. To what extent, however, do the the welfare of the Republic also meant far more was poems offer a different approach to nature, or to at stake than Wordsworth’s desire to give immediate the position humans hold in nature? pleasure. The private poet was a public teacher for the nation’s good—and, inevitably, answerable to it” (445). In the poem’s fi nal stanza, Bryant seems to accomplish the poet’s civic duty by valorizing Lin- “Abraham Lincoln” (1865) coln and the values he died in protecting. He con- Written in iambic tetrameter, Bryant’s elegy for cludes the poem by placing the fallen leader “among President Lincoln expresses a national voice, mourn- the noble host of those / Who perished in the cause ing in chorus, for the fallen leader. Unlike the sweep- of Right” (15–16). ing line length employed in “The Prairies,” “To a Waterfowl,” and “Thanatopsis,” Bryant’s adherence For Discussion or Writing to this poetic form renders short, compact lines to 1. How does Bryant’s elegy for the fallen presi- mirror the poem’s brief sketch of Lincoln. The open- dent compare with Whitman’s? How do the two ing stanza celebrates Lincoln for his even-tempered poets imagine Lincoln’s role in the nation and nature during a time of war: “slow to smite and swift its future without him? to spare” (1). Bryant places Lincoln as a calm and just 2. Where do you locate the emotional resonance presence juxtaposed against the unmentioned, but of the poem? Is it national pride or mourning? nevertheless present, chaos that was the Civil War. What effect does the form of the poem have on Rather than bearing a weapon of war, Bryant renders its content? Lincoln’s a “sword of power,” wielded by one “in 3. How does Bryant treat Lincoln’s death in this the fear of God” (4, 3). Thus, Lincoln’s participation poem versus his contemplations of death in as president during internecine war seems less as a “Thanatopsis”? military leader involved in the violence and more as a religious-minded fi gure who exercises his power judiciously. The second stanza expressly takes on the collec- FURTHER QUESTIONS ON tive voice of a nation in mourning, describing how BRYANT AND HIS WORK “we” witness the president’s coffi n and “speak the 1. One of the most notable quotations from Bryant anguish of the land” (7). The chorus of mourn- is “Politics and a belly-full is better than poetry William Cullen Bryant 61

and starvation.” In it, Bryant seems to pit poli- ———. “The Waterfowl in Retrospect.” New England tics against poetry as if the two were adversarial Quarterly 30, no. 2 (1957): 181–189. or mutually exclusive. Keeping this quotation in Ferguson, Robert. “William Cullen Bryant: The Cre- mind, write an essay in which you examine two ative Context of the Poet.” New England Quarterly or three of Bryant’s poems about nature. Where (December 1980): 431–463. or how might you identify Bryant’s politics in Krapf, Norman, ed. Under Open Sky: Poets on William the poems? Cullen Bryant. New York: Fordham University 2. Bryant is often known as one of the fi reside poets. Press, 1986. Using the defi nition of this group provided in Lowell, James Russell. A Fable for Critics. New York: the biography section of this entry, explain why G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1848. Bryant does or does not belong to this group. McLean, Albert, Jr. William Cullen Bryant. New Be sure to reference lines and concepts from his York: Twayne, 1964. poetry specifi cally in your response. Peckham, Harry Houston. Gotham Yankee, a Biogra- phy of William Cullen Bryant. New York: Vantage WORKS CITED AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Press, 1950. American Literature on the Web: William Cullen Bryant. Phair, Judith Turner. A Bibliography of William Cul- Available online. URL: http://www.nagasaki-gaigo. len Bryant and His Critics, 1808–1972. Troy, N.Y.: ac.jp/ishikawa/amlit/b/bryant19ro.htm. Accessed Whitston, 1975. April 23, 2009. Scholl, John William. “On the Two Place-Names in Bigelow, John. William Cullen Bryant. Boston: ‘Thanatopsis.’ ” Modern Language Notes 28, no. 8 Houghton Miffl in, 1890. (December 1913): 247–249. Brodwin, Stanley, and Michael D’Innocenzo, eds. Sorby, Angela. Schoolroom Poets: Childhood, Perfor- William Cullen Bryant and His America: Centen- mance, and the Place of American Poetry, 1865– nial Conference Proceedings, 1878–1978. New York: 1917. Durham: University of New Hampshire AMS Press, 1983. Press, 2005. Brown, Charles Henry. William Cullen Bryant. New Spivey, Herman. “Bryant Cautions and Counsels Lin- York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1971. coln.” Tennessee Studies in Literature 13 (1966): Bryant, William Cullen. The Life and Writings of Wil- 99–103. liam Cullen Bryant. 4 vols. Edited by Parke God- Wortham, Thomas. “William Cullen Bryant and the win. New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1883. Fireside Poets.” In The Columbia Literary History Bryant, William Cullen II. “The Genesis of ‘Thanatop- of the United States, edited by Emory Elliott. New sis.’ ” New England Quarterly 21, no. 2 (1948): York: Columbia University Press, 1988. 163–184. Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca (1490 –1556)

Speaking among themselves, they said that the Christians were lying, because we had come from the East and they had come from the West; that we healed the sick and they killed the healthy; . . . that we coveted nothing but instead gave away everything that was given to us and kept none of it, while the sole purpose of the others was to steal every- thing they found, never giving anything to anybody.

(Relación)

orn in 1490 in Jerez de la Frontera, an Andalu- would more than demonstrate his worthiness of Bsian town, to Francisco de Vera and Teresa the distinguished family name. Cabeza de Vaca, Álvar was the family’s fourth son At the age of 21, Cabeza de Vaca joined the (The Account 11). Both parents had ancestors who military and was sent to Italy, where he fought in had distinguished themselves by their participa- the Battle of Ravenna the following year on April tion in colonial or Reconquest events. His paternal 11, 1512. His bravery on the battlefi eld of a con- grandfather, Pedro de Vera Mendoza, was involved fl ict that resulted in French withdrawal from Italy in the conquest of the Canary Islands, while a rela- was rewarded with his promotion to lieutenant tive on his maternal side had received the honor of (alférez) in the city of Gaeta (12). His military ser- grand master of the Order of Santiago for his part vice continued the following year (1513) in the in the Reconquest, a 600-year-old confl ict with city of Seville. While serving as aide to the duke of the Moors for control over the Iberian Peninsula Medina-Sidonia, Cabeza de Vaca was instrumental (11–12). Cabeza de Vaca’s surname originates from in defeating the Comunero Revolt against the Holy an ancestor on his mother’s side who was granted Roman Emperor Charles V (who, as Charles I, was the unusual honorifi c for loyal service rendered King of Spain) (12). What biographers know next to the Spanish Crown during the Reconquest. in the military man’s life occurs seven years after his Martín Alhaja provided King Sancho of Navarre involvement in overthrowing the Comunero Revolt. with a secret passage up to the Sierra Morena, On February 15, 1527, he received the appointment which he marked with a cow’s skull. By using this of king’s treasurer by Charles V and was assigned unguarded trail, King Sancho and his soldiers were to Pánfi lo de Narráez’s expedition (12). What fol- able to summit the mountain without detection lowed was a nine-year ordeal in present-day Florida, and gain a necessary advantage over their enemies, Texas, and northern Mexico (Sinaloa) in which the the Moors (12). In fact, the battle, known as Las conquistadors diminished in numbers because of a Navas de Tolosa, was “the most decisive battle in hurricane, rough seas, desertion, and warfare with the Reconquest.” In acknowledgment of his loyal the native population. Cabeza de Vaca documented service, Martín Alhaja and his descendants received the events of the failed expedition, together with the noble title Cabeza de Vaca, which translates his seven-year captivity, in his Relación, which also literally as “cow’s head.” The fame associated with bears the title Naufragios (shipwrecks). the appellation was ample reason for his parents to Contemporary critics regard Cabeza de Vaca as bestow such a weighty surname on him. His deeds one of the earliest proto-Chicano writers in North

62 Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca 63

America. Juan Bruce-Novoa, for example, notes his for conquerors and discoverers) and the governor- success at cultural syncretism, or the blending of ship of the South American province of Río de la two seemingly incongruous cultures: the European Plata (a region extending from Peru to the Straits and the indigenous (14). Because this is the nature of Magellan). He embarked on a fi ve-month voyage of the Chicano, who is shaped by the intersection in November of the same year for Santa Catarina in of these very same cultures, Bruce-Novoa imagines Brazil, as expedition leader of a crew of four ships. Cabeza de Vaca as initiating a history of literature Rather than follow the sea route to arrive at Asun- for Chicanos that predates the English colonization ción, Paraguay, Cabeza de Vaca set out on foot for of the eastern seaboard (4). Cabeza de Vaca, in his a 1,000-mile trek. With 250 men and 26 horses, multiple roles as explorer, captive, Christian, healer, he traveled from November 2, 1541, to March 11, and trader, functions as an intermediary between 1542, and only suffered a few casualties during the the two cultures, an interpreter, and a fi gure who overland trek. Historians also remember Cabeza attempts to bring about peaceful coexistence and de Vaca for his distinction as being the fi rst Euro- cultural exchange (14). Critics are quick to point pean to view the famous Iguazú Falls (Morrison out how this explorer differentiates himself from 572–574). all the others because of his intimate familiarity Once he had settled in Asunción, Cabeza de with the tribes, their customs and languages, and, Vaca began to put into practice the very theories of based on this knowledge, his estrangement from the indigenous/conquistador dynamic that he had his own people, fellow conquistadors, who do not developed during his 10-year ordeal in Florida, share his view of Amerindians. In remaking him- Texas, and northern Mexico. Because he had expe- self, “as neither native nor foreigner, but a mixture rienced fi rsthand the humanity of Amerindians, as of the two,” Cabeza de Vaca predates such quintes- well as their signs of civility in contrast to the bar- sentially American fi gures as BENJAMIN FRANKLIN barous Spaniards, who resorted on two occasions (Bruce-Novoa 17). to the taboo act of cannibalism, Cabeza de Vaca When Cabeza de Vaca returned to Spain in instituted and enforced strict laws on the treat- 1537, after recuperating in Mexico City, where he ment of the Guaraní. If any Spaniard mistreated a was welcomed by Hernán Cortés, he was one of member of the Guaraní, the tribal member would four survivors of the Narváez expedition, which immediately be removed to the household of a originally included 500 men. His hope was that kinder master. He also instituted an equitable form Charles V would reward his service by granting of taxation in which those taxes paid by the poor him command of a second Florida expedition, but, were reduced, and offi cials of the Spanish Crown, as the history books tell us, this honor went to traditionally exempt from taxation in colonial set- Hernando de Soto. Although de Soto offered to tings, were expected to pay their share. Even more include Cabeza de Vaca in his voyage to Florida, radically, Cabeza de Vaca forbade the enslavement the latter demurred, probably because of ideologi- of captives taken during the Guaraní warfare with cal differences. De Soto was a soldier, with a famed other tribes, and thus put an end to what was a military history, and it is supposed that Cabeza de lucrative slave trade for some. In accord with the Vaca feared that he would face constant opposition abolition of the slave trade, Cabeza de Vaca also from the conquistador in the humane treatment included in his edict of April 1542 the end of con- of Amerindians. The recently returned explorer cubinage, a practice in which native women were also refused Charles V’s offer of an expedition to given to chiefs and infl uential Spaniards in order explore the northeastern part of North America. to cement agreements. Just as Cabeza de Vaca Instead, Cabeza de Vaca received a patent from the believed that Spaniards should be subject to taxa- king in March 1540, which bestowed upon the tion as their native converts were, he also believed conquistador the title of adelantado (a title reserved that the conquistadors needed to set a moral 64 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers example for the newly converted Christians. Since and he was hanged. In retaliation for his brother’s canon law prohibited polygamy, it appeared sac- execution, Tabaré led an attack against the coloniz- rilegious and hypocritical for Spaniards to amass ers, which Irala was ordered to quell and end as harems of native women. Because the concubines peacefully as possible. The fi ghting ended in March had borne the mestizo children of the Spaniards, 1543 with a new peace treaty. there was considerable uproar against the disso- The events of April and June 1543 led to the lution of these bonds. Cabeza de Vaca, however, uncovering of a plot against Cabeza de Vaca. The remained resolute in his edict, reasoning that fi rst was his edict eradicating the taxation plan, because many of the women taken into concubi- called the quinto because it exacted one-fi fth of the nage were closely related to one another (mothers inhabitants’ income. This edict adversely affected and sisters, for example), the men were violating the wealthy conquistadors. Cabeza de Vaca also another church taboo, against incest. made enemies of two friars, Bernardo de Armenta In July 1542, Cabeza de Vaca led a punitive and Alonso Lebroaacute, who had fl ed into the expedition against the Guaycurúes, a tribe antago- surrounding wilderness with a number of female nistic to both the Spaniards and the Guaraní. His converts, in protest against the governor’s law mak- intent seems to have been not only to broker peace, ing their relationships with the females unlawful. which he was unable to do, but to awe the natives In response to the pleadings of the women’s par- with a display of the Spaniards’ military power. ents, Cabeza de Vaca sought out the friars and had He had previously outlawed the trade of metal or the natives’ daughters returned home to them. In any object that could be converted into a weapon a short span of time, Cabeza de Vaca had outraged with the native population for fear of undermining two central bodies in the colony: the aristocratic Spain’s stronghold in the region. Indeed, Cabeza element, led by Irala, and the religious element, de Vaca knew of the region’s volatility since the represented by the two Franciscan friars. colony of Río de Plata, the original destination of In June and July 1543 Cabeza de Vaca uncovered his expedition, had been abandoned after attacks the plot to oust him and put several key members by the native population. He would not know, of the Spanish colony on trial. Although histori- however, that despite his military victory over the ans surmise that the governor knew Irala was the Guaycurú, he would face more dangerous foes back mastermind of the plot, Cabeza de Vaca did not at Asunción. prosecute him in the hope that he would become Because of his reforms, Cabeza de Vaca created an ally. On April 8, 1544, the tension within the enemies within the administration of Asunción, colony was palpable. Just 17 days later, on April especially that of the interim governor, Domingo 25, 1544, Cabeza de Vaca was placed in chains and Martínez de Irala (Bishop 212–213). While Cabeza under arrest. He returned to Seville in disgrace de Vaca was traveling to fi nd a path to the Para- in September of the following year. Bruce-Novoa guay River, and the mythic El Dorado, Martínez beautifully summarizes the explorer’s fate: “They de Irala was fomenting an attack against him, gain- exiled the governor back to Spain, a chained pris- ing alliances with wealthy inhabitants and soldiers. oner, shipwrecked on the rocks of his own culture” Cabeza de Vaca and his soldiers returned to Asun- (16). He was briefl y imprisoned in Madrid and then ción because of a lack of adequate provisions and released a few months later under house arrest. In heavy death tolls brought on by diseases. Further, 1551, the Council of the Indies ended its six years a chief related to the Guaraní named Aracaré sabo- of deliberations and sentenced Cabeza de Vaca. He taged the group of 90 Spaniards and Guaraní dur- was to be exiled to Oran, in present-day Algeria, ing their journey by setting fi res in the jungle that and permanently banned from the Americas. On alerted the neighboring tribes of their presence. In the basis of his appeal, his sentence was changed, December 1542, Cabeza de Vaca captured Aracaré, and his ban was limited only to the Río de la Plata who had launched a second attack on the Spaniards, region, where he had formerly served as governor. Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca 65

In 1555 Cabeza de Vaca wrote Comentarios, argument went, then the natives must necessarily his account of the fi ve years he had spent in South have souls; therefore, the torture and inhumane America, and he issued a second edition to his Rel- treatment of them by the conquistadores could not ación. It appears that these texts were intended be justifi ed. If, on the other hand, the natives were both to vindicate his actions and to create some soulless, then the conquest did not have a religious revenue. The six-year trial at the Council of the justifi cation, for the natives were incapable of con- Indies had depleted the family’s landholdings, as version. Because of Cabeza de Vaca’s documented his wife is reported to have sold all of her property account of civilized natives who adopted him and in his defense. cared for him, his Relación was used as evidence in He d ied in 1559, dest it ute, in Va l ladol id. A s Sa m- favor of Las Casas’s argument for the humanity of uel Eliot Morison writes, “Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de natives, and the need to treat them in a peaceful Vaca stands out as a truly noble and humane char- manner. acter. Nowhere in the lurid history of the Conquest Cabeza de Vaca’s Account appeared in print does one fi nd such integrity and devotion to Chris- two times during the reign of Charles V: once in tian principles in the face of envy, malice, treachery, 1542 and again in 1555. The critic Rolena Adorno cruelty, lechery and plain greed” (2:580). characterizes these two publication dates: “before royal attempts to control publications of the Indies, and again during the time when the rights to the rewards of conquests became a heated controversy” “The Account: Álvar Núñez Cabeza (220). That Cabeza de Vaca’s tale was republished de Vaca’s Relación” (1542) twice in Charles V’s reign is all the more remarkable In their introduction to his text, the editors Martín given its divergence from the politics of conquest. A. Favata and José B. Fernández name Cabeza de Rather than capitulate to conquest doctrine that Vaca “the fi rst Spaniard to traverse—on foot—a dehumanizes the Amerindians, Cabeza de Vaca’s larger portion of the recently discovered territory nine years in captivity and his knowledge of the of North America” (11). His account of the jour- tribes of the current United States rendered him ney he made would inspire two subsequent expedi- incapable of telling the conventional conquest tale. tions, including Francisco Vázquez de Coronado’s Mary Gaylord interprets Cabeza de Vaca’s cultural trek through the southwestern United States (11). ambiguity in the following manner: “Separated Because of its thick description of the land and its from his ship, from his men, from his authority, inhabitants, as well as the early date of authorship from his entire culture, Cabeza de Vaca returns able and publication (it fi rst appeared in print in 1542), to say only that he cannot retell the Offi cial Story. Cabeza de Vaca’s Relación has distinguished itself As he reports the failure of the accepted model, as as an invaluable document for scholars interested he unwrites an old story that literally unravels— in a host of subjects ranging from ethnography like his clothing—in his hands, he ends up writing to literature, from adventure to anthropology. a new one” (134). Such an inability to echo con- Further, Bartolomé de Las Casas folded Cabeza quest doctrine stems from moments of cognitive de Vaca’s tales of peaceful colonization and his dissonance, such as when other conquistadors fi rst detailed descriptions of native customs into his spy Cabeza de Vaca, dressed as the natives and in own Apologética sumaria historia, which argued their company, after several years in captivity. The for the humane treatment of indigenous popula- silence that accompanies this moment of reencoun- tions predicated on their innate capacity for reli- ter is quite loud and speaks to the uneasiness of gious faith (222). This latter point would be the viewing one of your own (a fellow conquistador) central controversy debated in Valladolid in 1550 transformed (gone native). Lisa Rabin interprets and 1551: If the purpose of conquest was to con- this silence as “allied in the text with the author’s vert the native populations to Catholicism, the own adjustment of himself as protagonist in the 66 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers master narrative of conquest” (42). In other words, absence of riches and attributing all acts of kind- Cabeza de Vaca is silent as well during this reen- ness to God and providence rather than to the counter, and his silence derives from his need to native peoples themselves. He writes, for example, reimagine himself through the lens of his fellow of the conquistador’s “fi nding” corn rather than conquistadors. stealing it from the natives who had cultivated it The actual journey chronicled began in 1528 (36, 38, 41, 44). The only divergences from con- when he embarked as the king’s treasurer on an vention are the hum of discord between him and expedition led by Pánfi lo de Narváez to conquer Narváez, which will soon result in their permanent Florida. As an offi cial loyal to Charles V, Cabeza separation from each other, and Cabeza de Vaca’s de Vaca was positioned immediately in an awk- uncharacteristically complimentary description of ward struggle between two authority fi gures, the Amerindians. When a tribe attacks the conquista- king and the expedition leader, who represented dors, wounding Cabeza de Vaca and “two other the symbolic and immediate powers, respectively, Christians,” the chronicler frames them as worthy infl uencing his tale and his actions. Although the opponents and unparalleled human specimens: expedition began with 500 men, it met with such “Since they are so tall and they are naked, from a disasters that only Cabeza de Vaca and three other distance they look like giants. They are quite hand- men survived and returned to Spain with tales of some, very lean, very strong and light-footed. . . . their harrowing experiences. They shoot their arrows from a distance of two In the proem, which is addressed to Charles V, hundred paces with such accuracy that they never Cabeza de Vaca fl atters the king by referring to miss their target” (44). It is understandable that the “diligence and desire” exhibited by his loyal one would create the image of a worthy oppo- servants who, in their earnest efforts to honor his nent, especially in light of wounds received by that majesty, fi nd themselves performing “more dis- opponent, but Cabeza de Vaca’s description of the tinguished deeds than he expected” (28). Thus, Amerindians transcends their prowess as warriors. Cabeza de Vaca avoids appearing as a braggart He refers to them as “handsome,” for example, an when he recounts his amazing tale of survival to attribute that has nothing to do with their position the king because he attributes all of his actions to as worthy adversaries but is rather a compliment to his desire to please the sovereign. Despite his efforts them as fellow humans rather than ugly savages. It to gain fame and distinction for his service, Cabeza is not the only instance in which he compliments de Vaca notes that their sins brought about “such the natives, for a few pages later he refers to a tribe great dangers” and “such a miserable and disas- as “large, handsome people,” and to another group trous outcome” (28). The only service that he can as “the handsomest people . . . who appeared very provide to the king, therefore, lies in his tale, which attractive” (50, 52). he hopes will benefi t “those who go to conquer The second moment of narrative departure from those lands” (28). Critic Walter Mignolo notes the the conventional conquest tale occurs soon after absence of the conventional language of modesty the expedition leader orders the construction of and a list of sources or personal qualities that qual- fi ve boats to sail away from Florida’s coast. When ify Cabeza de Vaca for his role as historian. From Cabeza de Vaca requests that Narváez throw him a the very beginning of the narrative, then, Cabeza line to help him follow him and keep the fi ve boats de Vaca defi es convention in carving out for him- together, the leader replies in a manner that negates self a position from which to speak an unconven- his position of authority and the purpose of the tional tale of shipwreck, desertion, separation from expedition in general: “He told me that it was no Narváez, captivity among Amerindians, and even- longer necessary for any of us to give orders, that tual reunion with conquistadors. each of us should do what seemed best to save his Early on, the Relación adheres to colonial tales life, since that is what he intended to do” (53). Crit- of navigating lands, reporting on the presence or ics point to this moment of crisis as a point when Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca 67

Cabeza de Vaca must deal with the abandonment (60). They honor the sanctity of marriage by prac- of one authority and replace it with another. For ticing monogamy, with the exception of the medi- a time, he proves himself a worthy leader, noting cine men, who are given two or three wives. The that although many of the men had fainted, he had wives function as intermediaries between the two remained well and alert, anxious over the sick and families united in wedlock: Each wife carries food dying soldiers (54). He attempts unsuccessfully to gathered or hunted by her husband to her father’s relaunch the boat and set out to sea, but their boat hut, and the in-laws in turn take food to their son- cannot survive the rough surf and they return to in-law (60). Because the two families are not per- the same shore in worse circumstances: “Those of mitted to converse or even look at each other, it us who survived were as naked as the day we were is the women who must carry messages from the born and had lost everything we had” (56). This one family to the other. This practice of shuttling description of a return to infancy functions rhe- between families or tribes is strictly associated with torically to give the men a rebirth. It is at this time women, and for this reason the folklorist Mariah that Cabeza de Vaca begins to refer to his fellow Wade collapses Cabeza de Vaca’s role as interpreter conquistadors not as Spaniards but as Christians and trader among tribes with indigenous women’s (57). With the loss of Narváez, the survivors take role as go-between (333). up a new authority, God, and shed their identities Cabeza de Vaca’s own progress toward his role as as subjects of the king for their newfound positions cultural go-between is charted out in his estrange- as servants of God. ment from Spaniards, whom he differentiates from God becomes the central authority for the nar- “Christians,” and in his cultural and linguistic affi l- rative, so much so that some critics read Cabeza iation with the native peoples of North America. In de Vaca’s account less as a colonial tale of conquest a reversal of the traditional colonial worldview of and more as hagiography, recording the life of a self and other, the Spaniards become the “other,” saint (Bruce-Novoa 16). Bruce-Novoa recognizes as Cabeza de Vaca includes tales of “fi ve Chris- the expediency of such a shift in the narrative’s pre- tians” who, to the horror of the Amerindians who dominant genre: Having failed to “achieve the goal discover them, resort to cannibalism in order to most highly prized by the Christians—the con- survive (59). He reports their reactions: “The Indi- quest of wealth—he made a virtue of his failure, ans were quite upset by this happening and were so of his talent for alterability, of his ability to relate shocked that they would have killed the men had different terms, and even of his resemblance to a they seen them begin to do this” (59). Just prior saint” (16). He reconfi gures his failure into a vic- to this tale, Cabeza de Vaca relates how he feasted tory of the spiritual or religious over the banality on raw corn rather than eat the slaughtered horses of earthly possessions such as gold, which the con- (56). Later in his tale, he tells of cannibalism prac- quistadors sought but never found. Thus, the tale ticed by Hernando de Esquivel, whom he ironically turns more to detailing the beliefs and practices refers to as a Christian, and others: “As the men of the native populations, an aspect of the narra- died, the survivors cut and dried their fl esh. The tive that would prove invaluable to de las Casas in last one to die was Sotomayor, and Esquivel cut and Cabeza de Vaca’s own time and to historians and dried his fl esh, surviving by eating it until the fi rst ethnographers in the present. of March, when an Indian who had fl ed there came Cabeza de Vaca details various customs and to see if they had died and took Esquivel away with beliefs, ranging from marriage ceremonies to rites him” (69). Food and what one will and will not of mourning. As testament to his declaration that consume are culturally specifi c markers that help to “these people love their children more and treat identify a person, and to register a shift or change them better than any other people on earth,” he in his or her cultural affi liation. The parents who details the village’s engagement in a yearlong are in mourning, for example, enact their sorrow period of mourning for any child who perishes over the death of a child or sibling by refusing to 68 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers forage or hunt for food. They rely solely on their Cabeza de Vaca, as did Jesus, who witnessed a fellow villagers or extended family members to give burning bush while alone during his solitary trial them food; further, they only consume “very bad in the desert, spies a symbol of God’s intervention: water” for three months (62). Among the Yguazes, “It pleased God that I should fi nd a burning tree, for example, Cabeza de Vaca mentions how their by the fi re of which I endured that cold night” hunger drives them to eat unusual items such as ant (77). His second abandonment by his fellow Span- eggs, worms, dirt, wood, and deer excrement, but, iards likewise resembles Jesus’s betrayal by Peter as he implies, they never stoop as low as the Span- and Judas (78). As did Jesus, Cabeza de Vaca sur- iards to consume another human’s fl esh (71). vives his struggles alone in a brutal environment Cabeza de Vaca’s introduction into his role as and emerges transformed. His healing rituals are healer comes about by the natives’ intent to “make more infused with prayer and elements of Cath- us physicians, without testing us or asking for any olic ritual, such as making the sign of the cross degrees, because they cure illnesses by blowing on over those in need of healing. Cabeza de Vaca also the sick person and cast out the illness with their begins to rely on God rather than on himself or breath and their hands” (62). The notion that they his fellow conquistadors for deliverance from cap- were destined to be healers was attributed to their tivity (79). His healing powers are so great that he greatness. He demurs, and the group fi nd them- revives a dead man, much as Jesus did when rais- selves without food until they agree to function as ing Lazarus from the dead (80). Along with Cas- healers. What follows is a brief account of the man- tillo, the two men garner almost deitylike status ner in which medicine men cure (making an inci- among the Amerindians who arrive from far away sion and sucking out the area and then cauterizing in the hopes of being healed. the incision with fi re) and the manner in which In his role as saint, Cabeza de Vaca converts Catholic rituals are integrated into Cabeza de native populations to Christian faith and saves him- Vaca’s own brand of healing: “We did our healing self and others in his reluctant role of healer. Soon by making the sign of the cross on the sick persons, after his capture, Cabeza de Vaca was considered to breathing on them, saying the Lord’s Prayer and a be a folk healer and gained a modicum of cultural Hail Mary over them, and asking God our Lord, authority. His tales of healing are a hybrid of medi- as best we could, to heal them and inspire them to cines and Catholic prayers. Bruce-Novoa views his treat us well” (62). Even though he is treated well role as folk healer as refl ecting negatively and in a and given food and other provisions for his inex- parodic manner on the king’s own position: “As a plicable ability to heal, Cabeza de Vaca, in invok- healer, Cabeza de Vaca situated himself at the cen- ing God and the Virgin Mary during his healing ter of an imperial parody: surrounding him were performances, is careful not to overstep his bounds hundreds of Indians who lived off his activities; he and create the illusion that he has acquired godlike in turn was elevated to power by divine interven- status among the Amerindians. The very possibil- tion. The difference between Charles V’s Impe- ity that the Amerindians would elevate his status rial Court and this imperial parody is that Alvar because of his healing is quickly obliterated when Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca now occupied the center” he recounts being made a captive for a year to a (8). Thus, for Bruce-Novoa, the conquistador’s tribe who worked him hard and abused him so that new identity as healer gave him an authority over he sought to escape and went to live with the Char- the native populations that rivaled the king’s own ruco (64). Thus, Cabeza de Vaca reinvents himself, authority over his dominion, and thus diminished for a time, as an interpreter and trader. or belittled the king. When Cabeza de Vaca gets lost and is alone Ultimately, however, Cabeza de Vaca must rec- in this strange new world, his narrative begins to oncile himself to the Spanish Crown, as well as to resemble that of a saint’s life as more and more his fellow conquistadors, whom he refers to as Span- Christian symbology appears in his account. iards even as he refers to himself and Castillo as Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca 69

Christians. Critics argue that he never fully returns ple they had conquered and colonized. Write to the status of conquistador because of his seven- an essay in which you argue for the infl uence year captivity, because of his linguistic and cultural of Cabeza de Vaca’s experiences in Texas and affi liations with the Amerindians, and because of Florida, documented in The Account, in shaping his profound belief in the innate humanity of those the later views he championed while in South he encountered in his Account. America. 2. Critics have struggled with categorizing Cabeza For Discussion or Writing de Vaca’s Relación in terms of a single genre: 1. Cabeza de Vaca’s narrative of conquest is also a autobiography, ethnography, hagiography, captiv- tale of captivity. How do these two genres coex- ity, or conquest narrative. Having read Relación ist? How do they create alternative identities for carefully, make an argument for the categoriza- the author? tion of Cabeza de Vaca’s most famous work, mak- 2. How does Cabeza de Vaca’s survival technique ing sure that you provide support for your view as a trader between tribes compare to JOHN with examples from the text. SMITH’s position as the Cape Merchant? How does each colonist negotiate a place for him- WORKS CITED AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES self between the two worlds—European and Adorno, Rolena.“The Discursive Encounter of Spain indigenous? and America: The Authority of Eyewitness Tes- 3. What might account for Cabeza de Vaca’s dif- timony in the Writing of History.” William and ferent interpretation of Amerindians from those Mary Quarterly 49, no. 2 (April 1992): 210–228. chronicled in other conquest narratives, specifi - ———. “The Negotiation of Fear in Cabeza de Vaca’s cally that of John Smith, whose capture by Pow- Naufragios.” Representations 33 (Winter 1991): hatan and rescue by Pocahontas have become 163–199. the stuff of legend? Bruce-Novoa, Juan. “Shipwrecked on the Seas of 4. What role does food play in the tales of cap- Signifi cation: Cabeza de Vaca’s Relación and Chi- tivity by Cabeza de Vaca and MARY WHITE cano Literature.” In Reconstructing a Chicano/a ROWLANDSON? How do their diets refl ect their Literary Heritage, edited by María Herrera Sobek, cultural identities? 3–23. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1993. 5. Compare Cabeza de Vaca’s treatment of the Cabeza de Vaca, Álvar Núñez. The Narrative of Cabeza indigenous populations he encountered with de Vaca. Translated by Rolena Adorno and Patrick CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS’s. How are the two Charles Pautz. Lincoln and London: University of explorers different in their views of the role that Nebraska Press, 2003. the indigenous populations should play in rela- Favata, Martin A., and José B. Fernández, eds. The tion to the Spanish Crown? What larger views Account: Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca’s Relación. about politics, race, and or religion are central Houston: Arte Público Press, 1993. to the differences in their views? Gaylord, Mary. “Spain’s Renaissance Conquests and the Retroping of Identity.” Journal of Hispanic Philology 16 (1992): 125–136. Krieger, Alex D. We Came Naked and Barefoot: The FURTHER QUESTIONS Journey of Cabeza de Vaca across North America, ON CABEZA DE VACA edited by Margery H. Krieger. Austin: University AND HIS WORK of Texas Press, 2002. 1. Later in his life, Cabeza de Vaca not only Mignolo, Walter. “Cartas, crónicas y relaciones del espoused ideas, but instituted policies that radi- descubrimiento y la conquista.” In Historia dela cally departed from the conventional treatment Literatura Hispanoamericana: Epoca Colonial. Vol. Spanish conquistadors meted out to the peo- 1, Madrid: Catédra “Cartas, crónicas y relationes 70 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

del descubrimiento y la conquista” edited by Iñigo Southwestern Writers Collection: Alvar Nuñez Cabeza Madrigal. 1982, 681–694. de Vaca. Available online. URL: http://alkek. Morison, Samuel Eliot. The European Discovery of library.txstate.edu/swwc/cdv/. Accessed April 23, America. Vol. 2. New York: Oxford University 2009. Press, 1974. Wade, Mariah. “Go-between: The Roles of Native Rabin, Lisa. “Figures of Conversion and Subjectivity American Women and Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca in Colonial Literature.” Hispania 82, no. 1 (1999): in Southern Texas in the 16th Century.” Journal of 40–45. American Folklore 112, no. 445 (1999): 332–342. Samuel de Champlain (1570 –1635)

As for me, I labor always to prepare a way for those willing to follow.

(Champlain’s journal)

amuel de Champlain was born in Brouage, Guillaume Hellaine. Together, they made a tour of Sa small seaport in Saintoge, France, on the the West Indies that included the Lesser Antilles, Bay of Biscay sometime in 1570. His biographer Puerto Rico, and Cuba. The year was 1599, and Samuel Eliot Morison writes that Brouage was Champlain was 29 years old. His journey took him an important and bustling seaport at the time of as far inland as Mexico City, whose fertile soil he Champlain’s birth, as it was the center of the salt admired even as he expressed disdain for the Span- industry. Prior to refrigeration for meats and fi sh, iards’ cruel treatment of the indigenous population salt was widely used as a preservative so merchants (20). His biographer Morison attributes Cham- would fi nd their way to the city of Champlain’s plain’s humane treatment of the indigenous popu- birth in order to pickle their meats in brine. Not lations he encountered in New France to his early much is known about his parents except their exposure to the cruelty of colonialism. “No early names, which appear in Samuel de Champlain’s European explorer was anywhere near so success- own marriage contract. His father, Antoine de ful as Champlain in making friends of the natives, Complain, was a captain in the merchant marine, or so humane in protecting them” (20). From his and his mother was Marguerite Le Roy. series of West Indies voyages, Champlain returned Because his father was a seaman, Champlain home to France and began composition of a Brief received his education at sea. On the basis of a Discourse of the Most Remarkable Things Which letter that Champlain wrote later in life to Marie Samuel Champlain of Brouage Has Observed in the de Medici, queen regent of France, we know that West Indies during the Voyages He Made Thither in he must have spent much of his childhood fi shing the Year 1599 and the Year 1601, as Follows. In it, along the coast: “The art of navigation from child- Champlain provides sketches as well as labored, hood has stimulated me to expose almost all my life extensive descriptions of the various fl ora and fauna to the impetuous waves of the ocean, and has made he encounters in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Mexico. me navigate and coast along a part of the lands of He includes pictures and detailed descriptions of America, especially of New France” (reported in such exotic items as avocadoes, rattlesnakes, and Morison 17). The fi rst documented activity Cham- agave cactus. plain engaged in was a battle at Fort Crozat near “After having spoken of the trees, plants, and Brest against Spanish invaders in winter 1594. Four animals, I must give a short account of the Indians, years later, when the war ended, Champlain sailed their nature, manners, and belief” (37). He men- on the Saint-Julian, a ship commanded by his uncle, tions the ceremonies of the indigenous population,

71 72 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

“who are not under the domination of the Span- inhabitants of Mexico: “All these Indians are of a iards” and who “adore the moon as their Deity.” very melancholy humor, but have nonetheless very When he addresses those converted to Christianity, quick intelligence, and understanding in a short Champlain’s tone seems to shift rather dramatically time, whatever may be shown to them, and do not and he writes sympathetically: become irritated, whatever action or abuse may be done or said to them” (40). Champlain’s note of At the commencement of his conquests, he had sympathy, even admiration, will appear in his sub- established the Inquisition among them, and sequent voyages to North America, but they will made slaves of or caused them to die cruelly in not appear consistently. such great numbers, that the sole recital would When he returned to France in 1602, Champlain cause pity. This evil treatment was the reason presented the manuscript of his voyage to the West that the poor Indians, for very apprehension, Indies to King Henry IV; the following March, fl ed to the mountains in desperation, and as Champlain made his fi rst voyage to Canada at the many Spaniards as they caught they ate them; age of 33. The route, even the navigation routes and on that account the said Spaniards were taken once they arrived in North America, followed constrained to take away the Inquisition, and the voyages made previously by Jacques Cartier and allow them personal liberty, granting them a Jean-François de la Roque de Roberval in 1541. more mild and tolerable rule of life, to bring The areas along the St. Lawrence River near Que- them to the knowledge of God and the belief of bec had been founded as summer colonies, meaning the holy church; for if they had continued still that they were all but abandoned during the winter to chastise them according to the rigor of the months but fl ooded with fur traders and fi shermen said Inquisition, they would have caused them during the summer months. Champlain’s purpose all to die by fi re. (38) for this voyage in 1603 was to establish permanent colonies in Canada in exchange for monopolies on Champlain cites the horrors that both the Span- fur trade granted by King Henry IV. At the king’s iards and the native Mexicans are capable of per- request, Champlain joined the voyage commanded forming: cannibalism and auto-da-fé. Tellingly, he by François Pont-Gravé, under the auspices of does not seem to condemn the practice of consum- recording their expedition. He did so in his fi rst ing fellow human beings, a taboo in most societies, publication, Des Sauvages, ou, Voyage de Samuel but instead chastises the Spanish for the methods Champlain, de Broulage, fait en la France nouvelle, undertaken in the Inquisition for gaining religious l’an mil six cens troi. This 36-page document was converts. As a fellow Catholic, Champlain is not published in Paris near the end of 1603, and it averse to religious conversion; indeed, the quota- contained factual accounts of the waters, coastline, tion speaks to a desire to include the native pop- potential trade products, and customs of the native ulation in the dominion of the Catholic Church. populations. Aside from this rather dry recitation Rather, Champlain pointedly disapproves of the of facts, Champlain included one interesting bit of methods employed in the Inquisition. Further, he lore gathered from the Micmac tribe, the tale of accepts a priori the humanity of Mexico’s indig- Gougou: enous population by referring to personal liberty and even by expressing a desire for their “knowl- There is an island where a terrible monster resides, edge of God and the belief of the holy church.” which the savages call Gougou, and which they That he sees the natives as humans is striking when told me had the form of a woman, though very compared to the early colonial accounts along the frightful, and of such a size that they told me the eastern seaboard, or even of Spanish conquista- tops of the masts of our vessel would not reach dors like Hernán Cortés just two centuries prior. to his middle, so great do they picture him; and Champlain writes more feelingly of the native they say that he has often devoured and still con- Samuel de Champlain 73

tinues to devour many savages; these he puts, He dedicated the rest of his life to documenting when he can catch them, into a great pocket, and mapping his excursions into Canada and North and afterwards eats them; and those who had America, producing a series of detailed maps that escaped the jaws of this wretched creature said continue to amaze contemporary cartographers that its pocket was so great that it could have put for their accuracy. He was responsible for gaining our vessel into it. (165) alliances with the Huron, Algonquin, and Mon- tagnais, an agreement solidifi ed through trade and Champlain’s inclusion of this tale within a doc- mutual warfare waged against the Iroquois. His ument that is primarily factual bears further com- time in New France was punctuated by warfare not ment. Morison believes that Champlain might well only with the native population, but also within his have noted the dry nature of his book and wished own settlement. Champlain successfully thwarted to offer readers something enticing in the form of a mutiny caused by those who would sell their ter- native lore. The concept behind the Gougou is also ritory, and its rights to fur trading, to the highest quite interesting fi rst and foremost because the bidder, whether English or Spanish. The master- horrible creature is in the form of a female. mind behind the mutiny was strangled and decapi- tated and his head placed on a pike so that all could It is all the more interesting that Champlain see the consequences of such schemes. Champlain would include the tale of the Gougou since also faced constant battles in France against peo- he makes a concerted effort for veracity and ple vying for his monopoly, and members of the exactitude in his entries. He gives maps of the royal family who would not contribute the kind of shoreline which continue to amaze contempo- money, colonists, and Catholic missionaries needed rary cartographers for their accuracy and details to make New France a large, expansive territory given the rudimentary tools available to map- as Champlain envisioned it. Much of his time was makers in Champlain’s age. He offers detailed spent alone, or in the company of his native allies, descriptions of the waterways that he encoun- but this changed in late 1610. ters, and he even consults with local natives on On December 30, 1610, Champlain, then 40 numerous occasions to ascertain the locations years old, married Hélène Boullé, in Saint-Ger- of their settlements as well as the presence of main l’Auxerrois. She was the daughter of Nico- additional rivers and lakes. At one point in the las Boullé, secretary of the king’s chamber. What narrative, Champlain makes a crude map on the made the union unusual, however, was Hélène’s ground, drawn with sticks, to which the natives age. She was only 12 years old. “In consideration conversing with him add six pebbles signifying of the tender age” of the bride, Champlain signed the locations of their tribes. At another point a marriage contract containing a provision that the in the narrative, Champlain when he discovers groom would wait two years before consummating what he believes to be the Norumbegue River, the marriage. Just a few months later, on March 1, “It is related also that there is a large, thickly 1611, Champlain set sail for Tadoussac and Que- settled town of savages, who are adroit and bec once again. He left his child bride behind in skillful, and who have cotton yarn. I am con- l’Auxerrois, having hired a maidservant to tend fi dent that most of those who mention it have to Hélène and their new home. Morison reports, not seen it, and speak of it because they have “Of all his twenty-three voyages across the North heard persons say so, who knew no more about Atlantic, [the 1611 trip] was much the worst, and it than they themselves” (46). In contrast to the longest—over ten weeks” (124–125). They those who will simply relate untruths in their encountered both ice fl oes and icebergs. Once narratives, Champlain avows, “I will accord- they arrived, Pont-Gravé remained at Tadoussac to ingly relate truly what I explored and saw, from engage in fur trading while Champlain took the the beginning as far as I went” (46). pinnace to La Chine rapids, where he established 74 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers a new trading post and solicited native guides to to the pressure Champlain must have faced to claim assist in his exploration of the Ottawa River. He the region before it could be declared the terri- founded the site for Montreal, which would not tory of the ever-encroaching English. Indeed, he have year-round settlement until 1642. In terms planted a white cedar cross on the Lower Allumette of his plans for northwestern exploration, Cham- River to leave some sign of his presence and then plain received approval from the council of Huron, returned to France. He had realized that he would Algonquin, and Montagnais to continue establish- not achieve his goal of reaching Hudson Bay. ing fur trading posts in the Ottawa region during Just as before, his time in France was largely his next trip. Unlike his long and dangerous voyage spent in garnering support for his venture in New to Canada, Champlain had a rather quick return France. To that end, he wrote and published La trip to France. His return to his wife, however, was Quatrième voyage de sr. de Champlain in Paris signifi cantly delayed until late in 1611 because of in 1614. A new society, called La Compagnie de injuries sustained when a horse fell on him. Canada, was created in November 1613 to ensure After his convalescence, Champlain took the the continued success of Champlain’s efforts; mem- next 18 months to write and publish Les Voyages bers promised to pay de Condé a horse valued at du Sieur de Champlain Xaintongeois, capitaine 1,000 écus each year, and to fi nance Champlain. In ordinaire pour le roy en la marine. French colonizer exchange, they would enjoy an 11-year monopoly Pierre Dugua de Monts and Champlain were able on fur trade along the St. Lawrence River, and six to convince Henri de Bourbon, prince de Condé, families would settle there to establish a perma- to serve as the titular head of their Canadian enter- nent claim on the territory. Another tactic Cham- prise, serving as viceroy of New France. Although plain undertook to ensure France’s stronghold securing Condé to help promote their voyages was in the region was to return in 1615 with a group helpful, it also introduced new partners, merchants of Franciscan monks intent upon converting the who launched a rather scathing attack against native population. A third element of colonization Champlain. They called him nothing more than a was maintaining good relations with the Huron, painter and characterized his multiple journeys to Algonquin, and Montagnais through engaged New France as mere attempts to puff up his ego warfare against the Iroquois. When they reached and gain public notoriety. Despite their insults, Iroquois territory by Lake Oneida, their attack was Champlain sailed to New France again, this time not as successful as their previous one. Champlain as the deputy to the viceroy. Champlain’s anxieties was wounded in the knee and leg. The tribe they about the English appeared in the form of a tale of thought were going to assist them in their attack, a wrecked English ship and a young survivor who their new allies the Andaste, never appeared. had joined the natives. Champlain heard this tale Champlain spent the next four months recuper- from Nicolas de Vignau, a sailor whom Champlain ating from his injury among the Huron. He writes had exchanged with the Algonquin for a boy of the of their use of sweat lodges for medicinal purposes same tribe whom Champlain had baptized as Savi- and of the sexual promiscuity prior to marriage he gnon. Vignau’s story seemed plausible, especially witnessed among the younger population. It is quite since there had been stories about Henry Hudson, likely that Champlain focused on these particular who was in James Bay during the previous winter. aspects of Huron culture because, in his estima- When Champlain arrived at Muskrat Lake and met tion, the absence of civilization that these practices Chief Nibachis, he soon learned that Vignau had indicated necessitated the presence of additional never left their village during the previous winter missionaries. In the memoir he drew up and pre- and thus could never have reached Hudson Bay and sented to Louis XIII and to the Paris Chamber of seen John Hudson, the explorer’s son. That Cham- Commerce, Champlain warns against the English plain traveled so far on the word of Vignau speaks and Dutch efforts to colonize North America; he Samuel de Champlain 75 also reminds his readers of the labors he has dedi- taining supplies, was soundly defeated by Kirke, cated to the cause of New France over the past 16 Champlain and the other settlers faced certain years. He makes various promises about the wealth starvation. He had no alternative but to raise the to be gained in further exploration and specifi cally white fl ag and broker a surrender agreement that argues for the permanent settlement of at least 300 included the repatriation of all French settlers. The families and 15 friars. The court, however, was not peace treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye concluded interested in religious converts nor in permanent the war between England and France in March settlement. During his year and a half in France, 1632. Canada and Acadia were returned to France. Champlain penned and published his third book, In March of the following year, Champlain made Voyages et descouvertures faites en la nouvelle france his fi nal voyage to Canada. He returned to Quebec . . . accounting for his explorations in the interior and saw it once again as French territory; he had the as well as his military failure against the Iroquois at role of diplomat to play in order to run the English Onondaga. He missed the annual voyage to Canada out of Quebec. He restored the seigneurial system, in 1619 because he became embroiled in a dispute a feudal land settlement that allowed people to gain over his authority and position in New France after property in New France. In October 1635, he suf- de Condé sold his viceroyalty to his brother-in-law. fered a stroke from which he never recovered. He In spring 1620, Champlain sailed back to died on Christmas Day, December 25, in Quebec. Canada with his wife, Hélène, who would remain with him for four years in Quebec. Their return to France in 1624 was due in no small part to fur- ther disputes and questions over Champlain’s role The Voyages of and authority in New France. The new viceroy dis- Samuel de Champlain (1604–1635) solved the Campaigne de Canada and gave a fur Although he is known as the father of New France, trading monopoly to Guillaume de Caen. The Samuel de Champlain was fi rst to explore Plym- duke, however, confi rmed Champlain’s position as outh Bay and Boston Harbor, years before the lieutenant and increased his salary twofold. When settlements of the British. His biographer Samuel Montmorency sold the viceroyalty to his zealous Eliot Morison speculates “as to the course of his- nephew, Henri de Lévis, who was intent on secur- tory if the French had settled at the site of Boston ing Native converts, Champlain was issued a new and had received enough support from home to commission that gave him complete authority. He defend it against the English Puritans . . . a town sailed with the new viceregal edict back to Quebec on the Rivière de Gua (Charles River) would have in 1626 without Hélène. become the capital of New France extending from When France was at war with England, Cham- Cape Cod or Long Island to the North Pole” (63). plain experienced the confl ict in the very real terms Champlain did sail a pinnace into Boston Harbor, that he had feared and warned the French against: but he decided that it did not rival Penobscot, or seizure of French territory by the English. Cham- Annapolis Basin, Nova Scotia. plain fi rst heard of the presence of English ships on Champlain opens his book of voyages from 1604 Cape Tourmente from some native guides. Soon to 1607 with a wide lens—human motivations— enough, word arrived from David Kirke, who com- that narrows to the topics of colonization and trade mandeered an English fl eet off Quebec, that they routes, and then stretches across time to document had blockaded the St. Lawrence River to cut them various voyages undertaken in the hope of discover- off from any supplies or aid from France. After con- ing a northerly route to China: “The inclinations of sulting Pont-Gravé, Champlain decided to hold men differ according to their varied dispositions; and out: They would neither surrender nor engage in each one in his calling has his particular end in view. battle. When their only hope, a French fl eet con- Some aim at gain, some at glory, some at the public 76 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers weal” (21). He compares the desire for sovereigns to they comb and twist behind in various ways very amass “objects of beauty and rarity obtained from neatly, intertwined with feathers which they foreign nations.” For this reason, Champlain states, attach to the head. They paint their faces black “many princes have striven to fi nd a northerly route and red, like the other savages which we have to China, in order to facilitate commerce” (22). seen. They are an agile people, with well-formed His narrative then offers a brief history of nautical bodies. Their weapons are pikes, clubs, bows and endeavors to discover such a trade route, beginning arrows, at the end of which some attach the tail in 1496 with the king of England’s commissioning of a fi sh called the signoc, others bones, while the John Cabot and continuing with the works of Spain arrows of others are entirely of wood. (61–62) and France. Into this history, Champlain does not assert himself directly, but speaks instead of the ardu- Champlain has mentioned several other encoun- ous labors of Sieur de Monts to “attempt what had ters, but the only details given are the goods that been given up in despair” (24). Having convinced were exchanged, usually biscuits and knives for the king of the fertility of the soil, and of his own furs and other food. As Champlain himself states, conviction to establish a permanent settlement, Sieur they had encountered other “savages” who have de Monts set forth to found a new place in the inte- also painted their faces in this manner, but he has rior where it would be geographically advantageous never thought to include such a description in his to “plant the Christian faith and establish such order narration. as is necessary for the protection of a country” (25). His narrative of riverways, shoreline, and islands It is thus in the service of the king, Sieur de Monts, that he encounters is also interrupted during his and the spread of the Christian faith that Champlain fi rst winter when he mentions, in graphic detail, the sets forth his book of travels. Although he does not pains associated with scurvy, and its exacting toll directly establish himself as the inheritor of the fame on the settlers. Indeed, by Champlain’s count, 35 and glory attributed to ocean voyagers in the past, of 79 settlers succumbed over the brutal winter to by invoking them in his introductory statements, scurvy, caused by the absence of vitamin C. In the Champlain certainly does imagine himself within winter, it is diffi cult to obtain this vitamin, which this glorious history. is mostly found in citrus fruits. The Natives offer Throughout his travels, Champlain meets with Champlain and others the “plant called Aneda, members and sachems of various tribes along the which Jacques Cartier said was so powerful against eastern seaboard. Quite a few encounters follow the malady called scurvy. . . . The savages have no an almost formulaic trend: Either they meet with knowledge at all of this plant, and are not aware the chiefs and exchange goods, or else Champlain of its existence, although the above-mentioned sav- and his men see smoke or other telltale signs that ages has the same name” (60). The quotation is a the natives had recently been in a particular spot bit diffi cult to understand, but it seems as though but had deserted it in advance of the French. It is Champlain is stating that the Oneida (perhaps the perhaps in compensation for the absence of a more name Aneda) are named after this very plant (what profi table or hoped-for exchange that Champlain he identifi es as the white pine, but others call the offers readers a more detailed description of the eastern white cedar) but are unaware of its medici- natives. When Champlain and his men discover nal properties. How Champlain could know that that “they had nothing but their robes to give in they were unaware of its properties in curing scurvy exchange, for they preserve only such furs as they is rather uncertain. need for their garments,” Champlain launches into In terms of how the Natives fare during the win- his fi rst full description of the Almouchiquois: ter months on the island of St. Croix, Champlain tells of equal amounts of suffering and endurance These savages shave off the hair far up on the that parallel those of the French, but without the head, and wear what remains very long, which added misery of scurvy. While the French subsist on Samuel de Champlain 77 salted meat and vegetables and drink “bad water” all become rich and that they did not want to go as well as melted snow, the Natives “hunt elks and back to France” (134). Champlain, together with other animals, on which they live most of the time” Pont-Gravé, decides to put the head of the con- (54, 55). Champlain almost seems to marvel at the spiracy, Jean Duval, to death. In a rather matter- abilities of the Natives, especially the women and of-fact manner, Champlain relates the grisly details children, who wear snow shoes and follow the men of Duval’s death: “who was strangled and hung as they track animals. Once they have made a kill, at Quebec, and his head was put on the end of a “the women and children come up, erect a hut, and pike, to be set up in the most conspicuous place on they give themselves to feasting” (55). During the our fort” (136). The other three main conspirators winter months, Champlain writes, “they clothe were arrested, deposed, and returned to France themselves with good furs of beaver and elk. The under Pont-Gravé’s authority. women make all the garments, but not so exactly Throughout much of his voyages, Champlain but that you can see the fl esh under the arm-pits, expresses a wish for the natives to accompany him in because they have not ingenuity enough to fi t them further exploration. He asks for a party to help him better” (55). The language is worth comment explore whether there is a sea to the north because because Champlain seems at once to marvel at the “it is maintained that the English have gone in these ability of entire families, people of various ages, to latter years to fi nd a way to China” (129). The place endure a diffi cult climate. He even states that win- Champlain had heard of through tales of migratory ter lasts for six months, noting that although the tribes with whom they had traded furs is actually French have only survived one winter in this new Hudson Bay, discovered by Henry Hudson in 1610. environment, the natives have done so for lifetimes. Not until late in his voyages, after he has established Even so, however, Champlain fi nds fault with the good relationships with the native tribes, solidifi ed sewing techniques of the native women, who leave through trade and military alliances, is he given the skin under the armpits exposed because of permission by local chiefs to travel farther into the lack of “ingenuity.” The only item that Champlain interior of North America. Whenever he spies new documents with any degree of approval are the furs territory, Champlain offers meticulous descriptions themselves, described as “good.” of the waterways, exact locations of the new territory Because the winter was so extreme, Sieur de with respect to previous locations, detailed maps, Monts sought out a new settlement, which they and inventories of the local fl ora and fauna. named Port Royal. They quickly began work con- Champlain also spends a considerable amount of structing houses and felling trees so that they would his writings discussing the habits and culture of the have the majority of their buildings erected prior to Native tribes with whom he has become acquainted their return to France, where Sieur de Monts would through trade and exploration. Although Cham- petition for additional resources from the king. plain himself never learned any of the Native lan- Because Champlain wishes to explore Florida, he guages, he was always able to effect some level of remains behind, along with Pont-Gravé, whose ill- communication through signs and interpreters. ness they hope will be cured by a warmer climate Early on in his narratives, Champlain comments and a “change of air” (82). upon a subject that would become increasingly In winter 1603, Champlain was the subject of important to him and his endeavors in Canada: the a mutiny organized by Antoine Natel, a locksmith conversion of North America’s native population. who survived a previous attack on the coast of Mas- He notes how the natives encamped near them sachusetts. Champlain learns of the plan from his engage in fi shing and hunting, fi rst of eel and then pilot, Captain Testu, to whom Natel confesses. He of beaver, in preparation for winter. In contemplat- writes, “Nothing had impelled them except that ing the hardships they endure, Champlain states, they had imagined that, by giving up the place into “I am of the opinion that if one were to show them the hands of the Basques or Spaniards, they might how to live, and teach them the cultivation of the 78 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers soil and other things, they would learn very aptly” that the devil makes the Pilotois’s cabin shake or (141). Champlain continues by specifying “other makes fi re erupt from its top, Champlain blithely things,” to mean not only agriculture, but also con- responds, “I could see [to] the contrary” that the version to Catholicism. He describes the natives as man inside the cabin “took one of the supports people who “observe no law at all” and are “full of of the cabin, and made it move in this manner” superstition” (141). Champlain attributes their law- (159). He continues in a remonstrative tone, “these lessness to their ignorance of worship and prayer to rogues counterfeit also their voice, so that it is God. As proof of his claim that they live “like brute heavy and clear, and speak in a language unknown beasts,” he includes his observations about sooth- to the other savages.” “I often remonstrated with sayers and marriage rites “such as they are.” Sand- the people, telling them that all they ought not to wiched between these two descriptions intended put confi dence in them” (160). These soothsayers, to mark the absence of civilized living is an odd however, exercise such control over the members comment about skin adornment in women: “The of the tribe that they take their military orders women, also, are well-formed, plump, and of a swar- for engaging in battle from the “charlatans” and thy color, in consequence of certain pigments with “scapegraces.” Despite Champlain’s brief diatribe which they rub themselves, and which give them a against the superstitious beliefs of the Algonquin, permanent olive color” (142). This single sentence he participates in them. Several nights pass dream- speaks volumes. It addresses Champlain’s claim less for Champlain, and yet the natives never fail that natives can change if they are “shown how to to inquire of him whether he has dreamed of the live” by imagining one of the physical markers of Iroquois, their enemy. One night, however, Cham- difference, skin color, to be artifi cial and thus easily plain reports that he has indeed dreamed of the reversed. Further, as a prefatory note to a descrip- Iroquois. In his dream, the Iroquois were drown- tion of marriage rites, particularly to the perceived ing in a lake near a mountain, and when he asked promiscuity of native women, this sentence about his allies whether they should all save their ene- dyed skin imagines native women as possible wives mies, the reply was to let them drown because they to French colonists. As can the skin dyes, Native are of no importance. The next morning, when marriage and courtship rituals can be undone, or the Algonquin ask Champlain whether he has had reversed. Indeed, the prospect of proper Catholic a dream, he relates it and reveals, “it gave them marriages would preserve the virginity and sanctity so much confi dence that they did not doubt any of Native women, improving their current position: longer that good was to happen to them” (168). “When a girl is fourteen or fi fteen years old, and Champlain seems to take on some of the vision- has several suitors, she may keep company with all ary qualities associated with the soothsayer he has she likes. At the end of fi ve or six years, she takes the most recently criticized. Indeed, Champlain seems one that pleases her for her husband, and they live to compensate early on for the lack of visionary together to the end of their lives” (142). Although dreams, writing, “Yet I did not cease to encourage Champlain does not expressly project how conver- them, and inspire in them hope” (162). sion will change marriage rites or the sexual activi- Likewise, Champlain rouses loud cries from ties of women before wedlock, it can be inferred the Algonquin when they initially engage in battle that readers would know how Catholicism would with the Iroquois. The men create a passageway dictate social behavior in these realms. for Champlain, who advances 20 paces in front of Regarding the position of soothsayers, Cham- the rest of the army, with only 30 paces separat- plain offers a very interesting account that directly ing him from the Iroquois. Aiming his musket, he includes him. After having observed the shaman discharges a shot that fells all three Iroquois chiefs, and the tales surrounding him, Champlain peels killing two of them immediately. Just as his dream back the curtain to reveal the truth behind the aroused confi dence in the Algonquin, so too does Pilotois, as they are called. When the people report his prowess with his musket. The Iroquois, under- Samuel de Champlain 79 standably, are also affected by this display. Cham- does he justify his multiple trips to what would plain reports that they were “greatly astonished” at become Canada? the sudden death of two of their chiefs. The addi- tional report of another musket is enough to send them retreating into the woods, where the Algon- quin, Huron, and Montagnais follow in order to FURTHER QUESTIONS ON capture prisoners. Champlain concludes this tale of CHAMPLAIN AND HIS WORK military victory by naming the lake near the battle: 1. As the only representative of French coloniza- “The spot where this attack took place is in latitude tion in North America, Champlain writes of his 43 and some minutes, and the lake was called Lake country’s aims for its fl edgling colony. How does Champlain” (166–167). the colonial enterprise from France differ from Later, in 1623, Champlain would broker peace that of Spain, represented by CHRISTOPHER with the Iroquois, but his ability to create alliances COLUMBUS or Cabeza de Vaca, or England, rep- with the Huron and other tribes is of most impor- resented by early settlers like JOHN WINTHROP tance. Because Champlain lived, traded, and fought and Smith? alongside the natives before the arrival of the Eng- 2. Champlain’s narrative of his multiple voyages to lish, he established a precedent for native and Canada and North America paint him as both a European relations. His actions dictated how the military leader and a religious crusader. How, if neighboring tribes would deal with JOHN SMITH at all, are these two roles reconciled? and other early English settlers. Further, the state- ments he makes about native customs, beliefs, and WORKS CITED AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES rituals have provided ethnographers and historians Calloway, Colin G. New Worlds for All: Indians, Euro- with invaluable information. peans, and the Remaking of Early America. Balti- Much of the rest of his voyages address his more: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997. annual trips from France to Canada and back. Each Champlain, Samuel de. Champlain Explores America, return to France is marked by a constant search for 1603–1616. Translated by Annie Nettleton Bourne, additional funding and resources that he believes edited by Edward Gaylord Bourne. Dartmouth, are necessary for the preservation and future of Canada: Brook House Press, 2000. New France. His narratives are published in order ———. Narrative of a Voyage to the West Indies and to arouse support and interest in the region, as Mexico in the Years 1599–1602. Edited by Alice well as to continue to ensure his own position and Welmere. London: Hakluyt Society, 1859. authority. Litalien, Raymonde, Käthe Roth, and Denis Vaugeois. Champlain: The Birth of French America. Montréal: For Discussion or Writing McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2004. 1. Compare Champlain’s express desires for Marchand, Philip. Ghost Empire: How the French Almost the conversion of Huron and other tribes to Conquered North America. Westport, Conn.: Prae- Catholicism with ÁLVAR NÚÑEZ CABEZA DE ger, 2007. VACA’s views on Christianizing the native peo- Morison, Samuel Eliot. Samuel de Champlain: Father ples he encounters in Florida and Texas. How of New France. Boston: Little, Brown, 1972. do the two explorers imagine religion’s role in Samuel de Champlain. Available online. URL: http:// colonization? www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1142.html. Accessed 2. Champlain faced considerable criticism at home April 23, 2009. concerning his motivations for sailing annually Sayre, Gordon. Les Sauvages Américains: Representa- to North America. Locate passages in his Voy- tions of Native Americans in French and English ages in which he seems to be directly or indi- Colonial Literature. Chapel Hill: University of rectly responding to such accusations. How North Carolina Press, 1997. Christopher Columbus (ca. 1451–1506)

Thus the eternal God, Our Lord, grants to all those who walk in his way victory over appar- ent impossibilities, and this voyage was pre-eminently a victory of this kind.

(letter to Luis de Santángel)

I am ruined, as I have said; till now I have wept for others. May Heaven now have pity on me and earth weep for me. Weep for me whoever has charity, truth and justice!

(letter to Ferdinand and Isabel)

hristoforo Colombo, as he would have been write” (Wilford x). Everything about his life, from Ccalled in his native Genoese dialect, was his origins to his motives in crossing the Atlantic to above all else a man of destiny. His fervent belief in his death, has been debated. Precious few questions what historians have referred to as a “supernatural have been defi nitively answered. On this alone sense of mission” led to his discovery of a New there seems to be consensus among historians. World for Europeans, an event that would have One of the greatest controversies surrounding immeasurable consequences on both sides of the Christopher Columbus concerns his nationality. Atlantic for centuries (Cohen 20). Historians have Though it was accepted during his lifetime that lauded Columbus’s courage and skill as a mariner he was Italian, as his historical importance became just as they have derided his ability to govern the more apparent, a series of articles and books Spanish settlements in the Caribbean. Many hold appeared over the years attempting to demonstrate him responsible for initiating the slave trade in the that his origin was French, Spanish, Catalan, Por- Western Hemisphere while others praise his tenac- tuguese, Greek, or English. These claims reached ity in realizing his dream. their apogee during the 400th anniversary of A serious analysis of his life, however, must take Columbus’s fi rst transatlantic voyage (Phillips and into account the vast amount of information that Phillips 6). While Columbus himself claimed Ital- is not known as well as the embellishments, mis- ian as his native tongue, he wrote in Castilian and conceptions, propaganda, and legends surround- often mixed in Portuguese and Catalan words. But ing the few confi rmed facts. In his quintessential as J. M. Cohen notes, this was not uncommon for work on Columbus, Admiral of the Ocean Sea: A men who spent most of their time at sea (20). Life of Christopher Columbus, Samuel Eliot Mori- Columbus himself played a principal role in cre- son highlights the fact that an “authentic portrait” ating confusion regarding his origins, rarely writing of Columbus does not exist (xviii). Columbus him- about them or his family. The biographers William self was notoriously secretive and “could be vague, and Carla Phillips suggest that this is probably due to contradictory, and self-serving in what he did the fact that his humble background did not match

80 Christopher Columbus 81 his fi erce ambition for wealth and status during a could” (Heers in Phillips and Phillips 92). His son time when rising from modest beginnings to great Hernando’s claims in his greatly embellished The affl uence and position was not necessarily appreciated Life of the Admiral by His Son, Hernando Colón (87). Another factor that may have led Columbus to that his father attended the University of Pavia play down his family origins was that in the volatile are unfounded. Hernando’s declarations probably political situation of 15th-century Genoa, Colum- exaggerate the elementary education Columbus bus’s family was linked with an anti-Spanish faction, may have received from a school for the children which would not have boded well with his patron, of Genoese clothiers’ guild members (Phillips and the Spanish Crown (Phillips and Phillips 90). In any Phillips 91). There is little doubt that the religious case, “every verifi able historical document clearly instruction Columbus received was Roman Catho- indicates that Columbus was born in the indepen- lic. The fact that his father and grandfather were dent Italian republic of Genoa, in the late summer or landowners and engaged in politics—privileges early fall of 1451” (Phillips and Phillips 85). limited to people of the Catholic faith—supports Columbus’s father, Domenico Colombo, worked this idea (Phillips and Phillips 91). as a wool weaver and was also a resourceful busi- In any case, Columbus took to the sea as a sailor nessman, having spent time as a tavern keeper and in from a young age, initially on short trading voyages buying and selling land. Domenico married Colum- from the Genoese coast. He later traveled as far as bus’s mother, Susanna Fontarossa, the daughter of a the island of Chios in the Aegean Sea and would weaver, around 1445. Columbus had three younger know the Mediterranean well and reach Atlantic brothers—Bartolomelo (better known as Barto- waters by his early twenties. Columbus eventually lomé or Bartholomew), Giovanni-Pellegrino, and arrived in Portugal in the mid-1470s amid circum- Giancomo (better known as Diego or James)—and stances that have never been fully clarifi ed, though a younger sister, Bianchineta. Despite his reticence Hernando’s account has him miraculously surviv- regarding his background, family ties were extremely ing a naval battle off the coast of Lisbon, clinging important to Columbus. The signifi cance of family to an oar after his ship had been sunk. Regardless to Columbus is evident when we consider that two of how he arrived, Columbus would live in Por- of his brothers, Diego and Bartolomé, would later tugal for a decade, earning a living from maritime accompany him to Spain and on several of his voy- and commercial activities. Here he became inte- ages across the Atlantic. Bartolomé was Columbus’s grated in the lively mercantile culture of Portugal most ardent supporter and advocated his cause in and Spain, made important personal contacts, and Portugal, England, and France. Columbus would began to speak and write the Portuguese and Cas- thank him later by bestowing on him important tilian languages. titles to the land he had discovered after his fi rst voy- While in Portugal in the late 1470s, Columbus age. The critic J. M. Cohen emphasizes the strength married Felipa Perestrello e Moniz, a woman of of fraternal bonds by stating that throughout his life, noble Italian descent with connections to the Por- Columbus “confi ded in no one except his brothers” tuguese court and its possessions in the Atlantic. (19). The marriage would produce a son, Diego, who Columbus is thought to have tried his hand at would later fi nd work under the Catholic sover- several professions, including as a wool worker, a eigns of Spain. By way of this marriage, Colum- mariner, a merchant, and a bookseller. This shift bus gained possession not only of some degree in careers was not at all uncommon in late 15th- of wealth, but more importantly of the maps and century Genoa, where “no one occupied a narrow- papers of his late father-in-law, a seaman, which ly-defi ned profession” and conditions led many, contained pertinent information about the seas including members of Columbus’s own family, and winds surrounding Portuguese territories in to use “their labor and capital for whatever they the Atlantic. These newfound connections, along 82 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers with the experience and knowledge he now had for the Spanish port of Palos de la Frontera with with regard to commanding a ship and engaging his son Diego. In Spain, Columbus met numerous in commerce, laid the groundwork for his idea to infl uential people who helped him form his ideas sail westward toward India and Asia and open up a and eventually gain an audience with the Catholic direct trade route to the West. sovereigns. He did not go at his enterprise alone, Wilford suggests that “in arriving at his grand as the romantic accounts of his son Hernando and scheme, he had not come into possession of a singular Washington Irving suggest. His infl uential backers idea that had eluded others” (74). Columbus did not, included important fi gures from all sectors of soci- in fact, originate the idea that the world is round, as ety. Among them were Fray Antonio de Marchena; common lore suggests, though he knew the world Enrique de Gúzman, duke of Medina-Sidonia; Luis was a sphere, as did many others of his era. Through de la Cerda, count of Medinaceli; Alonso de Quin- books new and old, now readily available as a result tanilla, the court treasurer; and Juan de Pérez, a of new typesetting techniques, Columbus had access former confessor to the queen. to a variety of scholarly opinions about the makeup of After his initial inconclusive audience with the the known world and its inhabitants. Cohen suggests Catholic sovereigns, Columbus befriended Diego that Columbus’s idea that his intended destination de Arana and eventually fell in love with his cousin, would be “lands fl owing with gold and spices and Beatriz Enríquez de Arana, who, though she was an eager to be awakened to the true faith” arose from orphaned peasant, had been adopted by a relatively his readings of Marco Polo and Sir John Mandeville well-off family, which would offer some fi nancial (13). Columbus read, or at least consulted, Ptolemy assistance to Columbus. Columbus had a son, Fer- and Marinus of Tyre for geographical measurements dinand (better known as Hernando), with her, but of the world and the works of Aristotle and Seneca they never married, perhaps because her social status about the possibility of sailing west. In the opinion would be unsuitable for a man of his fi erce ambition. of John Wilford, however, Columbus read not to And after his fi rst successful voyage, “it would have learn, but rather “to gain support for what he already been unthinkable for an admiral to take a wife who thought to be true” (66). He was therefore consult- could not be presented at court” (Wilford 89). ing these documents and others in order to confi rm During the period following his fi rst audience and document his plan rather than to conceive it. with the Catholic sovereigns, Columbus’s brother Historians agree that while inventing his “grand Bartholomew worked on his behalf, appealing once scheme” and pertinent supporting evidence, Colum- again to John II of Portugal and later pleading his bus made massive miscalculations about the circum- brother’s case in England and France. Though these ference of the world. These miscalculations led to the attempts were ultimately unsuccessful, through his rejection of his plan by the royal experts of the court infl uential friends in Spain, Columbus was granted of John II of Portugal in late 1483 or early 1484 and another appearance before the monarchs. His plan played a role in his plan’s being initially rejected in was submitted to review once again and ultimately Spain in 1486. These early critics were in fact cor- rejected, though this time the reason appeared to rect regarding Columbus’s errors in calculation of be Columbus’s excessive demands and conditions, the distance from Europe to Asia, but Columbus which stunned the court. Amazingly, Columbus persisted stubbornly, if not blindly, in defense of his never relented on these terms. A last-minute inter- ideas. It is rather ironic, as Wilford suggests, that vention with Queen Isabella on his behalf by her had he been correct in his calculations or listened to fi nancial secretary, Luis de Santángel, apparently led these learned men, he might never have attempted to a reversal of what had been yet another, apparently to put his grand scheme into practice (80). fi nal, rejection by the court. Columbus was able Full of ambition and unwilling to accept what to retain many of his conditions as laid out in the he had heard in Portugal, Columbus left Lisbon Capitulations of Santa Fé, the agreement that was Christopher Columbus 83

fi nally reached between the monarchs and Colum- Its descriptive passages are laden with cliché and bus, after months of hard bargaining, on April 17, hyperbole and are repetitive and stereotyped. In 1492. Columbus set sail from Palos de la Frontera considering this document, one must not forget on August 3, 1492, fi nding land on the morning of that Columbus was not even a native speaker of October 12, some 2,400 miles into the Atlantic. Spanish, which in fact was the third language he Columbus would make four voyages in all to learned, after his native Genoese vernacular and what he always maintained were the Indies. His- later, Portuguese. Columbus himself notes that he torians generally concur in attributing his allu- is incapable of doing justice in words to the marvels sion to having arrived in the Indies to what Cohen he observes upon landing in the New World, writ- describes as “his need to provide successes or ing that he hopes victories in order to get renewed backing for his explorations” (16–17). He would face many physi- some other may see this land and write about cal and mental hardships, chief among which was it. When he sees the extreme beauties of this returning to Spain from his third voyage in chains, coast he will then be able to prove himself more having been arrested by the overseer of the Indies fortunate than I in the use and choice of words appointed by the monarchs. What seemed to hurt with which to describe it. (Cohen 84) him most, however, was the loss of the rights set out in the terms of the Santa Fé agreement. He was Despite the fact that Columbus may have been denied the supposed amount of wealth he was to an “artless” narrator, Van Wyck Brooks notes in his receive and lost his powers over the new territories introduction to the Journal, “It has the charm of all because of his poor handling of the position of primitive narratives and it narrates one of the great colonial administrator and the Catholic sovereigns’ adventures of history, advantages that few books own designs on complete and undisputed power possess” (viii). Indeed, the journal’s lack of bril- over the territories. liantly written prose should not in any way dimin- Columbus died on May 20, 1506, in Valladolid, ish its importance. Columbus and his men would no more than 55 years old, “but much older in body go on to make contact with the native inhabitants and tormented mind” (Wilford 237). There has been of the Americas for the fi rst time since the Vikings wild speculation about his cause of death, attributed had done so some fi ve centuries before (Phillips to, among others, diabetes, syphilis, complications of and Phillips 155). In his introduction to his recent gout, and, most recently, Reiter’s syndrome. He was translation of the journal, B. W. Ife states that neither alone nor destitute as in legend, but was sur- Columbus’s diary of this fi rst voyage to America, rounded by his two sons and two companions from though incomplete and condensed in its surviving his last voyage, one of whom was his great friend form, “gives an unrivalled insight into the events of Diego de Méndez. He had battled until the bitter the voyage.” Ife notes that within its pages we have end for the wealth and titles due to him, but those Columbus’s fi rst impressions of the inhabitants and hopes all but died on November 26, 1504, along culture of what he mistakenly assumed to be Asia with Queen Isabella, who had always been the more and that the Journal has also played a critical role sympathetic of the monarchs toward his cause. “in the creation of many of the myths surround- ing the New World which have coloured its view of itself down to the present day” (iv). Ife underlines the fact that keeping a journal (1492) Journal of the First Voyage to America was not at all common during Columbus’s era and Columbus’s Journal is not the work of a gifted would not become necessary by law for the captains writer. It employs a fairly limited vocabulary of Spanish vessels until 1575 (v). A strong argument and occasionally obtuse syntactical structures. can be made to suggest that Columbus’s principal 84 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers motives for keeping the journal were “the need to 1554, it never appeared in print. This has led to be accountable and the need to communicate effec- speculation that Luis sold the Journal in order to tively with the powerful people back in Spain” (Ife fi nance his decadent lifestyle. In any case, Colum- xv). Ife emphasizes the tension between these two bus’s original Journal and its only confi rmed copy elements in the journal: have vanished (Ife vi). Were it not for the historian Bartolomé de Las At times one feels a strong sense of the writer Casas, the contents of Columbus’s Journal prob- looking over his shoulder, fending off criticism ably would have been lost forever. Las Casas, whose and justifying his actions and decisions. At oth- father and uncle had traveled alongside Columbus ers he is desperately trying to get the people on his fi rst voyage, made extensive use of Colum- who hold the keys to reward and recognition bus’s Journal in his epic Historia de las Indias. It to understand and re-live the problems he faces. is thought that he consulted a copy of the Jour- (xv) nal rather than the original as he noted “scribal errors and confusions” in his monumental book Ever ambitious to secure his legacy and acutely on the Indies (Ife vi). Apparently because he had aware of the historical signifi cance of his mission, limited access to the document, Las Casas created Columbus also may have seen the journal as a guar- an abstract of the Journal for his own use, para- antee he would be given his due credit in history. phrasing the majority of the text, but transcribing His preoccupation regarding his place in history Columbus’s own wording in especially noteworthy is evident in the measures he takes to secure this or interesting entries. Entire entries from when credit when his ship is rocked by a terrible storm on Columbus arrives in the New World, for example, the return voyage: are written in the fi rst person, where it is assumed Las Casas is using the admiral’s own words. In all, So that Their Highnesses would know how Our approximately 20 percent of the digest is written in Lord had given him in triumph everything he fi rst person (Ife x). desired from the Indies . . . if he were to perish There is considerable doubt among histori- in the storm, he took a piece of parchment and ans, however, about Las Casas’s working methods wrote on it everything he could about every- and whether or not a dedicated native apologist thing he had found, beseeching whomsoever could have accurately and impartially summarized [sic] might fi nd it to take it to the Monarchs. He Columbus’s work. Evidence suggests that Las wrapped the parchment tightly in a waxed cloth Casas’s version is far from perfect and “at best, two and called for a large wooden barrel and put it removes from the original” (Ife vi). Some of Las in the barrel without anyone knowing what it Casas’s own notations in the text refl ect his preoc- was . . . and then ordered it be thrown into the cupation with the accuracy of the text, noting “bad sea. (Ife 219) transcription of the text” or commenting, “if the text is to be believed” (Ife vii). Historians gener- Despite Columbus’s exhaustive efforts to docu- ally agree, however, that despite inevitable imper- ment his greatest triumph, his original journal dis- fections, “the use of quotations from the admiral appeared around the time of the death of the queen makes (the Journal) the prime authority for the Isabel in 1504. The queen had made a copy, which voyage itself” (Cohen 37). she gave to Columbus before his second voyage in One of the many curiosities of the Journal illus- 1493. The copy was inherited by his son Diego after trates potential problems regarding the summariz- Columbus’s death in 1506 and was passed on to ing of Columbus’s words. According to Las Casas’s Diego’s son Luis in 1526. Though Luis apparently digest of the Journal, Columbus had a tendency gained permission to have the Journal published in to make two sets of calculations in his log book Christopher Columbus 85 about the distance the expedition had traveled. It expert navigator, simply misunderstood this por- seems that Columbus knew one of the calculations tion of the diary. This theory holds that Colum- was true, yet he repeatedly gave his crew the other, bus would have fi rst calculated the distance using supposedly incorrect, calculation. This oddity fi rst a method he learned as a young mariner and then appears in Columbus’s entry for September 10, four found the equivalent in terms his crew would have days after the three ships had parted from Gomera understood, much as present-day travelers fi rst cal- of the Canary Islands. Las Casas writes: “That day culate a distance in miles or kilometers, beginning and night he went sixty leagues at ten miles (2 ½ with the system they are more familiar with, before leagues) an hour. But he reckoned only forty-eight converting the distance into the measurement of leagues so as not to alarm the crew” (Cohen 41). the other system. Though this is an interesting the- According to Las Casas’s summary, Columbus ory to explain one of the greatest mysteries of the consistently reckons less than what he knows to be Journal, Phillips and Phillips concede, “We cannot the correct distance. It is apparent that Las Casas know for sure until and unless the original version feels this practice is intended to prevent discontent of the diary is found” (147–148). among his men, who were worried about traveling On August 3, 1492, Columbus and his men too far out to sea: set sail from Palos de la Frontera in the south of Spain toward the Canary Islands. The expedition That night they went seventeen leagues south- consisted of three well-equipped ships, the fl agship west, a total of twenty-one. The Admiral, Santa María, with Columbus as captain, and two according to his custom, told the men they had somewhat smaller caravels, the Pinta, captained by gone thirteen leagues, for he was still afraid Martín Alonso Pinzón, and the Niña, captained by they would consider the voyage too long. Thus Pinzón’s brother, Vicente Yáñez Pinzón. Choosing throughout the voyage he kept two reckonings, to cross the Atlantic from the Canary Islands “was one false and the other true. (Cohen 46–47) either his greatest stroke of luck or the proof of his genius as a mariner” as the islands are considered Las Casas later notes that the admiral always to this day to be a perfect starting point for trans- kept the “true calculation” to himself (Cohen 48). atlantic sailing (Phillips and Phillips 145). While Columbus’s decision to keep two reckonings could some historians argue that the genius of Columbus very well be due to what many historians have was at work in selecting the Canaries, others point referred to as his obsessive secrecy, almost to the to the fact that he may have left from the Canaries point of paranoia. It was also true that the unrest simply because they were under Spanish control, and near mutiny that later occurred on the fi rst while other possible starting points, such as the voyage were largely due to the crew’s fears that they Madeiras or the Azores, were Portuguese posses- would not reach land or be able to sail back to the sions. Arguing in favor of his nautical knowledge, Spanish mainland. Phillips and Phillips note that he was familiar with Phillips and Phillips, on the other hand, feel that the winds and currents of the eastern Atlantic and what they refer to as “the false log theory” is illogi- had heard of frustrated expeditions that left from cal. They note that Columbus would have had to the Azores and had to return because of strong deceive numerous experienced navigators, includ- headwinds (146). Columbus also believed that ing the men on his ship as well as the captains, Japan was due west of the Canary Islands. masters, and pilots of the other two ships. Colum- The expedition left from Gomera on September bus regularly compared notes with the pilots of the 6 and took just 33 days. Columbus’s account of the other two vessels, and there is no evidence that he voyage as summarized by Las Casas details “good had to convince them to accept his calculations. A weather, mainly calm seas and remarkably little dis- more likely scenario is that Las Casas, far from an sension” (Phillips and Phillips 148). Columbus’s log 86 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers book for the voyage is mainly fi lled with observa- the island matched their mental image of Asia as tions of birds, seaweed, and other signs that Colum- described by Marco Polo and Toscanelli” (157). bus felt meant they were approaching land. Columbus convinces himself, or perhaps wisely According to Las Casas’s digest of the logbook, chooses not to admit otherwise in his writing, that “a sailor named Rodrigo from Triana,” whom his- he has landed in the Orient. Despite apparent evi- torians have recognized as Juan Rodríguez Ber- dence to the contrary, recognizing that he had not mejo, fi rst sighted land on October 11 (Cohen 52; landed in Asia would have been admitting failure. Phillips and Phillips 153). He is careful to note, He instead chooses to acknowledge that he has not however, that “the Admiral had seen a light at yet found exactly what he is looking for, as he will ten in the evening on the poop deck, but it was so do throughout the Journal. Ife notes that this is a indistinct he would not swear it was land” (Ife 27). very effective strategy in terms of “keeping spirits Columbus had his sighting of the light confi rmed up, keeping the expedition going and giving it a by Pedro Gutiérrez, the royal steward. In his sum- sense of purpose” (xix). This objective is normally mary of the journal, Las Casas continues: gold, which always seems to be just out of reach, usually on the next island. It must be remembered After the Admiral had spoken, the light was that Columbus had promised his patron, the Cath- spotted a couple of times, and it was like a small olic sovereigns, that he would vastly increase their wax candle being raised and lowered, which wealth, for which reason the search for gold and struck very few people as being a sign of land, its apparent proximity appear so prominently in the but the Admiral was certain he was near land. Journal. For this reason, he also spent little time in (Ife 29) surveying the smaller islands he sighted: “As beau- tiful as they were, (they) had little gold or other Las Casas may have gone to lengths to give some trade goods that would be attractive to Europeans” credit to Columbus because Columbus would later (Phllips and Phillips 163). claim the prize offered by the sovereigns of an A primary feature of the Journal once Colum- annual payment of 10,000 maravedis as his own. bus and his men reach land is its use of what Ife Columbus also kept the silk jacket he had later describes as “repetitive and formulaic description” promised to give to the fi rst man who spotted land. (xi). Columbus’s descriptions of the sea and later Perhaps regretting his behavior down the line, he the land and climate he encounters frequently hear- assigned the annuity to Beatriz Enríquez de Arana, ken back to Spain, particularly Andalusia: his mistress and mother of his youngest son (Phil- lips and Phillips 153). (The trees) were green as Andalusia in the Columbus and his men reached the island the month of May. (Cohen 66) natives referred to as Guanahaní at around two o’clock on the morning of October 12. By fi nd- Here and throughout the island, the trees and ing land and claiming it for the Catholic sover- plants are as green as in Andalusia in April. eigns, Columbus had also fulfi lled the requisites (Cohen 70) for claiming the title he so desired: Admiral of the Ocean Sea. There were also holm oaks and strawberry trees The fi rst impressions of the land where Columbus and others like those of Castile. (Cohen 83) initially landed undoubtedly confused him as well as his men, as historians have suggested, “Where This repetition may result from a desire to make he expected to fi nd the sophisticated subjects of the this new world seem familiar—even predictable— Great Kahn and the bustling ports of the Orient, since Columbus was understandably struggling to he found naked innocents and little else” (Ife xix). describe a reality he could not understand. It was Phillips and Phillips concur that “nothing about especially important for him to make this new Christopher Columbus 87 world understandable to people of distinction in the idea that language is one of the principal barri- Castile. When seen in this light, using Castile as a ers to converting the otherwise compliant inhabit- reference point seems natural and practical. ants of the islands to Christianity. Columbus’s later departure from the familiar is According to Ife, Columbus’s affi nity to name also seen by Ife as strategic. Columbus repeatedly (rather than “rename”) the islands and other geo- states with each successive “discovery” of a new graphic landmarks with Christian names (though he island that “it is the most beautiful that I have seen knows the name the inhabitants have given them) up to now” (Cohen 83) or “the most beautiful that demonstrates that he had a deep understanding of eyes have ever seen” (Cohen 76), though he chides “the power of naming” as well (xiii). Ife calls this himself for having done so when he arrives at the “an attempt at linguistic and cultural colonisation harbor he names “Puerto Santo”: through language.” He also notes the irony that in “suppressing the Indian name” of the island on I was so astonished at the sight of so much which he made his fi rst landfall (the island Guana- beauty that I can fi nd no words to describe haní, which he renamed San Salvador), Columbus it. For in writing of other regions . . . I have effectively “erased the site of his greatest triumph” wrongly used the most exalted language I knew, (xxv). so that everyone has said that there could not Columbus’s entries on the whole are also overly possibly be another region even more beautiful. optimistic. Phillips and Phillips suggest “his will (Cohen 83–84) to succeed led him to color reality in the rosiest possible hues” (167). Whether in describing his Columbus, admittedly lacking the vocabulary to futile hunt for gold or the possibility of converting describe what he is seeing, describes “not so much the native population to Christianity, his journal what he saw, as the sense of wonder with which he entries constantly hearken back to his promises to saw it” (Ife xxi). His hyperbole can be understood the Catholic sovereigns. His early entries regarding as tactical, for although “beautiful views cannot be the natives describe them as perfect prospects for turned into cash. . . , where there are such wonder- conversion to Christianity, “in part because they ful things, who can doubt that there are many more had no bad habits to overcome” (166). According things of value yet to be discovered?” (Ife xxi). to Ife, it was not easy for Columbus to present “the In considering his limited written expression, best of the reality which presented itself to him” one must also keep in mind the fact that Spanish was in relation to the native inhabitants of the islands not his native tongue. According to Ife, however, (xxii). Unlike the extravagantly dressed Indians of one should not underestimate Columbus’s linguis- the tales of Marco Polo, these Indians were “naked tic prowess, for he “was not naïve where language as their mothers bore them” (Cohen 55). was concerned,” but rather understood “the power Columbus does his best, however, describing of language to constitute reality” (xii). Ife backs up his meeting with a local chieftain on the island this claim by citing Columbus’s numerous allusions he named Española (Hispaniola) as if it were an to the diffi culty of communicating with the native elaborate ceremony among men of high status in inhabitants of the island and the importance he a sophisticated society, involving the exchange of attached to this linguistic roadblock. Phillips and gifts and pleasantries. Columbus even goes as far Phillips note that Columbus was well aware that as to invent a speech the young king supposedly “language was the key to cultural understanding made praising the king and queen of Spain. He and the only sure route to conversion” and “The obviously could not have made such a speech, or problem of language loomed large among Colum- at least Columbus could not have known he made bus’s preoccupations” (166, 169). Columbus writes such a speech, since Columbus himself notes they of plans to take some natives back to Castile, where had great diffi culty understanding one another they will be taught the language, and emphasizes (Phillips and Phillips 172). Ife sees in Columbus’s 88 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers description of an “awesome, well-mannered, softly- in the Island of Bohio” (Cohen 82). Phillips and spoken and above all generous Indian a not too dis- Phillips note that the main reason Pinzón indeed tant refl ection of the Great Kahn himself” (xxiii). may have left Columbus was to trade for gold, since It should be noted that among the many docu- “Columbus had prohibited any trading outside his ments Columbus took along with him on the voy- auspices” (168). Columbus’s principal worry regard- age were letters to the “princes” of the Indies from ing Pinzón’s departure was probably that he might the Catholic sovereigns. return to Spain without Columbus and his men and Throughout the diary, he also exaggerates the “seize the glory for the discoveries” (169). With this potential fi nancial gains of the islands, speaking in mind, after his abandonment by Pinzón, Colum- often of the “very great quantity” of gold to be bus seems “anxious to cover himself,” taking great found. When he does not fi nd the great gold fi elds care in his entries to note his “thoroughness” in all he expected to fi nd or even the pearl fi elds that had that he does. This attention to detail “would make been described to him by the natives, he turns to up for any lack of speed” in the case that his fears of other potentially useful commodities of the islands, Pinzón’s arriving fi rst in Spain should be warranted such as timber, cotton, and aloe. Phillips and Phil- (Phillips and Phillips 169). lips point out that in his actions throughout the Soon after Pinzón’s departure, Phillips and Phil- fi rst voyage, Columbus “followed Portuguese prec- lips detect a change of tone in the diary as Colum- edents, contacting local inhabitants and their lead- bus realizes that “European enterprise, and not ers, trying to gain their confi dence and learn the trade alone, would be necessary to produce wealth locations of trading centers” (158). from the islands” (168–169). The observations and He soon has the realization, however, that he comments he would make from then on follow has not found the hub of Asian trade he was seek- accordingly. Columbus had begun to consider the ing. His frustration is increasingly evident, as when idea of settling the island in order to establish trade he describes the natives as “people poor in every- in Europe with the products found on the island. thing” (Phillips and Phillips 159). It is interesting Christian missionaries would also have an easy task to note, however, that it is precisely when this real- in converting the locals to Christianity once they ization sets in that Columbus’s descriptions of the had learned their language. physical settings he encounters become progres- Though Columbus never gives up hope of fi nd- sively more elaborate and hyperbolic and he often ing gold, his designs on making profi t from the directly addresses the Catholic sovereigns: island eventually turn to colonizing it. On Decem- ber 16, he lays out what he feels would be an ade- This country, Most Serene Highness, is so quate policy for colonizing the land, borrowing enchantingly beautiful that it surpasses all oth- heavily once again from the Portuguese model in ers in charm and beauty as much as the light of Africa (Phillips and Phillips 171). As previously day surpasses the night. (Cohen 83) mentioned, Columbus sought to take a number of “Indians” with him on his return trip to Castile Once again, he is probably interested in alleviat- to teach them the language so that he could take ing his disappointment while also drawing atten- interpreters back with him on his next expedition. tion away from it for his audience in Spain. Phillips and Phillips suggest that although Colum- On November 21, en route from Cuba to Hispan- bus never explicitly says as much, “the captured iola, the Pinta became separated from the other two islanders would also serve as proof of his reaching a ships. Las Casas, speaking for Columbus, claims that distant land with exotic peoples” (162). the captain of the Pinta, Martín Alonso Pinzón, had In any case, his designs on colonizing the islands left Columbus “deliberately,” for he was “impelled and making use of their inhabitants are clear. Ife by greed” after hearing from some Indians he held notes that Columbus’s entries offer clear foreshad- captive aboard his ship that “there was much gold owing of what was to come: Christopher Columbus 89

Columbus anticipates in the Journal many of trip home, it is also now a reality that some of the the forms of exploitation of both human and crew will have to stay on the island of Española. natural resources which will lead in a very short It is possible that Columbus has their protection time to the total destruction of a whole way of in mind when he shows off the power of their life in the Caribbean. (xxii) European weapons in a demonstration before the natives, fi ring a shot from a small cannon into the Though praising their humanity and other Santa María, leaving the king “both horrifi ed and qualities at certain points in the Journal, he at amazed” (Cohen 94–95). Phillips and Phillips note other times describes the islanders as if they were that in his journal entries, he seems to be trying to simply another commodity for the Crown, say- convince the Catholic sovereigns and himself that ing they “should be good servants” (Cohen 56). a profi t could still be made and that the settlers According to Ife, Columbus saw the islanders as would be safe (174). Columbus also orders his men “nothing, a tabula rasa on which the Catholic faith to start building a fort. Columbus would leave 39 and European civilisation had still to be inscribed” men behind on Española, naming the settlement (xxv). Columbus repeatedly mentions their lack there La Navidad, or “Christmas,” in commemo- of weapons and knowledge of warfare and claims ration of the sinking of his fl agship on Christmas that “with fi fty men we could subjugate them all Day. and make them do whatever we wish” (Cohen 59). With only one ship left and fearing that Pin- As always, Columbus appears to be scrambling for zón might reach Spain fi rst and reap the awards he something “to justify the faith the sovereigns had deserved, Columbus was ready to depart for Spain. shown in him” (Phillips and Phillips 167). What- On January 4, he began sailing along the northern ever his motives may have been, history has not coast of Española, where he is sure Cipango (Japan) pardoned him, assigning him what Phillips and is located, where “there is much gold and spices Phillips call “the dubious distinction of being the and mastic and rhubarb” (179). Not two days later, fi rst European slaver in the Western Hemisphere” he found the Pinta and Pinzón. It what must have (162). been an awkward meeting, Columbus manages not Phillips and Phillips point out that the sinking to let his anger show in order to prevent risking the of the fl agship, the Santa María, on Christmas voyage home: Day, “the moment of greatest drama in the trip,” was reported “laconically in the diary,” undoubt- Martín Alonso Pinzón came to the caravel edly to diminish the impact of what was clearly Niña where the Admiral was and made his a devastating loss for the expedition (172). Las excuses, saying that he had become separated Casas’s summary shows that Columbus also was from him against his will, giving reasons; but clearly eager to “defl ect blame from himself” in the the Admiral says that they were untrue and that matter (Phillips and Phillips 174). For the devoutly he had acted out of great pride and greed on religious—or opportunistic—Columbus, the ship- the night that he had gone off and left him. . . . wreck had been God’s will. The Admiral decided to turn a blind eye, so as Despite the circumstances—his fl agship has not to give Satan a chance to do his evil deeds been sunk and he has been abandoned by Pin- by hindering the voyage as he had done up till zón—his next journal entry is especially optimis- then. (Ife 181) tic. He describes the inhabitants of the island and their king, who were of great help to Columbus Despite what he may have felt about Pinzón, his and his men after the sinking of the Santa María, insinuations about gold on the island led to some in an extremely favorable manner and once again further exploration along the east coast of Espa- expresses optimism about their conversion to ñola, where they encountered hostile islanders Christianity. Left only with the Niña to make the for the fi rst time. Las Casas notes that Columbus 90 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers thought he had fi nally encountered the infamous Columbus and his men amazingly escaped the Carib, “a daring people for they roam these islands storm and sighted what Columbus was sure was the eating anyone they can capture” (Ife 193). Colum- Azores. Once the men reached one of the islands, bus does seem to have seen the battle they engaged Las Casas’s summary of Columbus’s entry takes on in with the warlike islanders as a bad turn of events, an oddly self-congratulating and defi ant tone: particularly with regard to the effect winning the battle may have had on the safety of the men he The Admiral says that his course had been very had left behind at Navidad. The entry of Decem- accurate and that he had plotted it well, thanks ber 13 describes Columbus’s attitude about the be to God. . . . And he says that he pretended confrontation: to have sailed further to mislead the pilots and sailors who were plotting the course so that he When the Admiral learned what had happened would remain master of that route to the Indies, he said that in one sense he was sorry but in as he in fact remains, because none of the oth- another not; because they will fear the Christians, ers was certain of the course and none can be because without doubt (he says) those people are, sure of his route to the Indies. (Ife 223) he says, evildoers. (Ife 195) Phillips and Phillips note this passage “may After a brief attempt to sail toward the supposed be yet another incidence of Las Casas’s failure to island of the Carib, Columbus caught favorable understand nautical matters” (178). winds to return directly home. Considering his Though Columbus and his men were initially options, he decided to set sail for Spain. The return well received on the island, the following day the trip was wracked by bad weather, unfavorable wind men he had sent to the island were arrested by its conditions, and shortages of provisions. Phillips captain. Columbus claimed he was the admiral of and Phillips note that though he was familiar with the Ocean Sea under the authority of the Spanish the easterly patterns before he left Spain, “he found monarchs and that he would send word to the sov- the westerlies only by trial and error” (176). When ereigns of the outrageous treatment he and his men a horrible storm hit on February 14, Pinzón and the were receiving, to which the captain replied that Pinta once again became separated from the Niña. in Portuguese territory, papers from the Spanish The storm was so terrible, the admiral resorted to monarchs meant nothing. The standoff that ensued divine intervention, ordering several pilgrimages be lasted some three days until the captain fi nally made. It was during this terrifying storm that the agreed to release Columbus’s men after examining fear of death and of leaving his two sons orphaned his papers. led Columbus to “reveal a bit more of himself in Phillips and Phillips note that while he was the diary as he had done before” (177). His fear beset by bad weather during this period, “Colum- of failure, however, probably overcame even that of bus drew on religious speculation to explain the death, for “if he died and Martín Alonso Pinzón real world.” For Columbus, the temperate weather survived and reached Spain, Pinzón would steal conditions of the part of the Indies the expedition the glory for the discoveries” (177). It was this fear had arrived at explained why theologians and phi- that led Columbus to write a letter on parchment losophers had long situated the terrestrial paradise to the Catholic sovereigns, attach it to a wooden there. Columbus seemingly had no problem weav- barrel, and throw it into the sea in the hope that ing together the prophesies of the Bible with what it would be found should the ship sink. He also he directly observed. Phillips and Phillips conclude reprimands himself in the entry for having lacked on the matter that “despite his long experience as faith during the ordeal, considering all that God a merchant and mariner, his religious mysticism had allowed him to accomplish up to that point of would often lead him to see what his religious the expedition. beliefs prepared him to see” (179). Christopher Columbus 91

The Journal notes that the expedition continued formal exclamation of discovery.” According to to be rocked by storms once it left Santa María and Columbus, the letter, dated February 15, 1493, that Columbus appealed to God through promises was written “in the caravel off the Canary Islands,” of pilgrimages to carry the ship through to land. though in his Journal, Columbus writes that he He would eventually land and anchor at the harbor was off Santa Maria in the Azores (Cohen 123). of Restelo near the Portuguese capital, and shortly Upon arriving in Portugal, Columbus immediately thereafter he was received by the Portuguese king, dispatched the letter to Santángel, though he also John II, who offered him numerous favors. The sent copies to others in the court, fearing that a king apparently had designs on Columbus’s dis- single letter might not reach its destination. Cou- coveries, which he felt could have been his, based riers arranged through friends from Columbus’s on treaties he had signed with Castile. For his part youth in Lisbon delivered the letter some 700 miles Columbus was rather reluctant to meet with the overland to Barcelona (Wilford 18). king, who had initially rejected him. He did so “to The letter is largely a summary of what appears avoid suspicion,” as he notes in the Journal (Ife in Columbus’s Journal of the fi rst voyage and 237). maintains the same optimistic and, at times, exag- On March 13, 1493, the Niña left for Andalu- gerated tone. Phillips and Phillips note that in his sia. In his last entry on March 15, Columbus once letter to Santángel, Columbus “emphasized and again pays his respects to the Divine Majesty who exaggerated the positive features, minimized or has allowed him such great and miraculous suc- omitted the negative features and exuded energy cess on his voyage despite the doubters of the royal and optimism” (186). There were of course many court, “all of whom were against me saying this embellishments and errors, chief among them undertaking was a jest” (241). God had allowed the Columbus’s claims of having gold mines, which admiral to accomplish his mission and silence his amount to a boldfaced lie. detractors, at least for the time being. Columbus was acutely aware of the impor- tance of making it sound as though his discover- For Discussion or Writing ies were going to generate a great deal of profi t. 1. Compare and contrast Columbus’s descriptions As was his custom, Columbus carefully selects evi- of his encounters with native inhabitants of the dence to serve his purpose. With this in mind, he Caribbean with those of ÁLVAR NÚÑEZ CABEZA extols the innumerable virtues of the islands: the DE VACA in North America. How are they simi- plethora of birds and fruits, the fertile soil, the lar? In what ways do they differ? What do you existence of mines and rivers containing gold, and think accounts for these differences? the multitude of native inhabitants. The hyperbole 2. Describe some of the apparent contradictions in rampant in Columbus’s Journal is also prevalent Columbus’s description of the native inhabitants here. The island of Hispaniola “has many fi ne har- of the island in his Journal. Why do you think bors fi ner than any I know in Christian lands . . . these contradictions appear in the Journal? and mountains incomparably fi ner than Tenerife” 3. In what ways does the Journal foreshadow what (Cohen 116). The island of Hispaniola is, simply was to happen in the Americas? Cite specifi c put, a “wonder” (Cohen 117). On the other hand, examples from the text. Columbus’s characteristic use of familiar metaphor also appears, as when he mentions the trees are “as green and lovely as they are in Spain” (Cohen 116). (1493) Letter to Luis de Santángel The picture he paints of the islands is one of “new Columbus’s letter to Luis de Santángel, the man lands of boundless wealth and numerous people apt who had played such an important role in con- for Christian conversion” (Phillips and Phillips 186). vincing Isabella to fi nance the expedition, was “a Despite countless references to the possibility of their 92 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers conversion, Columbus clearly sees the native inhab- the natives and the land he encounters are charac- itants as a profi table commodity as well. They are teristically extravagant, for, as always, he is eager to described as naked and docile people without knowl- maintain the interest of his audience, the Catholic edge of weapons, who are likely to convert willingly sovereigns. Finally, he intertwines religious mysti- to Christianity, though Columbus had heard of cism and scientifi c theories, this time in order to the existence of warlike Indians and cannibals who create his own theory about the shape of the Earth would have to be conquered. He hopes that the for- and the location of the earthly paradise. mer may be protected against enslavement and that An expedition of six ships left Sanlúcar de Bar- the latter will be conquered and enslaved for profi t rameda, near Cádiz, on May 30, 1498. On this (Phillips and Phillips 183). voyage, Columbus and his crew would fi rst land Columbus is also quick to remind his sponsors at Trinidad before reaching what is today Venezu- that he has recognized and honored them in the ela. Columbus had been ordered by the Catholic naming of the islands. Ever devout, in naming his sovereigns to take a group of colonists along with discoveries in a “descending hierarchical order,” supplies to the island of Hispaniola, though he Columbus puts his “divine sponsors” before the apparently had his own agenda as well, mainly to royal family (Phillips and Phillips 183). carry out further exploration (Symcox and Sullivan 24). For Discussion or Writing The third voyage as described in his narrative 1. Historians have noted echoes of the religious was by no means without its diffi culties. He claims and secular legends of his era in Columbus’s he “had hoped for some rest on this new voyage to description of the islands (Phillips and Phillips the Indies, but my distresses were doubled” (Cohen 183). How does Columbus reconcile the poten- 206). Columbus describes a harrowing beginning tial religious and secular benefi ts of the islands? to the voyage in which he fi rst had to avoid attack Cite examples from the text. from a French fl eet (France and Spain were now 2. How does Columbus’s description of the lands at war). At sea, he endured eight days of terrible and their inhabitants differ from those repre- heat in which, he writes, “I was afraid my ships and sented in JOHN SMITH’s writings? Can these dif- crew would be burnt” (Cohen 207). Columbus ferences be attributed to cultural and religious later details a horrendous eye infection, in which beliefs? If so, how? his eyes bled and caused him great pain. Throughout the narrative, Columbus addresses what he feels is unmerited criticism from Castile. He notes at the beginning of the narrative that his (1498) Narrative of the Third Voyage inabilit y to send back ships “laden with gold” imme- In his Historias de las Indias, Bartolomé de las diately had led to “abuse” and “disparagement” Casas titled Columbus’s emotional account of his from his critics in Castile (Cohen 206). Toward the third voyage “Narrative of the Third Voyage of end of the narrative, Columbus asks God “to for- Christopher Columbus to the Indies, in Which He give the persons who have libeled and do libel this Dispatched to the Sovereigns from the Island of noble enterprise” (Cohen 225). He then counters Hispaniola.” This narrative contains several key ele- the arguments of his critics, discussing the short ments that are prominent throughout Columbus’s amount of time that has passed, the unforeseen logbook and letters regarding his voyages, all of diffi culties that have arisen, the innovation of the which are related to what was at the time an urgent enterprise, and the precedent of success with the need to better his reputation and refute criticism in Portuguese colonization of Guinea. He concludes Spain. First, he speaks at length about the hardships his narrative by appealing once again directly to he has had to endure as well as the unfairness and the sovereigns, reminding them of the purpose cruelty of his detractors. Second, his descriptions of of the expedition, its accomplishments, and how Christopher Columbus 93 they have always supported him. Columbus seems of this point, which was the mountain of paradise. almost as if he is trying to convince himself that the He backed up his arguments with quotes from the monarchs are still on his side as he reminds them book of Genesis, concluding, “I am fi rmly con- that they had previously assuaged his fears: vinced that the Earthly paradise truly lies here, and I rely on the authorities and arguments I have Your Highnesses answered me with that mag- cited” (224). Symcox and Sullivan see in Colum- nanimity for which you are famous through- bus’s speculations “evidence that Columbus’s mys- out the world, telling me to take no account of tical religiosity deepened in his later years” and that these fears because it was your will to prosecute he “had convinced himself that his voyages were and maintain this enterprise, even if it should part of God’s plan to spread the Gospel to the produce nothing but rocks and stones. (Cohen ends of the Earth” (25), while Phillips and Phillips 226) feel they reveal “some of his more eccentric geo- graphical notions” (220). They also note that “to Columbus’s characteristic hyperbole, which he Columbus and his contemporaries, Holy Scripture had already employed in his letters regarding his was not just a religious text, but a valid source of other voyages as well as in his journal, can be found knowledge about the world” and that, as a result, throughout the narrative. Under heavy criticism “his blending of the Bible, Ptolemy, and his own back home regarding the lack of tangible results experience would not have seemed as odd to his and increasing costs of his enterprise, he seems intended audience as they seem to us” (221). almost desperate to justify the sovereigns’ contin- ued faith in him. With this in mind, it becomes For Discussion or Writing clear why Columbus, “ever optimistic,” paints a 1. Compare Columbus’s characterization of the picture of “rich and promising” lands (Symcox and native inhabitants in the narrative of the third Sullivan 25). Arriving at Trinidad, as his customs voyage to that of the Journal of his fi rst voyage. dictates, he begins by likening this unfamiliar ter- In what way are his descriptions similar? In what ritory to Castile, “fi ne cultivated land, as green ways are they different? How may the differ- and lovely as the orchards of Valencia in March” ences in the characterization of the natives have (Cohen 209). Again staying true to form, he goes served Columbus’s interests better at the time? from using familiar metaphors to claiming he has 2. It has been argued that Columbus’s religious come upon land more beautiful than anything he fervor increased over the course of his voyages. has seen before: “I found some of the most beauti- Compare the infl uence that Columbus’s Cathol- ful country in the world” (Cohen 212–213). The icism has upon his view of earthly paradise with native inhabitants receive similarly fl attering treat- Puritanism’s impact on the views of JOHN WIN- ment in the narrative. They are “all very well built, THROP and his idea of a “city upon a hill.” tall and with fi nely proportioned limbs . . . fairer than any others I have seen in the Indies,” as well as “quicker, more intelligent and less cowardly” (1503) (Cohen 214, 219). Letter to Ferdinand and Isabella A large portion of the narrative is dedicated In June 1503, during his fourth and fi nal trans- to Columbus’s theorizing about the shape of the atlantic voyage, Columbus was marooned on the world and the location of the earthly paradise, northern coast of Jamaica and suffering from which he “fervently believes” lies within the land he what may have been gout or Reiter’s syndrome. has discovered (Cohen 226). Columbus describes Columbus asked Diego Méndez, along with sev- the shape of the Earth as that of a pear in which eral natives, to make a 105-mile crossing in canoe the land and the sea slope gradually upward to a to Hispaniola to seek aid. He also entrusted his point. His ships were now sailing in the direction friend with a letter to the Catholic sovereigns 94 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers that “betrays the depths of the suffering admiral’s and Phillips see in this letter evidence that Colum- despair” (Wilford 239). The letter, known as Let- bus “had come to see himself as an instrument in tera Rarissima, was largely “rambling and incoher- God’s hands, as the Christ-bearer” (238). They ent, fi lled with the stories of religious visions and also note that this letter “would not inspire Ferdi- grandiose plans for the reconquest of Jerusalem” nand and Isabel to place its writer in charge of an (Phillips and Phillips 237). empire” (239). As he had numerous times before in his writing, Columbus bitterly protested the injustice of the crit- For Discussion or Writing icisms being leveled against him while pleading for 1. Columbus’s letter to the Catholic sovereigns the restoration of the honors and estates of which he during his fourth voyage clearly takes on a dif- had been stripped. Unfortunately for Columbus, the ferent tone than that of his letter to Luis de San- disturbed and rambling nature of the letter prob- tángel following his fi rst voyage. Cite examples ably achieved just the opposite (Phillips and Phillips from the text that illustrate this change with 239). In the letter, he despairs about his extreme regard to Columbus’s position with the Catho- state of poverty, claiming he has won “little profi t in lic sovereigns. twenty years of toilful and dangerous service” and 2. Some critics have viewed Cabeza de Vaca’s Rela- that he no longer has a place to live in Castile nor is cion as hagiography, or the telling of a saint’s able to afford a bed or a meal in an inn or a tavern life. In this letter, Columbus makes many more (Cohen 286–287). He is particularly fearful for his biblical references than he has prior, and seems “orphaned son,” Don Diego, whom he has left in to view himself and his duties in religious terms. Spain, and implores the sovereigns to “restore every- Compare the two texts and argue for the infl u- thing to him with increase” (Cohen 287). ence that their roles not as men but as religious One of the letter’s most commented-on features fi gures shapes the way in which they view the is an odd dream vision Columbus describes during colonial enterprise. How do they justify their an incident that occurred at Belén River. Columbus religious roles? Do these roles interfere with was stranded at sea without a ship’s boat and was their work for the Spanish Crown? helplessly observing his brother’s attempt to fend off a native attack on shore. Columbus notes that he had a high fever and was in a state of exhaustion and thought that all hope had been lost. At that FURTHER QUESTIONS ON point, a voice speaks to him, extolling his accom- COLUMBUS AND HIS WORK plishments, comparing him to the great heroes of 1. Compare the writings of Columbus that we the Bible, and encouraging him by assuring him have, both direct and reported by Las Casas, to that his old age will not prevent him from receiving the legends that abound about this most famous reward for his efforts. explorer. Write an essay in which you consider The omnipresent theme of possible gold fi elds points of intersection between fact and legend is also discussed at length in the letter. As always, with Columbus, and argue for which version of Columbus’s claims are exaggerated. On this occa- the explorer is more infl uential in America and sion, however, Columbus’s hunt for gold takes on why. divine implications. Citing biblical verses, Colum- 2. Because Columbus was seeking out a trade bus claims David left gold from the mines at Vera- route to China, his voyages to the Americas can gua, Panama, to Solomon in his will so that he be viewed as failures. How, then, did Colum- could build the Temple of Jerusalem. Columbus bus defi ne his own success? Trace Columbus’s clamors that the time has come to rebuild the tem- defi nition and examples of success in two of his ple and that he will play an integral role. Phillips works. Christopher Columbus 95

WORKS CITED AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Morison, Samuel Eliot. Admiral of the Ocean Sea: Brooks, Van Wyck, ed. Journal of First Voyage to A Life of Christopher Columbus. Boston: Little, America. New York: A & C. Boni, 1924. Brown, 1942. Cohen, J. M., ed. The Four Voyages of Christopher Phillips, William D., Jr., and Carla Rahn Phillips. The Columbus. London: Penguin Books, 1969. Worlds of Christopher Columbus. New York: Cam- Columbus Navigation Homepage. Available online. bridge University Press, 1992. URL: http://www.columbusnavigation.com/. Sale, Kirkpatrick. The Conquest of Paradise: Christopher Accessed April 23, 2009. Columbus and the Columbian Legacy. New York: Heers, Jacques. Christope Colomb. Paris: Hachette, Knopf, 1990. 1981. Symcox, Geoffrey, and Blair Sullivan. Christopher Ife, B. W., ed. Journal of the First Voyage. Warmister, Columbus and the Enterprise of the Indies: A Brief England: Aris & Phillips, 1990. History with Documents. New York: Palgrave Mac- Kadir, Djelal. Columbus and the Ends of the Earth: millan, 2005. Europe’s Prophetic Rhetoric as Conquering Ideol- Traboulay, David M. Columbus and Las Casas: The Con- ogy. Berkeley: University of California Press, quest and Christianization of America, 1492–1566. 1992. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1994. Koning, Hans. Columbus: His Enterprise: Explod- Wilford, John Noble. The Mysterious History of Colum- ing the Myth. New York: Monthly Review Press, bus. New York: Knopf, 1991. 1991. Matthew Zealand James Fenimore Cooper (1789–1851)

Few men exhibit greater diversity, or, if we may so express it, greater antithesis of char- acter than the native warrior of North America. In war, he is daring, boastful, cunning, ruthless, self-denying, and self-devoted; in peace, just, generous, hospitable, revengeful, superstitious, modest, and commonly chaste.

(The Last of the Mohicans)

ames Fenimore Cooper was born into two wealthy would appear time and again as the backdrop for Jfamilies: His mother, Elizabeth Fenimore, was an his fiction. heiress, and his father, William Cooper, succeeded in In December 1809, Cooper’s father “was struck land speculation after the Revolutionary War. Some from behind by a political opponent .Â.Â. and died as of the land, the 40,000 acres known as the Croghan a result of the blow” (16). Copper received a signif- Patent, would become central to Cooper’s identity icant inheritance from his father: $50,000 and an and his writing. The family mansion, named Otsego interest in the father’s estate estimated at $750,000 Hall for the lake adjoining the land grant, would (16). Cooper was only 19 years old. Soon after his become the model for Judge Marmaduke Temple’s father’s death, James married Susan Delancey, the estate in The Pioneers. granddaughter of the former governor of New York From all accounts of his family members and (16). In marrying into such a wealthy and pow- his instructors, Cooper was “extravagantly fond of erful family, Cooper was following in his father’s reading novels and amusing tales” (Long 15). His footsteps. For a time, the couple lived at Angevine precociousness—he matriculated at the age of 13 at Farm, where Cooper fulfilled the role of a “gentle- Yale—was tempered by his desire to be outdoors, man farmer” (17). The two had five daughters, but engaged in physical sport, or else playing a practical only four survived to adulthood. Their first daugh- joke on fellow students or professors. Because of his ter, Elizabeth, died two years after her birth. propensity for pranks and literature above all other The events that led up to his literary career range subjects, Cooper was expelled from Yale in his from the tragic to the comic. Despite Cooper’s sig- junior year. His subsequent year at sea as “a com- nificant inheritance, the economic depression after mon sailor-before-the-mast” was, in the opinion of the War of 1812 and the careless speculations of his his biographer Robert Emmet Long, “one of the four elder brothers depleted the family estate to the most formative experiences of his life” (15). After extent that the family home, Otsego Hall, was sold his marriage, James acceded to his wife’s request (18). Thus, Cooper was economically motivated to that he forgo a life at sea. His fondness for sea life fulfill the boast his daughter Sarah recorded after appeared, however, in some of his fiction and is her father read a contemporary English novel. As seen by critics as a precursor to Herman Melville’s Sarah recounts in her “Small Family Memories,” nautical novels such as Moby-Dick. It is certainly Cooper, disgusted by the lack of quality in the true that the wilderness of his childhood surround- English novel, declared that he could write a bet- ings significantly shaped Cooper’s imagination and ter novel himself (reported in Long 18). His first

96 James Fenimore Cooper 97 novel, Precaution, appeared in November 1820 and a vehicle for his nervous energies and returned was followed shortly by the next, The Spy (18). The to the page, publishing a satire of America, The family moved from their farm in Scarsdale to New Monikins, in 1835. The following year, he repur- York City in order for Cooper to be closer to editors chased his family home of Otsego Hall and became and others in the publishing world, and to ensure embroiled in a controversy over the public use of that his daughters receive a proper education. This his lands, Three Mile Point (25). The public outcry second work garnered Cooper international atten- was substantial, and Whig editors who were already tion as The Spy was translated into numerous lan- unhappy with Cooper because of ideas expressed in guages, and thus was available to a multilingual his pamphlet attacked him and his novels in their readership (19). newspapers (25). The public controversy seems to Because of the success of The Spy, readers eagerly have spurred Cooper to a heightened degree of lit- awaited the arrival of his third novel, The Pioneers, erary productivity as he published an astonishing which appeared in print in 1823. The Pioneers was 20 works in the 1840s, two of them the “dark” the fi rst in the Leatherstocking Tales series, which contributions to the Leatherstocking series. included The Last of the Mohicans, The Prairie, The Cooper’s chronic liver illness was responsible for Deerslayer, and The Pathfi nder. Cooper’s early fame his rapid decline, beginning when he turned 60. was solidifi ed by the publication of The Last of the “He wrote until he could no longer hold a pen, and Mohicans, and because of its popularity, he took then dictated chapters [for a history book called his family on a grand tour of the Continent, which The Towns of Manhattan] to his daughter Susan” kept him away from North America for seven years (28). He died at his family home on September 14, (20). Critic Robert Emmet Long suggests that one 1851, just hours shy of his 62d birthday. His wife of the reasons for the family’s long stint in Europe died a few months later, and their daughter Susan, was economic: Cooper wanted “to make the for- who never married, was buried with Cooper’s jour- eign publication of his works yield more signifi cant nal when she died in the 1880s (28). income. In the absence of international copyright laws, his novels had been pirated freely; but Cooper now planned and while in Europe secured arrange- (1823) ments to have the books published in authorized The Pioneers editions” (20). While in Paris, Cooper met and Published in 1823, The Pioneers inaugurated the befriended Sir Walter Scott and Samuel F. B. Morse Leatherstocking Tales series and introduced read- (who invented the telegraph). He wrote and pub- ers to the hero, Natty Bumppo, a frontiersman lished The Prairie, The Red Rover, The Wept of whose symbiotic relationship with the wilderness, Wish-ton-Wish, The Bravo, The Heidenmauer, and thinly disguised from Cooper’s own childhood, is The Headsman during his seven-year stay abroad. set in marked contrast to the rapacious plunder of Upon his return to the United States in 1833, recent settlers to the area, embodied by the fi gure Cooper fell into a deep despair over the vast of Judge Marmaduke Temple. As the famed fron- changes that he witnessed in the land of his birth. tier critic Richard Slotkin argues in his reading of The country’s rapid growth and its obsession with The Pioneers, the novel has two central plotlines material wealth were disheartening to Cooper. His that address separate, but at times intertwining, response took the form of a pamphlet entitled “A confl icts. The fi rst plotline follows the romantic Letter to His Countrymen,” in which he critiqued convention of a novel of manners that Cooper the nation’s isolationism, defended the policies inherited from his reading of the novels of Sir of President Andrew Jackson, and announced his Walter Scott. In Scott’s novels, national confl icts retirement as a novelist (Long 24–25). It is fortu- such as the Revolutionary War are resolved on the nate that his retirement was short lived, as he needed level of the family; in this case, the marriage plot of 98 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

Oliver Effi ngham and Elizabeth Temple reconciles on the history of his tribe and the existence of the the two families’ differences fomented by the Revo- Six Nations, who “amalgamated” in the face of dire lution. The second confl ict, expressed in a separate adversity brought on by “the Europeans, or, to plotline, involves the clash of what Slotkin terms use a more signifi cant term, the Christians” (70). different “modes of perception” and “mythologies Cooper places the weight of this cultural legacy between Indians and Europeans” (486). Although onto the sturdy but old fi gure of Indian John, as Judge Temple participates in both plotlines, they he is known to the settlers after his conversion to are distinct and separated in the novel. Slotkin Christianity. His very description of Chingach- suggests that Cooper’s reliance on two separate gook fi gures him as the fi nal survivor: “But war, cultural mythologies accounts for the separa- time, disease, and want had conspired to thin their tion in plotlines. The tale of families reconciling number; and the sole representative of this once through the marriage of their children adheres renowned family now stood” (72). This notion to European mythology expressed by Scott; the of a “sole representative” is pervasive in Cooper’s manner in which both cultures view the land stems fi ctional accounts of American Indians and culmi- from indigenous cultures that Cooper, ironically, nates in one of the Leatherstocking Tales series’ gleaned from a European historian, John Gottlieb titles, The Last of the Mohicans. Cooper balances Ernestus Heckewelder (Slotkin 485). his apocalyptic treatment of American Indians, as The novel opens on a cold Christmas Eve as the embodied in the character of Indian John, with widowed Judge Temple returns to the family manor his similar sense of the fi rst generation of settlers, with his daughter, Elizabeth, who has been away personifi ed by Indian John’s faithful companion, for four years while attending school. The family’s Natty Bumppo. somewhat pastoral journey home is disturbed by the Natty Bumppo, who takes on the name Hawk- sound of hunting dogs and the judge’s own rifl e, eye when aligned with Chingachgook against the which he aims at a buck bounding frantically across overcivilized settlers such as Judge Temple, is “an their path. Although the judge is in relative prox- old man on the verge of decrepitude, the represen- imity to the buck, his numerous shots do not fell tative of an admirable but vanishing breed of man, the hunted deer, who leaps into the air in its fi nal the Indian-like hunters of the fi rst frontier” (Slot- death move from a well-aimed bullet shot from the kin 484). In the fi gure of Natty, Cooper invests the novel’s hero, Natty Bumppo. As the old hunter and philosophy of symbiosis between humans and the the judge debate who is responsible for the buck’s wilderness: “Hawkeye’s law ordains, not the con- fatal shot, it is revealed that the judge’s aim was version of the land, but the adjustment of man to so bad that he wounded Natty’s young compan- the land; not the breaking of the forest to man’s ion, a hunter who remains nameless until the judge will, but the submission of human will to the laws demands his name and he falsely identifi es himself inherent in nature” (Slotkin 488–489). Thus, Nat- as Oliver Edwards (80). A physically awkward and ty’s confl ict with Judge Temple over the hunting not terribly educated “doctor” named Dr. Elna- law that prohibits the killing of any deer during an than Todd is called to attend to this young hunter, artifi cially established period has broader implica- who the reader later discovers is none other than tions as a debate between natural law and human, Oliver Effi ngham, the son of the judge’s former or civil, law. business partner. The true physician responsible for The climax of the tension embodied by Judge young Oliver’s recovery from the judge’s bullet is Temple and Natty Bumppo involves Natty’s suc- Indian John, companion to Natty Bumppo and a cessful and ritualistic hunt of a deer during the sad and broken version of his former warrior self, season in which the judge has banned all hunting. Chingachgook. The critic Robert Long writes, “Ironically, Natty is When Cooper introduces readers to the fi gure prosecuted for killing a deer by the very men whose of Chingachgook, he expounds for several pages response to nature and its wildlife has been plun- James Fenimore Cooper 99 dering and rapacious” (40). Prior to the conviction deer during Judge Temple’s imposed off-season. and incarceration of Natty, the old hunter stands Although Long recognizes “the hunting rites of an in shock as he witnesses the wholesale carnage by earlier time” echoed in Natty’s slaying of the deer, pioneers against a sky fi lled with passenger pigeons. it is Slotkin who uncovers the actual myth, and its The men in the village all shoot indiscriminately possible source for Cooper, in the study published into the air, and two men fi re off a cannon, greatly by Heckewelder on American Indian culture, his- increasing the ratio of dead pigeons to fi red ammu- tory, and mythology. In Heckewelder’s account of nition. As the historians Robert Hine and John Delaware creation myth, the people “lived under Faragher attest in their study of the novel, “Coo- a lake until one of their hunters discovered a hole per’s depiction of the war waged upon the passen- through which he saw a deer. He hunted the deer, ger pigeon . . . was no fi ction. . . . A local newspaper killed and ate it, tasted in its fl esh the sweetness of editor vouched for the accuracy of Cooper’s depic- earth and the goodness of the goddess of nature, tion of the pigeon shoot” (435). The slaughter of and brought his tribe out to people the earth” pigeons is not the only scene in the novel in which (reported in Slotkin 490). Viewed from this van- the pioneers’ plunder of the land is juxtaposed to tage point, Natty’s action participates in the ritual Natty’s and Indian John’s ritualized, almost sacred, of creation. Slitting the deer’s throat in the lake hunting of wildlife. paradoxically invokes life at the same time its sig- During a debate over Judge Temple’s newly nals death. The natural law by which Natty and imposed ban on hunting deer, Cooper likens the Chingachgook abide would view their ritual as law confl ict over law and order in the village to the law abiding, but the civil law that Judge Temple gov- and form of government being debated in France erns and is governed by only sees the hunt as ille- during their revolution. The judge fears the Jacobins gal and grounds for a 30-day jail sentence. What (147) and quickly follows his characterization of appears to be a triumph of civil over natural law, them as “bloodthirsty” with a justifi cation of the with the incarceration of Natty Bumppo, turns recent laws passed by the country that he believes instead into another occasion in which the need to are “much required” (147). Taken in the context balance these two systems of belief becomes readily of a discussion about the French Revolution, Nat- apparent. Natty replies to the judge’s sentence in ty’s response, “I think one old law is worth two the following manner: “You may make your laws, new ones,” ironically paints the hunter as a loyalist Judge, but who will you fi nd to watch the moun- (148). Natty’s point, however, refers instead to the tains through the long summer days, or the lakes “old law” obeyed by American Indians for the last at night? Game is game, and he who fi nds may kill; “forty years”: “Game is game, and he who fi nds that has been the law in these mountains . . . and I may kill” (148). This “old law” is fl exible to account think one old law is worth two new ones.” for the hunter’s circumstances, excusing the death Natty breaks out of jail just as fi re begins ravag- of a doe and fawn when the hunter’s “moccasins ing the wilderness. Not surprisingly, Jotham Rid- are getting old, or his leggings ragged” (148). The del, the same character responsible for goading philosophy of hunting presented by Natty Bumppo Natty to hunt out of season by cutting the thong is selective, respectful, and motivated by necessity. restraining Natty’s hunting dog, is also to blame It is the pioneers like Richard Jones who aim can- for igniting the fi re while he was searching for a nons into the sky to slaughter pigeons who appear nonexistent silver mine. The fi re threatens the lives “bloodthirsty.” Cooper clearly indicates that the of Elizabeth, Oliver Edwards, Chingachgook, and two codes of conduct regulating the behavior of Natty himself. Had Natty not escaped from cus- Anglo Europeans and American Indians are radi- tody, the judge’s own daughter might not have cally different and incompatible. survived the engulfi ng fl ames. Although Natty’s This difference across cultural lines imbues the rescue of the two lovers demonstrates the preemi- reading and misreading of Natty’s hunt for the nence of natural law, the death of Indian John and 100 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers the self-exile of Natty both testify poignantly to cans in this book to that of his other Leath- the inevitable demise of the “old law.” erstocking Tales. Is there a consistent pattern? Richard Slotkin interprets the death of Chin- If so, what is it? If not, how does the dynamic gachgook as following “archetypal myth: when change? the king of the woods becomes impotent through 3. How does Cooper’s view of the connection age or disease, his land suffers with him. Only if between humans and nature compare to the the king surrenders his blood to the soil in sac- poetry of WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT such as rifi ce and passes his power to a successor can the “Thanatopsis”? homeopathic relationship between the people and their land be profi tably maintained” (491). Thus, Chingachgook’s death takes on symbolic portent as (1824) he is fi rst emasculated when the powder horn he The Pilot is carrying explodes between his legs. This leaves Published in January 1824, The Pilot was Coo- him as an impotent leader, incapable of extending per’s fourth novel and his fi rst attempt at writing his bloodline into the next generation. Cooper’s about the sea. Readers should recall that Cooper description of the dying chief “looking into the reluctantly resigned his position in the navy at the womb of futurity” bears out Slotkin’s assessment behest of his wife and would continue for nearly of the link between the forest fi re and the fatally 20 years to write both fi ctional and nonfi ctional wounded Delaware. His death is refl ected in the accounts of sea life, and the nation’s need for an forest damage suffered from the fi re; the aftermath expanded navy (Nelson 129). It became a “conspic- of this fi re is a promise of rebirth, but such a prom- uously popular success and initiated a long series of ise has been foreclosed for Chingachgook, and thus Cooper’s sea novels” (Long 19–20). In his preface for other American Indians by extrapolation. “It to the novel, Cooper identifi es a conversation with serves as symbolic confi rmation of the termination his publisher, Charles Wilkes, over Scott’s The of Chingachgook’s kingly powers and the passing Pirate, which Wilkes praised and Cooper critiqued, of the power of the soil to a new and better lord, arguing that it would not appeal to nautical read- Oliver Edwards/Effi ngham” (Slotkin 492). When ers more experienced with life at sea. As Cooper he replies with an indigenous death song to the states, this conversation provided the germ for his minister’s request for his last confession, Chingach- fi rst sea novel, whose plot he had sketched out that gook expels the version of himself as “Indian John” very evening (46). The novel’s realism, or historical and closes off the circle of his life to return to a accuracy, not only applied to its genre, but also to time before the white men arrived, to a time before its portrayal of the historical fi gure John Paul Jones he himself was converted to Christianity. All that is (thinly disguised as Mr. Gray) as its protagonist. left by the novel’s conclusion are the fi gures repre- Long notes that no biography existed at the time senting civil law. Chingachgook’s death has paved of Cooper’s novel and suggests that he might have the way for their lives, for their future. been “infl uenced by dark rumors and legends and quite probably by the libels in Nathaniel Fanning’s For Discussion or Writing Narrative of the Adventures of an American Navy 1. In the clash between the two sets of laws, natu- Offi cer” (46). ral and civil, Cooper also presents his readers Regarding the realistic portrayal of life at sea, with two different myths, native and Christian. critics credit the assessment of Cooper’s old mess- Explore the connection between natural law mate, Commander William Shubrick, with estab- and Delaware myth as well as the link between lishing a pattern for celebrating the novel’s accurate civil law and Christian mythology. depiction of ship life. His only critique leveled at 2. Compare Cooper’s treatment of the relationship Cooper is reported to have been rather small and between American Indians and Anglo Ameri- minute: “It’s all very well, but you let your jib stand James Fenimore Cooper 101 too long, my fi ne fellow!” (reported in Anderson crisis, and of the asexual sidekick, a role fulfi lled 389). The critic Charles Anderson, however, uncov- by Coffi n, who exists outside the romance plots ered a dissenting opinion of Cooper’s authenticity sweeping through the novel. from “an audience of ordinary seamen on board The critic James Schramer views the main con- the frigate United States during a cruise in 1823– fl ict of the novel as revolving around the tension 1828” (390). Nathaniel Ames, who was aboard the between public deeds and private desires, which are ship, recalls how his shipmates reacted to a read- best embodied in the fi gure of Jones, who fi ghts for ing of Cooper’s fi rst incursion into sea novel writ- the Revolution but does not claim either America ing: “I recollect once being desired by a dozen or or Britain as his nation. Further, his former fi ancée, twenty of my top-mates, to read a few passages Alice Dunscombe, accuses him of being animated of The Pilot. Every thing seemed to please them by a desire for glory and public notoriety rather well enough, till I came to one of the rope-yarn than by a pure passion for the principles behind dialogues, when ‘Pshaw! heave the d——d thing the Revolution. Because of Jones’s self-aggrandiz- overboard,’ broke out from the lips of half a dozen ing motivations, Schramer believes that Cooper men of war’s men at once. They appeared to think reserves the fi gure of Edward Griffi th, who quits that such ridiculous language ‘did discredit to our his naval career once the war has ended and returns mystery’ ” (reported in Anderson 390). Regarding home to live as husband and father with Cecilia, as the novel’s other main character, [Long] Tom Cof- the novel’s true hero. fi n, Ames considers him “a caricature (and not a very good one) of an ‘old salt,’ but terribly strained For Discussion or Writing and stiff” (390). Cooper’s daughter Susan reports 1. How does Cooper’s depiction of life at sea her father’s agreement with this assessment of the square with his descriptions of the wilderness in character, writing that in later years, Cooper recog- the Leatherstocking Series? Is the sea another nized Coffi n to be nothing more than “a sketch, frontier? and would gladly have wrought up the portrait of 2. Compare the thinly veiled fi gure of John Paul the old salt, a man after his own heart, to a fi n- Jones (Mr. Gray in the novel) to Cooper’s ished picture, as he had done with Natty Bumppo” Natty Bumppo. How are the heroes similar or (xxiii). dissimilar? The Pilot’s plot combines a raid on Britain 3. Compare Cooper’s fi ctional treatment of life (off whose coast Coffi n harpoons a whale) with at sea to the real-life descriptions in OLAUDAH a series of captivities and escapes that are further EQUIANO’S and CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS’s complicated by the twin romance plots of Colonel travel narratives. How do they imagine the sea? Howard’s niece, Cecilia Howard, and his ward, Katherine Plowden, with two young offi cers: Lieu- tenant Edward Griffi th and Lieutenant Richard (1826) Barnstable, respectively. Mr. Gray and the two The Last of the Mohicans offi cers are charged with capturing prisoners to be The biographer Robert Long identifi es both indi- used in exchange for those held by the British gov- rect and direct infl uences on Cooper’s creation of ernment, and coincidentally their target is the very The Last of the Mohicans: the presence of an Indian abode where Colonel Howard is keeping them. graveyard in his childhood home of Cooperstown Long considers the plot devices of captures and and his interviews in 1821 and 1822 with Ong- romance that The Pilot revolves around to be staple patonga and Petalesaro, members of the Omaha features of Cooper’s Indian romances as well as his and Pawnee tribes, respectively. Long reports that novel The Spy. Also reminiscent of other novels are Cooper informed the duchess of Brogile during his the stereotypical portrayals of the hero, here Jones, stay in Europe, “Ongpatonga had been his model who exhibits uncommon bravery at moments of for Chingachgook, and Petalesaro for Hard-Heart 102 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers in The Prarie,” but Long fi nds it more likely that to the west, where they encounter a conversation the latter “inspired Cooper’s conception of Uncas” between Chingachgook and Hawkeye over such (52). In addition to Cooper’s interviews with these weighty topics as truth, oral versus written history, two members of an Indian delegation whom he fol- and the comparative worth and skill of white ver- lowed to Washington, D.C., “his immediate source sus red skin. When Chingachgook recalls his own for [the novel] was a trip Cooper took to Glen tribal history, he laments that although the blood Falls and Lake George in early August 1824 in of chiefs is in his veins, and that his bloodline is the company of four young Englishmen, including unmixed, his son Uncas is the “last of the Mohi- Edward Stanley, later prime minister of England” cans.” The history of the Mohican chasing off and (Long 52). defeating the Iroquois still resonates in the present Cooper opens the novel with a brief retelling of as Uncas reports to his father that 10 Iroquois are George Washington’s gaining military fame for his currently hiding in the very forest where they are. performance in the French and Indian Wars. This At this moment, the two sets of characters meet history is united with the creation of the Six Nations, because Heyward suspects that his Indian runner, tribes of the eastern seaboard. From this broad his- Magua, has betrayed them for an ambush by the torical scope, Cooper narrows in on a party traveling Iroquois. These misgivings are only voiced when in the woods in the hope of reaching Fort William Hawkeye gives a clear and deliberate reading of Henry and their father, Colonel Munro, on the other Magua, stating, “Once a Mingo, always a Mingo.” side of the lake. The party, made up of two beautiful Heyward disapproves of Hawkeye’s two plans to half sisters named Cora and Alice Munro, are led punish the deceptive runner, and when he attempts by Captain Duncan Heyward and an Indian run- to trust his own manhood to take on Magua, the ner named Magua, Huron by birth but adopted by runner quickly escapes, having received a wound the Mohawk, whose mere presence alongside Cora from Hawkeye’s rifl e. Left without a guide and is enough to unsettle her and solicit an unguarded lost in the woods, the traveling party solicits the look mixed with pity and horror. William Starna pity of Uncas, Chingachgook, and Hawkeye, who has pointed out Cooper’s historical inaccuracy in feel responsible for the safety of the two daugh- casting Magua as a Huron: “Huron Indians, as ters, whom they describe as “such fl owers, which described so vividly by Cooper had ceased to exist though so sweet, were never made for the wilder- almost a century before the time-frame of his Leath- ness.” Rather than accept Duncan Heyward’s offer erstocking tales,” having been killed by the Iroquois of a monetary reward for their service as guides, in the mid-1600s (727). The party is soon joined the trio ask instead that the party keep secret the with a song master, David Gamut, who unintention- location where they will take them to safety. Uncas ally amuses the two sisters and Heyward with his slaughters the foal attached to David Gamut’s colt awkward style of dress and lack of horsemanship. By in a swift action that the narrator characterizes as a employing two different riding styles simultaneously, seemingly cruel yet necessary death to allow them David Gamut forces his horse to travel, on each side, to proceed through the river and into safety in a at separate paces. He might very well represent the cavern behind the waterfall. Yankee whom Cooper, as did WASHINGTON IRVING, The Iroquois soon discover the safe haven and detested, for the song master’s pride in his voice is engage in gunfi re and hand-to-hand combat on responsible for alerting the Iroquois in the woods steep precipices with the party. Uncas saves Hey- of their presence and location, and he holds a high ward’s life, and the two men clasp hands in a sign opinion of himself despite his inability to aid in the of respect and camaraderie that will later be echoed party’s travels or escapes. in the novel’s fi nal scene, when Chingachgook and From the scene of the traveling party, Cooper Hawkeye join hands in their mutual mourning over exerts his authorial presence to relocate the readers Uncas and their vow to remain in each other’s com- James Fenimore Cooper 103 pany, and to keep the fallen warrior’s memory alive. dark tresses, and later readers learn from Colonel Although Cooper allows for this momentary cross- Munro that her mother was from the West Indies, ing of the racial line, it is critical to note that it is a meaning that Cora’s identity includes African homosocial bond, and not one that would actually blood. It is at this moment that Heyward reveals result in racial crossing, as the romance between his revulsion at the knowledge of Cora’s “Negro Uncas and Cora Munro might. blood” and expresses his desire to wed her white, The protectors and guides soon exhaust their blonde half sister, Alice. Thus, only by making supply of ammunition, and in their absence to Cora racially ambiguous, critics argue, is Cooper retrieve more gunpowder, Magua and the Huron capable of nodding to a cross of racial lines. The take Alice, Cora, and Gamut captive. In exchange rigorous policing of the racial line appears time for Alice’s release, Magua reveals his desire to make and time again in Cooper’s description of Natty Cora his wife, less out of an attraction to her and Bumppo, the very white man whose association more as an act of revenge against her father, Colo- with Mohican society and its members makes him a nel Munro. Long believes that readers should not candidate for racial mixing or racial ambiguity, as “a view Magua’s expressed wish to marry Cora as sex- man without a cross,” meaning a man with racially ual at all. Magua, Long believes, views Cora as “an pure white blood. Long counts 15 instances of this extension of her father. . . . By making her one of phrase (59). D. H. Lawrence believes that Cooper his wives, by reducing her to subjection and deg- “kills [Cora and Uncas] off” in order to assure that radation (to a condition where he may kill her at only “the white lily,” represented by Cora’s half sis- any time he wishes), he will be humiliating and tor- ter, Alice, who marries Major Heyward, survives turing her anguished father, his old enemy Colonel to propagate the race (55). Leslie Fiedler argues Munro” (58). that the interracial romance of Cora and Uncas The Mohican and Hawkeye quickly arrive at constitutes Cooper’s “secret theme” in the novel. the scene and rescue the captives, thus delaying Another critic, Donald Davie, believes that Cooper Magua’s attempts to marry Cora. A second captiv- briefl y considers miscegenation only to “repress it ity happens soon after the fall of the fort, and this hysterically” (109). time, Uncas acknowledges that Cora belongs to Stephanie Wardrop extends the critique of Coo- Magua and only secures the release of Alice, who per’s treatment of Cora a step further, arguing that is being held by the Huron. In their pursuit of the “in terms of the nationalistic project integral to Huron, however, Uncas witnesses Cora’s murder Cooper’s writing, to allow Cora to live and marry by a member of the Huron tribe. His attempts to would call into question not only the right to slave- avenge her death are scuttled when Magua stabs holding still safeguarded by the Constitution, but him in the back. Hawkeye then shoots Magua with the Colonialist expansion across the West that was his rifl e, and the villain plummets to his death. displacing millions of other people of color—Native The novel concludes with the burials of Cora and Americans” (62–63). Not only must Cora’s union Uncas, and the unbreakable bond between Natty with Uncas be prevented, but her life itself must Bumppo and Chingachgook. also be extinguished as she represents an anath- The romantic tendency of the novel is therefore ema to the project of western expansion that Coo- dashed. The interracial romance between Cora and per champions. Further, Cora’s display of bravery Uncas, who are mutually attracted, is destroyed by in the face of the Huron, compared to the nearly their deaths, and their reunion in the afterlife is constant swooning fi ts of her sister, Alice, threatens precluded by the belief that the two worship dif- the masculinity of those men around her who, in ferent deities. Some critics believe Cooper was will- the shuttling of capture and rescue, look to her to ing to unite Cora to Uncas only because of Cora’s function less as a fi gure capable of defending her- racial identity. She is described early on as having self and more as a helpless victim whose inability to 104 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers act on her own behalf helps to shore up the mascu- The Deerslayer (1841) linity of those around her. Nina Baym extends the Cooper’s fi nal novel in the Leatherstocking Tales feminist aspect of Wardrop’s argument by declar- series covers the early years of its protagonist, ing that “outspoken bravery, fi rmness, intelligence, Natty Bumppo. D. H. Lawrence, in his assessment self-possession and eloquence in a woman” are not of the series from its beginnings with The Pioneers celebrated or rewarded attributes in male-authored to its conclusion with The Deerslayer, remarked: 19th-century fi ction (44). “The Leatherstocking novels . . . go backwards The critic Donald Darnell imagines the novel from old age to golden youth. That is the true divided up spatially, with the fi rst half occurring in myth of America. She starts old, old, wrinkled the “white man’s world” represented by Fort Wil- and writing in an old skin. And there is a gradual liam Henry and presided over by Colonel Munro, sloughing off of the old skin, towards a new and the second half, following the massacre and destruction of the fort, transpiring in the “Indian’s youth. It is the myth of America.” Professor R. W. stronghold” where “the white man is the intruder B. Lewis, author of The American Adam, agrees who must constantly look over his shoulder” (261– with Lawrence’s assessment and sees that the 262). Uncas’s very name in the gauntlet scene, nation’s myth of “a fi ctional Adamic hero” is the when the Huron have captured him through the Deerslayer, “a self-reliant young man who does deceitfulness of Magua, causes a stir among the seem to have sprung from nowhere and whose tribe, which is only surpassed by their awe at the characteristic pose . . . was the solitary stance in sight of his totem sign, a tortoise tattooed on his the presence of nature and God.” Clearly, both chest. Darnell contrasts these emotional reactions, critics envision the mythic and moral qualities coupled with the mythology surrounding the son of Cooper’s last Natty Bumppo novel: Whether of Chingachgook, to the satanic fi gure of Magua, they imagine it as a tension between the mate- who forecloses the myth of Uncas and the Mohigan rial and spiritual or between Christian and pagan tribe when he murders him. The Delaware prophet mythologies, they nonetheless recognize that this Tamenund who delivers Uncas’s eulogy clearly rec- novel is devoted to Natty’s ability to wrestle with ognizes the connection between the tribe’s fate and a series of exacting challenges. that of its fallen warrior: “In the morning I saw the The novel opens on an isolated and pristine son of Unamis happy and strong and yet, before spot inhabited by Lake Glimmerglass, the sublime the night has come, have I lived to see the last war- image of nature that Cooper writes “such as a poet, rior of the wise race of the Mohicans” (433). or an artist, would have delighted in.” Yet, nes- tled within this confi ned idyllic space, dwells the For Discussion or Writing Hutter family, whose very presence in a “castle” 1. Compare the fate of the romance between Cora and “ark” that they have constructed in the very and Uncas to the happy conclusion of Faith heart of the lake symbolically reminds readers of Leslie and Oneco in CATHARINE MARIA SEDG- the “fragmentation of the world and spirit” (Long WICK’s Hope Leslie. Consider the racial politics 122). In Tom Hutter’s cabin, “greed, violence, and that allow the one marriage and prohibit the brutal self-assertion” dwell and emanate, especially second. How do the two authors imagine rela- since the patriarch has infected one of his two tions between American Indians and Anglo daughters, Judith, with a desire for worldliness at Americans? the expense of her reputation (Long 122). Further, 2. Compare the death scenes of father (Chingach- Hutter associates himself with Hurry Harry, who gook) in The Pioneers and son (Uncas) in The was once a formidable rival to Natty, but whose Last of the Mohicans. What end or purpose does lack of moral standing makes him prey to Hutter’s each death serve? devices. Not surprisingly, Hutter poses a threat to James Fenimore Cooper 105 the Deerslayer through the fi gure of his daughter, 2. How does Cooper’s rendition of Lake Glim- Judith, who attempts to seduce the young hunter merglass, a thinly veiled treatment of his own to cause his moral undoing. When Natty is given a Lake Otsego, compare to Henry David Tho- day’s furlough from captivity under condition that reau’s Walden Pond? he return, Judith attempts unsuccessfully to per- suade him to escape with her. His return to captiv- ity is proof of his unswaying honor and honesty, as he had pledged his word. FURTHER QUESTIONS ON The most trying test of all for the Deerslayer does COOPER AND HIS WORK not occur in the form of Judith, however, but in 1. The natural world fi gures prominently in all of his warfare with a fellow American Indian. Despite Cooper’s novels. It is a refuge from the corrupt- his efforts to abide by the white laws of combat, ing infl uences of civilization, especially for Natty Natty is forced, under duress of a second ambush, Bumppo. Selecting two of Cooper’s novels, con- to shoot through the foliage and hit his enemy. As sider the role that nature plays in them. Who else le Loup Cervier (the Lynx) dies in Natty’s arms, he occupies the natural world, and what kind of offers the young hunter a new sobriquet, and thus moral, racial, or spiritual qualities or limitations acknowledges his initiation into manhood: “Eye are placed upon those in the natural world? In sartain—fi nger lightening—aim, death—great a similar vein, consider the corrupting characters warrior soon. No Deerslayer—Hawkeye—Hawk- who dwell in civilized areas. What qualities do eye—Hawkeye. Shake hand” (211). As his ordeals they possess, and why are these qualities specifi - will be judged by the Delaware code, in which he cally mapped onto the town or developed space? is given a name for the thing he killed (and thus 2. Both Natty Bumppo and his companion, Chin- his name as Deerslayer for a deer killed), Hawkeye gachgook, are liminal fi gures who live pre- has successfully been indoctrinated into his role as cariously on the outskirts of society and time, a white man living according to a red man’s code. victims to industrialized progress, religious This characterization will abide through all of the conversion, and the social expectations of mar- books in the series, with the exception of Natty’s riage and domesticity. Why are Cooper’s heroes insistence on his racial purity. In this novel, how- doomed? What arguments is Cooper making ever, Cooper is more focused on Natty’s moral about 19th-century American society through purity, on his steadfastness that lamentably denies Natty Bumppo and Chingachgook? Are these him the happiness of marriage. “His way of life and social comments the same across racial lines? his moral values make even white women unsuit- Why or why not? able as mates; their natures are either too high for his manner of life or too low (as in Judith’s case) for WORKS CITED AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES his respect” (Slotkin 505). Anderson, Charles. “Cooper’s Sea Novels Spurned in the Maintop.” Modern Language Notes 66, no. 6 For Discussion or Writing (June 1951): 388–391. 1. Critics point to the fact that when The Deer- Baym, Nina. Feminism and American Literary His- slayer was in press, Cooper invited his boyhood tory. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University friends to visit him for a week at Otsego Hall, as Press, 1992. testament to the novel’s eliciting in the author Darnell, Donald. “Uncas as Hero: The Ubi Sunt strong feelings of nostalgia for his childhood. Formulat in The Last of the Mohicans.” American How does this reading of the novel square with Literature 37, no. 3 (1965): 259–266. its position as the last of the Leatherstocking Davie, Donald. The Heyday of Sir Walter Scott. New series? York: Barnes & Noble, 1961. 106 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

Dyer, Alan Frank. James Fenimore Cooper: An Anno- Nelson, Paul David. “James Fenimore Cooper’s Mari- tated Bibliography of Criticism. New York: Green- time Nationalism, 1820–1850.” Military Affairs wood Press, 1991. 41, no. 3 (October 1977): 129–132. Fiedler, Leslie. Love and Death in the American Novel. Schramer, James J. “James Fenimore Cooper and New York: Dalkey Archive Press, 1998. the Myth of the Citizen Soldier/Sailor.” James Franklin, Wayne. James Fenimore Cooper: The Early Fenimore Cooper Society Miscellaneous Papers 17 Years. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, (2002): 7–14. 2007. Slotkin, Richard. Regeneration through Violence: The Hine, Robert, and John Faragher. The American West: Mythology of the American Frontier, 1600–1860. A New Interpretive History. New Haven, Conn.: Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1973. Yale University Press, 2000. Starna, William. “Cooper’s Indians: A Critique.” In James Fenimore Cooper Society. Available online. James Fenimore Cooper: His Country and His Art, URL: http://external.oneonta.edu/cooper/. edited by George Test. Oneonta, N.Y.: N.p. 727. Accessed April 23, 2009. Verhoeven, W. M. James Fenimore Cooper: New His- Lawrence, D. H. Studies in Classic American Litera- torical and Literary Contexts. Amsterdam: Rodopi, ture. New York: Thomas Seltzer, 1923. 1993. Lewis, R. W. B. The American Adam: Innocence, Wardrop, Stephanie. “Last of the Red Hot Mohicans: Tragedy, and Tradition in the Nineteenth Cen- Miscegenation in the Popular American Romance.” tury. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, MELUS 22, no. 2 (1997): 61–74. 1965. Writings of James Fenimore Cooper. Available online. Long, Robert Emmet. James Fenimore Cooper. New URL: http://www.wjfc.org/. Accessed April 23, York: Continuum, 1990. 2009. J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur (1735 –1813)

I wish I could be acquainted with the feelings and thoughts which must agitate the heart and present themselves to the mind of an enlightened Englishman, when he fi rst lands on this continent. He must greatly rejoice that he lived at a time to see this fair country dis- covered and settled.

(Letters from an American Farmer)

orn Michel-Guillaume-St-Jean de Crèvecoeur seems to have maintained this practice throughout Bon January 31, 1735, Crèvecoeur is best his life (Allen 6). He left the collège in July 1750. known by his anglicized name—J. Hector St. John While at the collège, Crèvecoeur probably experi- de Crèvecoeur—and for his seminal work, Letters enced the typical Jesuit education, which was a writ- from an American Farmer. His shifting name mir- ing-intensive experience focusing on Latin, French, rors the tensions of his sociopolitical loyalties. He and rhetoric. Probably his education included the was a Frenchman by birth who spent much of his study of mathematics, which at this collège empha- life in British territories, and yet he developed an sized the practical application of math and science. American identity and is credited with the Ameri- This included classes in surveying and cartography. can immigration concept of the melting pot. Though there is no record that Crèvecoeur learned Crèvecoeur was born near Caen, Normandy, these skills here, his American biographers Gay France, to parents whose families held some infl u- Wilson Allen and Roger Asselineau write, “[Stu- ence in the region. His mother, Dame Marie-Thérèse dents] learned to use such necessary instruments as Blouet, was the niece of Michel-Jacques Blouet, Lord alidades, plate levels, and verniers. So Crèvecoeur and Master of Cahagnolles and treasurer-general of did not improvise his professions of land surveyor Caen, also godfather to Crèvecoeur. Crèvecoeur’s and cartographer in America. He had learned these father, Guillaume-Jean de Crèvecoeur, was a squire trades at the Collège Royal de Bourbon.” whose predecessors had lived in Normandy since at After he left school, Crèvecoeur’s parents sent least the 12th century. Crèvecoeur’s father owned an him to England to stay with distant relatives in estate at Pierrepont, approximately 10 miles north- Salisbury—to give him a chance to improve his west of Caen, and though he lived at the estate for English by constant practice or possibly to give the much of the year, he wintered in Caen. young man an opportunity to pursue an occupa- At the age of 12, Crèvecoeur attended school tion that might not have aligned with his father’s at the Jesuit Collège Royal de Bourbon, a board- wishes. At any rate, he may have arrived at Salis- ing school that was “the Catholic equivalent of an bury as early as 1751. Little is known of Crève- English public school” (Allen 5). The Jesuits were coeur’s time in England, but he was engaged to known for their rigorous education, and students marry the only daughter of a Salisbury merchant, were encouraged to debate and discover through who died before the marriage took place. Rather reason. Daily writing—“nulla dies sine aliqua than return to France, he “left for America shortly scriptione”—was encouraged, and Crèvecoeur after her death” (Allen 16).

107 108 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

His exact activities in the New World between on the title page of Voyage dans la haute Pensylva- 1755 and 1759 are not completely clear. His father nie et dans l’état de New-York as ‘un Membre adop- “thought he was a merchant’s partner in Philadel- tif de la Nation Onéida’ ” (an adopted member of phia” (Allen 17). However, he ended up in New the Oneida Nation). France, now Canada, and may have arrived there as In 1767, Crèvecoeur joined a small group of early as 1755–56. In New France, records indicate hunters, guides, and surveyors on a trip into inte- that he enlisted in the French army. Though both rior regions of North America. His group traveled his date and place of birth were incorrect (listed across Pennsylvania, then down the Ohio River as January 6, 1738, and Paris, respectively) on his toward the St. Louis region. He mentioned spend- enlistment record, his sponsors were recorded as ing two months in that area, and he estimated that Baron Breteuil and Marquis d’Houdetot, who were he traveled 3,190 miles in 161 ½ days round trip, old Crèvecoeur family friends (Allen 19). beginning and ending in New York. For much of his military service, Crèvecoeur Crèvecoeur married Mehetable Tippet on Sep- worked as a mapmaker. He mapped the regions tember 20, 1769. The marriage certifi cate lists her around the St. Lawrence River and its tributaries. home as Dutchess County, though most records He also traveled up the Ottawa River guided by indicate that she was from Yonkers in Westchester Indians and traveling by canoe and, once in the County. Tippet was a Protestant, and they were forest, by foot. He mapped Fort George and the married by a French Huguenot minister, Jean Pierre surrounding area, helping the marquis de Mont- Tétard. Interestingly, Crèvecoeur married under calm win a ferocious battle with the British. his French, rather than his English, name despite However, neither Montcalm’s success nor Crève- the fact that he knew that Catholic France did not coeur’s would last. On September 13, 1759, Crève- recognize the legality of marriage to a Protestant, coeur was wounded in the battle on the Plains of and this would be a formidable obstacle if he ever Abraham. The French lost control of Quebec, though wished to claim his inheritance to the Crèvecoeur they maintained control of Montreal for almost a year estate in Normandy. after Crèvecoeur left Canada. French offi cers were A few months after his marriage, on December treated well, however, and Crèvecoeur surrendered 12, 1769, he bought 250 acres of land from James his commission that autumn for £240. Quite pos- and Phoebe Nesbit for £350. He built a house on sibly, resentment against Crèvecoeur grew as a result the property and called it Pine Hill. Crèvecoeur of his fondness for British culture. He arrived in New cultivated his land, raised his children, and wrote York on December 16, 1759, on a British ship that most of his Letters from an American Farmer. stopped there before continuing on to London with His three children, his daughter América-Francés French offi cers who wished to return home. (“Fanny” born December 14, 1770), son Guil- The next record of Crèvecoeur’s life is from his laume-Alexandre (“Ally” born August 5, 1772), application for naturalization as a British citizen. and son Philippe-Louis (born October 22, 1774), He applied under the name Hector St. John, an were baptized by Jean Pierre Tétard on Decem- anglicized name perhaps to disguise his French ber 27, 1776. The usual practice was for children origins, and his request was granted in New York to be baptized shortly after birth. Crèvecoeur had City on December 23, 1765, by act of the provin- arranged for the baptism of his daughter the winter cial legislature. of her birth, but because of weather and the rela- During the 1760s, Crèvecoeur worked as a sur- tive inaccessibility of Pine Hill during the winter veyor and traveled from Vermont to Virginia in months, Tétard was unable to travel there as origi- pursuit of that line of work. While in Vermont, he nally planned (Allen 38). was adopted by the Oneida Indians, “and he was so Earlier in 1776, events of the American Revolu- proud of the honor that in 1801 he listed himself tion were encroaching on Crèvecoeur’s New York. J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur 109

He sympathized with the Tories, those who sup- Crèvecoeur returned to his parents’ home in ported King George III, and who became known Normandy on August 2, 1781, nearly 27 years after as the Loyalists. Perhaps as a result of the increas- leaving for Salisbury. Once in Pierrepont, he dis- ing diffi culty of disguising his political loyalties, cussed new plants and agricultural techniques with Crèvecoeur sought to leave Orange County. He gentleman farmers of the region. One of these men decided to return to France in order to solidify his was Étienne-François Turgot, the elder brother of children’s inheritance, and so he took his son Guil- Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot, Louis XVI’s former lame-Alexandre with him. Though Crèvecoeur was fi nance minister and distant relative of Crèvecoeur. legally Catholic, his children were not. Indeed, With Turgot’s encouragement, Crèvecoeur wrote a under French law, his children were considered ille- 72-page treatise, “Traité de la culture des pommes gitimate because of his wife’s Protestantism. de terre et des différents usages qu’en font les habi- He arrived in New York City in mid-February tants des États-Unis de l’Amérique,” on the culture 1779 to fi nd conditions there diffi cult at best. of potatoes (Allen 77). Because of the war, he had requested permis- Sometime before the end of 1781, Turgot took sion to enter New York so had written to General Crèvecoeur to Paris. There he was introduced to George Washington. On July 8, 1779, Crèvecoeur the salon culture of Paris—the literary gather- was arrested “on the basis of an anonymous letter ings generally hosted by women—through Mme sent to Sir Henry Clinton” that accused Crève- d’Houdetot, whose husband owned an estate near coeur of corresponding with General Washing- Pierrepont. Mme d’Houdetot herself was a friend of ton and of possessing maps of the harbor (he had the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Through briefl y worked as a cartographer for Antoine Van the salons, Crèvecoeur met the count de Buffon Dam, the master of the port of New York). Though and became acquainted, through correspondence, Crèvecoeur was soon cleared because of his Loyal- with BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. ist leanings, he remained jailed for three months. In 1783 Crèvecoeur returned to New York as Friends, meanwhile, took care of Ally, who worried consul appointed by Louis XVI to New York, New that he would never see his father again. Jersey, and Connecticut. He was also “elected The winter after his release from prison (1779–80) correspondent of the Academy of Science for his was a diffi cult one. Father and son had so little money work as an agronomist” (Allen 99). His son, Ally, that a British soldier paid for a fl annel outfi t to be remained in France. Crèvecoeur returned to New made for Ally. Crèvecoeur became gravely ill with a York on the Courier de l’Europe, the same ship that fever that swept the city. He grew quite weak, suf- carried the fi nal draft of a treaty that negotiated fered from delirium, and was seized with a violent the British withdrawal of troops from New York. It trembling Crèvecoeur himself called epilepsy. was November 19, 1783. Upon landing, he learned Finally, on September 1, 1780, Crèvecoeur and that his wife was dead, Pine Hill had burned to his fi rstborn son left for England. Their ship was the ground, and his daughter and younger son had one of a fl eet of 80. The ships were separated by been taken to an unknown location. As a result a violent storm and they were shipwrecked on the of the strain of a transatlantic voyage that had coast of Ireland. Father, son, and a trunk full of encountered violent storms and had taken longer manuscripts survived (Allen 68). They made their than usual, and the news of his family’s troubles, way in 1781 to London, where Crèvecoeur sold the Crèvecoeur fell ill with the same nervous symptoms manuscript of Letters from an American Farmer to he had earlier described as being like epilepsy. the publishers Thomas Davies and Lockyer Davis Two years earlier, while still in France, Crève- for 30 guineas. The book was published in 1782, coeur went to the aid of fi ve American marines and it was such a success in Europe that a second who were in need of an interpreter. One of the edition was published the following year. men, Lieutenant George Little, had agreed to carry 110 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers letters back to Crèvecoeur’s wife and children. He coeur remained at Pierrepont until his father’s knew that upon their return he would probably be death in 1799. redeployed elsewhere, so he would make arrange- He began writing Voyage dans la haute Pensylva- ments for Lieutenant George Fellowes of Boston nie et dans l’état de New-York in 1800. It was pub- to receive the letters. Fellowes left in search of lished in France the following year, but its reception Crèvecoeur’s family. Mrs. Crèvecoeur had died, was disappointing despite favorable reviews. Except but Fellowes found the children and persuaded for brief trips to Munich and Hamburg, Crèvecoeur their caretakers to let him take them to Boston. remained in relative anonymity until his death on He wrote a letter to Crèvecoeur on December November 12, 1813, at the age of 78. 11, 1781. The letter had gone to London but had returned to New York. Crèvecoeur was reunited with his daughter and younger son in Boston in (1782) spring 1784. Letters from an American Farmer In New York Crèvecoeur established a packet J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur’s infl uence on line running from France to New York. He also American literature primarily rests on his Letters encouraged trade between France and America in from an American Farmer. While readers may order to solidify relations between the two coun- be more familiar with other literary works of this tries. Additionally, Crèvecoeur sought to exchange period, the well-known idea of America as a melt- medical information and was instrumental in estab- ing pot is taken from this novel. Written primarily lishing botanical societies in Massachusetts, Con- during his years at Pine Hill (1769–78), the book necticut, and New Jersey. is an epistolary novel in which an American farmer, In June 1785 Crèvecoeur began a furlough Farmer James, writes 12 letters to an imaginary that was to have lasted six months but stretched European recipient. The subject of each letter to two years. He was reunited with both his sons ranges from a celebration of the American farmer (he had sent his younger son to France) at Pierre- as a heroic fi gure, to the culture of Nantucket, to pont before continuing on to Paris. He remained in Charleston and slavery, and to the very defi nition Paris, then Pierrepont, for two years. Crèvecoeur of an American. As in many writings during this fi nally returned to New York, and his role as con- period, the infl uences of the Enlightenment and sul, in June 1787. In 1789, he was elected to the revolutionary ideals shape the novel even as they Société Royale d’Agriculture and the American shaped the author and his readers, whether Euro- Philosophical Society. pean or American. Susan Manning writes that Let- In May 1790 one month after his daughter’s ters from an American Farmer melds “the thinking marriage, Crèvecoeur returned to France. He had of French Enlightenment writing translated into been increasingly worried about the unrest in fi ction in an American context” (xv). France and the welfare of his sons. He returned The philosophy and intellectual environment of to a changed France. The Reign of Terror, a bru- the Enlightenment differ from those of the 17th tal period in the early 1790s near the end of the century in part in their view on reason. In the 17th French Revolution, had radically transformed the century, reason could be found in authority, tra- nation. Normandy seemed to be immune to these dition, and the metaphysical. In the 18th century, changes, however. however, reason becomes a tool to gain authority Crèvecoeur returned to Pierrepont in 1796 to and for some philosophers, such as Jean-Jacques take care of the family estate. His father, nearly 90, Rousseau, a move to a more practical, physical needed the help of his eldest son. With the excep- world. tion of brief visits to his daughter and son-in-law, Crèvecoeur’s choice of central character, a Fanny and Otto, who had settled in France, Crève- farmer, signals his own attention to personages in a J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur 111 practical world. Furthermore, the American farmer desire and launches the correspondence, a mul- differs from the European one of the period: tiple communication. It houses a debate between “Even the term ‘farmer’—as Crèvecoeur’s narrator farmer James, his wife, a minister, and the myste- is at pains to point out—[‘farmer’] meant some- rious Mr. F. B., the English correspondent” (74). thing rather specifi c in America in the late eigh- For Beranger, then, Letters from an American teenth century. He was not, as in Europe, a tenant Farmer is a dynamic text that engages in a debate owing taxes and paying tithes, but a freeholder, a between Americans and Europeans, farmers and man without a master” (Manning xviii). Thus, for clergy, men and women. Crèvecoeur, farmers in 18th-century America can Beranger also suggests that the farmer’s wife be seen as liberatory fi gures in charge of their own believes that her husband’s writing activities are destinies. scandalous: As might be expected of someone trained in European schools, Crèvecoeur draws upon Euro- To her a “scribbling farmer” is a ridiculous pean literary traditions and is infl uenced by his person and somehow scandalous too. So, if own experiences in North America to create a James starts writing, the improper and sinful work that can be deservedly known as the fi rst act must remain a well-kept secret between her, work of American literature. The epistolary novel, her husband, and the minister. Local secrecy is generally written as a series of letters or docu- supposed to ensure protections against the dan- ments, is a form that was popular in both Eng- gers she imagines. It will also protect the fam- land and France during the 18th century. Notable ily from public scandal and other discomforts. epistolary novels of this period include Samuel Writing generates an ambiguous status for the Richardson’s Pamela (1740) and Clarissa (1749) farmer; it may involve a change of status and written in English, while French examples include material losses. She perceives it as a completely Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Julie, ou la nouvelle negative activity. (77) Héloïse (1761) and Pierre Chodorlos de Laclos’s Les Liaisons Dangereuses, which was published in The farmer’s wife, having internalized English 1782, the same year as Letters from an American class distinctions, seems to favor manual labor. Farmer. She remains suspicious of any other type of work The fi rst letter introduces the book and sets up or activity. The wife, Beranger writes, has “inbred the conceit of Farmer James’s writing to a European respect for class distinctions and the scale of Euro- acquaintance at the urging of his minister and his pean values,” so, in turn, “she incarnates criticism wife. The minister, as for many colonists, must also and alienation” (Beranger 75). farm, but he fi nds this conducive to his religious In the second letter, “On the Situation, Feel- and intellectual pursuits: “After all, why should not ings, and Pleasures of an American Farmer,” a farmer be allowed to make use of his mental fac- Farmer James describes his farm. He further details ulties as well as others. . . . I have composed many how a farmer captures bees and sets up a hive, a good sermon as I followed my plough. The eyes, among other agricultural practices. This is a cel- not being then engaged on any particular object, ebration of doing work on your own land and for leaves the mind free for the introduction of many your own benefi t. The 10th letter and the 11th let- useful ideas” (19). ter also focus strongly on observations of the natu- Furthermore, Jean F. Beranger argues that ral world. “the introductory letter is no mere declaration The most famous letter is the third one, “What of intention, a one way message from the nar- Is an American?” In it, Farmer James seeks to rator. Rather, it contains a four voice exchange defi ne his fellow Americans. There exists a decid- which expresses and makes comments about a edly democratic strain in this letter: 112 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

Here are no aristocratical families, no courts, couched in a morality of masculine work. By both no kings, no bishops, no ecclesiastical domin- praising and undercutting his admiration for the ion, no invisible power giving to a few a very progressive domestic structure of Nantucket fam- visible one, no great manufactures employing ily life, Crèvecoeur reveals his uneasiness with the thousands, no great refi nements of luxury. The changing roles of men” (242). rich and the poor are not so far removed from Letters nine and 12 are markedly different from each other as they are in Europe. (Crèvecoeur the idyllic fi rst three letters, and even quite differ- 40–41) ent from the travel letters. Though letter nine deals with a traveler’s observation, its primary focus is on In other words, class distinctions disappear in this the inequities and atrocities encountered within new land. This description is at once a critique the slave economy of Carolina. Unlike the ideal- of Europe and a celebration of America. Indeed, ized lack of class differences mentioned in the third “names of honour” are rare, and the “only appel- letter, this letter, as implied by its title, “Descrip- lation of the rural inhabitants of our country” are tion of Charles-Town; Thoughts on Slavery; On “lawyer or merchant” (41). Physical Evil; A Melancholy Scene,” reveals a stark This democratic and decidedly classless trend contrast between slaveholders and the slaves. Crève- continues as the farmer continues the defi nition: coeur notes that “the inhabitants are the gayest in “Whence came all these people? They are a mix- America” (151), yet he then writes: ture of English, Scotch, Irish, French, Dutch, Ger- mans, and Swedes. From this promiscuous breed, While all is joy, festivity, and happiness, in that race, now called Americans, have arisen” Charles-Town, would you imagine that scenes (Crèvecoeur 42). This letter introduces the idea of of misery overspread in the country? Their ears, the American melting pot to the world, for this is by habit, are become deaf, their hearts are hard- where immigrants, noting of course that Crève- ened; they neither see, hear, nor feel for, the coeur writes of those from Europe, arrive and meld, woes of their poor slaves, from whose painful mixing with each other despite different countries labours all their wealth proceeds. Here the hor- of origin to become something new. rors of slavery, the hardship of incessant toils, Letters four through eight, sometimes referred are unseen; and no one thinks with the com- to as the Nantucket letters, describe areas of the passion of those showers of sweat and of tears Massachusetts Bay. Though he discusses Nan- which from the bodies of Africans daily drop, tucket at the greatest length, he also describes and moisten the ground they till. (153) Martha’s Vineyard. Crèvecoeur’s past as a cartogra- pher appears in the form of maps of both locations. Crèvecoeur, despite depicting idealized scenes of These Nantucket letters receive the least critical other aspects of American life, now delves into attention though they are of great interest to some the less than ideal situation of slaves around the critics, such as Anna Carew-Miller, who notes that Charleston area. The letter ends with the horrifi c “here Crèvecoeur presents a picture of the ideal encounter our farmer has with a slave who was Enlightenment community. Yet this picture is puz- caged and left to die of exposure for the crime of zling, full of contradictions and tensions. A care- killing an overseer. ful examination of these Nantucket letters clarifi es The fi nal chapter, “Distresses of a Frontier-Man,” Crèvecoeur’s defi nition of Americanness.” One of addresses changes wrought by the American Revo- these contradictions is that he “forc[es] . . . an equa- lution. The fear of the immigrant, expressed in this tion between whaling and farming” so “reveals, letter, is the fear of starting over. Farmer James, fac- perhaps unconsciously, a need for violence within ing a similar dilemma, chooses to move west with man’s relationship to the landscape; this violence is the Indians: “By the close of the Letters Farmer J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur 113

James has become every private man whose life has America lived up to its promise? Do today’s been caught up and swept into public events with immigrants have the same optimism that Crève- whose magnitude he is neither able nor willing to coeur’s European did? Do today’s immigrants engage” (Manning xv). The real-life Crèvecoeur fl ed face the same fears of starting over? east to France. The individual, whether Crèvecoeur 2. Locate and summarize Crèvecoeur’s defi nition himself or his protagonist, must fl ee when he or she of an American. fi nds himself or herself unable to achieve agency in 3. What were Crèvecoeur’s beliefs regarding slav- tumultuous times. As Susan Manning writes: “The ery? Summarize and be prepared to provide tex- Letters are at once a celebration of America, and its tual evidence. What critique does he draw about tragedy; Crèvecoeur writes the requiem for the new slavery in Carolina? nation as it comes into being, and his book is deserv- 4. Crèvecoeur’s symbol of an American is a farmer. edly known as the fi rst work of American literature” Consider how his notion of an individual’s con- (Introduction, viii). nection to the land relates to THOMAS JEFFER- Critics frequently note the fragmented nature SON’s in Notes on the State of Virginia. of this work. In part, such fragmentation can be 5. Contrast the epistolary form in Letters from an expected of an epistolary novel in which the reader American Farmer to that in HANNAH WEBSTER really only reads one side of the conversation (that FOSTER’s The Coquette. is, after the fi rst letter) and in which the subject matter jumps from one region to another. Further- more, aspects of the author’s own biography with his fragmented sense of self and citizenship may be FURTHER QUESTIONS ON seen as creeping into the text. CRÈVECOEUR AND HIS WORK Susan Manning suggests that Crèvecoeur’s own 1. The critic Susan Manning asks: “Whose voice life during the Indian wars of the 1750s play into speaks through Farmer James? Are these ‘real’ the textual fragmentation because he “s[ees] him- observations, or are they fi ctions? Whose are self as a Frenchman in Canada; subsequently he the queries which structure the text?” (xxi). trie[s] to write himself (as J. Hector St. John) into Discuss the questions and be ready to provide an Englishman in the American colonies. . . . These support. multiple voices bec[o]me too much for the idiom of 2. Susan Manning also writes that “if there is a his book to bear, and its diction fragments under problem [with the book’s fragmenting under the burden of multiplicity” (xxxiii). the burden of multiplicity], it is that Crève- For Carew-Miller, the tensions and unevenness coeur’s art is not duplicitous enough to smooth in the text provide insight into interactions between over the theoretical contradictions which condi- men and women, husbands and wives. As Manning tioned and then splintered his experience. The does, she connects the text of the novel with the book is the richer for it” (xxxiii). Do you agree author’s own life: “A well-educated Frenchman, or disagree? Why? Crèvecoeur found himself married to the daughter of a wealthy farmer after a serious of adventures on WORKS CITED AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES this side of the Atlantic. Hardly the simple Ameri- Allen, Gay Wilson, and Roger Asselineau. St. John de can farmer, Crèvecoeur was the intellectual adven- Crèvecoeur: The Life of an American Farmer. New turer romancing the New World” (243). York: Viking, 1987. Bannet, Eve Tavor. “From Crèvecoeur to Franklin and For Discussion or Writing Mr. Spectator.” In Empire of Letters: Letter Manu- 1. Letters from an American Farmer was largely als and Transatlantic Correspondence, 1680–1820. written before the American Revolution. Has New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005. 114 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

Beranger, Jean F. “The Desire for Communication: Kunkle, Julia Post Mitchell. St. Jean de Crèvecoeur. Narrator and Narratee in Letters from an Ameri- New York: Columbia University Press, 1916. can Farmer.” Early American Literature 12, no. 1 Manning, Susan. “Introduction.” In Letters from (Spring 1977): 77–85. an American Farmer. Oxford: Oxford University Carew-Miller, Anna. “The Language of Domesticity Press, 1998. in Crèvecoeur’s Letters from an American Farmer.” Osborne, Jeff. “American Antipathy and the Cruel- Early American Literature 28 (1993): 242–254. ties of Citizenship in Crèvecoeur’s Letters from an Crèvecoeur, J. Hector St. John de. Letters from American Farmer.” Early American Literature 42 an American Farmer. Oxford: Oxford University (2007): 529–530. Press, 1998. “St. Jean De Crevecoeur: (1735–1813).” PAL: Per- Jehlen, Myra. “Traveling in America.” The Cambridge spectives in American Literature. Available online. History of American Literature. Vol. 1, 1590–1820. URL: http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/ General Editor Sacvan Bercovitch. Cambridge: pal/chap2/creve.html. Accessed April 23, 2009. Cambridge University Press, 1997. Traister, Bryce. “Criminal Correspondence: Author- Kulungian, Harold. “The Aestheticism of Crève- ship and Espionage in Crèvecoeur’s Revolutionary coeur’s American Farmer.” Early American Litera- America.” Early American Literature 37 (2002): ture 12 (1977): 197–201. 469–496. Jonathan Edwards (1703 –1758)

The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loath- some insect over the fire abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire: he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire.

(“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”)

onathan Edwards, who has continued to haunt from the apex of the first generation and launched Jthe imaginings of modern poets, received just a revival in the form of the Great Awakening, also homage from Robert Lowell, who wrote the fol- exerted pressure on all ministers who were charged lowing lines: with an exacting task. Edwards’s childhood motto, “To live with all my might, while I do live,” is per- I love you faded, haps the young man’s reaction to such high expec- old, exiled and afraid tations. He is reported to have experienced his first to leave your last flock, a dozen conversion at the age of 10 while attending one of Houssatonic Indian children his father’s revivals. In response, he built a “prayer booth” behind the family home and would retreat The image is certainly not the one critics and read- there to pray in solitude. ers commonly associate with the Puritan minister Primarily educated by his father, Edwards entered who gained fame during the Great Awakening, but the Collegiate School at New Haven, now known as this is indeed a true and sympathetic portrait of Yale University, when he was just shy of his 13th Edwards later in life. birthday. Four years later, in 1720, Edwards gradu- Jonathan Edwards was born to a minister, the ated, but he remained in New Haven to complete Reverend Timothy Edwards, and his wife, Esther, his graduate study in theology. During his two who hailed from East Windsor, Connecticut. He years in graduate school, 1720–22, Edwards under- was the middle child (fifth) and only son in a fam- went a personal spiritual struggle, the sum of which ily of 11. His maternal grandfather was Solomon appeared in his Personal Narrative. He returned Stoddard, “the most powerful New England cler- to New Haven as a tutor after a brief eight-month gyman of his time” (Griffin 6). For the only male stint as a candidate for the ministry serving a Pres- child, and the son and grandson of ministers, it byterian church in New York. For the years 1724 seemed inevitable that Jonathan would pursue a and 1725, Edwards taught courses at Yale. His cur- career in the ministry. Griffin considers the undue riculum included learning not only about the theol- pressure the young Edwards must have felt as ogy of his Puritan predecessors, but of the “liberal” the “likely heir to Stoddard” and the child of “a movements that threatened it: deism, Socinianism, highly intelligent, willful mother and a demanding Arianism, and Anglican Arminianism, as well as the father” (6–7). Further, the period in which he was most current thought in Europe, such as British born, which witnessed the backsliding of Puritans empiricism and continental rationalism. His study

115 116 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers and writings on natural philosophy and metaphys- In Religious Affections, Edwards developed this ics while at Yale occasioned the critic Perry Miller theory more fully. He argued in part that “a vigor- to name him the “fi rst and greatest homegrown ous, affectionate, and fervent love of God” was the American philosopher.” The following year, he foundation for all other religious affections, which was ordained a minister, and “to the surprise of no might include “an intense hatred and abhorrence one,” as Griffi n writes, he was invited to assist his of sin, fear of sin, and a dread of God’s displea- prominent grandfather, Mr. Stoddard, at his church sure, gratitude to God for his goodness, compla- in Northampton. He was only 23. cence and joy in God when God is graciously and In the following year, 1727, he married Sarah sensibly present, and grief when he is absent, and Pierrepont, who was 17. The two would create a a joyful hope when a future enjoyment of God is large family of 11 who would relocate in 1751 to expected, and fervent zeal for the glory of God.” the wilderness of Stockbridge. In December 1729, In reviewing this theory, readers can recognize Edwards’s sister Jerusha died of a fever; the fol- key emotional reactions imagined and created dur- lowing April, in honor of his sister, the Edwardses ing “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” The named their daughter Jerusha. They would follow intense emotional response also marked Edwards’s this same tradition in 1736 when his sister Lucy’s own conversion, which he recounted in his Personal death on August 21 was honored 10 days later Narrative: While outdoors, walking in his father’s by naming their daughter, born August 31, after fi elds, Edwards felt “a sweet sense of the glorious her. Jerusha’s birth was followed by those of Sarah majesty and grace of God.” This feeling intensifi ed (1728), Ester (1732), Mary (1734), Lucy (1736), as the days passed leaving him with the realization Timothy (1738), Susannah (1740), Eunice (1743), that his former joys and delights paled in compari- Jonathan (1745), Elizabeth (1747), and Pierpont son and thus never really penetrated his heart as at (1750). this moment of conversion. In Personal Narrative, Edwards confesses, Edwards became the sole pastor at Northamp- “From my childhood up, my mind has been wont to ton after Stoddard’s death, and he maintained the be full of objections against the doctrine of God’s prominence of both the family reputation as well sovereignty, in choosing whom he would to eternal as that of their church. As his biographer Grif- life, and rejecting whom he pleased; leaving them fi n reports, “Two of the most important religious eternally to perish, and be everlastingly tormented revivals took place during [Edwards’s] pastorate in hell. It used to appear like a horrible doctrine to there, and Edwards was a key fi gure in both of me.” Here, Edwards encapsulates his doubts about them” (8). The fi rst, referred to as “surprising con- the Puritan doctrine of the elect who alone were versions,” occurred in 1734 and 1735; the second predestined to enjoy heaven in the hereafter while was the Great Awakening itself, which took place countless others, not among the elect, would suffer in the 1740s and was launched by George White- for eternity in hell. Although he would ultimately fi eld. Edwards recorded the events of the “surpris- embrace the notion of God’s sovereignty, he “never ing conversions” in A Faithful Narrative, which could give an account, how, or by what means, I appeared in print the following year, 1736. As was thus convinced.” In writing of his own personal Griffi n reveals, the tragic event of a suicide in his struggles, and the emotional or intuitive means by wife’s family promptly put an end to his widespread which he experienced his own conversion, Edwards infl uence over Northampton’s youth. Sarah’s uncle, displayed a belief in many of the primary doctrines Joseph Hawley, slit his throat in 1735 in despair espoused in the Great Awakening. over “the unhappy state of his soul during a time Chief among those beliefs was the notion of of widespread conversions” (Griffi n 8). With regard “holy affections,” the profound spiritual feelings to the Great Awakening itself, Edwards welcomed that attend an individual who has been awakened. Whitefi eld to Northampton, but his dislike for the Jonathan Edwards 117 overly emotive and impulsive aspects of Whitefi eld’s belief in a divided and hierarchical soul that culmi- sermons drew strong words of criticism from the nated in the mind, the organ of reason. Edwards former toward the latter. Others besides Edwards looked instead at the unity of these faculties in the had become skeptical of the authenticity of conver- soul, thus dismissing the notion of hierarchy and sions that were signaled by physical signs, actions, separation (Griffi n 24). and excessive displays of emotion (9). Nevertheless, Ironically, although Edwards appeared as the Edwards himself contributed sermons to the move- defender of the Great Awakening, his own skep- ment, most notably “Sinners in the Hands of an ticism regarding the sincerity of the conversions Angry God” and “The Future Punishment of the occasioned by this phenomenon led him to write Wicked.” critiques and psychological analyses of the Awak- Perry Miller writes that in 1741 Edwards was ening that would lead, by 1750, to his dismissal “at the height of his career and infl uence.” This was as pastor of the Northampton church (Griffi n 10). due not only to Edwards’s own participation as a Edwards instituted a strict policy for admission minister in the Great Awakening, but also to his to the church that revived a practice held by early role in publicly defending the movement against Puritans. Full membership in the church depended charges from Charles Chauncy, who wrote “Enthu- upon true Christian practice and a profession of siasm Defi ned and Cautioned Against” in 1642. faith that included evidence of a conversion. Not The central disagreement between the two min- surprisingly, between 1744 and 1748, there was not isters involves their notions of whether the mind a single applicant for full membership in Edwards’s or the heart should be the central organ through church (Griffi n 11). which an individual experiences and expresses the Other disputes, including those in Edwards’s Spirit of God. Chauncy, who was educated at Har- personal life, would also contribute to his public vard and the pastor of the First Church of Boston, a downfall and disgrace. One of these events was Congregational church, adhered to traditional the- Edwards’s mismanagement in 1744 of the pun- ories of the soul as a tripartite being in which rea- ishment of several youth accused of tittering over son, residing in the mind, should always dominate. a handbook for midwives. In New England style, “The plain truth is an enlightened mind, and not justice involved the creation of a committee of raised affections, ought always to be the guide of inquiry who would preside over the question- those who call themselves men; and this, in affairs ing, confession, and admonishment of the guilty of religion, as well as other things” (Marsden, 281). parties. While Edwards set this form of justice in In 1643, he published another pamphlet in opposi- motion by calling on his congregation to form a tion to the Great Awakening, entitled Seasonable committee of inquiry, he also defi ed the tradition Thoughts on the State of Religion in New England. by publicly announcing the names of the accused Critics believe that Edwards was attempting a as well as those of witnesses. Unfortunately, many new theory of understanding how one experienced of the youths named by Edwards were members of faith, and how this experience translated into a prominent Northampton families, and they were sense of the human psyche. Part of his project in outraged that their pastor would besmirch their developing this new theory appeared in his 1746 families’ reputations in such a public forum (Grif- publication A Treatise on the Concerning Affecta- fi n 12). As Griffi n notes, the ill will generated by tions. Griffi n believes that Edwards relied greatly his mishandling of the book incident remained on the theories of Thomas Shepard and John among members of the congregation for the next Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding four years, constituting “an easy reference point for in formulating his own notions of the psychol- his enemies” (12). ogy of conversion (23). A central component of In the same year, Edwards’s salary was withheld Edwards’s theory was a defi ance of the traditional by the church over disputes about his wife, Sarah’s, 118 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers wardrobe. She was accused of purchasing jewelry man, Ephraim Williams, Jr., balked at the mention and extravagant dress material, thus revealing her of Edwards’s taking over the mission at Stock- vanity, a characteristic to be shunned by a minis- bridge. In 1750, after his ousting from his ministe- ter’s wife. Sarah Pierpont Edwards would address rial duties at Northampton, he became a missionary issues of her reputation, her position as the minis- at Stockbridge, serving the Housatonic Indians. ter’s wife, at the time of his imminent break from Samuel Hopkins, Edwards’s friend, sponsored him the church through her own conversion. As she for this position, and a formal invitation was issued wrote, and Edwards later retold her tale, she expe- in December 1750 (Griffi n 14). Critics wonder rienced moments of divine light that caused her to at Edwards’s choice in becoming the missionary become a religious source in her own right. In his preacher in Stockbridge over other offers extended “Apostrophe to Sarah Pierpont,” Edwards defi es to him in Canaan, Connecticut, and Lunenburg, the image of her as worldly and vain, suggesting Virginia (Griffi n 13). Edwards’s cousin, Ephraim instead that she values her profound relationship Williams, Jr., objected when Edwards’s name was with God over such truck: “Therefore, if you pres- proposed as a possible successor to the recently ent all the world before her, with the richest of its deceased John Sergeant. Williams believed Edwards treasures, she disregards it and cares not for it, and was unsocial, impolitic, and too old to learn the is unmindful of any pain or affl iction.” Indians’ language. Williams lamented what a shame When in December 1748 someone actu- it was that “a head so full of divinity should be so ally applied for full membership in the church but empty of politics.” refused to offer the profession of faith that Edwards Griffi n believes that the minister’s seven years in had made mandatory four years earlier, the minister Stockbridge “was no bower of bliss” (14). In addi- found himself embroiled with congregation mem- tion to an environment made hostile by his own bers. Edwards himself instigated the formal declara- kinsmen, the Williams family, the town suffered tion of these tensions by calling a state of controversy from inadequate schools and untrained schoolmas- between himself and the people. During the subse- ters. Further, the outbreak of war in 1754 made quent proceedings that lasted for nearly two years, Edwards’s time there extremely diffi cult. As evi- Edwards held steadfast to his theological convictions denced by manuscript sermons in excess of 200, and attempted to limit the congregation’s opposition Edwards preached regularly to his Indian pastorate. to his religious beliefs rather than to larger issues of He employed an interpreter, John Wauwaumpequ- personal disfavor. In accordance with his desire to unaunt, to aid him in communicating with his frame the debate over theological rather than per- Housatonic congregation. In response to criticisms sonal issues, Edwards issued An Humble Inquiry from his own cousin, Solomon Williams, regard- into the Rules of the Word of God, Concerning the ing his policy for church membership, Edwards Qualifi cations Requisite to a Compleat Standing and wrote Misrepresentations Corrected, and Truth Vin- Full Communion in the Visible Christian Church. As dicated. His years in Stockbridge were surprisingly Griffi n reports, “The people did not read his book” prolifi c, as he also wrote The Freedom of the Will, (13). Nor, he states, did they attend a series of fi ve Original Sin, The Nature of True Virtue, and The public lectures that Edwards held in the Connecticut End for Which God Created the World. Valley during March 1750 (13). Just three months In part for these publications, as well as a family later, on June 22, 1750, the council voted to remove connection, Edwards was offered the presidency of Edwards as their pastor. Edwards recalled, “Nothing the College of New Jersey (present-day Princeton would quiet ’em till they could see the Town clear of University). At fi rst, Edwards demurred, for fear Root & Branch, Name and Remnant.” that the heavy teaching load at the college would Edwards’s dismissal did not end the controver- hamper any time he had available for additional sies surrounding him, however, as his own kins- research and writing. In a letter to the board of Jonathan Edwards 119 trustees, Edwards wrote that his studies “have long God directly through his love’s being set on the engaged, and swallowed up my mind, and been disciple. Using the phrase “for fl esh and blood hath the chief entertainment and delight of my life.” He not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in also worried that his health would not endure the heaven,” Edwards mounts the argument that “God stress, and that his 11 children could not be eas- is the author of all knowledge and understanding ily removed from their home in Stockbridge (Grif- whatsoever,” and that the knowledge imparted is fi n 14). However, the college would not accept his not always received through the brain, or the site refusal and instead offered a compromise: a reduced of reason and rationality. Reason requires physi- teaching load that only involved courses in theol- cal proof, described in the Scripture as “fl esh and ogy and Hebrew (Griffi n 16). In contrast, Aaron blood.” But, as Edwards argues, because God Burr, Edwards’s son-in-law and former president of is the original source of all knowledge, and that the college, had taught all courses to one of the knowledge arrives in more mysterious ways than classes, and all the languages to the college in its rational thinking can account for, God does not entirety (Griffi n 15–16). always “make use of intermediate natural causes, as Edwards accepted the offer and arrived at Princ- He does with other knowledge.” eton in February 1758. There had been an outbreak Edwa rds’s point here is t wofold: fi rst, t hat k nowl- of smallpox in the town, and Edwards was vacci- edge can be imparted in more than one manner, nated. Unfortunately, the vaccination proved fatal and, second, that regardless of the medium, God for the 54-year-old when “a secondary fever set in; is always the messenger and the source. He seems and by reason of a number of pustules in his throat, to be deliberately addressing the rise of empiricism the obstruction was such, that the medicines neces- and continental rationalism, two trends deriving sary to stanch the fever could not be administered.” from England that posed a threat to the kind of Edwards died a month later on March 22, 1758. profound experiences Edwards himself had in his Edwards recognized that the strength of his talent personal conversions, and that his congregation lay in his writings. When he accepted the position would experience during the Great Awakening. at Yale, he told the trustees: “So far as I myself am According to rationalism, all knowledge is acquired able to judge of what talents I have, for benefi ting through experience and observation. Peter is com- my fellow creatures by word, I think I can write mended for recognizing Christ as the Son of God better than I can speak.” without the aid of any revelation through fl esh and blood, or without any empirical evidence. This type of evidence, which is derived from observations in the physical world, Edwards refers to as “natural (1734) “A Divine and Supernatural Light” means” and relegates it to humans, who use it as This sermon was delivered in Northampton in a method for imparting God’s knowledge to oth- 1733 and appeared in print the following year ers. Thus, Edwards does not deny the importance at the request of Edwards’s congregation. As the of empirical evidence but rather relegates it to the full title of the sermon suggests, Edwards’s goal realm of the physical world inhabited by humans was to offer proof through “scriptural and ratio- rather than the ethereal world of God. nal doctrine” that the Spirit of God touches true As Edwards reasons, how else could one explain Christians. As evidence, he opens with a passage that illiterate fi shermen like Peter would gain an from the New Testament in which Peter Simon understanding of Christ while learned men like the is praised for his recognition of Christ’s divin- scribes and Pharisees, “men of vastly higher advan- ity. Most crucially to Edwards’s purpose, Peter’s tages, and great knowledge and sagacity, in other declaration stems not from witnessing physical or matters, remained in ignorance?” If knowledge visible proof of Christ’s identity, but rather from were only acquired through empirical means, these 120 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers learned men would have recognized Christ as the ens this phenomenon to a person’s recognizing an Son of God rather than the “persons of low edu- object’s true form in sunlight versus a vague notion cation,” such as Simon Peter, who distinguished of it from viewing it in “dim twilight.” themselves for their knowledge of Christ. Edwards concludes by offering various biblical To clarify the type of knowledge imparted to passages proving the scriptural precedent for his Simon Peter, Edwards explains, “there is such a sense of divine and spiritual light. He also argues thing as a spiritual and divine light, immediately that it is rational that only the faithful, those who imparted to the soul by God, of a different nature are not blinded by spiritual pollution, will be able from any that is obtained by natural means.” The to see and recognize the divine; the unregenerate, emphasis on “immediate” is key as God does who may be discerning in temporal matters, will not utilize any “natural means” in making faith- remain blind to divinity. ful Christians understand. In other words, God bypasses the more indirect route for imparting For Discussion or Writing knowledge and instead touches their souls with 1. In the fi nal section of the sermon, Edwards a knowledge that transcends the fl esh and blood. states, “This doctrine may well put us upon Edwards systematically approaches the various examining ourselves, whether we have ever had aspects of his argument, fi rst in rendering a defi - this divine light let into our souls.” How does nition of divine light and its varying infl uences this invitation to self-examination anticipate the on people depending upon their spiritual status. principles of the Great Awakening? Because all are touched by the Spirit of God but 2. How does Edwards’s sermon address opposing have different religious states (ranging from the theories of rationalism and empiricism? Consider unregenerate to the saint), it manifests itself differ- his defi nition of knowledge in your answer. ently. For the unregenerate person, or the unsaved 3. Unlike the usual characterization of Edwards person, Edwards states that the divine light acts as a minister of hellfi re and brimstone, this ser- upon him as “an extrinsic occasional agent.” The mon presents a different sense of the man. How Spirit of God remains extrinsic, or outside, the might you reconcile the messages behind this unregenerate man because he is fi lled with unre- sermon and his more famous “Sinners in the pented sins. For the saint, or one who is fully com- Hands of an Angry God”? mitted to his or her faith, divine light unites with him and “actuates and infl uences him as a new supernatural principle of life and action.” Edwards further explains and defi nes the spiri- “The Images of Divine Things” tual and divine light as “a true sense of the divine (“Images or Shadows of Divine Things”) (1737–1741) and superlative excellency of the things of reli- Written within a hand-stitched journal Edwards gion.” This is to be contrasted, Edwards warns, titled alternately “The Language and Lessons of with a rational belief in God’s glory. Rather, those Nature” and “The Images of Divine Things” are touched by a divine and spiritual light have a “sense more than 200 entries demonstrating the means of the gloriousness of God in [their] heart[s].” Rea- by which “the works of nature are intended and son appears as an obstacle to faith that spiritual and contrived of God to signify . . . spiritual things.” divine light can help remove because it “engages The spiritual doctrine underlying “The Images of the attention of the mind, with more fi xedness and Divine Things” is known as typology, which was a intenseness to that kind of object.” Divine light practice of discovering types in the Old Testament enables those whose reason has created an enmity and recognizing them as prefi guring correlative toward Scriptures and Christ’s divinity to lose this types in the New Testament. The mass exodus disadvantage and see more clearly. Edwards lik- of the Jews, recorded in the book of Exodus, is Jonathan Edwards 121 considered, according to typology, to prefi gure the argument for the observation of divine communi- time that Jesus spent wandering in the wilderness, cation in nature and the “visible world.” Edwards which is recorded in the New Testament. Besides argues, “Again, it is apparent and allowed that biblical applications, however, Edwards viewed there is a great and remarkable analogy in God’s typology, as he detailed it in “Notebook on the works. There is a wonderful resemblance in the Types,” as a “certain sort of Language, as it were, effects which God produces, and consentaneity in in which God is wont to speak to us” (cited in his manner of working in one thing and another, Knight 532). By opening up the realm of typology throughout all nature. It is very observable in the beyond the Bible, Edwards was taking a less con- visible world. Therefore ’tis allowed that God servative approach to the doctrine. His justifi cation does purposely make and order one thing to be for doing so, however, was his belief that God’s in an agreeableness and harmony with another. communications with humans extended beyond And if so, why should not we suppose that he the Scriptures to imbue objects and events in makes the inferior in imitation of the superior, everyday life. As Knight expresses it, these signs in the material of the spiritual, on purpose to have nature were, for Edwards, “part of a divinely insti- a resemblance and shadow of them?” In referenc- tuted system of symbols that continuously prefi g- ing “God’s works,” Edwards is essentially assum- ure and communicate the divine presence in nature ing rather than proving his argument because and in history” (532). History’s role in typology is “God’s works,” for Edwards, include not only the especially signifi cant in its context of the coming of Holy Scriptures, but also the forms of commu- the Second Kingdom of God, which will be accom- nication made apparent in nature. He views the panied by the apocalypse. Prophecies, according two worlds, material and spiritual, or inferior and to this theory, would become more frequent and superior, respectively, as analogous to one another more exact as the second coming of Christ draws as well, and this image of the natural world as “a nearer (Knight 533). Knight acknowledges that shadow of the spiritual world” is essential to his Edwards’s belief that divine communications will doctrine of typology. increase in number and in signifi cance as the end In entries number 50 and 54, Edwards views of the world approaches was less than conventional the sun as a type occurring in nature whose ris- (533). ing and setting represent the death and resurrec- Entry number 7 cites biblical Scripture for the tion of Christ. Scholars have identifi ed these two doctrine of typology: “That the things of the world entries in particular because they are indicative of are ordered and designed to shadow forth spiritual Edwards’s interpenetration of categories—biblical things, appears by the Apostle’s arguing spiritual types and types that appear in nature (Knight things from them. ‘Thou fool, that which thou 541). Entry number 50 simply states, “The rising sowest is not quickened, except it die.’ ” Edwards and setting of the sun is a type of the death and compares this doctrine, which he views as a refer- resurrection of Christ.” The critic William Mad- ence to Christ’s resurrection, as being founded in sen disagrees with Edwards’s use of types, stat- the Old Testament book of Hebrews, “For where ing, “a type is a historical person or event, not a testament is, there must also of necessity be the a mythical person or a recurrent event like the death of the testator. For a testament is a force after rising and setting of the sun” (99). For Madsen, men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all then, the diffi culty with this use of typology has while the testator liveth” (9:16–17). to do with the unevenness of the two types being Despite his reference to the conventional use compared. Christ only dies and is resurrected one of typology, comparing Old Testament types with time, while the sun, to which Edwards compares their New Testament antitypes, Edwards’s subse- Christ, rises and sets every day. Edwards him- quent entry, number 8, delves immediately into his self seems to have anticipated this argument and 122 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers offered the following explanation in Images of Edwards notes that the “utensils of life, an ax, a Divine Things, “it is no sign that it is not a type of saw, a fl ail, a rope, a chain” are only useful if they the resurrection of Christ that is but once, for it is are “being strained, or hard-pressed, or violently fi t that the type should be repeated often but that agitated.” A bow will not shoot an arrow, Edwards the antitype should be but once” (59). Edwards observes, unless it is strained hard to do so. So, too, continues his argument by pointing out that there does Edwards liken these images of everyday life, are repetitions of types in the Bible and that this the staff that a man walks with, the bow strained repetition, like the daily rising and setting of the to shoot the arrow, with the hard work asked of sun, is deliberate because it “signifi e[s] the great Christians: “enduring temptation, going through importance of the antitype” (95). hard labor, suffering, or self-denial.” Only through One of the most well known entries, number such diffi cult work can “true and sincere saints” 63, tells of the temptations of the devil, as viewed “answer God’s end and serve and glorify him.” in nature by the deaths of birds and squirrels who Edwards condemns hypocrites, those incapable of are charmed and destroyed by the serpent. The the long and enduring tasks God puts before them, image of the serpent as a symbol of the devil is by likening them unto “a broken tooth, a foot out taken from the Old Testament book of Genesis of joint, a broken staff, a deceitful bow, which fail and recurs in the works of early American Puri- when pressed or strained.” tan writers as a symbol of the earthly temptations The critic Janice Knight argues that the origins generally or the American Indians specifi cally, of Edwards’s use of typology in Images of Divine who were seen as a threat to the colonists. For Things, whether this use be deemed conventional Edwards, the serpent’s charm is of primary inter- or radical, stems from his sense of God. In Disser- est because it compels its prey, though displaying tation I Concerning the End for Which God Created fear and distress, to be rendered incapable of run- the World, Edwards characterizes the Almighty ning away entirely and thus saving themselves. He as having a “disposition to communicate himself, tells of the animal that “runs or fl ies back again or diffuse his own fullness” so that “there might a little way, but yet don’t fl ee quite away.” This be a glorious and abundant emanation of his infi - image of partial retreat reminds Edwards of “sin- nite fullness of good ad extra, or without himself” ners under the gospel,” who “have considerable (cited in Knight 545). From this characterization fears of destruction and remorse of conscience that of God as disposed to communicate himself, it makes ’em hang back . . . but yet they don’t fl ee logically follows for Edwards that those forms of away.” The temptation for the sinners, Edwards communication would not be restricted only to the believes, is lust. The sinner, like the charmed ani- Bible, but would be visible to the devout believer mal, is helpless and will eventually become the in nature. serpent’s prey. The remedy, Edwards insists, is for someone to kill the serpent: “Christ’s coming For Discussion or Writing and bruising the serpent’s head” is the means by 1. Compare Edwards’s use of typology to EDWARD which moral men, prone to the temptations of the TAYLOR’s as expressed in Meditations. serpent, are able to escape destruction and eter- 2. How does Edwards’s perception of spiritual nal damnation. communication in nature compare with PHILIP Rather than the image of the rodent powerless MORIN FRENEAU’s or that of the transcenden- against the serpent’s charms, devout Christians talists Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David appear in this entry as “the things we use [that] Thoreau? are serviceable to us.” Another famous entry, num- 3. Create your own entry by observing something ber 158, discusses the roles that “true and sincere in nature, and then extrapolating a moral lesson saints” play as “God’s instruments.” As examples, from it. Jonathan Edwards 123

A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising was treated amongst us as a thing of very little con- Work of God in the Conversions of sequence” (62). Edwards’s somber delight in these Many Hundred Souls (1737) events emerges in his discussion: “The town seemed to be full of the presence of God. . . . Our public Jonathan Edwards originally drafted A Faithful assemblies were then beautiful, the congregation Narrative of the Surprising Work of God as a let- was alive in God’s service, everyone earnestly intent ter to the Reverend Benjamin Coleman of Boston on the public worship” (63). Worshippers rejoiced in 1736, but the text proved to be of such great in God’s love and wept with “pity and concern” for interest that it was circulated and eventually pub- their loved ones. lished in 1737. In it, Edwards provides an account Recalling that it “was a dreadful thing amongst of the “little Awakening” that had begun in his us to lie out of Christ, in danger every day of drop- church in Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1735 ping into hell; and what persons’ minds were intent and had spread through the surrounding region upon was to . . . fl y from the wrath to come” (62), in the following months. This text is signifi cant Edwards sketches imagery that will make a far not only because it records the events themselves, more fearsome tableau in “Sinners in the Hands but also because it represents one of Edwards’s of an Angry God.” And yet, the Faithful Narra- fi rst efforts at organizing a theological response tive is composed lovingly and warmly, reminding to the dramatic events of religious revival. Within the reader that Edwards’s focus in preaching “Sin- fi ve years of the publication of his Faithful Narra- ners” was to lead the listener away from the dan- tive, Edwards would fi nd himself catapulted into gers described and toward the joys of repentance. the same role on a larger stage, constructing the Indeed, he writes that while some congregants theological framework that would give shape to the experienced anxiety over salvation, “there has been emotional events of the Great Awakening. far less of this mixture in this time of extraordi- Edwards begins this early narrative with a nary blessing, than there was wont to be in persons description of the people of Northampton, writing under awakenings at other times; . . . for it is evi- that they are “as sober, and orderly, and good sort of dent that many that before had been exceedingly people, as in any part of New England; and I believe involved in such diffi culties, seemed now strangely they have been preserved the freest by far, of any part to be set at liberty” (69). Ultimately, the resolution of the country, from error and variety of sects and of anxiety, not the production of it, demonstrated opinions” (57). In other words, Edwards reports, the authenticity of the revival. the events he is about to describe result from the In his discussion, Edwards carefully avoids tak- unusual work of the Holy Spirit, not from any pecu- ing credit for the revival, writing in a curiously liarities among his parishioners. Edwards mentions indirect passive voice, “There were then some what many New Englanders would have considered things said publicly on that occasion concerning a typical “declension” from the faith of earlier Cal- justifi cation by faith alone” (61). He explains the vinists but notes that in the period immediately pre- revival as a work of God, not of man: “This seems ceding the revival, many young people experienced a to have been a very extraordinary dispensation of change of heart, marked in “a disposition to hearken Providence: God has in many respects gone out to counsel” and a leaving off of “frolicking” that cul- of, and much beyond his usual and ordinary way” minated in “a very unusual fl exibleness, and yielding (64). He provides evidence of the sincerity of the to advice” (59). This seriousness of mind combined conversions experienced during this period: their with the sudden deaths of two young people in a number (about 300), their variety (occurring in neighboring community to prompt spiritual seek- equal numbers of men and women, rather than in ing and even conversions. Soon, “the minds of the greater numbers of women as his grandfather, the people were wonderfully taken off from the world; it former minister, had experienced previously in the 124 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers church), their diversity (occurring in the elderly as became joyously resigned either to live or to die. well as in the young, and in “Negroes” as well as As her attention shifted to the realm of heaven white colonists), their immediacy (resulting in rapid and away from the earthly realm, she found that changes in the lives of converts), and their breadth she no longer could eat, and she eventually died (spreading beyond the town into the region). This of an ecstatic anorexia, submitted either to life or careful consideration of the quality of the conver- death as God might will. Her pious life and death sions presages Edwards’s tests for genuine revival in resulted in further conversions, including that of “Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of her own sister. God” (1741) and “A Treatise Concerning Religious By the late spring of the following year, how- Affections” (1746), two later texts in which he ever, the conversions had slowed. Then, in a ter- proposed systematic evaluation of the distinctions rible incident, Edwards’s uncle took his own life, between true conversion and mindless enthusiasm. cutting his throat, and several other faithful people In nurturing individual converts, Edwards also recalled a strong impression that they too were advises that the fi rst awakenings often involved being instructed to slit their throats, so that they “something of a terrifying sense of God’s anger” needed to draw upon all their will to withstand and an intent to live a more righteous life (71). the temptation. Edwards writes that these spiritual Because God provides many early encouragements, affl ictions may have been the rather ordinary tac- new converts may hope that their sanctifi cation tics of Satan, but that the devil had been restrained will soon be complete, but they must learn to stand during the awakening. This tragic event, along with in their faith through the extended periods of dif- two strange experiences of enthusiastic delusions fi culty that are part of every believer’s life. Edwards (as do his contemporaries, Edwards uses the term writes that they often have “more distressing appre- enthusiasm pejoratively), signaled to Edwards that hensions of the anger of God” toward them as they God had determined to withdraw his Spirit as sov- become more sensitive to the Holy Spirit, but he ereignly as he had decided to visit it upon the peo- reminds his readers to treat them kindly. Such new ple of Northampton. Edwards ends the text with a converts, in his experience, “plainly stood in need plea to the reader to heed this truthful account of of being encouraged, by being told of the infi nite the events and not to be swayed by misrepresenta- and all-suffi cient mercy of God in Christ” (72–73). tions of this gracious work of God. While these sinners experience some “legal dis- tress” as they realize that God would be justifi ed For Discussion or Writing in punishing them, they begin to know true grace: 1. What emotions seem to be associated with “The way that grace seems sometimes fi rst to appear God’s presence in this text? after legal humiliation, is in earnest longings of soul 2. How does the experience of God depicted here after God and Christ, to know God, to love him, to contrast with the religious experience described be humbled before him, to have communion with in “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”? Christ in his benefi ts” (75). In his intimate aware- 3. How does Edwards’s tale of Abigail Hutchinson ness of the concerns of these new believers—and compare to ANNE BRADSTREET’s “Deliverance how to allay those concerns—Edwards reveals his from a Fever”? devotion to pastoral care. 4. How does this text refl ect the same concerns Further illustrating his interest in gentle edi- that drive Edwards’s later works “Distinguish- fi cation, Edwards includes in the narrative an ing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God” and extended case study of a young woman named “A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections”? Abigail Hutchinson who became converted and How do both of these texts illuminate Edwards’s experienced such great sweetness in God that role in the Great Awakening? she no longer desired to avoid death. Rather, she Tara Robbins Jonathan Edwards 125

“Sinners in the Hands of not only makes the text understandable, but also an Angry God” (1741) renders it applicable to his contemporary audience. Although the text originally applies to the “wicked On July 8, 1741, Jonathan Edwards delivered Israelites,” Edwards shifts from the vague pronoun this most famous of his sermons to a crowd at they to a more direct reference to his audience Enfi eld, Connecticut. From the attendant the members, “wicked men” and “we.” The common- Reverend Stephen Williams, we have learned that place experience of falling, occasioned by treading it was a well-received sermon that prompted “such in slippery places, which Edwards uses to illustrate a breathing of distress, and weeping, that the the susceptibility of sinners to lives of eternal dam- preacher was obliged to speak to the people and nation, makes this peril seem both comprehensible desire silence, that he might be heard” (reported and imminent. “As he that walks in slippery places in Trumbull 48). Partly because of this contem- is every moment liable to fall, he cannot foresee one porary account, and partly because of selected moment whether he shall stand or fall the next; and editions of the sermon appearing in textbooks, when he does fall, he falls at once without warn- most readers are only familiar with this sermon’s ing.” By linking the physical act of falling with the frightening images of hell and damnation. E. H. spiritual act, Edwards lets the body be the recep- Cady asked, “Why has it become the classic of hell- tacle of sin. The very weight of this sin burdens the fi re-and-brimstone preaching which so long shut body and makes it more susceptible to fall: “Then out our view of the tender minded and philosophic they shall be left to fall, as they are inclined by their Edwards?” (61). Stuart attempts an answer to this own weight.” rhetorical question in investigating the Reverend Man’s precarious position, his likelihood of fall- Stephen Williams’s reaction to the uplifting aspects ing at any moment and without warning, is further of Edwards’s sermon: “And several souls were demonstrated by an analysis of God as the only hopefully wrought upon that night. And oh the agent who “keeps wicked men at any moment out cheerfulness and pleasantness of their countenances of hell.” The fi gure of God portrayed in this section that received comfort” (reported in Stuart 46). In of the sermon is an all-powerful and just fi gure, but addition to the very pervasive and effective images one who exercises an untold degree of strength over and depictions of hell that Edwards includes in the humans. Edwards gives numerous examples of the sermon, Stuart argues, there are moments of hope fruitless nature of humans’ endeavor to resist God: and comfort for those who repent their sins (46). “There is no fortress that is any defense from the The use of fear was a tactic that Edwards had power of God.” As a metaphor for God’s power, strategically deployed, as he reveals in “Preparatory Edwards offers the dynamic between a human and Walk,” for a particular class of audience members. a worm: Just as easy as it is for a human to “tread “In the more unthinking people, such as husband- on and crush a worm,” so it is for God to “cast men and the common sort of people who are less his enemies down to hell.” “Nothing but the hand used to reasoning, God commonly works this con- of arbitrary mercy and God’s will” prevents people viction by begetting their minds a dreadful idea from being cast into hell. Edwards proclaims the and notion of the punishment: in the more know- justness of sinners’ fates, and God’s action in allow- ing and thinking men, the Holy Spirit makes more ing them to fall as they are prone to do, as a means use of rational deduction, to convince them that ’tis of awakening the fallen members of his audience to worth their while to seek earnestly for salvation.” their imminent fates. In his opening reference to Deuteronomy, “their And in this tension between God’s divine jus- foot shall slide in due time,” Edwards establishes tice and man’s inherent proclivity to mortal fall a prevailing image and tone for his sermon. As he Edwards echoes the Puritan view of religion. The provides explication for the biblical citation, he individual is at God’s mercy to be saved from 126 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers eternal damnation. Edwards constantly creates serve you for breath to maintain the fl ame of life in images of an open pit, or hell’s open mouth, which your vitals, while you spend your life in the service is ready and desirous of sinners. And yet humans of God’s enemies.” This image of a begrudging are not utterly powerless, despite the horrifi c image rather than nurturing domain drastically contrasts Edwards conjures of standing in limbo with God’s with the dynamic of man and nature presented in sword of divine justice over their heads and a fi ery Genesis, in which man is given dominion over all pit just below them. True, Edwards depicts “cor- the living things in the various elements. For the rupt principles” in the “souls of wicked men” that evil, sinning human, Edwards states, even the ele- would reign unrestrained were it not for the hand ments are antagonistic. In the fi rst book of Gen- of God, but his main purpose in creating such esis, “God said ‘Let us make man in our image, in horrifying scenes of death and endless torture is our likeness, and let them rule over the fi sh of the to prompt his audience members to pray to God sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over and repent their sins. He warns that these prayers all the earth, and over all the creatures that move of repentance must be sincere to be heard and along the ground’ ” (Genesis 1:26). Edwards notes heeded: “Till he believes in Christ, God is under the difference between this dynamic with nature no manner of obligation to keep him a moment and the one outlined in Genesis by stating that from eternal destruction.” For those who are not “God’s creatures are good, and were made for men true believers in Christ, however, Edwards offers to serve God with.” Another indirect reference to no hope: “They have no refuge, nothing to take Genesis immediately follows when Edwards uses hold of all that preserves them every moment is the a simile to compare God’s wrath to “great waters mere arbitrary will, and uncovenanted, unobliged that are damned for the present.” The impending forbearance of an incensed God.” fl ood, threatening with “constantly rising” waters, It is for these people, whom Edwards calls evokes the enormous deluge described in Genesis “unconverted persons,” that he details this “awful when God fl oods the world in his anger at man’s subject.” His desire is to make them aware and fall from grace. sensible to the precarious position of their souls: Perhaps the most famous of all images that “There is nothing,” Edwards proclaims, “between Edwards conjures in his sermon, the one that you and hell but the air.” For those who do not prompted the biographer Elisabeth D. Dodds to recognize God’s hand in their current situation, name it the “spider sermon,” is that of man hanging Edwards offers evidence: “the good state of your precariously, as if on a spider’s thread, over a fi re. bodily constitution, your care of your life, and the To convey the powerless state of a sinner, whose means you use for your own preservation.” These fate relies solely on the mercy of God, Edwards sources of an individual’s strength are useless when writes, “The God that holds you over the pit of faced with God’s justice, and the withdrawal of his hell, much as one holds a spider or some loathsome hand from them. insect over the fi re, abhors you, and is dreadfully All of the elements, including the earth and the provoked.” More examples of God’s omnipotence sun, are only sustaining the lives of sinners at God’s follow in subsequent paragraphs in which Edwards “sovereign pleasure”; thus, being out of harmony compares the wrath of God to that of a king or with God places the unrepentant sinners or unbe- absolute monarch. Just as Edwards discounted lievers out of harmony with their place in the world. man’s power of resistance to God’s will, so, too, Edwards writes: “The sun does not willingly shine does he diminish the power exercised by kings or upon you to give you light to serve sin and Satan; the “the greatest earthly potentates” in comparison earth does not willingly yield her increase to satisfy to “the great and almighty Creator and King of your lusts; nor is it willingly a stage for your wick- heaven and earth.” He quotes from Luke, in which edness to be acted upon; the air does not willingly mankind is advised not to fear the person who can Jonathan Edwards 127 kill the body, but the power that can kill the spirit For Discussion or Writing by casting one into hell. 1. Read Robert Lowell’s poem “Mr. Edwards and Edwards attempts a defi nition of eternal dam- the Spider” and consider his interpretation of nation in the following paragraph. Up until this the sermon. point, hell has been an immediate, but not neces- 2. Edwards’s sermon is visually rich, freighted sarily an infi nite threat. His shift in the depiction of with provocative images depicting the tenuous hell, less as a fi ery pit and more as an inconceivable state of an unrepentant sinner. Select what you eternity spent in turmoil, occurs on the brink of believe to be the most effective or powerful of his fi nal plea to his listeners to repent their sins and these images and explain how they work, and sincerely commit themselves to their religious faith. how they fashion a dynamic between God and In imagining hell as “a long forever, a boundless humans. duration before you, which will swallow up your 3. How does Edwards reconcile the image of God thoughts, and amaze your soul,” Edwards shifts as angry, powerful, and mighty with the image from the physical aspects of eternal damnation to of him near the sermon’s end as loving and for- its emotional and psychological effects. To make giving? Are the images mutually exclusive? If the concept of eternal damnation more under- not, how does Edwards reconcile them? standable and accessible, Edwards points to those “in this congregation now hearing this discourse that will actually be the subjects of this very misery to all eternity.” A Treatise Concerning Despite his employment of numerous images to Religious Affections (1746) emphasize man’s helpless state as an unrepentant Edwards’s preface to A Treatise Concerning Reli- sinner, Edwards also claims man’s agency, or ability gious Affections illustrates the critical importance to change these dire circumstances, when he writes of his work: “There is no question of greater in the application section of the sermon, “The use importance to every individual of mankind than of this awful subject may be for awakening uncon- this; —What is the nature of true religion?” verted persons in this congregation.” Stuart iden- Although Edwards believes that there are ample tifi es the “logical inconsistency” in the sermon: means to answer this question, he notes that Edwards “went on to use the poles of God’s sov- it is a divisive one: “There is no question upon ereignty and man’s responsibility to maintain an which professing Christians are more divided.” effective tension in everyday religious life. To some, In this time of revival, Edwards mourns the exis- this tension is suspect, because of its logical incon- tence of “counterfeit” mixing with “true religion,” sistency. But to others, it appears singularly effective which he recognizes as a tactic undertaken by the in keeping man from falling into either despair, on devil to “gain the greatest advantage against the the one hand, or complacency, on the other” (56). cause of Christ.” Edwards traces this phenomenon He calls on members of the congregation to recog- throughout time, arguing that it is particularly nize and act upon the “extraordinary opportunity” during moments of revival when this very division to convert and commit themselves to Christ. If they occurs. It will continue occurring, Edwards states, will but listen to Christ “calling and crying with a “till we have learned to distinguish between saving loud voice to poor sinners,” their “hearts [will be] experience and affections, and those numerous fair fi lled with love to Him who has loved them.” Here, shows, and specious appearances, by which they are Edwards shifts from a characterization of God that counterfeited.” has prevailed in the sermon as an angry and venge- Part 1 of the Treatise addresses the nature of the ful God, to one more in keeping with New Testa- affections and their importance in religion. Exam- ment readings, a God of love and acceptance. ining a verse from Peter, Edwards proposes the 128 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers doctrine that “true religion consists in holy affec- of sermons that Edwards delivered, was to combat tions.” He defi nes the affections by differentiat- the belief promulgated in the Great Awakening that ing them from the other faculty of the soul, which “bodily effects” were the true sign of conversion. is perception and speculation. For Edwards, the Edwards addresses the fervent nature of affections, “lively and powerful exercises” of one’s inclination noting that it corresponds that those with excit- are synonymous with one’s affections (15). His able passions are naturally inclined to heightened emphasis on “lively and powerful exercises” stems expressions of their religious affections (47–48). from the Bible, specifi cally Deuteronomy, in which That said, Edwards does not conscience a whole- God insists that his followers be “fervent in spirit” sale acceptance of all great expressions of affections (17). These affections are “the springs which set necessarily stemming from “a spiritual and gracious us to work in all the affairs of life” (19). Without nature” (49). More specifi cally, Edwards argues being affected, specifi cally by the emotions of love, that though these affections “produce strong joy, fear, hatred, sorrow, gratitude, compassion, and effects upon the body, [there] is no proof either zeal, Edwards argues, there can be no true belief that these affections are truly gracious, or that they or practice of faith (20–26). Through a series of are not” (50). He bases his statement about the biblical references to these very affections, Edwards enigmatic nature of bodily effects by arguing that concludes that “those persons who deny that much they might stem from strong emotions that might of the true religion resides in the affections . . . themselves be based on spirituality or on earthly must reject what we have become accustomed to things (50–51). Edwards admits that “there is cer- esteem as the Bible” (26). tainly great power in spiritual affections,” and thus Edwards centralizes “a vigorous, affectionate, he cannot state defi nitively that bodily effects, such and fervent love to God” as the basis for all sub- as fainting, are not prompted by religious affections sequent religious affections (28). He demonstrates (51). As proof, Edwards provides scriptural exam- further biblical proof of the centrality of religious ples of prophets whose bodies are overwhelmed by affections through an examination of three proph- the sight and the glory of God (51–54). Edwards ets: David, Paul, and John (29–32). In daily exer- defends most ardently those people who express cises of faith, such as prayer, Edwards believes that the belief that their bodies are affected by the Holy the necessity for religious affections is abundantly Spirit, arguing that it is in keeping with the mirac- clear. People do not pray to “inform God or to ulous works God has performed and that have been incline his heart to show mercy, but suitably to recorded in the Bible and that such descriptions of affect our own hearts as we prepare ourselves for the conversions, particularly in the New Testament, are reception of the blessings we ask” (34). It is for this public, wonderful, and sudden (58). very same purpose that Christians attend sermons For every example of true religious conversion, so that their affections are raised in their apprecia- such as “preparatory and convictions and humili- tion of the biblical text (35). Finally, Edwards notes ation” followed by “alarm and terror” and then how sinfulness is described repeatedly in the Bible converted into “comfort and joy,” Edwards offers as “hardness of heart,” thus displaying that a “ten- counterarguments that these affections, even that derness of heart” is prerequisite to a true faith. of love, might arise from the devil or from expres- The second part is entitled “On Those Things sions that are not based on true conviction but Which Afford No Decisive Evidence, Either That are merely counterfeit. He concludes the section Our Affections Are Truly Gracious, or That They by deferring to the Scriptures, “this notion of Are Not.” As the title suggests, Edwards’s purpose ascertaining the state of others by our love being in this section is to “discriminate between true and excited toward them is antiscriptural. The sacred false religious affections” (44). Part of the impetus writings say nothing of any such mode of judg- for the pamphlet, which was amassed from a series ing respecting the state of others, but direct us to Jonathan Edwards 129 form our opinion of them chiefl y from the fruits Here, Edwards entered into the century-old they produce” (102). confl ict between the Calvinist doctrine of irresist- ible grace (the idea that a person elected by God For Discussion or Writing to receive salvation could not resist divine grace, 1. Edwards’s treatise was occasioned by the Great in spite of human sinfulness) and the Arminian Awakening, one of the most famous and infl uen- doctrine of conditionalism (the idea that salva- tial revivals of the time. Why might this moment tion required some element of faith generated by necessitate a defense of the “true religion”? the human person). By the mid-18th century, the 2. How does Edwards’s treatment of religious infl uence of Scottish commonsense philosophy had affections compare to his account of them in led some to question whether Calvinism’s notion A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of of irresistibility undermined Enlightenment doc- God? trines of moral responsibility by implying that 3. How might you compare Edwards’s treatise on man was incapable of—and therefore could not bodily and emotional affectation with COTTON be held accountable for—upholding moral stan- MATHER’s Wonders of the Invisible World? dards. Arminianism, with its insistence that man Tara Robbins could either accept or reject God’s grace, seemed to offer a solution for this problem. Thus, as the historian Paul Ramsey writes in the introduction to the authoritative edition of Edwards’s text, in (1754) The Freedom of the Will choosing to begin with a treatise on the freedom of Jonathan Edwards published his treatise on the the will, Edwards “planned to join argument with freedom of the will in 1754, under the title “A Arminianism precisely on the ground of its great- Careful and Strict Enquiry into the Modern Pre- est strength, i.e. the importance of the ethical and vailing Notions of That Freedom of Will, Which Is the human for understanding the relation between Supposed to Be Essential to Moral Agency, Virtue, God and man” (2). Edwards commences his assault and Vice, Reward and Punishment, Praise and on Arminianism on the very doctrinal point most Blame.” Edwards had conceived of this exploration attractive to its own followers, striking what he in the years following the fi rst Great Awakening, intended as a death blow to its heart. writing to his fellow theologian John Erskine in While he did not permanently resuscitate the Scotland in 1747 that he hoped to draft “something entire Calvinist orthodoxy, Edwards did achieve particularly and largely on the Arminian contro- a monumental revival of many of Calvinism’s doc- versy, in distinct discourses on the various points trines for an audience of professional theologians in dispute, to be published successively, beginning and lay readers alike. After his Life of David Brain- fi rst with a discourse concerning the Freedom of erd, “Edwards on the will” was the most reprinted the Will, and Moral Agency; endeavouring fully of his texts through the middle of the 19th cen- and thoroughly to state and discuss those points of tury (Conforti 109), and 20th- and 21st-century Liberty and Necessity, Moral and Physical Inabil- biographers of Edwards often point to it as his ity, Effi cacious Grace, and the ground of virtue and greatest achievement. Indeed, the Yale University vice, reward and punishment, blame and praise, Press edition of Edwards’s complete Works begins with regard to the dispositions and actions of rea- with this text as the fi rst volume. The series edi- sonable creatures” (quoted in Ramsey 2). Edwards tor Perry Miller writes in his preface that “although thus intended this treatise as the fi rst installment it is not the fi rst in the Edwards chronology, it is in a series of works that would entirely disassemble the work through which his fame has been most what he perceived as the specious foundation of the widely spread abroad, even to the multitudes who Arminian complaint against Calvinism. have known the book only by hearsay” (Miller vii). 130 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

Edwards’s infl uence was both critical and popular, 3. Edwards was very interested in science, especially domestic and transatlantic, immediate and long as it illuminated truths about the human condi- lasting. tion. How would he have responded to modern The text itself is divided into four parts: a fi rst debates that suggest that people’s actions are part setting out Edwards’s terms and three others determined by their biological characteristics. refuting the Arminian position that free will and Tara Robbins liberty were necessary for the imputation of moral responsibility. Edwards’s argument proceeds with painstaking logical precision, and much of the groundwork is established through the defi nitions The Great Christian Doctrine in the fi rst part. In this section, Edwards equates of Original Sin Defended (1758) the will and the act of volition, arguing that a man Edwards died before this document could be pub- cannot truly will to do something and refrain from lished, although the advertisement mentions that doing it; a man who claims to have done so has he had reviewed most of it before his untimely actually willed not to do the act. Further, the will demise. He begins by identifying Dr. Taylor’s The “is determined by the greatest apparent good, or by Scripture-Doctrine of Original Sin Proposed to Free what seems most agreeable” (144). Actions derive and Candid Examination and Key to Apostolic directly and necessarily from what the mind per- Writings as the two key books written in opposi- ceives as most desirable, and a man’s disposition tion to the concept of original sin. Dr. Turnbull determines his actions (Gura 192). Edwards also is also identifi ed, and quoted throughout the differentiates between moral and natural neces- book. Not believing that “any thing which has the sity. Natural necessity means that a man’s actions appearance of an argument, in opposition to this are determined by certain physical realities; moral doctrine, should be left unanswered,” Edwards necessity means that his actions are determined insists that this doctrine’s great importance casts by his disposition, in the face of God’s worthi- light on interpretations of the gospel and the doc- ness. While sinful man may be morally incapable trine of salvation. of loving God because his disposition has been In the fi rst section, Edwards addresses the “true corrupted, he possesses the freedom to do so. He tendencies of the innate disposition of man’s heart,” is free to do whatever he wills, but without God’s whether we are innately evil or innately good. He grace, he wills only to sin. Thus, Edwards counters cites Turnbull’s argument that the number of Arminianism and insists that man’s will is free, but wicked or evil acts in the world occupies a small that man can only sin—and that God is therefore percentage when compared to the good and virtu- justifi ed in condemning the sinner for failing to ous acts. Similarly, Turnbull dismisses the source exercise his freedom to will to do good. of information on this important question, stating that a prison does not represent the vast majority of For Discussion or Writing law-abiding citizens; nor does a bout of illness in 1. When did Edwards originally conceive of his an otherwise healthy life accurately represent the text, and what did he hope to achieve with it? health of a person. In response, Edwards argues for What doctrinal system did Edwards oppose in man’s moral tendency for evil or wickedness with- Freedom of the Will? out the interposition of divine grace. He writes, 2. What are Edwards’s central arguments in the “It would be very strange if any should argue, that text? How do they relate to your own ideas there is no evil tendency in the case, because the about moral responsibility? Are people respon- mere favor and compassion of the Most High may sible for actions that they feel too weak to avoid step in and oppose the tendency, and prevent the if those actions cause harm to them or others? sad effect.” Thus, Edwards argues, the absence of Jonathan Edwards 131 a criminal or evil act by a person does not prove again employs Taylor’s own words and logic against the innate goodness of the person, but rather the him by stating that if God made the world and pro- divine intervention of God to prevent the per- nounced it good, then there is no room in such a son from acting on his or her natural disposition habitation for sin. Thus, Edwards concludes, sin toward evil. must originate in man himself and not in the world Before tackling the subject of man’s innate ten- about him. dency to moral ruin, Edwards addresses the subject In the third section, Edwards tackles the impli- that all humans who are “capable of acting as moral cations behind Taylor’s complaint that humans are agents” are guilty of sin. He provides numerous disproportionately punished to eternal damnation scriptural passages to document the representa- for committing one sin. Given the truthfulness of tions of man as a sinful being in need of confes- this statement, Edwards writes, it must follow that sion and repentance. Edwards states that Dr. Taylor the numerous good deeds of a person do not com- himself asserts and affi rms “these things” but dif- pensate for a single act of sin. The answer to this ferentiates between holy law and sinfulness so that quandary, Edwards insists, lies in man’s “infallibly man can “transgress the law, and yet not be guilty effectual propensity to moral evil, which infi nitely of sin.” Taylor writes alarmingly of how one trans- outweighs the value of all the good that can be in gression against the law subjects the individual to them.” Thus, what appeared to Dr. Taylor to be everlasting death. Edwards defends God’s law as an excessive punishment that was not equivalent “holy, just, and good” and maintains his belief that to the crime is, to Edwards, a just punishment for humans are “the subjects of guilt and sinfulness, humankind’s “immense guilt.” Against those who which is, in effect, their utter and eternal ruin.” would talk of the “prevailing innocence [and] good In support of his use of the term tendency, nature” of man’s nature, Edwards counters with Edwards clarifi es it through rational explanation. the absurd example of a wife who, though she com- A single event, he states, does not qualify as a ten- mitted adultery with the slaves and other scoun- dency, but observations of events in the natural drels, performed her wifely duties more often than world hundreds and millions of times do qualify. her acts of adultery and thus should be deemed a He provides readers with an example of throwing a good wife. die one time or thousands of times. After observ- Edwards employs a passage from the Gospel of ing a die thrown thousands of times, Edwards John as further proof that all humans are born into states, one can draw conclusions from the prepon- a fallen state: “If we say that we have no sin, we derance of evidence that the die has a tendency to deceive ourselves.” If there were ever a time with land on one side over others. For humans, he con- people born without sin, Edwards reasons, it must cludes, to observe the history in a family to murder have been during John’s time during the “primi- themselves or die of consumption would indicate a tive Christian church,” and those people must have tendency in that family or race. Edwards uses Tay- been the children of Christian parents. However, lor’s own language against him in expanding this he immediately dismantles this possibility by rhe- point, incorporating Taylor’s phrase “We are very torically questioning why John would write such a apt, in a world full of temptation, to be deceived, passage as that quoted previously if his own envi- and drawn into sin by bodily appetites.” Edwards ronment, that of the primitive Christian Church, agrees, focusing on Taylor’s use of the term apt to were not itself without sin. The reason Edwards imply a “tendency.” In opposition to Taylor’s sense offers for sin’s immediacy is its great disposition that that sin is an external source, Edwards notes that “will not suffer any considerable time to pass with- it occurs in both sexes and has been “observed in out sin.” Edwards imagines this disposition to have mankind in general, through all countries, nations, a cumulative and self-perpetuating effect: Because and ages, and in all conditions.” Further, Edwards humans are prone to sin, the tendency to increase 132 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers wicked habits and practices likewise increases over of Rome” as another manifestation of mankind’s time, so long as the motion is not arrested. This wickedness. notion accounts for why adults are more prone to Given the preponderance of evidence Edwards sin than children. offers in this book in support of the doctrine of Edwards counters Dr. Turnbull’s sense of human’s original sin, he nevertheless believes that humans well-proportioned affections by remarking on the have hope in God’s grace. absence of a justly proportional love and gratitude to God for his goodness. Instead, he witnesses a stron- For Discussion or Writing ger inclination “to anger towards men for their inju- 1. Compare the dynamic of humans and God that ries.” Even among those men who are Christian and Edwards conveys in this book with that of his who love God, their love for him may not be enough, sermons. To what extent does the period or the and thus “there is more sin, consisting in defect of genre (a book rather than a sermon) contribute required holiness.” The presence of sin among good to the difference? men, Edwards concludes, is further proof of the nat- 2. In this book, Edwards directly addresses fi gures ural tendency to sin. The following section includes holding opposing views from him, Dr. Taylor humankind’s propensity toward worshipping idols, and Dr. Turnbull. What of his other opponents, such as the paganism practiced by indigenous popu- those who contributed to his ousting from the lations of North and South America, and mankind’s Northampton church? How does he position “great disregard of their own eternal interest” as himself with respect to them? additional evidence of an innate fallen status. Beginning with Adam; continuing through his son Cain, who committed fratricide; and on to Abraham after the fl ood, Edwards cites numerous FURTHER QUESTIONS ON scriptural passages that provide a continuous and EDWARDS AND HIS WORK unremitting history of humankind’s wickedness. 1. Jonathan Edwards is primarily associated with He further adds that Dr. Taylor himself “owns” the “hellfi re and brimstone” aspects of the to these very passages in his own book. “Thus,” Puritan faith rather than regarded as a holy Edwards remarks, “a view of the several successive man endeavoring to convert followers during periods of the past duration of the world, from the the Great Awakening. Examine his texts care- beginning to this day, shows, that wickedness has fully and make an argument for Edwards as a ever been exceedingly prevalent, and has had vastly compassionate man, intent upon preventing the the superiority in the world.” Further, Edwards backsliding of Puritans and reinstating their writes in the next section, mankind was given position as God’s chosen people. ample warning against continuing their wicked- 2. Conduct additional research into the Great ness by Noah, and yet the people took no heed. Awakening, which was such a pivotal event in Edwards observes, despite the “new and extraordi- early American history, and argue for the posi- nary means” God took with the Flood they “were tion that Jonathan Edwards occupies in this so far from proving suffi cient, that the new world critical historical moment. degenerated, and became corrupt.” The contin- 3. Consider how Edwards’s examinations of nature ued wickedness of men, however, continued even relate to his understanding of mankind’s rela- afterward with the destruction of Babylon. He pro- tionship with God, and compare these ideas to vides additional examples from Scriptures of man’s those of Cotton Mather and then to those of “extreme degree of corruption,” culminating in the the transcendentalists Henry David Thoreau Jews’ rejecting Christ and his Gospel. In Edwards’s and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Is there a point of own time, he sees the “corruption of the Church commonality? Jonathan Edwards 133

WORKS CITED AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES William and Mary Quarterly 48, no. 4 (1991): Cady, E. H. “The Artistry of Jonathan Edwards.” New 531–551. England Quarterly 22 (1949): 61–72. Madsen, William G. From Shadowy Types to Truth: Conforti, Joseph A. Jonathan Edwards, Religious Studies in Milton’s Symbolism. New Haven, Conn.: Tradition, and American Culture. Chapel Hill: Yale University Press, 1968. University of North Carolina Press, 1995. Marsden, George M. Jonathan Edwards: A Life. New Dodds, Elisabeth D. Marriage to a Diffi cult man: The Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2003. Uncommon union of Jonathan and Sarah Edwards. Miller, Perry. “Edwards to Emerson.” Errand into the Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1971. Wilderness. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Edwards, Jonathan. “Faithful Narrative of the Surpris- Press, 1956. ing Work of God.” In A Jonathan Edwards Reader. ———, ed. “General Editor’s Note.” In Works of Edited by John E. Smith, Harry S. Stout, and Jonathan Edwards. Vol. 1. New Haven, Conn.: Yale Kenneth P. Minkema. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1957. University Press, 1995. McDermott, Gerald. Jonathan Edwards Confronts the ———. Freedom of the Will. Works of Jonathan Edwards. Gods: Christian Theology, Enlightenment Religion, Vol. 1. Edited by Paul Ramsey, series editor Perry and Non-Christian Faiths. Oxford: Oxford Univer- Miller. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, sity Press, 2002. 1957. Ramsey, Paul, editor for Volume I. “Editor’s Intro- ———. A Jonathan Edwards Reader. Edited by John duction.” In Works of Jonathan Edwards. Vol. 1. E. Smith, Harry S. Stout, and Kenneth P. Minkema. General editor Perry Miller. New Haven, Conn.: New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1995. Yale University Press, 1957. Griffi n, Edward M. Jonathan Edwards. Minneapolis: Stuart, Robert Lee. “Jonathan Edwards at Enfi eld: University of Minnesota Press, 1971. ‘And Oh the Cheerfulness and Pleasantness . . .’ ” Gura, Philip F. Jonathan Edwards: America’s Evangeli- American Literature 48 (1976): 46–59. cal. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2005. Trumbull, Benjamin. A Complete History of Connecti- Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University. Available cut. New York: Arno Press, 1972. online. URL: http://edwards.yale.edu/. Accessed Wainwright, William. “Jonathan Edwards.” Stanford April 23, 2009. Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Available online. URL: Knight, Janice. “Learning the Language of God: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/edwards/. Jonathan Edwards and the Typology of Nature.” Accessed April 23, 2009. Olaudah Equiano (1745 –1797)

hitherto I had thought only slavery dreadful; but the state of a free negro appeared to me now equally so at least; and in some respects even worse, for they live in constant alarm for their liberty.

(The Interesting Narrative)

The Interesting Narrative of the Life ment. By focusing on the life of an individual in the of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, 18th century, when readers were looking for moral the African, Written by Himself (1789) guidance or “admonitory and historical values,” Equiano necessarily included his spiritual develop- What scholars know of Olaudah Equiano’s life ment as an aspect of his tale that more than satis- is derived mainly from his autobiography, whose fied readers’ expectations. full title is The Interesting Narrative of the Life of A distinguishing feature of Equiano’s narrative Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, lies in its early chapters’ focus on his childhood and Written by Himself. We have therefore chosen to his tribe’s cultural practices and beliefs in Africa. address Equiano’s life and major work in a single Equiano orients his reader, after dispensing with section. the traditional declarations of humility and lack of In his introduction to the 1989 bicentennial literary talent, to “that part of Africa, known by edition of Olaudah Equiano’s narrative, critic Wil- the name of Guinea, to which the trade of slaves fred D. Samuels connects Equiano’s text to the is carried on” (4). Deep within a wealthy kingdom burgeoning genres of autobiography and slave nar- that touches the coast, into “the interior part of ratives. As a predecessor to the works of Booker T. Africa to a distance hitherto . . . unexplored by Washington, Harriet Jacobs, Frederick Douglass, any traveler,” Equiano was born. His description and Hannah Crafts, Equiano’s account tells of his of the tribe’s lands as “unexplored” or unmapped, enslavement in Africa, his experience of the middle as it were, immediately renders him an expert, or at passage to America, and his struggles to liberate least an individual with privileged information. A himself both physically and spiritually. Samuels member of the Eboe (modern-day spelling of Ibo) attributes the book’s popularity to this last char- tribe, Equiano writes that his isolation within the acteristic, the book’s “spiritual elements” (iv–v). As interior of Africa accounted for his having “never a conversion tale, Equiano’s Interesting Narrative heard of white men or Europeans” (5). Historians gives itself to “lengthy discourse on his conversion have located more exact coordinates for Equiano’s to Methodism” (v). In this particular theme, Equi- home. Samuels writes, “Equiano was an Ibo born ano creates a narrative arc that traces his movement in the Essaka region, northeast of the Niger River, from slave to freeman, from spiritually empty to in the interior of Nigeria” (v). More recent develop- enriched. This development informs other aspects ments, brought about by additional research into of the book, namely, its autobiographical move- his early childhood, reveal that this past might be

134 Olaudah Equiano 135

fi ctional. The biographer Vincent Carrera argues in sees that Equiano’s careful documentation of the his biography of Equiano that this famous fi gure Ibo’s markers of civility are detailed, various, and was actually born into slavery in present-day South made readily apparent. Just as they are simple in Carolina and manufactured the story of his child- their gastronomic tastes, so is their architecture hood spent in Africa. refl ective of a “study [of] convenience rather than Equiano tells of his father’s prominent position ornament” (15). Lest readers or observers mistake in the Ibo tribe as an “embrence; a term, as I remem- simplicity for baseness or rudimentary starts into ber, importing the highest distinction, and signi- civility, one need only consider the Puritan lifestyle fying in our language a mark of grandeur” (5–6). burgeoning in America at the same time as Equiano He proceeds to provide readers with the means of writes. The Puritans’ desire to move away from the creating this physical marker of distinction and, in debauching features of a life overtaken with sophis- such a rhetorical strategy, invites his readers into tication, earthly pleasures, and luxuries caused the private cultural practices of the Ibo. He contin- them to strive instead for simple pleasures and for ues in this vein of making the unknown or foreign unadorned lives. The practical purpose behind sim- knowable and familiar by comparing aspects and ple architectural style of housing of the Ibo is easily practices of the Ibo with those of the Jews (30, 32). explained: “Houses so constructed and furnished The Ibo practiced polygamy but abhorred adultery require but little skill to erect them. Every man is so much that it was a crime punishable by death suffi cient architect for the purpose” (17). Thus, the (7–8). The marriage ceremony resembles modern basic nature of the houses has a clear, utilitarian common law marriages in which all that is required purpose because people have all the skill necessary for a couple to be deemed husband and wife is the for the construction of their own dwellings. public declaration of both bride and bridegroom “in In describing their economic system of trade the midst of all their friends” (8). The bride wears with neighboring tribes, Equiano fi rst brokers the “round her waist a cotton string of the thickness of book’s initial foray into its diffi cult subject of slav- a goose quill, which none but married women are ery. “Sometimes indeed we sold slaves to them, but permitted to wear” (9). Equiano’s attention to the they were only prisoners of war, or such among us ritual and symbols of marriage among the Ibo has as had been convicted of kidnapping, or adultery, the rhetorical function of refuting 18th-century and some other crimes, which we esteemed hei- European beliefs regarding the sexual licentious- nous” (19). In his reckoning of slavery, Equiano ness of both African men and women. This racially criminalizes the practice through its associations informed conviction helped to further the cause of with those committing trespasses deemed “hei- slavery because, as proslavery advocates argued, the nous.” He also foreshadows his own subjugation absence of any markers of civility—such as marriag- to the slave trade by mentioning his suspicion that es—made the inhumane practice of slavery seem neighboring tribes entered the Ibo’s marketplace not only justifi ed, but a civilizing practice. not only for the purpose of trade, but with large, As further testament to Ibo civility, Equiano empty sacks intended to capture individuals for details the division of labor based on sex and the future sale as slaves. customary diet, which is lacking “those refi ne- Equiano blames the introduction of European ments in cookery which debauch the taste” (13). goods as the controlling temptation that lures Thus, the simplicity of the Ibo diet is favorably traders to “accept the price of his fellow creatures’ contrasted to the supposedly more sophisticated, liberty with as little reluctance as the enlightened yet more “debauched” tastes of European cuisine. merchant” (24). To satisfy his greed for European For example, Equiano emphasizes the Ibo’s pro- wares, the trader “falls on his neighbor, and a des- clivity for cleanliness before eating: “Our cleanli- perate battle ensues” in order to take prisoners of ness on all occasions is extreme” (13). Again, one war, who can then be sold into slavery (24). To 136 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers make sure that readers can distinguish between cal proximity to “the torrid zone” (40–41). If, as the practice of slavery among the Ibo and that in Equiano argues, a Spaniard can change complex- the West Indies, Equiano details the salient points: ion and yet remain the same mind, then there is “With us [slaves] do no more work than other mem- no basis for the “apparent inferiority of an African” bers of the community, even their masters; their (42). Indeed, he carries the argument a step fur- food, clothing, and lodging were nearly the same ther, insisting “that understanding is not confi ned as theirs (except that they were not permitted to to feature or colour” (42). eat with those who were free-born); and there was Chapter 2 opens with the swift termination of scarce any other difference between them, than a Equiano’s blissful childhood with the abduction of superior degree of importance which the authority both him and his sister. Snatched together, the two which, as such, he exercises over every part of his are able to comfort each other by “being in one household” (26–27). With the exception of their another’s arms all night, and bathing each other absence from the table of freeborn people when with our tears” (50). Even this small relief is stolen dining, nothing distinguishes slaves from masters. from them as the two siblings are ripped from each Most notably, the system of slavery as practiced in other’s arms and forced to endure the pains and Africa by the Ibo is not a race-based institution. anguish of their mutual enslavement alone. Equi- As mentioned before, Equiano makes numerous ano soon attempts to return to his family home comparisons between Ibo practices and beliefs and and takes advantage of the freedom allotted him those of the Jews. He mentions the signifi cance of by his master to orient himself to the geography of hand washing, libations, and general hygiene, as his new home in the hope of a future escape. The well as the practice of circumcision, as two central opportunity for escape occurs unexpectedly when practices the cultures share in common (30, 32). Equiano kills one of the master’s chickens and runs Equiano has been struck “very forcibly” by the off to hide for fear of receiving a beating as pun- “strong analogy . . . in the manners and customs ishment. The thickness of the bushes, along with of my countrymen and those of the Jews, before the searchers’ general consensus that he has fl ed for they reached the Land of Promise . . . an analogy, home, prevent those of his master’s household from which alone would induce me to think that the one discovering him. But upon overhearing his search- people had strung from the other” (38). To cor- ers speak of the futility of his return home, given roborate this theory further, Equiano refers to “a the signifi cant distance, Equiano emerges from his Dr. Gill, who, in this commentary on Genesis, very hiding place at dusk and drags himself, fi lled with ably deduces the pedigree of the Africans . . . [and] despair, into his master’s kitchen in search of food the descendants of Abraham” (38). and drink (57). As the biographer Carrera has noted, no sec- After the death of the master’s daughter, Equi- tion of Equiano’s Interesting Narrative contains ano fi nds himself sold to yet another family. He so many references to other sources, such as Dr. does not specify how long he is with this new mas- Mitchel, Mr. T. Clarkson, and Dr. John Clarke (39, ter nor mention how many other times he is sold. 40, 41). Within these sources Equiano fi nds addi- The singular event that marks his captivity while tional authority for his claims against the institution still in Africa is the unexpected but brief reunion of slavery based on documented proof and testi- with his sister (59). In rhapsodizing on the partic- mony regarding the civility of Africans. The central ular dangers slavery imposes on women, Equiano argument Equiano references for proof of Africans’ hopes for the protection of his sister’s innocence humanity involves the correlation between pigmen- and virtues (62). Equiano wonders about his sister’s tation and geography. As the argument goes, “the fate, and, in so doing, narrates the fate common to difference of color between the Eboan Africans and many female slaves: “fallen victim to the violence modern Jews” can be attributed to their geographi- of the African trader, the pestilential stench of a Olaudah Equiano 137

Guinea ship, the seasoning in the European colo- pean colonies: “I was not long suffered to indulge nies, or the lash and lust of a brutal and unrelent- my grief; I was soon put down under the decks, and ing overseer” (62). there I received such a salutation in my nostrils as I Equiano’s experience of slavery in Africa seems had never experienced in my life: so that, with the to be polarized by extremes. While residing with loathsomeness of the stench and crying together, I one family, for example, he is bathed, clothed, per- became so sick and low that I was not able to eat, fumed, and treated as a member of the family. He nor had I the least desire to taste anything” (73). notes his initial astonishment when he fi nds himself Conditions below deck worsen for Equiano and his seated at the same table as his masters for dinner fellow captives when another ship moves alongside (64). These luxuries and the homelike environ- theirs and unloads additional cargo: ment are juxtaposed with the household of his next master, among “a people who did not circumcise It became absolutely pestilential. The close- and ate without washing their hands” (67). Fur- ness of the place, and the heat of the climate, ther, the women are not modest and do not follow added to the number in the ship, which was so the practices of the women from the Ibo tribe. The crowded that each had scarcely room to turn people offer no sacrifi ces or libations before eating, himself, almost suffocated us. This produced the men and women swim together in the water, copious perspirations, so that the air soon and the women sleep with the men (66, 67, 68). In became unfi t for respiration, from a variety of this cataloging of ill manners and lack of civility, loathsome smells, and brought on a sickness Equiano shows the disparity between master and among the slaves, of which many died. . . . This servant. Having been born to a tribe practicing all wretched situation was again aggravated by the of these gestures that mark their civility, Equiano galling of the chains, now become insupport- occupies a position of moral authority. able, and the fi lth of the necessary tubs into From this position of moral and cultural which the children often fell, and were almost estrangement, Equiano fi nds himself on the sea- suffocated. (79) coast and face to face with a slave ship. The mis- trust, fear, and bewilderment that characterized In opposition to his previous description of the his experiences among his most recent slave own- importance of cleanliness, hand washing, and ers gain intensity and emphasis when he is forced general hygiene among the Ibo, and even among aboard the ship. He narrates his innate distrust the various owners he had in Africa, the deadly and fear on seeing the Europeans, whom he rightly conditions suffered during the middle passage took to be “bad spirits,” and details how “their are “pestilential” and cause the deaths of several complexions too differing so much from our, their slaves. Equiano attributes his survival to his ability long hair, and the language they spoke, (which was to dwell on deck without “fetters.” Both kind- very different from any I had ever heard) united to nesses he believes are purchased by his “extreme confi rm me in this belief” (70–71). His vantage youth” (80). At the height of the disparity between point reverses the cultural authority on the issue civilized and barbaric, Equiano twice mentions of slavery. his and other shackled slaves’ shared fear that the Equiano’s next description provides even more European captors were cannibals who would cook information on the subject of slavery than was and eat them. previously known. His narrative, in addition to its In direct opposition to his moments of fear and attention to life in Africa, is most notable for its despair are moments of wonder and curiosity. Hav- detailed description of the middle passage, or the ing never tasted certain foods during his 11 years sea voyage African slaves endured chained together among the Ibo, Equiano expresses his delight, while in the hull of a ship as they made their way to Euro- a slave in other parts of Africa, in being introduced 138 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers to coconuts and pumpkins. When aboard the slave Similarly, those on board the ship bound for ship, Equiano wonders at the magic spell that the England, including Equiano’s master, Pascal, take Europeans must have cast onto the ship in order to advantage of his youth and easily convince him that make it sail. When he asks the other shipmates about their threats to kill and eat him are quite real (97, its properties, their ignorance of naval mechanics 99, 100, 101, 102–103). Having learned before of only further affi rms this belief in magic. When the the cruelty of Europeans by witnessing the fatal shipmates note Equiano’s natural curiosity about fl ogging of a sailor and the unceremonious dis- the quadrant, “they at last took notice of my sur- patch of dead slaves overboard, the reader cannot prise; and one of them, willing to increase it, as well help but sympathize with the 11-year-old Equiano, as to gratify my curiosity, made me one day to look who takes quite seriously the cruel jests and threats through it” (83). He is also surprised by fl ying fi sh of his master and fellow sailors. and “seeing people on horseback” (83, 85). In gath- The natural wonder that Equiano expresses ering these moments together, the reader recognizes about new foods, fl ying fi sh, and snow quickly how Equiano returns to his own childhood and the translates into an appreciation for God, the Cre- naturally inquisitive mind that all children have. ator, and for church (105). Thus does Equiano Soon after his arrival in Virginia, Equiano main- remove the racial or cultural slant of his wonder tains his sense of wonder and amazement at some and awe. Rather than attributing these items, and of the natural and man-made sights. He marvels his sense of wonder about them, to the Europeans at snow, which he had never witnessed before. He who introduce him to them, Equiano very wisely wonders at a clock, a picture, and an iron muzzle connects them to God, and thus acquiesces to a when he is called into the big house to fan his ill power greater than he and the Europeans (105). It master (92–93). The wonder quickly turns to fright is because of his desire to understand more about when he examines the metal contraption a black “God, who made us and all things” that Equiano female slave had “on her head, which locked her “soon got into an endless fi eld of inquiries, as well mouth so fast that she could scarcely speak; and as [being] able to speak and ask about things” could not eat nor drink” (91). The inventions, then, (105). Thus, Equiano’s linguistic forays into Eng- span from the novel (a clock, a picture) to the insidi- lish, his desire to communicate, stems from a spiri- ous, the iron muzzle, and this spectrum might eas- tual hunger for more complete knowledge of God. ily be used to describe Equiano’s understanding of He attempts to converse with a book and European slave owners, who seem capable of both remarks how he “ha[s] often taken up a book, and innocuous behavior as well as extreme cruelty. ha[s] talked to it, and then put [his] ears to it, when The naming, or rather the presumption of alone, in hopes it would answer [him]” (107). Reli- slave owners that they may name their slaves, is gion soon becomes a means of cultural and moral one instance of slavery’s occupying the spectrum authority, which Equiano can wield as a socially between innocuous and cruel, where the two seem sanctioned judgment over others. Immediately to blend into each other. Equiano notes in passing after his accounts of his own ailments, chilblains, that he was renamed Jacob and thereafter referred which might have led to the amputation of his left to as Michael (93). His latest owner, Michael Henry leg but did not, for which he thanks God (116), Pascal, changes Equiano’s name yet again, this time Equiano begs his reader’s leave to relate a tale of to Gustavus Vassa (96). When Equiano demurs and a sailor who lost his eye in a circumstance that insists that his name is Jacob, he is “cuffed” (96). A Equiano considers “as a judgment of God” (117). simple and yet signifi cant matter of naming oneself The sailor damns his eyes and nearly immediately begins innocuously enough but very quickly turns after receives “some small particles of dirt” in his cruel as Pascal uses physical violence to force Equi- left eye that caused an infl ammation and, within a ano to submit to a new name. week, the loss of his eye (117). Although Equiano Olaudah Equiano 139 does not expressly compare his miraculous recovery not relieve his mind’s “state of agony” (156). On to the loss of the blasphemous sailor, it is relatively hearing people cry out for God’s mercy, Equiano impossible for the reader not to draw such a con- and others hurry on deck, only to see a 40-gun clusion given that the two events immediately fol- ship named the Lynne strike their own ship “with low one another. her cutwater right in the middle of [Mondle’s] bed As Equiano gains more knowledge of and famil- and cabin . . . in a minute there was not a bit of iarity with seafaring and its vessels, not to mention wood to be seen where Mr. Mondle’s cabin stood” its naval offi cers’ rank and reputations, he takes on (157). Equiano considers this bizarre accident “as yet another cultural structure that affords him a a singular act of providence” and takes leave with modicum of authority. Having left the sea and lived his reader to relate “another instance or two which in England for roughly two or three years, Equiano strongly raised my belief of the particular interposi- describes himself as being “happily situated; for my tion of heaven” (159). One tale is of a mother and master treated me always extremely well; and my her child, who miraculously survive a fall from the attachment and gratitude to him were very great” ship’s upper deck down to the hold, and another (131). He credits his time aboard ship, where he is Equiano’s own survival of a headlong fall from experienced warfare and witnessed some of the won- the same location, the upper deck, to the afterhold ders of the open water, for his self-identifi cation as without receiving “the least injury” (160). These “almost an Englishman” (132). This declaration is three singular events strengthen Equiano’s faith in followed, not surprisingly, with a statement of his God and transfer his fear from fellow humans to profi ciency with the English language, his desire for God alone (160). literacy, and his “anxiety” to be baptized, as he was Their return to Portsmouth is soon followed in February 1759 at St. Margaret’s Church in West- by “great talk about peace,” which is mirrored by minster (132). Soon after, Equiano and his master Equiano’s own opportunity for peace as a freed returned to the sea aboard the Namur, destined slave. “I too was not without my share of the gen- for the Mediterranean (137). While at Gibraltar, he eral joy on this occasion. I thought now of noth- learns of the death of his beloved companion, Dick, ing but being freed, and working for myself, and and he makes a failed attempt to reunite with his thereby getting money to enable me to get a good long-lost sister. Equiano remarks that the young education” (171). Equiano’s forays into literacy, woman resembled his sister on fi rst glance but then arithmetic, and the Scriptures are all assisted, was revealed to have been born in another nation by while he is aboard the Aetna, by a well-educated her speech and manners (138). 40-year-old named Daniel Queen. A father fi gure Additional battles at sea, all waged against the to Equiano, the latter would use whatever money French, result in further recognition and promo- he received to purchase sugar or tobacco for this tion for both Equiano and his master. Both men kind man who promised to apprentice Equiano in hazard their lives for the British Crown, and both his own business once the two departed from the receive commendation. The master is appointed Aetna and Equiano obtained his freedom (173). captain of a new ship, the Aetna, and Equiano is Similar to the kindness that Queen showed Equi- named the captain’s steward (151). As another tale ano, his master’s treatment of him and concern for of divine Providence, and further solidifying Equi- his moral character are linked in Equiano’s mind to ano’s ties with Christianity, he recounts the bizarre his inevitable emancipation. “From all this tender- story of Mr. Mondle, “a man of very indifferent ness, I had never once supposed, in all my dreams morals” (154). Waking from a horrifi c nightmare of freedom, that he would think of detaining me in which St. Peter warns him to repent his ways any longer than I wished” (174). because his time is short, John Mondle gives away Equiano’s hopes for freedom are soon dashed his liquor, begins reading the Scriptures, but can- when his master attempts to place him on another 140 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers vessel, threatening to cut Equiano’s throat if he master will rob him of it. It further foreshadows “moved out of his sight” (175). Once he is placed the means by which Equiano will purchase his own aboard Captain James Doran’s ship, the Charm- freedom. It is thus telling that Equiano’s arrival at ing Sally, Equiano’s ownership is immediately Montserrat, “this land of bondage,” which causes transferred. Equiano “plucked up courage” and “a fresh horror [to run] through all [his] frame,” informed Doran of the various reasons why his should be inaugurated by two sailors’ robbing him assumption of the claim to be master to Equiano of all his money (190). was both specious and legally impossible. Equi- Doran sells Equiano to Mr. King, a Quaker ano references his numerous years of loyal service who sets sail for Philadelphia (191, 193). Equiano to his previous master, which were unpaid. More expresses gratitude to both Captain Doran and importantly, in terms of “the laws of the land,” his former master for providing him with a strong he informs Doran that he has been baptized and character reference that would be appealing to a thus cannot be purchased or sold (177). The two “charitable and humane” master. King seems to be men, former and future slave owners, attempt to a merchant involved in the triangle trade, however, dismiss the veracity of Equiano’s knowledge of the as Equiano soon learns that he “collect[s] rum, legal status he has as a baptized person and suggest sugar, and other goods” (196). Most scholars inter- instead that Equiano should not have placed his pret this last phrase, “other goods,” as slaves. For trust in people who only pretended to befriend him his labor, Equiano receives monetary compensation by providing him with false knowledge and false that “was considerably more than was allowed to hope. Tellingly, the new master chastises Equiano other slaves that used to work with [him]” (196). for talking “too much English” and makes physi- King provides both pay and food to the slaves of cal threats to reassert his position as Equiano’s new other masters who perform services for him (197). master. As the transaction over Equiano is com- To strengthen further the bond between freedom plete and Equiano’s former master departs the ship, and economic power through the possession of Equiano “threw [himself] on the deck, while [his] money or other goods, Equiano tells the tale of “a heart was ready to burst with sorrow and anguish” countryman of mine” whose frugality and indus- (179). try aided him in purchasing a boat, which was then To maintain his previous employment of Chris- seized by the governor solely because he knew the tian belief to supersede the hierarchy imposed owner to be a “negro-man” (199). The only sat- on him by slavery, Equiano attributes his current isfaction this man receives in compensation for situation as Doran’s slave to his personal sins and the theft of his boat is the news that the governor transgressions against God. He “considered [his] “died in the King’s Bench in England . . . in great present situation as a judgment of heaven,” and he poverty” (200). The man escapes his “Christian pours out from a contrite heart “unfeigned repen- master” and makes his way to England (200). tance” (181–182). Equiano soon fi nds some com- Equiano speaks openly of his own participation fort in his current circumstance by professing that in the slave trade when he refer to the “different “God might perhaps have permitted this in order cargoes of new negroes in [his] care for sale” (205). to teach me wisdom and resignation” (182). Several He speaks of witnessing cruelties to slaves as well failed attempts to escape from the ship while it lay as the “constant practice to commit violent dep- in port do not register as painfully with Equiano redations on the chastity of female slaves” (205). as the loss of a guinea to a man who promised to Equiano expresses his own anguish at his inability procure a boat for him to use in making his escape to stop these acts. From a rhetorical standpoint, it from the Charming Sally. This concern with money appears that he wishes to inform readers of these is further reminiscent of Equiano’s attempts to hide “abominations” but at the same time remove him- what little currency he has for fear that his former self from any responsibility or culpability in con- Olaudah Equiano 141 tinuing these practices (206). Equiano distances and opposes the natural relationship that a father himself even further from his own hand in the slave should have with his own children (219). In this trade by discussing at length the punishments and manner, Equiano argues that “the slave trade [is] inhumane conditions suffered under slavery. He entirely a war with the heart of man” (220). mentions the sexual double standard that permits He makes the charge against slavery that most the lynching of a slave involved with a white prosti- abolitionists do: “It is the fatality of this mistaken tute but condones the satisfaction of a white man’s avarice, that it corrupts the milk of human kindness wanton lust upon a 10-year-old slave child. and turns it into gall” (223). Equiano wonders how In a passage that might seem counter to his slave owners can reduce both themselves and their larger goal of advocating the abolition of slav- slaves to the status of brutes and yet show no con- ery, Equiano lavishes praise on certain slave own- cern for a possible insurrection (226). “By treating ers, besides his own master, who “to the honor of your slaves as men, every cause of fear would be humanity,” are “benevolent” and “most worthy banished” (226). He makes such bold statements and humane gentlemen” in their treatment of their because he writes from a position of authority, own slaves. Equiano not only provides the readers having witnessed “many instances of oppression, with the names of these exemplary slave owners, extortion, and cruelty” in the West Indies (227). but also launches into an economic treatise on the Equiano “endeavored to try [his] luck and money to be reaped from the humane treatment commerce merchant”; during visits where he sails of slaves. Healthy and happy slaves are more pro- with Captain Thomas Farmer, he begins to make ductive and perform “more work by half than by small purchases and then resell the merchandise the common mode of treatment they usually do” for a small profi t. His fi rst exchange is a glass tum- (210). Equiano attributes the annual requirement bler bought at St. Eustacia and then sold upon of 1,000 new slaves to the West Indies to maintain his return to Montserrat at a profi t of fourpence the land’s “original stock” of 80,000 to the mis- (233–234). His foray into the business of merchant treatment and early deaths of these slaves (211). proves successful, and he increases from his initial Equiano quickly abandons the economic arm of investment of two pence to a dollar in six weeks his argument for the humane treatment of slaves (235). His experiences, however, include moments and continues to provide specifi c examples and like the one mentioned earlier in the narrative when painful details of the abuses, attempted suicides, the governor seized a man’s boat for no other rea- and punishment of slaves. He arrives at a general son except that the man was a Negro. Along with point of law and cites an act passed by the Assem- another African, Equiano departs at Santa Cruz in bly of Barbados (217–218). Slave owners are not the hope of selling three bags of citrus fruits. When legally responsible for the mistreatment of their two white men take the bags, Equiano and his com- slaves except when such cruelty results in the slave’s panion “could not at fi rst guess what they meant to death, at which time the slave owner is obliged to do” (236). When the men threaten to fl og them if pay the “public treasury fi fteen pounds sterling” they do not depart, Equiano and the other man (218). In this act’s refusal to punish murder as a show them their vessel and explain that they have crime but rather as an act resulting in the loss of sailed from Montserrat. Their combined disadvan- property (thus the fi ne paid to the public treasury), tage of being “strangers as well as slaves” is quickly Equiano believes lawmakers “deserve the appel- revealed when the two try to make the thieves lation of savages and brutes rather than of Chris- understand that they just departed from a ship and tians and men” (218). In references to the tale of a were intending to sell their wares. As these three slave owner who has fathered the slaves laboring as bags of fruit constituted their entire fortunes, the “beasts of burden” in the fi elds, Equiano exposes two appealed to the fort’s commanding offi cer for how this act condones the social taboo of fi licide redress. They were answered by a horsewhip (238). 142 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

Distraught but still hopeful, they arrived at the conditions of slavery are so much more horrifi c in house of the men who had carried off their bags. the West Indies, and because the treacherous surf Others in the house strike a bargain with Equiano makes his escape an impossibility, Equiano “deter- and his companion, offering to return two of the mined to make every exertion to obtain [his] free- three bags of fruit to them. Out of pity for his com- dom, and to return to Old England” (250). Equiano panion, whose bag was not returned, Equiano gave pays the shipmate to teach him about navigation over a third of his produce and the two returned to in the event that if he is “ill used,” he might fi nd the marketplace and received “favorable” payment a sloop and make his way back to England (251). from “providence” (240, 239). Equiano turns down an opportunity to board a ship The horrifi c conditions of the West Indies, sailing for France, stating that he had determined which frequent ship travel allow Equiano to place in that he would only escape if he were ill treated a larger context and draw unfavorable comparisons, and that his show of fi delity would prove advanta- contribute signifi cantly to “a mind like [his]” and geous to him in the future (253). In the short term, cause his desire for freedom to become even more his refusal to escape on the France-bound ship is powerful (242). Being a Christian, Equiano places rewarded by lessons in navigation from his master his faith in God for gaining his liberty “by honest himself, much to the consternation of their fellow and honorable means” (242). Indirectly, Equiano passengers, who believed it “a very dangerous thing provides the reader with the prevalent reason why to let a Negro know navigation” (253). Now aboard he did not simply attempt to run away as a means the Providence, a 70- or 80-ton vessel that his master of escaping bondage. Montserrat’s surf, coupled commanded, Equiano left the West Indies and set with his inability to swim, make the idea of escape sail for Charles Town and Georgia (253). This was seem less liberating and more suicidal. Equiano his route for 1764. On the eve of their departure provides nearly three pages worth of examples of for Philadelphia in 1765, Equiano’s master calls him near drownings, overturned boats, and the “howl- into his offi ce and tells him of the rumors he has ing rage and devouring fury” of the West Indies’ heard of Equiano’s plans to run off. He also informs surf (244). him that he is much valued: Having paid 40 pounds Equiano adds to the treacherous conditions that sterling for him, the master threatens him with the made escape impossible the “cruel thing . . . which possibility of being sold to Captain Doran’s brother- fi lled him with horror”: The tale of a free mulatto in-law, “a severe master,” or to someone in Carolina named Joseph Clipson who was arrested and taken for a 100 guineas (256). The conversation improves, forcibly aboard a ship to be returned to his master however, as Equiano offers numerous accounts of in Bermuda. Although Clipson “showed a certifi cate opportunities for escape that he did not take. His of his being born free in St. Kitt’s,” he was forced master’s recognition and confi rmation of “every syl- aboard ship. His request to be taken ashore before lable that [he] said” strengthen the two men’s desires the secretary of magistrates only results in his trans- to respect each other’s wishes within reason (258). fer to another ship and his forced departure from In a speech that “was like life to the dead of [him],” a life as a free man, as well as his loss of his wife Equiano and his master arrive at an agreement: The and their child (248). In contemplating the fate captain will sail to places that allow Equiano to con- of Joseph Clipson, Equiano concludes: “Hitherto tinue his trade as a merchant (even crediting him I had thought only slavery dreadful; but the state some wares), and Equiano, once he has accumu- of a free negro appeared to me now equally so at lated 40 pounds sterling, will purchase his freedom least; and in some respects even worse, for they live (260). The prospect of imminent liberty, purchased in constant alarm for their liberty” (249). Because a by his own labor, “gladdens [his] poor heart beyond freed slave cannot enter evidence of his free state in measure” (260–261). This future as a free man is a court of law in the West Indies, and because the corroborated by a “wise woman, a Mrs. Davis” who Olaudah Equiano 143 appears to him in a dream the night before he meets mon? What distinguishes Equiano’s narrative her (262). “Finally [she] told [him he] should not from those of the 19th century? What roles do be long a slave: this was the more agreeable news, as gender, nationality, and occupation play in dis- [he] believed it more readily from her having faith- tinguishing the narratives from each other? fully related the past incidents of [his] life” (263– 2. As a form of autobiography, compare Equiano’s 264). This psychic also foreshadows future events account of his life with BENJAMIN FRANKLIN’s. in Equiano’s life, warning him that within the next What larger structures help them to defi ne year and a half he would face two life-threatening themselves? Religion? Politics? Nationality? dangers (264). The fi rst of these dangers occurs 3. Some critics have labeled Equiano’s narrative as during a trip to Georgia from Montserrat in which a form of hagiography, which is writing about Equiano, weakened by overexertion, struggles with a saint’s life. How might you agree or disagree a fever and ague for over a week (264–265). In his with this assessment? prayers to God, Equiano promises to be good in 4. How do Equiano’s 18th-century comments on exchange for the restoration of his health, but as the slavery compare with those of his contemporary, ship nears Montserrat, “[his] resolutions more and PHILLIS WHEATLEY? more declined, as if the very air of that country or climate seemed fatal to piety” (265). Equiano does not suffer ill fortune in Montser- rat, however; rather, he is paid reluctantly by a white FURTHER QUESTIONS ON man in Charles Town with bad copper coins and EQUIANO AND HIS WORK risks fl ogging (268). His fate in Georgia is much 1. Even early after the publication of his autobiog- worse as he is unable to escape the physical threat raphy, critics and readers cast doubt on the actual of violence as he was in Charles Town. Doctor Per- identity of Equiano. Some wonder whether he was kins, “a very severe and cruel man,” enters in intox- in fact Ibo while others wonder about his ability icated and proceeds to “beat and mangle [him] in a to have written a narrative without an amanuen- shameful manner, leaving [him] near dead” (269). sis. How do you imagine Equiano’s identity? Is The loss of blood and trauma cause temporary he British? Ibo? Christian? What passages would paralysis and a debilitating weakness that prevent you cite as proof of your view of him? Equiano from struggling against the authorities 2. Throughout Equiano’s narrative, he seems to be who jail him. His master’s horror and sadness upon seeking signs, or reading signifi cance into every- fi nding Equiano “so cut and mangled” reduce the day events. How do you interpret this element of master to tears. He sends for the best doctors and the narrative? Is it indicative of his enslavement consults his lawyers in the hope of seeking redress and his lack of agency over his own life, or is it a against Dr. Perkins, but no avail as “they could do sign of his acculturation into Christianity? nothing for [Equiano] as [he] was a Negro” (270). Even the master’s attempt to seek revenge by chal- WORKS CITED AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES lenging Perkins to a duel is refused (271). Equiano Carrera, Vincent. Equiano, the African: Biography of concludes the fi rst volume of his “interesting nar- a Self-Made Man. Athens: University of Georgia rative” with his recovery after nearly a month and Press, 2005. their ship’s safe return to Montserrat. Equiano Project. Available online. URL: http://www. equiano.org/about_equiano.html. Accessed April For Discussion or Writing 23, 2009. 1. Compare elements of Equiano’s slave narrative Marren, Susan M. “Between Slavery and Freedom: with those of Frederick Douglass and Harriet The Transgressive Self in Olaudah Equiano’s Auto- Jacobs. What elements do they share in com- biography.” PMLA 108, no. 1 (1993): 94–105. 144 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

Murphy, Geraldine. “Olaudah Equiano, Acciden- Sabino, Robin, and Jennifer Hall. “The Path Not Taken: tal Tourist.” Eighteenth-Century Studies (1994): Cultural Identity in the Interesting Life of Olaudah 551–568. Equiano.” MELUS 24, no. 1 (1999): 5–19. Olaudah Equiano, or, Gustavus Vassa, the African. Samuels, Wilfred D., ed. The Interesting Narrative of Available online. URL: http://www.brycchancarey. the Life of Olaudah Equiano; or Gustavus Vassa, the com/equiano/index.htm. Accessed April 23, African, Written by Himself. Coral Gables, Fla.: 2009. Mnemosyne, 1989. Potkay, Adam. “Olaudah Equiano and the Art of Spir- Wheeler, Roxanne. “Domesticating Equiano’s Inter- itual Autobiography.” Eighteenth-Century Studies esting Narrative.” Eighteenth-Century Studies 34, (1994): 677–692. no. 4 (2001): 620–624. Hannah Webster Foster (1758 –1840)

That time is very greatly misspent, which is bestowed in reading what can yield no instruction.

(The Boarding School)

he eldest daughter of Hannah Wainwright and its greatest vogue between 1824 and 1828, when Ta wealthy merchant, Grant Webster, Hannah the novel was reprinted eight times” (xiii). Webster was born in Salisbury, Massachusetts, in Literary historians have discovered that the fi c- the years before the American Revolution. Because tional character of Eliza Wharton was based on of her family’s economic status, young Hannah the real-life story of John Foster’s distant cousin, a received a fi ne education, much of it at a boarding woman named Elizabeth Whitman. Foster’s cousin, school that would become the basis for her second the wife of Deacon John Whitman, was the fi rst novel, The Boarding School. Growing up in a life of cousin of Elizabeth Whitman’s father (Bolton 51). privilege, Hannah Webster would be enrolled in an This young woman rejected two marriage propos- all-female academy at the time of a traumatic event als from ministers (just as the fi ctional Eliza Whar- in her life, the death of her mother. This tragic ton, whose fi ancé, Mr. Haly, dies, subsequently event happened in 1762, when young Hannah was rejects the suit of J. Boyer) and later found herself only four years old. pregnant by a lover who abandoned her. Herbert Five years before the American Revolution, Ross Brown considers Jane Locke’s 1855 edition Webster was writing and publishing newspaper of The Coquette, which includes a brief memoir of articles on the subject of politics. Her literary talent Foster’s life as well as her declaration that Pierpont would later be passed on to two of her daughters. Edwards (grandson of JONATHAN EDWARDS) was At the time, Webster’s articles drew the attention the model for Peter Sanford, to provide “an ample and admiration of her future husband, John Fos- amount of information, mainly mistaken” (viii–ix). ter, who was then in graduate school studying to Still, Brown notes that Foster’s fallen heroine and become a minister. The two married in 1785 on the historical fi gure of Elizabeth Whitman share April 7 and began their family in Brighton, Mas- several connections: Whitman was related to John sachusetts, where John was employed as the town’s Foster, the women coquetted two ministers, and J. only minister for the First Parish Church. After the Boyer of Foster’s novel shares the initials of Whit- birth of her sixth and fi nal child, Foster penned her man’s minister, the Reverend Joseph Buckminster fi rst novel, The Coquette, in 1797. It became a best (xi). The scandalous tale of Elizabeth Whitman’s seller. In his introduction to the 1939 republication seduction and ruin was passed on orally in the of The Coquette, Herbert Ross Brown of Bowdoin form of community gossip, and it was also spread College notes that the sensational novel “enjoyed through written form in local newspapers.

145 146 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

The desire to tie the historical fi gure of Eliza- Aspects of this language are echoed at the novel’s beth Whitman to the fi ctional one of Eliza Whar- conclusion on the tombstone erected by Eliza’s ton unmistakably compelled an 1855 edition to friends (260). include a historic preface in which “the real names Following this moral line, it would be quite easy of the principal actors in this most affecting and (and ultimately simplistic) to read Foster’s novel lamentable Drama are for the fi rst time given to the as a tale intended to warn young female readers. public by the daughter of the author who possesses Boston’s Independent Chronicle printed an article peculiar means to ascertain the FACTS” (reprinted of September 11, 1788, that drew upon Elizabeth in Bolton 153). Jane E. Locke writes a memoir of Whitman’s personal tragedy as a source for a com- Foster in the 1866 edition, which is the fi rst ver- munal morality lesson: Both this aforementioned sion of the novel to carry Foster’s name as the article as well as one published in the same news- novelist (Bolton 154). There is also mention of a paper just nine days later credit Whitman’s read- three-act play, The New England Coquette, made of ing habits with her demise (xi–xii). The September Foster’s novel by J. Horatius Nichols in 1802 (Bol- 11 and September 20 letters refer to Whitman as a ton 154–155). “great reader of romances” with the latter pursuing Charles Bolton writes sympathetically of Eliza- the logic that this genre was culpable for her down- beth Whitman, stating that hers was a tale “of an fall by insisting that “she had formed her notions of era when there was less of variety in a girl’s daily happiness from that corrupt source” (xii). Because round, and few opportunities for the expression of the newspaper accounts of the historical fi gure who her individuality. These pages tell also of one who many see as the basis for Eliza Wharton all point chafed under these conditions” (xi). Bolton cites to her seduction as a moral tale intended to warn another source who believes that Elizabeth Whit- young ladies against following the same path, it man may have been the fi gure who inspired Hester seems quite logical to imagine that readers of Fos- Prynne in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Let- ter’s novel would consider the fi ctional fi gure as a ter (10). Bolton reproduces a poem penned by Eliz- subject of moral instruction. abeth Whitman, which appeared in the Centinel on Unlike her fallen heroine, Hannah herself appears September 20, 1788, entitled “Disappointment” to have led a conventionally moral and upstanding (16–22). Whitman died, probably of puerperal fever life. In their fi rst 10 years of marriage, she bore six (a common cause of many women’s deaths after children: three sons and three daughters. Until his childbirth due to infection of the uterus), on July retirement in 1827, John served as a minister in 25, 1788 (Bolton 30). Notice of her death, and the the local church. Two years later, John Foster died. death of her child, appeared in the Salem Mercury After her husband’s death, Hannah Webster Fos- on July 29 and was soon reprinted and circulated ter left Massachusetts to live in Montreal, closer to in the Massachusetts Centinel (Bolton 33–37). The two of her daughters, Harriet Vaughan Cheney and notice was intended to alert family and friends of Eliza Lanesford Cushing. Hannah Foster Webster the demise of the “strange woman.” Interestingly, died in Montreal in 1840 at the age of 81. the language employed in the description of Eliza- beth Whitman seems very much in keeping with Foster’s fi ctional Eliza: “Her manners bespoke the advantage of a respectable family and good educa- The Coquette; or, tion. Her person was agreeable; her deportment, the History of Eliza Wharton (1797) amiable and engaging; and though in a state of When it was fi rst advertised in Boston’s Columbian anxiety and suspense, she preserved a cheerfulness Centinel on August 5, 1797, the author appeared which seemed to be not the effect of insensibil- under the nearly anonymous descriptor of “a lady ity, but of a fi rm and patient temper” (Bolton 36). of Massachusetts” (v–vi). It was not until 1866, Hannah Webster Foster 147 nearly 70 years after the fi rst edition of her novel, fesses to her friend and correspondent Lucy Free- that Foster was identifi ed by name as the author of man the liberating and invigorating qualities of The Coquette. This tale of the seduction and tragic being unattached in society. She identifi es pleasure fall of Eliza Wharton draws from the epistolary as the “unusual sensation possess[ing] [her] breast” form made popular for seduction tales by Samuel on the occasion of her departure from her “pater- Richardson with the publications of Clarissa and nal roof” (5). This declaration of independence, Pamela, among others. Foster begins the life the reader learns as the novel progresses, comes at of her protagonist after the death of her fi ancé. a dear price. Released back into society, a young and vibrant In her early descriptions of her fi ancé, Mr. Haly, Eliza fi nds her temperament revitalized. She enjoys Eliza displays a mixture of regret and thinly veiled the pleasures of a public life fi lled with social gath- anger toward her parents, who encouraged her erings, parties, dances, and retreats at the homes betrothal to the point of arranging their intended of her friends. However, her foray into social life nuptials. Although she rightly mourns the dead, is quickly checked by the introduction of another Eliza immediately notes “the disparity of our tem- potential suitor, a minister named Boyer who is pers and dispositions, our views and designs” and enamored of her and hopes to make her his wife as wonders how anyone could “suppose [her] heart he settles into a new community. Eliza’s rejection much engaged in the alliance” (6). Indeed, her of his suit, to the complete shock and dismay of her anger seems most naked and apparent when she female companions and fellow members of society, names the social institutions that have encouraged is seen by many critics to mark the beginning of such fi lial obedience in the manner of daughters’ her downward spiral into sin and eventual death. acquiescing to their parents’ will in selecting their The critic Sharon Harris disagrees with this read- future husbands. In retreat from her own parents’ ing and argues instead that Eliza’s fall occurs at the will, which forced her into a potentially unhappy very beginning of the novel when Eliza recognizes union with Mr. Haly, Eliza places her reputation that “there is no place in late-eighteenth-century and her future in jeopardy by leaving home. American society for her opinions” (5). Unlike The reader catches early glimpses of Eliza’s poten- Harris, most critics see her impregnation by San- tial peril when the young letter writer expresses joy ford as the natural end of her innocence. Eliza soon after leaving her family house. Her brief description succumbs to the fl attery of a silvery-tongued rake of her own mother as a “poor woman,” ignorant of named Peter Sanford, who, seeing her as nothing Eliza’s feelings (actually lack thereof) for Mr. Haly, more than a coquette, feels justifi ed in bedding furthers the 18th-century reader’s anxiety over and then abandoning her. Without the safety of Eliza’s fate. Even Eliza’s correspondent, Miss Free- marriage, a pregnant Eliza sequesters herself from man, fi nds her sage and conservative advice off- the judging eye of the society she once enjoyed and handedly dismissed by the “coquette.” Inherent in dies alone soon after giving birth to her illegitimate the notion of republican motherhood is the belief child. that mothers are the primary inculcators of the cor- Foster opens her novel with Eliza Wharton’s rect morals and values in their children, especially fi rst letter to her friend Miss Lucy Freeman, while their daughters. In accordance with 18th-century the former visits General and Mrs. Richman. The notions of republican motherhood, Eliza’s pleasure visit not only takes young Eliza away from the at leaving her mother and her happiness at escap- recent death of her fi ancé, an elderly man of the ing a marriage register as alarms that foreshadow cloth, but provides her with a second opportunity her impending downfall. In her second letter, to be launched into society and thus into the pool Eliza delights at the lifting of her melancholic feel- of eligible bachelors. Rather than move in social ings. Without the moral guidance of her mother step from engagement to engagement, Eliza con- and surrounded by people who are the “picture of 148 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers conjugal felicity,” Eliza “fi nds [her] natural pro- tion” rather than “design,” Peter Sanford, the rogue pensity for mixing in the busy scenes and active who will ruin her, imagines Eliza to be “exactly cal- pleasures of life returning” (8, 9). culated to please [his] fancy” (23, 25). For Sanford, By her third letter, Eliza has met J. Boyer, a Eliza is easily dismissed as a fi gure “apparently minister, who quickly befriends her, almost imme- thoughtless of every thing but present enjoyment” diately after she divests herself of her mourning (25). In labeling Eliza as a coquette, Sanford justi- weeds. When a fellow visitor, Mrs. Laiton, inter- fi es his mistreatment of her. He writes to his friend rupts Eliza’s pleasant walk outside Colonel Far- Charles Deighton that he “shall avenge his sex, ington’s home to express sympathy regarding Mr. by retaliating the mischiefs, she meditates against Haly’s death, Foster reminds her readers of how us” (26). His language militarizes romance, stat- the customs of society can be at odds with the ing that he will “only play off her own artillery, by emotions and dispositions of its members, such using a little unmeaning gallantry” (26). It is thus as Eliza. With the exception of this one moment, fi tting that the consummation of their affair should Eliza fi nds real pleasure and enjoyment in the social likewise be couched in military terms as Sanford setting of Colonel Farington’s home, where she boasts to his friend of having succeeded at his goal enjoys tea, dinner, and an evening’s entertainment. of “the full possession of [his] adorable Eliza!” She closes her third letter by taking stock of her life (211). Further, Sanford paints Eliza’s initial rebuffs thus far and states assuredly, “a few juvenile fol- of his assault upon her virtue in similar terms: “in lies excepted, which I trust the recording angel has reliance upon her own strength, endeavoring to blotted out with the tear of charity, fi nd an approv- combat, and counteract my designs” (212). ing conscience, and a heart at ease” (12). Eliza’s declaration of independence is echoed In his fi rst letter to his friend Mr. Selby, the lat- soon after in her relaying of Boyer’s marriage est minister pursuing Eliza (J. Boyer) writes cau- proposal to her friend Lucy and her thoughtful tiously yet enthusiastically of her. He praises her response. In accordance with her view that mar- “elegant person, accomplished mind, and polished riage amounts to a prison sentence (a belief shared manners,” and in his judicious portrait of her, one by Peter Sanford, who writes of the institution as can easily discern the attributes suitable to a min- shackling), Eliza’s “sanguine imagination paints, in ister’s wife (13). Noticeably absent from Boyer’s alluring colors, the charms of youth and freedom” letter is any mention of Eliza’s physical features. (41). She begs Mr. Boyer to “leave [her] to the exer- He appreciates her “naturally gay disposition” but cise of her free will” (41). In response, Mr. Boyer then appears to undermine this particular quality describes his future prospects: “I expect soon to by stating, “It is an agreeable quality, where there settle among a generous and enlightened people” is discretion suffi cient for its regulation” (14). Mr. (42, emphasis mine). Despite the appearance that Boyer wants to temper or control Eliza’s charac- Eliza has enjoyed and can fully enjoy the freedom teristic happiness and gaiety, just as others have, of society as well as exert her will in selecting her either through endorsing marriage to Mr. Haly, own marriage partner, the novel exposes the sig- expressing sympathy for his death, or cautioning nifi cant social forces at work outside the nuclear against Eliza’s unguarded desire to enjoy her time family to see Eliza, and all eligible young women, in society as an eligible young woman. Because we for that matter, safely settled into good unions as readers have already been privy to her unwanted through Eliza’s chafi ng against Mrs. Richman and engagement, we may not look favorably on Mr. her friends, as well as the weighty disapproval of her Boyer’s sentiments. correspondent. With little if no regard for Eliza’s In contrast to Boyer’s characterization of Eliza, own feelings, all the female characters rally behind and the apologetic excuses of Mrs. Richman, who Mr. Boyer’s suit, referencing his reputation and his attributes Eliza’s disposition to “juvenile indiscre- class position as just reasons for their stance. Hannah Webster Foster 149

The unrealistic class aspirations of Elizabeth believes that the public nature of society’s read- Wharton appear in the Boston Centinel as partial ing of her is best exemplifi ed not in the correspon- cause for her downfall. Had she not imagined her- dence among friends and family, but in the message self above marriage to a minister, the anonymous inscribed upon her tombstone “by her weeping writer argues, her fate might have been different. friends,” who hope that “candor [will] throw a Foster echoes this sentiment by having the fi ctional veil over her frailties” (260). In death, Eliza can scoundrel write to his friend regarding his own no longer exercise control over the public readings connection of marriage and class position: “When- of her body. Throughout the novel, Mower argues, ever I do submit to be shackled, it must be from a her sole purpose is to “manage the publicness of necessity of mending my fortune” (33). Lucy writes her body’s performance” (316). In ever-decreasing quite frankly to Eliza on the subject of class ascen- spaces, Eliza attempts visibly to register control over sion: “I know your ambition is to make a distin- her own body. She does this fi rst by appearing on guished fi gure in the fi rst class of polished society,” the public scene soon after the death of her fi ancé. but Mr. Boyer’s “situation in life is, perhaps, as However, she fl outs the social rules that allow her elevated as you have a right to claim” (38). San- access to this public realm because she refuses to ford soon after writes of the prospect of marrying fulfi ll her part of the social contract by accepting an heiress because he “know[s] of no other way to Boyer’s marriage proposal. “To the extent that Eliza mend his circumstances” (49). “If my fortune, or remains engaged in the ‘externals of enjoyment’ . . . [Eliza’s] were better,” Sanford opines, “I would risk without committing herself to the status of feme a union” (50). In these discussions of marriage and covert (a married woman), she violates what might status, Foster exposes 18th-century disapproval of be thought of as the reciprocity of the market” loveless unions based solely on class aspirations. (331). As she circulates in the public sphere of par- Having summarily dispatched Mr. Boyer and his ties, picnics, and dances, Eliza is perfectly safe and socially sanctioned marriage proposal, Eliza mis- her actions are sanctioned, but once she defers and takenly believes herself to be free again to enjoy the later rejects Boyer’s proposal, she becomes victim of pleasures of society as a single female. But without the public’s disapproving view of her. the guidance of parents or the shelter of an engage- Foster makes reference to her literary predeces- ment, Eliza too easily and tragically falls victim to sors in this genre through the fi gure of Mrs. Rich- the calculating schemes of Peter Sanford. When he man. During her conversation with Eliza on the catches her alone in the garden, Sanford’s “zeal, his subject of Peter Sanford, Mrs. Richman declares pathos alarmed” Eliza (72). him “a second Lovelace,” the name of the famous The critic C. Leiren Mower is particularly atten- seducer in Samuel Richardson’s Clarissa (55). When tive to the manner in which the novel ends, stating Eliza replies that she is not an object of seduction, that Eliza’s attempts to have control over her own Mrs. Richman equates Eliza’s status with that of life and her own body are quickly undermined in “Richardson’s Clarissa [who] made herself the vic- her death when friends and family take the oppor- tim [of seduction] by her own indiscretion” (55). tunity to speak for her and to impose their own Samuel Richardson’s epistolary novel Clarissa was readings onto her particular fate. In the letters, old published in 1747 and is argued by many critics friends write to each other of how “happy [they] to be the basis for Foster’s best seller. Where crit- would have been, had [Eliza] exerted an equal ics tend to disagree is regarding the moral of the degree of fortitude in repelling the fi rst attacks novel as well as its ability either to comply with or upon her virtue!” (257). In such statements, Foster to thwart the politics governing women’s positions seems to echo 18th-century sentiments that would in the 18th century. place all the blame for pregnancy outside wedlock Mower disagrees with Cathy Davidson’s assess- squarely on the shoulders of the woman. Mower ment that The Coquette “fails to openly challenge 150 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers the basic structure of patriarchal society” (316). her two daughters, as well as “a wish to promote Rather, Mower argues that Eliza Wharton’s desire their advantage and enlarge their society” (5). to possess her own body “for her own pleasure and During their fi nal week of school, prior to gradua- purposes” presents a different affront to 18th-cen- tion, Mrs. Williams suspends the traditional sched- tury notions of property, ownership, and the status ule and subject of study to dispense “a collection of women. Mower cites the infl uential philosophies of [her] own sentiments, enforced by the pathos of of Locke and Rousseau, as well as the pseudosci- the occasion” (10). She begins with a tale of Clara, entists studying physiognomy, to provide a con- a young girl “nursed in the lap of affl uence, and text in which to recognize and understand Eliza’s accustomed to unbounded expense,” to explain the defi ance. importance of needlework, one of the many sub- jects taught at the boarding school (11). Because of For Discussion or Writing a “series of unavoidable disasters, such as no human 1. Consider the story of Foster’s character Eliza wisdom could foresee or prevent,” Clara is reduced Wharton in terms of BENJAMIN FRANKLIN’s to “narrow circumstances” and required to ply Autobiography. In what ways does gender nar- her needle to support herself and her four young row the fi eld of possibilities for men and women children after the untimely demise of her husband who leave home in search of their own futures? (11–12). Even for a woman not so burdened as 2. How might you compare Foster’s seduction Clara, Mrs. Williams indicates, needlework proves novel with SUSANNA HASWELL ROWSON’s Char- to be a necessary skill. The fi ctional example of lotte Temple, published in 1794? Matilda mends her “cast-clothes” before giving 3. JOHN A DAMS is reported to have equated democ- them to “some poor person” (13). Her charity is racy in America with Richardson’s seduction increased by her use of the needle. Mrs. Williams novel, stating that democracy is Lovelace and cites classic examples of needlework from Roman the people are Clarissa. How might you read times as further argument for “the honor and util- Foster’s novel in political terms? How might ity of this employment” (14). Eliza stand in for the people and Sanford for The second skill, reading, also commands the democracy? attention of Mrs. Williams as she reviews its func- 4. As mentioned earlier, Foster’s The Coquette tion in her pupils’ daily lives and education. In an enjoyed its greatest popularity in the 1820s. indirect reference to her fi rst novel, The Coquette, Why would her novel appeal to women 30 years and to published admonitions about certain read- after its initial publication? ing subjects (namely, romances), Mrs. Williams warns her pupils of dangerous reading material:

Romances, the taste of former times, are now The Boarding School: Or, Lessons so far out of vogue, that it is hardly necessary to of a Preceptress to Her Pupils (1798) warn you against them. They exhibit the spirit Dedicated to “the young ladies of America,” Web- of chivalry, knight-errantry, and extravagant ster’s second novel presents itself as the author’s folly, which prevailed in the age they depict. careful “collecting and arranging of her ideas on But they are not interesting; nor can they be the subject of female deportment.” It is considered pleasing to the correct taste and refi ned delicacy by critics to be one of the fi rst fi ctional accounts of of the present day. Novels are the favorite and education in the United States. most dangerous kind of reading, now adopted After the death of her husband, Mrs. Maria Wil- by the generality of young ladies. . . . Their liams, Foster’s fi ctional preceptress, opens a board- romantic pictures of love, beauty, and magnifi - ing school with a desire to preserve a patrimony for cence, fi ll the imagination with ideas which lead Hannah Webster Foster 151

to impure desires, a vanity of exterior charms, a “competent acquaintance with human nature in and a fondness for show and dissipation, by no all its modifi cations” (23). By reading judiciously in means consistent with that simplicity, modesty, a variety of subjects, Mrs. Williams argues, young and chastity, which should be the constant ladies will not only be “highly ornamental in [their] inmates of the female breast. They often pervert discourses with the polite and learned world,” but the judgment, mislead the affections, and blind will have skills to make them capable instructors of the understanding. (16–17) their own children (24, 25). On the following morning, Mrs. Williams takes As a testament to the dangers of unfettered imagi- up the subject of writing, proclaiming it to be a nation whetted by immoral novels, Mrs. Williams good method for enlarging one’s mental powers provides the cautionary tale of Julianna, a young (27). Through writing down one’s thoughts and daughter to a wealthy widower who overindulges sentiments, one is able to review one’s own mind, her every whim. The fanciful tales of lovers she has expunge unworthy thoughts, and refi ne others read in circulating libraries directly corrupt Julian- as a means of learning more about one’s self and na’s most critical choice of a husband. After reject- improving one’s expressions. Mrs. Williams cel- ing her father’s choice, Julianna fi nds herself swept ebrates America as a “land of liberty” that affords up by a military man interested only in pursuing young women an equal opportunity to write, her patrimony. Even a brief scuffl e between her unshackled by “the restraints of tyrannical custom, father and her paramour that ends with her father’s which in many other regions confi nes the exertions wounding is incapable of alerting Julianna to the of genius to the usurped powers of lordly man!” rash nature of her choice of husband. Indeed, she (28). Foster specifi cally mentions the epistolary becomes more resolved in her relationship with form as a “happy substitute for personal conversa- the rogue, and the two marry against her father’s tion” and a means for writers to exchange senti- wishes. The loss of his daughter to a scoundrel ments (29). She seems to laud letter writing as an proves too much strain for the aging father, and extended fi eld of literature in which women may he soon dies, leaving the daughter a portion of excel, as seems fi tting given her own personal suc- his fortune, which her husband quickly spends. cess with The Coquette. The moral tale of Julianna ends with the woman, Because letters will survive their author’s deaths, abandoned and unsupported by her husband, liv- Mrs. Williams cautions against including improper ing with her young children in squalor, clinging to subjects in the misguided belief that they will a novel, and proclaiming her imagination to be her remain secret. She provides a tale in the fi gures of sole luxury (21). Celia and Cecilia, two companions at a boarding For high-quality reading material, Mrs. Wil- school, to explain the hazards of including private liams recommends good poetry that “soothes sentiments or indelicate thoughts in correspon- the jarring cares of life, and, pervades the secret dence. When Celia’s male companion, Silvander, recesses of the soul, serves to rouse and animate intercepts the two ladies’ letters, he is “mortifi ed, its dormant powers” (23). She also mentions “Mrs. disgusted, and chagrined” to read the “illiberal Chapone’s letters to her niece, which contain a wit, frothy jest, double entendres, and ridiculous valuable treasure of information and advice” (23). love-tales” (31). As just punishment, Silvander cop- Hester Chapone was the author of two 18th-cen- ies entire sections of the intercepted letters and tury books of advice for young women: A Letter circulates them among his friends, shaming and to a New-Married Lady and Letters on the Improve- humiliating Celia (32). ment of the Mind, Addressed to a Young Lady. Mrs. Mrs. Williams next speaks to her pupils on Williams also advises her pupils to seek out history the absolute necessity of arithmetic. In their cur- books because their “retrospection of events” offers rent single state, the girls are allotted budgets of 152 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers discretionary funds from their parents and fami- who attempts to better her social standing through lies. Good knowledge of arithmetic, coupled with the cultivation of her musical talents, Mrs. Williams good sense, should provide the students with the offers a cautionary tale. Employed as a “professed necessary skills for remaining within their bud- actress,” Levitia quickly falls to the position of a gets. Further, math skills will enable them to set “complete courtesan” because she is easily deceived aside a modest amount of money to be donated to by libertines and votaries who prey upon her vanity charity. In this manner, the application of arith- (41). Not surprisingly, her fallen status contributes metic in daily life has sound moral results. In directly to her mother’s death and to her father’s the case of a fi ctional character named Lucinda, mental and fi nancial downfall. Even though the prudent exercise of arithmetic skills helps to save prodigal daughter eventually returns to her pater- her father’s sanity, her family’s welfare, and their nal roof, Levitia’s excessive life has ruined any future status. Lucinda wisely sells the family’s chance for happiness or a return to normalcy. She “superfl uous moveables and purchase[s] a small lives a solitary life, “despised and avoided by all her stock for trade” (35). Lucinda’s profi table busi- former acquaintance” (42). In stark contrast, Mrs. ness restores the family’s fallen fi nancial state. Williams offers the brief image of Florella, who “is Mrs. Williams notes that after marriage, these superior to the vain arts of fl attery” and who wisely women will be called upon to impose “order and recognizes her musical talents as “amusements only; economy [on their] domestic affairs” (33). Thus, and assiduously cultivates the more solid branches their education in arithmetic will have far-reach- of her education” (42). Mrs. Williams sums up her ing application. lecture on music and dancing by asking her pupils The skills acquired with boarding school the rhetorical question, “Who would not rather be extend into the arts to include music and dancing. a resembler of Florella, than a vain, imprudent, and These two talents of social refi nement and accom- ruined Levitia?” (43). plishment should be displayed in public gather- Writing is to be a tool for moral instruction ings but should never become sources of vanity and constancy for young women after their gradu- (36). Neither, Mrs. Williams advises, should a ation from boarding school. Mrs. Williams recom- young woman put on the “affectation of uncom- mends the practice of retracing “the actions and mon modesty or ignorance” as these are truly occurrences of the day, when you retire to rest; “ridiculous” (36–37). “How perfectly absurd,” to account with your own hearts for the use and Mrs. Williams states, is the young woman who improvement of the past hours” (45). Such a prac- refuses an invitation to entertain with her musi- tice will lead to self-knowledge and shield women cal talents by means of false excuses or elaborate from the empty fl attery of “every coxcomb” (45). lies (forgetting music, being out of practice, put- The preceptress warns of worshipping beauty ting on false humility over the lack of one’s skills). through the tale of Flirtilla, a beautiful young Because these affectations of modesty are intended girl with a superfi cial and fashionable education to solicit further compliments and encouragement whose “empire suddenly overturned” when she from members of an already solicitous audience, contracted smallpox (49). To prevent a horrifi c such pretenses do nothing more than degrade the future like Flirtilla’s, Mrs. Williams advises honest young woman. self-scrutiny and self-improvement in those areas Musical talents, if overindulged to the detriment where one fi nds fault (50–51). of other aspects of an education, have the dangerous On the subject of dress, Mrs. Williams advocates power to “lay the mind open to many temptations, neatness and propriety, meaning that one should and, by nourishing a frivolous vanity, benumb the wear clothes in keeping with one’s age and social nobler powers both of refl ection and action” (39). position. She displays particular disdain for “peo- In the ruined fi gure of Levitia, a young woman ple in dependent and narrow circumstances to imi- Hannah Webster Foster 153 tate the expensive mode of dress which might be Boarding School imagine for young women in very decent for those who move in a higher sphere” 18th-century America? (57). She cautions against gossip, pleasure seeking 3. Compare the authors praised in The Boarding that dulls the mind to the harmony of domestic School with the kind of education advocated for cares, and idleness. women in Susanna Haswell Rowson’s work. Foster concludes the novel with an ample selec- tion of letters from the former boarding school students to each other and their beloved precep- tress. Through the correspondence and critical FURTHER QUESTIONS ON readings of various poets, novelists, and essayists, FOSTER AND HER WORK Foster makes mention of Alexander Pope, Samuel 1. Foster’s works provide contemporary readers Richardson, Oliver Goldsmith, James Thomson, with insights into the 18th-century American and Laurence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy. The his- domestic scene. We become privy to the expecta- torian Jeremy Belknap, who authored a History of tions society placed on young girls and women. New Hampshire as well as the fi rst volume of the On the basis of your reading of Foster, provide a American Biography, and Abbe Millot, famous for detailed description of the ideal woman in 18th- Elements of Ancient and Modern History, likewise century American society and explain why each receive praise by Foster’s preceptress. James Thom- of the characteristics or qualities you include is son, whose Seasons is repeatedly quoted through- important. out the novel, is also deemed a worthy poet for 2. The Coquette was a best-selling seduction young women to read. One of the students, Har- novel, especially 30 years after its publication. riet Henly, requests a recommendation from Mrs. In the fall of Eliza Wharton, readers are made Williams for a conduct book on matrimony and is patently aware of what not to do in order to told to read David West’s The American Spectator, preserve their status, respect, and chance for or Matrimonial Preceptor (146). Although most abiding love. Similarly, The Boarding School of the correspondents are following the moral details the moral fall of Clarinda to a diabolical instructions of Mrs. Williams, one fi gure, Clar- Florimel. By including two tales of seduction inda, falls prey to a libertine named Florimel and and moral ruin in her texts, Foster focuses a soon fi nds herself pregnant and abandoned (166– signifi cant amount of attention on this subject. 170). Julia Greenfi eld writes of Clarinda’s fall to Is her point that young women are susceptible Mrs. Maria Williams and is later informed in a to seduction or that young men have a procliv- return letter that Clarinda’s tale was read aloud ity for it? to the new batch of students at Harmony-Grove (the name the students affectionately gave to Mrs. WORKS CITED AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Williams’s boarding school) (172). Bolton, Charles Knowles. The Elizabeth Whitman Mystery. Salem, Mass.: Peabody Historical Society, For Discussion or Writing 1912. 1. How would you compare the advice Foster Brighton Allston Historical Society. Available online. offers explicitly for young women to that COT- URL: http://www.bahistory.org/History Foster. TON MATHER provides in his Bonifacius? html. Accessed April 23, 2009. 2. The young women addressed in The Board- Brown, Herbert Ross. Introduction to The Coquette. ing School are expected to have studied a cer- New York: Facsimile Text Society, 1939, v–xix. tain number of subjects and to have acquired Davidson, Cathy. Revolution and the Word: The Rise of a certain number of skills. What kind of social the Novel in America. New York: Oxford University expectations does the education outlined in The Press, 2004. 154 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

Foster, Gwendolyn A. “The Dialogic Margins of ers, 1797–1901. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Conduct Fiction: Hannah Webster Foster’s The Press, 1995. Boarding School.” Journal of the American Stud- Mower, C. Leiren. “Bodies in Labor: Sole Proprietorship ies Association of Texas 25 (October 1994): and the Labor of Conduct in The Coquette.” Ameri- 59–72. can Literature 72, no. 4 (June 2002): 315–344. Foster, Hannah Webster. The Boarding School. Reprint, Smith-Rosenberg, Carroll. “Domesticating ‘Virtue’: Boston: J. P. Peasless, 1829. Coquettes and Revolutionaries in Young America.” Hamilton, Kristie. “An Assault on the Will: Republi- In Literature and the Body. Baltimore: Johns Hop- can Virtue and the City in Hannah Webster Fos- kins University Press, 1988. ter’s The Coquette.” Early American Literature 14 Tassoni, John Paul. “ ‘I Can Step Out of Myself a Lit- (1989): 135–151. tle’: Feminine Virtue and Female Friendship in Han- Harris, Sharon M. “Hannah Webster Foster’s The nah Foster’s The Coquette.” In Communication and Coquette: Critiquing Franklin’s America.” In Rede- Women’s Friendships. Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowl- fi ning the Political Novel: American Women Writ- ing Green State University Popular Press, 1993. Benjamin Franklin (1706 –1790)

I began to suspect that this Doctrine, tho’ it might be true, was not very useful.

(The Autobiography)

enjamin Franklin, in the words of his biographer Although he eventually would be strongly asso- BCarl Van Doren, was a “harmonious human ciated with Philadelphia, Franklin began his life in multitude.” As Van Doren’s assessment suggests, Boston, where he was born on January 17, 1706. Franklin’s life and work are at once diffi cult and sim- He entered a large family, which included his father, ple to summarize. On the one hand, his multitude of Josiah Franklin, and his mother, Abiah Folger contributions to the worlds of printing, journalism, Franklin, as well as 11 siblings. His father, who literature, science, and politics defy brief summary. made soap and sold candles for a living, hoped that On the other hand, these many accomplishments his youngest son would enter a religious profession were in harmony with one another, sharing a com- and sent him to grammar school when he was eight mon theme of human progress through human years old. His father changed his mind, however, initiative. More than any other American, Franklin and moved Benjamin to George Brownell’s English personifi ed the age of Enlightenment, a time when school during the 1715–16 academic year. When humans were growing more aware of their world and he was 10 years old, Benjamin left school for good inventing ways to control it for their benefi t. after only two years and went to work in his father’s His Enlightenment perspective shines through shop. The work, however, did not agree with him, his literature, which includes some of the most and his father set out to help his son choose a dif- important works to appear in America in the 18th ferent trade. Finally, at the age of 12, he became century. Over more than six decades, he produced an apprentice in his brother James Franklin’s print an enormous and varied body of work, including shop, where he would work for several years. When the best-selling Poor Richard’s Almanack, literary he was not setting type or doing other work in the hoaxes such as “A Witch Trial at Mount Holly” shop, young Franklin was reading, sometimes deep and “The Speech of Miss Polly Baker,” satires such into the night. He took a special interest in the as “An Edict by the King of Prussia,” humorous witty, satirical essays he found in a popular English sketches such as “The Ephemera” and “The Elysian periodical, the Spectator. In an effort to improve his Fields,” and informational pieces such as “Informa- own writing, he sometimes read the essays, noted tion to Those Who Would Remove to America,” the basic ideas in the sentences, and then attempted as well as countless news articles, letters, scientifi c to rewrite them in his own words. In 1722, when he reports, and proposals related to civic affairs. His was 16 years old, he wrote a series of satirical essays masterpiece, The Autobiography, is one of the clas- under the pseudonym Silence Dogood and secretly sic books of American literature. slipped them under the door of his brother’s shop.

155 156 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

These essays made their way into his brother’s Samuel Richardson’s Pamela, thus becoming the newspaper, the New-England Courant, and were fi rst printer to publish a novel in the colonies. A among Franklin’s fi rst published works. translation of Cicero’s Cato Major, which Franklin The two brothers’ relationship was a tense one, published the same year, has been called “the most however, and Benjamin decided to break his inden- beautiful example of the colonial printer’s art” ture. In 1723, when he was 17, he left his job and (Green 270). Franklin also became a force in colo- family in Boston, going by boat fi rst to New York nial printing, supporting a number of other print- and then to Philadelphia, where he landed with a ers, infl uencing others’ practices and principles, handful of change and no connections. His entry and making signifi cant improvements in the print- into Philadelphia would become one of the most ing press (Green 271; Tebbel 104). He retired from famous episodes in his autobiography. “I was in printing in 1748 when he was 41, but he would my working Dress, my best Cloaths being to come long identify himself with the trade. Years later, round by Sea,” Franklin wrote. “I was dirty from writing his autobiography, he sometimes slipped my Journey; my Pockets were stuff’d out with into the language of printing, referring to mistakes Shirts & Stockings; I knew no Soul nor where to he made during his life as errata, the printer’s term look for Lodging. I was fatigu’d with Travelling, for errors in a published document. Rowing, & Want of Rest. I was very hungry, and Even while he was becoming the leading printer my whole Stock of Cash consisted of a Dutch Dol- of colonial America, he also was becoming one lar, and about a shilling in Copper.” of its leading journalists. In 1729, a year after he From such humble origins, Franklin perhaps and Meredith went into business, Franklin began had little reason to think that he would become publishing a newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette, famous and wealthy. He was, however, a man of which he had bought from his former employer, means. Over the next several years, as he worked Samuel Keimer. In an age when more than half for various businesses in Philadelphia and England, of newspapers failed within two years, Franklin’s he studied human nature and mastered the means Gazette not only survived, but succeeded bril- of achieving success. When, for example, he refused liantly (Emery and Emery 51). Calling it “the best to pay a fee he found unfair—and consequently newspaper in the American colonies,” journalism found his work sabotaged—he changed his mind historians Edwin and Michael Emery note that the and paid the fee, “convinc’d of the Folly of being Pennsylvania Gazette “had the largest circulation, on ill Terms with those one is to live with continu- most pages, highest advertising revenue, most liter- ally.” In short, Franklin was a model of practical- ate columns, and liveliest comment of any paper in ity, a theme nicely summed up in his evaluation of the area” (Emery and Emery 44). Much of this suc- deism, a religious philosophy he had adopted as an cess may have grown out of Franklin’s own jour- adolescent: “I began to suspect that this Doctrine nalistic instincts. As a reporter, he wrote cogent tho’ it might be true, was not very useful.” “straight” news stories on crimes, acts of nature, In 1728, Franklin and an associate, Hugh Mer- and other subjects. He also had what the journal- edith, started a printing house of their own in Phil- ism historian Frank Luther Mott has called “a lively adelphia. Meredith would leave the business within news sense for the unusual and interesting,” and his a few years, but Franklin’s printing establishment paper sometimes featured what modern journalists eventually became the most successful in the colo- call “brights”—quirky stories intended to enter- nies. Over the next two decades, the fi rm published tain readers. On October 16, 1729, he reported: 432 broadsides, pamphlets, and books, including “And sometime last Week, we are informed, that The Psalms of David (1729), antislavery pamphlets one Piles a Fidler, with his Wife, were overset in a by John Woolman and other Quakers, and JONA- Canoo near Newtown Creek. The good Man, ’tis THAN EDWARDS’s Distinguishing Marks of a Work said, prudently secur’d his Fiddle, and let his Wife of the Spirit of God (1742). In 1744, he reprinted go to the Bottom.” Benjamin Franklin 157

Franklin and journalism were a good match. tions for discussion, including “4. Have you lately “Journalism,” his biographer Esmond Wright heard of any citizen’s thriving well, and by what explains, “was, in Franklin’s day, the career before means?” and “15. Have you lately observed any all others that offered opportunity to enterprise and encroachment on the just liberties of the people?” imagination” (18). Franklin’s career as a printer and Franklin’s Junto nicely demonstrates one of the a journalist provided him with a venue for both his central tenets of his Enlightenment perspective— ambitious sense of enterprise and his lively imagi- that is, that humans can greatly improve them- nation. In the Gazette, he published scores of his selves and their world through collaboration. “The own essays and sketches on a wide range of topics, Junto,” his biographer Leo Lemay notes, “served as including health care, defense, business, drinking, the incubation chamber for several public projects” religion, marriage, and virtue, often using a pen (338). One of these projects was the fi rst subscrip- name, such as Anthony Afterwit or Obadiah Plain- tion library in the colonies, the Library Company man. Some of these writings, such as “Apology of Philadelphia, founded in 1731. In these early for Printers” (1731) and “On Protection of Towns decades of his life, Franklin also played important from Fires” (1735), were serious discussions of civic roles, partly through his writing, in the formation affairs. Others—such as “The Art of Saying Little of a fi re department, a night watch, a hospital, and in Much” (1736), which features a parody of legal the University of Pennsylvania. prose, and “The Drinker’s Dictionary” (1737)— As were many young men, Franklin was carving were lighter fare. He also published writings, out his identity as a public person at the same time including “Essay on Paper-Currency, Proposing a that he was facing momentous developments in his New Method for Fixing Its Value” (1741), in his personal life. In 1730, he entered into a common- General Magazine. He occasionally published writ- law marriage with Deborah Read Rogers, whose ings in other periodicals as well. Before acquiring fi rst husband had abandoned her. In his autobiog- the Gazette, he published a string of satirical essays, raphy, written years later, Franklin recalled that his known as the Busy-Body series, in the American future wife had witnessed his humble entry into Mercury. His most famous sketch from this time, Philadelphia as a boy of 17 and must have found “The Speech of Miss Polly Baker,” appeared in a him a “ridiculous” sight. Together with Franklin’s London periodical, the General Advertiser, in 1747. illegitimate son, William, born to another woman From his press issued his greatest commercial suc- around 1729, the couple lived in a house on Mar- cess, Poor Richard’s Almanack, later known as Poor ket Street in Philadelphia. In 1732, Deborah gave Richard Improved, which appeared annually from birth to their fi rst child, Francis. They would lose 1732 until 1758. A compilation of information on this son to smallpox in 1736. They had one other astronomy, weather, and other matters, along with child, Sarah, or “Sally,” born in 1743. Franklin’s clever and amusing aphorisms, this book became marriage to Deborah would last until her death in one of the period’s best sellers. 1774, although they spent many years apart, as she As Franklin’s writings on money and fi re preven- never accompanied him to England, where he lived tion suggest, Franklin was heavily involved in the from 1757 to 1762 and from 1764 to 1775. civic life of his community at this time. In 1727, he In 1748, at the age of 41, Franklin retired from formed a group of Philadelphia men, many of them printing. For two decades—from the establish- also tradesmen, who could benefi t themselves and ment of his partnership with Meredith in 1728 to their community through conversations. Mem- his transfer of the business to a new partner, David bers of this group, called the Junto or the Leather Hall—his press had provided him with publicity Apron Club, gathered on Fridays and discussed for his writings, a voice in civic affairs, and sup- matters of business and society. In “Rules for a port for his growing family. Now it was about to Club Formerly Established in Philadelphia,” writ- give him something else: freedom. Thanks to the ten around 1732, Franklin lists some of the ques- success of his printing business, Franklin was now 158 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers a wealthy man and did not need to devote time to Society of London in 1753 and became, as the making a living. As Franklin explained years later historian Gordon Wood notes, “the most famous in his autobiography, his retirement gave him the American in the world” (66). leisure to pursue his interest in science. Franklin’s contributions to science and technol- As Philip Dray notes in Stealing God’s Thunder, ogy continued long after his triumph in electricity. Franklin had a “life-long fascination” with science. In 1761, he invented a musical instrument called Good Enlightenment thinker that he was, he con- the armonica, which became a sensation in Europe; tinually observed the workings of nature and, in both Mozart and Beethoven composed music for some cases, developed ways of controlling it. Even it. In 1768, he mapped the Gulf Stream, and, in before his retirement, he had found time to invent, 1784, he invented bifocals. Believing that inven- in 1741, the Pennsylvania fi replace, or Franklin tions should serve one’s fellow humans, Franklin stove, which could heat a room effi ciently while refused to secure patents on any of his inventions restricting smoke from entering it; two years later, and thus forfeited untold income from his ideas. In he made an important discovery concerning the a way that almost seems scripted, Franklin’s suc- movement of storms in the Northeast. Around this cesses in printing and science contributed to his same time, he became fascinated with the study successes in yet another fi eld, politics, to which of electricity, then still a novelty. People knew it he would devote much of his time and energy in existed and observed it, even using it to perform the third major phase of his adult life. In 1751, he tricks, but no one completely understood it. Frank- won election to the Pennsylvania Assembly, where lin, as did Abbe Jean-Antoine Nollet and other he would serve until 1764. As joint deputy post- contemporaries in France and England, began master for the colonies from 1753 until 1774, he developing experiments with Leyden jars and other introduced important developments in the postal equipment to study this magical phenomenon. He system, including home delivery and improved effi - reported on his work in Experiments and Observa- ciency (Isaacson 157). In 1754, he proposed the tions on Electricity, published in 1751. Albany Plan of Union, an early plan for uniting the In 1752, in what would become the most cel- English colonies in North America. ebrated incident in his life, he set out to test his His greatest political triumphs, however, lay hypothesis that lightning was a form of electricity. ahead. In the 1760s, Franklin watched the growth With the help of his son, William, he fl ew a kite of tensions between England and its American col- equipped with a pointed piece of wire in stormy onies. As Gordon Wood has shown in The Ameri- weather and felt a shock when he put his hand in canization of Benjamin Franklin, Franklin, who range of a key attached to the string. His hypoth- loved England, initially played the role of peace- esis validated, Franklin continued studying elec- maker, trying to resolve the tensions and prevent a tricity and eventually invented a device that would break. Nevertheless, he found fault with England’s change the world. Almost comically simple, yet government of the colonies and, in 1773, aired his revolutionary in its effects, the lightning rod pro- grievances in two of his best-known satires, “Rules vided Franklin’s contemporaries with a means by Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a of preventing the fi res often caused by lightning Small One” and “Edict by the King of Prussia.” strikes. Perhaps even more signifi cant was the psy- These sketches, which were frequently reprinted, chological effect of the invention; as Dray points helped to create a rift between Franklin and Eng- out, Franklin had unveiled one of nature’s great- land, which removed him from his offi ce as deputy est enigmas and most threatening forces (82). His postmaster in 1774 (Lebaree 390). The onetime work in electricity made Franklin, already a mover peacemaker was now, in Wood’s words, “a passion- and shaker in Philadelphia, an international celeb- ate patriot, more passionate in fact than nearly all rity. He received the Copley Medal from the Royal the other patriot leaders” (Wood 151). In 1775, he Benjamin Franklin 159 represented Pennsylvania in the Second Continental the Junto and the Library Company, and in other Congress; the following year, he collaborated with words and actions, we see a commitment to the THOMAS JEFFERSON and others on the Declaration principles of the Enlightenment. His pragmatism, of Independence. Later that year, Congress sent furthermore, has become a touchstone of Ameri- him to France to seek assistance in the war effort. can values—for better or worse. Although some There, the fame Franklin had achieved as a writer have celebrated Franklin and his accomplishments, and a scientist worked to his advantage. As Wood others have found him opportunistic, materialis- has noted, Franklin, by helping to secure an alliance tic, even simplistic. D. H. Lawrence, for example, with France in 1778, helped the colonies win a war complained that Franklin oversimplifi ed human they otherwise might have lost (196). Although he psychology: “Why, the soul of man is a vast for- helped the colonies win the war, Franklin suffered est,” Lawrence declares in Studies in Classic Ameri- a painful loss of his own. In siding with the Loy- can Literature, “and all Benjamin intended was a alists, William Franklin alienated his father, and neat back garden” (52). Detractors aside, Franklin their once-close relationship dissolved. They would remains one of the most successful and diverse men never effect a complete reconciliation. in American history. He was indisputably the coun- Before the break, however, Franklin’s relation- try’s greatest printer, as well as one of its most suc- ship with his only living son had helped to inspire cessful journalists. In the fi eld of science, he made his greatest literary achievement. In 1771, he began important contributions to the study of electricity. writing his autobiography, which he addressed As a founding father, he was instrumental in the to William. At separate stages over the next two cause of independence. Throughout these various decades, Franklin continued his life story, which careers, he wrote, producing an astounding num- would become a classic of American literature. He ber of news articles, essays, satires, sketches, hoaxes, died before fi nishing it, writing the last installment proposals, observations, reports, aphorisms, baga- in 1790. In this last stage of his life, he wrote other telles, and letters, as well as an autobiography that important works, as well. To entertain some of has become a classic of world literature. Indeed, his French friends, he wrote a series of brief, witty Franklin’s literature may be his most enduring leg- sketches, which he called bagatelles. Two of the best acy. More than two centuries after his death, his known of these works are “The Ephemera” (1778) words continue to enlighten. and “The Elysian Fields” (1778). Mark Canada In 1785, after nine years in France, Franklin returned to what was now, thanks largely to his efforts, an independent nation, the United States of (1732–1757) America. He helped to shape what that nation would Poor Richard’s Almanac become, serving as a delegate to the Constitutional As a genre, almanacs were popular in America, Convention in 1787. Two years later, he wrote the containing information ranging from the names fi rst remonstrance against slavery to be addressed to of rulers in Europe to the dates for fairs and road Congress. By this time, however, he was suffering books with descriptions of locations where travel- from poor health, plagued by both gout and kid- ers could stay along their journeys. When Franklin ney stones. Finally, on April 17, 1790, he died at his began writing his own almanac under the pseud- home in Philadelphia at the age of 84. onym Richard Saunders, he was 26 years old. He He left a legacy of diverse, yet harmonious accom- was more fi nancially set than he had previously plishments, held together by a common thread. In been because he had recently paid off his debts, and the aphorisms of Poor Richard and the lessons of he and his wife had opened a shop in Philadelphia his autobiography, in his invention of the Franklin near the marketplace. From 1632 to 1657, for 25 stove and the lightning rod, in his establishment of years, Franklin wrote and refi ned his Almanac. 160 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

Its prominence is gauged by the critic Van Wyck assures readers that he must be dead because “there Brooks not only by its presence in one out of appears in his name, as I am assured, an alma- every 100 households, but also by its popularity in nack for the year 1734, in which I am treated in France, Scotland, England, and Ireland. One of its a very gross and unhandsome manner,” and “Mr. most prominent articles, “The Way to Wealth,” was Leeds was too well bred to use any man so inde- translated into a signifi cant number of languages: cently” (14). Leeds himself clearly felt compelled Russian, Chinese, Catalan, Gaelic, Polish, Bohe- to respond to Poor Richard’s prediction, for in mian, and Welsh (ix). his own 1734 edition of the American Almanac, In its fi rst installation, in 1733, Franklin intro- Leeds blasts Poor Richard as a “Fool and a liar,” duces his readers to the fi ctional author and his “a conceited scribbler” whose “false prediction” is wife, a “good woman” who is “excessive proud” proven false by the author’s ability to survive the and unable to “bear, she says, to sit spinning in her predicted date of his demise (297). Leeds signs Shift of Tow, while [Poor Richard] do[es] nothing and dates the time of his writing as further proof but gaze at the Stars” (3). Thus, Franklin consid- of Poor Richard’s inaccurate prediction, but more ers the Almanac as a fi nancial necessity that allows importantly of Leeds’s own inability to recognize him to escape from his wife’s admonitions and her Franklin’s prank. threats to “burn all [his] books and rattling-traps Indeed, the following year, 1735, Leeds and (as she calls [his] instruments)” (3). Poor Richard’s Poor Richard addressed one another in the intro- wife, both her mood and her wardrobe, become ductions of their volumes once again. Poor Richard indications of the success of the Almanac. In 1734, writes, “There is no harmony among the star-gaz- Poor Richard proudly and appreciatively informs ers; but they are perpetually growling and snarling his “courteous readers” that his wife now owns her at one another like strange curs or like some men own pot, a pair of shoes, and two petticoats and at their wives” (25). In essence, Franklin chides that he himself is now the owner of a secondhand Leeds for his inability to take a joke and expresses coat (13). his own weariness that his prank has been taken His fi rst edition also includes an indirect attack so seriously for so long. Accordingly, Poor Richard upon his competition, a man named Mr. Titan lampoons the very talent Leeds claims to have— Leeds, who in his 1734 American Almanac claims the gift of prognostication. Surely, Poor Richard to “have supplied his country with almanacks for writes, this ability to predict the future is infallible; thirty seven years by past, to general satisfaction” thus Leeds must have died at the precise date and (297). Franklin takes Leeds as a friend to his fi c- time Poor Richard calculated. As further proof of tional Poor Richard and claims that at Leeds’s Leeds’s death, Poor Richard points readers to the request, Poor Richard has calculated that Leeds current state of Leeds’s American Almanack: “The will die on October 17, 1733, at 3:29 P.M. (3–4). wit is low and fl at, the little hints dull and spiritless, Naturally, his friend disputes this calculation and nothing smart in them” (26). Poor Richard con- believes that he will survive until October 26 (4). cludes, “No man living would or could write such This thread of the narrative for his fi ctional author stuff as the rest” (26). is carried through in the following year, 1734, When Leeds actually passed away in 1740, Poor when Poor Richard states, “I cannot at this present Richard felt the need to address the issue, fi rst by writing positively assure my readers; forasmuch as a reminding readers of the initial mention of Leeds disorder in my own family demanded my presence, in the 1734 preface, and then by incorporating a and would not permit me as I had intended, to be series of letters exchanged by the two men. As Poor with his in his last moments” (13–14). Despite the Richard insists that Leeds actually died in Octo- lack of eyewitness account of Mr. Leeds’s death ber 1733, as Richard predicted, he accounts for the at either of the predicted times and days, Richard mysterious appearance of these letters by stating Benjamin Franklin 161 that they were on his desk when he awoke from a to the genre: cycles of the moon and other factual dream while writing the current (1740) preface. In information. The contents that distinguish Frank- a letter written from the grave, Leeds apologizes lin’s Almanack from others include his aphorisms, to Richard for the “aspersions thrown on you by or witty sayings, that are displayed in terse two-line the malevolence of avaricious publishers of alma- phrases or else are presented in short, one-stanza nacks who envy your success” (76). Leeds confi rms poems. Critics have noted that some of these clever Poor Richard’s calculation of his death but recti- proverbs reappear in subsequent years and that oth- fi es the exact time by fi ve minutes and 53 seconds ers are not originally Franklin’s, but are borrowed (76). He also explains his ability to write a letter to from the British writers Alexander Pope and John Poor Richard from beyond the grave, stating, “No Dryden, the French writers François Rabelais and separate spirits are under any confi nement till after François de La Rochefoucauld, and classical Latin the fi nal settlement of all accounts” (76). Consider- writers such as Horace (viii). Franklin pokes fun at ing the rectifying of Poor Richard’s good name an his own talents as a poet in the preface of his 1747 essential duty, Leeds “entered [Poor Richard’s] left volume: “If thou hast judgment in poetry, thou nostril, ascended to [his] brain, found out where wilt easily discern the workman from the bungler. the ends of those nerves were fastened that move I know as well as thee, that I am no poet born; [Richard’s] right hand and fi ngers, by the help of and it is a trade I never learnt nor indeed could which he is writing” (76). Leeds’s ghost further learn” (136). As for his use of other writers’ works, pledges Richard additional glimpses of the future Franklin states, “ ’Tis methinks a poor excuse for and offers as proof of his gift for prediction knowl- the bad entertainment of guests that the food we edge that an old friend will remain sober for nine set before them, though coarse and ordinary, is of hours, to the astonishment of his friends (76–77). one’s own raising, off one’s own plantation when Franklin did not treat all fellow almanac writers there is plenty of what is ten times better to be had as he did Leeds. In 1747, Franklin paid homage to in the market” (137). the passing of Mr. Jacob Taylor, “who for upwards Common topics involve the power struggle of forty years supplied the good people of this between husbands and wives, the need to moder- and neighboring colonies with the most complete ate one’s consumption of food and drink, a gen- ephemeris and most accurate calculations that have eral dislike and distrust of lawyers, the perpetual hitherto appeared in America” (137). Franklin fur- struggle between the wealthy and the poor, and ther praises Taylor as “an ingenious mathematician the value of friendship. His rhetorical image of as well as an expert and skillful astronomer” (137). Poor Richard’s wife, whose carping is the reason In contrast to Franklin’s cavalier and somewhat he begins the enterprise of the almanac in the fi rst cruel treatment of Leeds, readers may recognize in place, becomes a recurring theme in his sayings, his kind words for Taylor an indictment of the kinds such as “I know not which lives more unnatural of predictions offered by Leeds. Note that Leeds lives / obeying husbands, or commanding wives” attempts astrological predictions according to the (142). One of his most famous sayings that still zodiac calendar, similar to today’s horoscopes, circulates is “Fish and visitors stink in three days.” while Taylor knew the dates of the winter and sum- Franklin also makes use of a classical form known mer solstice (the shortest and longest days of the as antimetabole, which is a purposeful inversion of year, respectively). As a logician himself, Franklin the order of two nouns in a two-line phrase, such naturally would frown upon Leeds’s form of pre- as “Keep thy shop and thy shop will keep you” and dictions and applaud Taylor’s, which were reckoned “A brother may not be a friend, but a friend will through mathematics and astronomy charts. always be a brother.” As for the content of the Almanack, the fi rst Regarding the almanac’s traditional role of edition contains many of the elements common offering predictions regarding weather so that 162 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers farmers may consult them for their various agricul- for moderation, or the relationships between tural cycles, Franklin writes, tongue in cheek, in his the rich and the poor), try to write your own address to readers of the 1753 volume that his pre- sage piece of advice using a few of the formats dictions of “snow, rain, hail, heat, frost, fogs, wind, Franklin employs (antimetabole, aphorism, or or thunder, may not be “what comes to pass punc- one-stanza poem). tually and precisely on the very day, [but] in some 2. Examine four or fi ve of Franklin’s saying and place or other on this little diminutive globe of explain their application in today’s society. ours” (213). For those who might wish for weather 3. Compare the aims of Franklin’s Autobiography predictions to be more precise for the British colo- with those of Poor Richard’s Almanack. How nies, Franklin demurs, insisting that the “matter of does his desire to educate the populace in the the weather, which is of general concern, I would right ways of thinking and acting correspond have it more extensively useful, and therefore take with the objectives of a religious fi gure such as in both hemispheres” (213). In his preface to the COTTON MATHER? 1756 volume, Franklin hastens to inform read- ers that although he has prepared information on the weather along with “other astronomical curi- (1757) osities,” his hope lies in the belief that readers have “The Way to Wealth” recognized his “view to the improvement of thy Also known as “Poor Richard Improved” and mind and thy estate,” which appears manifest in “Father Abraham’s Speech,” Franklin’s essay fi rst “moral hints, wise sayings, and maxims of thrift, appeared in the 25th-anniversary issue of Poor tending to impress the benefi ts arising from hon- Richard’s Almanac. Resuming the voice of Father esty, sobriety, industry, and frugality” (245). Abraham, Franklin opens with a mock address to Franklin’s advice and informational columns the reader in which he boasts of his popularity also run along the lines of the practical and the among the people. Although he does not “fi nd topical. He draws upon his own expertise in the his works respectfully quoted by other learned 1753 volume, namely, with the understanding that authors,” he has “frequently heard one of other of lightning is indeed a form of electricity, his famous [his] adages repeated” in daily conversations. By discovery while fl ying a kite during a thunder- contrasting his reception in the two social circles, storm. With his own knowledge of electricity, he Father Abraham is squarely placed as a man with offers readers practical advice on fashioning a light- homespun knowledge whose adages are heeded ning rod and thus securing their homes from light- and repeated among the masses. ning (223–224). He offers a concise history of the The setting for this particular essay is a gather- reckoning of the calendar from Egyptian times and ing of people “at a Vendue of Merchant Goods,” differentiates between Roman and Julian calendars waiting for the hour of sale to arrive. As they wait, (202–203). His preface to the 1748 volume con- the people begin to inquire of Father Abraham, tains a detailed account from Captain Middleton of described as a “plain clean old Man, with white the Royal Society of winters in current-day Canada, locks,” about the timely issues of taxes and general including such practical information as how to sea- advice on fi nancial matters. Once Father Abraham son beef, pork, mutton, and venison so as to store opens his mouth, Poor Richard takes over as all the it for the winter, and how to dress for more brutal old gentleman states are adages and pithy quota- winter weather (143–146). tions from another of Franklin’s personae. Taken together, the advice falls into a few categories: fru- For Discussion or Writing gality, industry, and prudence. Through the dou- 1. Drawing from one of the topics commonly con- ble guises of Poor Richard and Father Abraham, sidered by Poor Richard (friendship, the need Franklin advises the people at the Vendue against Benjamin Franklin 163 living beyond one’s means, such as making extrava- taxation at the hands of Prussia places the British gant purchases “for the sake of fi nery.” in the current position occupied by the American As the critic Edward Gallagher points out, colonists. The essay mimics the legalistic language the impact of the essay results from its unlikely common to edicts and other legislative acts, with conclusion. Despite the string of approximately phrases like “We do therefore hereby ordain and 100 proverbs and aphorisms, “the people heard command” and “We do therefore hereby farther it, and approved the doctrine, and immediately ordain.” In enumerating the reasons for this tax on practiced the contrary.” The sudden reversal, all trade to and from Great Britain, the “King of Gallagher believes, “was designed to shock, sur- Prussia” lists Prussia’s aid in the war against France, prise, and consequently involve the reader with which enabled England to “make conquests from the thematic issues of the speech” (483). Initially, the said power in America.” like Poor Richard, the readers were witnesses to The edict also includes a ban on all manufactur- Father Abraham’s advice. Once the people act in ing of iron in Great Britain, against the presumptu- defi ance of the advice and begin their purchases, ous notion of the island that “they had a natural the recipient of his wisdom falls on Poor Rich- right to make the best use they could of the natural ard, who we learn was at the Vendue to buy mate- productions of their country for their own bene- rial for a new coat. When Richard heeds the sage fi t.” The extreme nature of this particular ban is advice and turns away from the Vendue, the reader demonstrated in the lengthy descriptions Franklin recognizes the indirect indictment of the people’s provides: “No mill or other engine for slitting or foolishness. This, for Gallagher, constitutes the rolling of iron, or any plating forge to work with a second climax of the essay (484). The real chal- tilt-hammer, or any furnace for making steel, shall lenge in the essay is in its fi nal line, where the be erected or continued in the said island.” reader is directly addressed: “Reader, if thou wilt An additional ban is placed on wool and all wool do the same, thy profi t will be as great as mine.” products in order that Prussia might dominate in The irony of Richard’s being affected by his own “the raising of wool in our antient dominions.” Just words echoes the opening of the essay, where he as with the ban on iron production, the detailing of tells of quoting himself. the forbidden items adds to the ridiculous nature of such legislation: “worsted-bay, or woolen-yarn, For Discussion or Writing cloth, says, bays, kerseys, serges, frizes, druggets, 1. How do the tone and structure of Franklin’s cloth-serges, shalloons, or any other drapery stuffs, advice in this essay compare to those of Cotton or woolen manufactures whatsoever.” In answer to Mather in “Bonifacius”? How do the two depict the anticipated question of what the colonists will their readers? do with their current supply of wool, the king sug- 2. In the fi nal paragraph, Franklin presents a brief gests that “our loving subjects . . . use all their wool homage to JUDITH SARGENT MURRAY, whom as manure for the improvement of their lands.” he met and to whose writings, under the pseud- To further the point made in his commentary onym The Gleaner, he subscribed. In what ways on the edict that England “treat[s] its own children might this essay speak to Murray and her own in a manner so arbitrary and tyrannical,” Franklin writings? includes hats, whose “art and mystery of making” have been perfected in Prussia, as an additional item restrained in Great Britain. Not only will those involved in the transport of such contraband be (1773) “An Edict by the King of Prussia” charged a penalty, but the vehicle employed in the Written in 1773, just prior to the American Revolu- transport, be it a “vessel, cart, carriage, or horse,” tion, Franklin’s clever hoax of the British suffering shall also be forfeited. 164 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

Finally, the edict ends with a proclamation that Before helping to secure an alliance with France all criminals—and again Franklin follows with a in 1778, Franklin put his pen to work to express laundry list of the various crimes they may have the sentiments of the colonists. In this sketch, pub- committed—will be thrown out of their jail cells lished in the Public Advertiser in 1773, Franklin and sent to the “said Island of Great Britain for the provides a list of 20 actions that a large empire, better peopling of that country.” such as England, can take to alienate its colonists, The fi nal word, however, is from Franklin, who foment a rebellion, and ultimately reduce its size. removes the mask of the King of Prussia to reveal Number 11 of these actions, for example, reads, “these regulations are copied from Acts of the “To make your Taxes more odious, and more likely English Parliament respecting their colonies.” He to procure Resistance, send from the Capital a declares the notion “impossible” as he cannot con- Board of Offi cers to superintend the Collection, science that a “people distinguished for their love composed of the most indiscreet, ill-bred and inso- of liberty” should behave in such a “mean and inju- lent you can fi nd.” dicious” manner. “Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One” belongs to the genre For Discussion or Writing of satire. A favorite form for 18th-century writers 1. Just as in “The Way to Wealth,” Frank lin reser ves such as Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift, sat- the real message of his essay until its conclusion. ire involves ridicule of someone or something—a Consider the reason for this rhetorical decision, person, for example, or an institution. In this case, and its effects in the two essays. the target of Franklin’s satire is the English govern- 2. Franklin’s essay appeared in a London newspa- ment. As does the Declaration of Independence, per while the statesman was visiting England. which Franklin helped to write three years later, He reports that his host, Lord Le Despencer, this sketch delineates England’s transgressions at fi rst believed the essay and later attributed it against its colonies. Instead of taking a straightfor- to “your American jokes upon us.” Consider ward approach of simply naming these transgres- how this essay’s intended audience shapes its sions, as the Declaration of Independence does, content. this satire employs irony, a common ingredient of satire. Irony always involves some kind of contrast; in this case, Franklin implies that the English lead- ers wish to turn their “Great Empire” into a “Small “Rules by Which a Great Empire One,” when he knows very well that they do not. May Be Reduced to a Small One” (1773) As is often the case with irony, the effect is humor. Franklin dedicated this pamphlet, which appeared on the eve of the American Revolution, to Lord For Discussion or Writing Hillsborough, British secretary for colonial affairs. 1. Compare this satirical sketch with the Declara- It provides the “ministers who have the manage- tion of Independence. What do the two works ment of extensive dominions” with a step-by-step have in common? How are they different? Why set of instructions on how to decrease this “trou- do you think that Franklin chose this satirical blesome” burden, and thus liberate more time for technique to criticizing England’s behavior? “fi ddling,” by reducing the empire. The common 2. Imagine that you are an English authority. Write themes reemerging in the pamphlet involve taxa- your own set of “rules” in which you satirize tion without representation, the infl ated salaries the colonists’ behavior. and general dispositions of colonial authorities, 3. Franklin’s pamphlet was preceded by the Stamp and the legal system to which the colonists are Act, which was passed in 1765, and followed subject. by the Intolerable Acts of 1774. Research these Benjamin Franklin 165

particular acts to see how they are refl ected in buried in universal ruin?” The ironic treatment of his 20 steps Britain can take to incite revolution such dire predictions and views of the world is best in the American colonies. expressed through the viewpoint of an ephemera, who considers Moulin Joly to be the world, and the sun’s departure from the sky to signal “universal death and destruction.” “The Ephemera, Franklin dismisses the elderly fl y’s proclamations an Emblem of Human Life” (1778) of doom to frame the tale with his own voice: “To While in France under the duty of a commissioner me, after all my eager pursuits, no solid pleasures sent by Congress to obtain aid from that country, now remain, but the refl ection of a long life spent Franklin stayed in the village of Passy, outside Paris. in meaning well, the sensible conversation of a few There, he met the accomplished woman Madame good lady ephemerae, and now and then a kind Brillon, with whom he would maintain a lifelong smile and a tune from the ever amiable Brillante.” friendship that culminated in a failed attempt to wed her daughter, Cungonde, to his son, William. For Discussion or Writing “The Ephemera” is addressed to Mme Brillon, who 1. Historians note Franklin’s initial fl irtation with is identifi ed in the opening sentence as “my dear Madame Brillon. In what ways does this piece friend,” and as “the ever amiable Brillante” in the function as a love letter? closing one. 2. As a statesman, inventor, and founding father Franklin opens the piece with a scene of the two of the United States, Franklin was certainly an taking part in a walk in which they are introduced accomplished man with a legacy well intact. to a “kind of little fl y, called an ephemera,” who How might you judge his fi nal statement in the “were bred and expired within the day.” Staying piece regarding his greatest pleasures in life? behind to observe some of these fl ies upon a leaf, Does he merely strip one facade in the piece (the Franklin, who credits himself with profi ciency in fl y’s perspective) to offer yet another one? “all the inferior animal tongues,” listens in on their 3. In its own way, “Ephemera” offers wisdom debate regarding the merit of two foreign musi- through observations in nature, a trait shared cians. He muses that they must live under such a by the poetry of WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT and just and mild government to be able to engage in PHILIP M ORIN F RENEAU. Selecting one poem from any topic, such as music. He then turns his atten- either poet, compare it to Franklin’s “Ephemera.” tion to a solitary fl y, “an old grey-headed one” who Do the writers reach similar conclusions, despite was speaking to himself, and diverts the rest of the differences in format? Or do the different forms piece to the fl y’s soliloquy. create different lessons or conclusions? This great philosophizing fl y, who has outlived generations, a full “four hundred and twenty min- utes of time,” opines on the future of his “pres- ent race of ephemerae” after his inevitable death. “Information to Those Who Not only will he not live long enough to enjoy the Would Remove to America” (1782) honeydew he has amassed on his leaf, but he won- Franklin’s essay reads like an advertisement tract ders about the future of his political struggles and for emigration to America and, in its celebration philosophical studies. Mocking the millennial and of industry and frugality in its citizenry, an indi- apocalyptic views held by many, Franklin’s elderly rect indictment of the staid aristocratic societies fl y wonders, “What will become of all history in still reigning in Europe. The essay promises to the eighteenth hour, when the world itself even the dispel potential emigrants’ “mistaken ideas and whole Moulin Joly, shall come to its end, and be expectations [of] what is to be obtained” in North 166 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

America. Thus, Franklin begins not with the and less prone to vice because of their industry and glowing qualities of America, but rather with the constant employment. criticisms launched against it from Europe, with Finally, Franklin recommends that all potential which Franklin would be all too familiar, having emigrants read the Constitution, adding that it has traveled extensively in France and England. Chief been published in London and, in a “good transla- among these critiques was a lack of sustained cul- tion” into French, in Paris as well. tural history, which would produce fi ne works of arts and science, and of an aristocratic class whose For Discussion or Writing ancestors were connected to royalty through mar- 1. Compare Franklin’s essay to JOHN SMITH’s riage and bloodlines. In the supposed absence of promotional tract or the fi rst book of THOMAS any symbols of culture, then, Europe imagines MORTON’s New English Canaan. To what extent that “strangers of birth must be greatly respected,” do the writers base their depictions of America along with those “possessing talents in the belles- on negative images of Britain or Europe in lettres, fi ne arts, etc.” Additional misconceptions general? What values emerge as desirable in an arise from the country’s colonial past, which paid emigrant? for transportation to emigrants and provided them 2. Which aspects of North America does Franklin with land in the hopes of populating the new focus on and celebrate and why? What aspects of world. Franklin chalks all of these notions to prod- the nation does he ignore or misrepresent? ucts of a “wild imagination.” He begins his characterization of America’s positive attributes by mentioning the difference in governments: America has civil offi ces that “Remarks Concerning the are “not so profi table as to make [them] desir- Savages of North America” (1784) able,” unlike Europe, which is overburdened with Franklin begins this essay by noting the infl uence “superfl uous ones.” In this initial point of com- of cultural perspective on coloring one’s view of parison, Franklin sets the tone for the rest of the another culture: “Savages we call them, because essay: America appears as a spacious nation fi lled their manners differ from ours, which we think the with hearty, industrious workers who value utili- perfection of civility; they think the same of theirs.” tarianism, while Europe seems incapable of caring As case in point, Franklin points to the differences for its own people in terms of work and land and of opinion regarding what constitutes an education mistakenly values other instances of superfl uous- that erupted during the Treaty of Lancaster in 1744. ness. Rather than inquiring of a person’s heri- When members of the Six Nations were offered the tage, Franklin notes, in America they ask of his chance to have a half-dozen of their young men usefulness, his skill. Thus, the privilege afforded educated at the college in Williamsburg, the tribal by heredity in Europe is replaced by a respect and members responded with gratitude for the gracious admiration for industriousness. Franklin jokes offer but demurred nevertheless, stating “our ideas that emigrants might seek the aid of a genealo- of this kind of education happen not to be the same gist to prove their relation to “ploughmen” rather with yours.” The unnamed tribal leader responds than to royalty. that those young people who were “brought up at After identifying America as “the land of labor,” the Colleges of the Northern Provinces” returned Franklin details the kind of laborers who would unable to speak their native language, withstand the thrive on American soil: those who “understand elements, or provide for their tribe through hunt- the husbandry of corn and cattle”; those who can ing once they were back. In short, the tribal leader build houses, furniture, and utensils; and those concludes, “they were totally good for nothing.” willing to apprentice as servants of journeymen. He He ends his speech by offering to teach “a dozen of also argues that morally Americans are more sound their sons” and “make men of them.” Benjamin Franklin 167

Franklin offers another point of comparison so long for white men to learn good things, and he between the natives of America and their British remains convinced that the only subject discussed counterparts in the way of conducting councils or in meetings is “how to cheat an Indian in the price meetings. Great respect is afforded to the native of beaver.” speaker, whose rising is met with a “profound silence” that lasts for fi ve or six minutes after his For Discussion or Writing speech is concluded, to ensure that he has a moment 1. Consider Franklin’s characterization of Ameri- to refl ect on his speech and insert any additional can Indians as civil and apt critics of the colo- point he neglected to make. This respectful manner nists’ behavior and practices. How is his moral of listening to one another is sharply and negatively tale in this essay compared to his adages in the contrasted to that of the British House of Com- voice of Poor Richard? mons or “polite Companies of Europe,” in which 2. Compare Franklin’s sense of American Indians speakers are rendered hoarse, speeches are uttered with Jefferson’s in Notes on the State of Virginia. with great rapidity for fear of being interrupted, How does each treat America’s native popula- and many speak at once. tions with regard to European standards for In terms of the extent of native civility, Franklin civility? provides anecdotal tales of the frustration suffered by missionaries who cannot discern whether the natives’ signs of approval when hearing the Gospel (1787) signify assent or mere civility. After a Swedish mis- “Speech in the Convention” sionary preached on the main tenets of Christian- On the fi nal day of the Constitutional Conven- ity, to include man’s fall from grace “by eating an tion, September 17, 1787, Benjamin Franklin had apple,” the Susquehanna orator concludes, “What James Wilson, from the Pennsylvania delegation, you have told us is all very good. It is indeed bad read the following speech. Speaking from his to eat apples. It is better to make them all into position as an old man, Franklin confesses that cider.” The orator continues by giving the mis- he grows to doubt his own opinion and judgment sionary the tale of how they became acquainted of others as he ages. With this provision, he also with kidney beans, tobacco, and maize, which the admits that he does not “entirely approve of this missionary immediately renounces as a “fable, fi c- Constitution at present,” with the understood tion, falsehood” in comparison with his stories proviso that he may very well change his opinion, of “sacred truth.” In the orator’s reply, Franklin as he has on other “important subjects.” He fur- voices his own conclusion on the matter, which is ther places his own doubts about the Constitution that the missionary should practice the same rules within the frame of human fallibility that results, of civility that govern the Susquehanna when ironically, through the belief in infallibility. As hearing a tale. an example of this high regard that people hold The fi nal tale of Conrad Weiser, who func- for the rightness of their own opinions, Franklin tions as an interpreter for the Mohawk and Brit- quotes an unnamed French lady who tells her sis- ish, and his conversation with Canassatego, during ter that the only person she meets who is always which the latter asks the former about the practice right is herself. of shutting up shops one day a week to attend a In this spirit, Franklin declares his agreement meeting and “learn good things,” an oblique refer- to the Constitution, “with all its faults,” and rec- ence to attending church and hearing the gospel. ognizes that “there is no form of government but A deist himself, Franklin must have delighted in what may be a blessing to the people, if well admin- recounting Canassatego’s interpretation of this cul- istered.” In other words, Franklin looks beyond the tural practice. The chief wonders why it has taken Constitutional Convention to consider the future of 168 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers the United States and the form of democratic gov- The Autobiography of ernment it will practice. His thoughts on America’s Benjamin Franklin (1788, 1791) future cause him a moment of unreserved pride, As the critic William H. Shurr readily admits, when he declares his astonishment at fi nding a “sys- Franklin’s Autobiography “has been judged one of tem approaching so near to perfection as it does.” the most important and infl uential of American The degree of perfection that has been achieved is all books” (435). A central part of the importance of the more remarkable, Franklin notes, because it was Franklin’s self-narrative lies in its identifi cation of assembled from a number of men “who carry with a particularly American character, a self-made man. them their prejudices, passions, errors of opinion, Further, Franklin’s own large presence as a found- local interests, and selfi sh views.” And, rather than ing father would naturally give considerable weight having such a motley crew dissolve into bloodshed to any telling of his own life and his part in the and a Tower of Babel, where they are rendered inca- founding of the nation. Ironically, Shurr writes, pable of communicating with one another, instead Franklin’s Autobiography is held up as a model for they have created a document that “will astonish the genre in general and yet the term autobiography our enemies.” did not come into existence in English until 1797, As for his previous objections to the Con- seven years after Franklin’s death. Even then, the stitution, which he does not name specifi cally, term referred to an “odd, pedantic neologism” Franklin consigns them to the four walls of the (Shurr 435). convention. He does so out of a conviction that The Autobiography contains four parts, the fi rst “much of the strength and effi ciency of any gov- begun in August 1771, fi ve years before the onset ernment in procuring and securing happiness to of the American Revolution. The second part was the people, depends on opinion.” Thus, Franklin penned 13 years after the Revolution. In the fi rst will not whisper a word of his own prior doubts section, Franklin makes express use of the phrase about the Constitution, and he expresses a desire Dear Son and seems to have addressed his ille- that other members, when returning home to gitimate son, William, as the intended reader. He their constituency, will likewise remain silent on opens in the way that a father might write to a son, the detracting aspects of the document. Doing so by recalling family anecdotes and by striking a will cultivate the continued good opinion held by kind, familiar tone. Franklin writes, “Now imagin- foreign nations, as well as among ourselves. ing it may be equally agreeable to you to know the Franklin ends his brief speech with a call circumstances of my life, many of which you are yet to “every member of the Convention” to con- unacquainted with, and expecting a week’s unin- sider his own fallibility and “put his name to this terrupted leisure in my present country retirement, Instrument.” I sit down to write them to you.” On the basis of these opening remarks, then, part 1 appears to be For Discussion or Writing a written version of the kind of conversation one 1. Franklin presents two controlling themes in had with one’s elders. To determine one’s place in this brief but powerful essay: the fallibility of the world, one needs to have knowledge of one’s humans and the exercise of unanimity for the forebears. For William, this kind of family history greater good. How are these two notions linked might prove painful, however, because he was Ben- to the concept of democracy? jamin Franklin’s illegitimate child. In fact, Shurr 2. Franklin raises the specter of foreign opin- believes that the opening references to “some sinis- ion in his essay. How do his words of culti- ter accidents” that Franklin desired to change was vating the appearance of unanimity relate in fact a direct attack on his son’s illegitimacy” since to his cultivation of a public persona in his William’s coat of arms would have to bear “the bar autobiography? sinister—the heraldic mark of illegitimacy” (444– Benjamin Franklin 169

445). As Franklin himself points out, employing to Josiah’s second wife, Abiah Folger, in Boston. the metaphor of life as a manuscript, there are no He describes his mother’s family as belonging to possibilities of repetition to eliminate those sins (or “one of the fi rst settlers of New England, of whom errata) that he has committed, such as the siring of honorable mention is made by Cotton Mather in a son out of wedlock. Therefore, “the next thing his Church History.” His maternal grandfather, most like living one’s life over again seems to be a Peter Folger, was also a poet of “homespun verse of recollection of that life, and to make that recollec- that time and people,” as well as an outspoken sup- tion as durable as possible, the putting it down in porter of “liberty of conscience,” meaning that he writing.” Interestingly, it seems as though Frank- supported the religious sects such as the Quakers lin considered the telling of his tale, its commit- who were persecuted and ostracized by the Puritan ment to paper and thus to posterity, as a means of majority. Having read Peter Folger’s poetry, Frank- atonement. lin declares it to contain “a good deal of decent Through notes gathered from an uncle, Frank- plainness and manly freedom.” lin becomes acquainted with the family’s longer Given such ancestors, it is no wonder that history, including such details as their residence Franklin would grow to attain such eminence in in the same village, Ecton in Northamptonshire, his life. Anecdotes of his early childhood, such as for 300 years. By tracing his own father’s birth, as being promoted three grades within one year or contained in the register at Ecton, Franklin fi g- having an “early readiness in learning to read,” all ures out his place in the larger family genealogy: fi t not only with the image readers have today of “I was the youngest son of the youngest son for this extraordinary fi gure, but also within the gen- fi ve generations back.” In his brief accounts of his eral character of his ancestors, both maternal and paternal grandfather’s four sons, Franklin asks Wil- paternal. Ironically, Franklin’s close resemblance to liam to forgive him for any errors or missing details the defi ant and intelligent nature of his ancestors because of “this distance from my papers.” William also functioned to remove him from his immedi- is encouraged to look for these as a source for “many ate family, fi rst from his position as an assistant in more particulars.” The uncle whom Franklin men- his father’s shop as a “Tallow Chandler and Sope- tions fi rst is Thomas, a man who “became a consid- Boiler,” and later in his reluctant and brief role erable man in the county affairs [and] was a chief as apprentice to his brother James’s press. When mover of all public spirited undertakings.” It is this he was 12 years old, Franklin was apprenticed to uncle who, Franklin reminds William, “struck you James for a period of nine years, to end when he as something extraordinary from its similarity to reached the age of 21. Happily, Franklin writes, the what you knew of [my life].” By reminding William position afforded him access to books and a trades- of the connection that he himself made between man named Matthew Adams who gave Franklin his father and his uncle, Franklin is able to seem access to his library. His father discouraged Frank- the humble family historian rather than a braggart lin from his early inclinations to be a poet, “telling who sees in himself echoes of a dynamic ancestor. him versemakers were generally beggars,” and thus To account for the family’s remove to New he looked to prose writing as “a principal means of England, Franklin offers the family anecdote of advancement.” He began copying editions of the a Bible concealed in a joint stool, which was then British humorous newspaper the Spectator, in order turned upside down and placed upon the knees to increase his vocabulary, work on the structure of of the family patriarch, who read from it. Because his arguments, and perfect his use of language in “conventicles,” religious meetings or gatherings, the same way that a poet might. The signifi cance were forbidden by law, Franklin’s father, Josiah, of language in Franklin’s life is not to be underesti- along with his fi rst wife and their three children, mated since it was an essential part of his personal- left for New England in 1682. Franklin was born ity. It thus is in keeping with his public image of 170 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers himself that he would provide a detailed account part 1: “In order to secure my credit and character of honing his linguistic skills, including his anony- as a tradesman, I took care not only to be in real- mous contributions to his brother’s newspaper and ity industrious and frugal, but to avoid all appear- his victories at verbal sparrings. ances of the contrary. I dressed plainly; I was seen Had Franklin’s life followed this model, where in no places of idle diversion; I never went out fi sh- he remained dutifully in apprenticeship to his ing or shooting . . . and to show that I was not brother James, we might not have the fully real- above my business, I sometimes brought home the ized image of the American character that Franklin paper I purchased at the stores through the streets brings to life in his Autobiography. His own quiet on a wheelbarrow.” Although some critics, includ- rebellion against his family and their limitations ing Lemay, Shurr, and Looby, like to argue that on his freedom would resonate years later with the part 1 is radically different from the subsequent American Revolution, in which the colonies would parts, and that the whole does not adhere as a uni- be cast as the rebellious children of Mother Eng- fi ed book, perhaps the preceding quotation serves land. Franklin disguised himself and left for New as a point of continuity across all four parts. For York. Tellingly, the disguise Franklin and his friend Looby, “Scholars and critics have labored diligently John Collins devise for him contains the very mark to process the text into coherence, to produce the of moral corruption that would later prove to be requisite unity that is the goal of much literary crit- true: “my being a young acquaintance of [Col- icism; but in doing so they have obscured, I would lins’s] that had got a naughty girl with child, whose argue, what are among the text’s most meaning- friends would compel me to marry her.” From New ful features” (85). Looby interprets the fractures York, Franklin soon made his way to Philadelphia. and contradictions of Franklin’s Autobiography as He notes his account of his travels to William: “I proof of the infl uence that the revolution held over have been the more particular in this description Franklin, especially because he purposely does of my journey, and shall be so of my fi rst entry into not mention it in any of the Autobiography’s four that city, that you may in your mind compare such parts. Given that part 1 was written in 1771, years unlikely beginnings with the fi gure I have since before the revolution, it naturally makes sense that made there.” He wishes William to gauge his cur- Franklin could not have written about an event rent success from his poor, unlikely beginnings in that had yet to transpire. Instead, the fi rst part fol- Philadelphia. Shurr considers this aspect of part lows traditional models by retelling events from 1—Franklin’s “need [for] his son’s approval and family lore and from his own childhood. Frank- even admiration”—to have political resonance since lin was assiduously invested in promoting a public William Franklin was then the governor of New image for himself. Keeping this tendency for self- Jersey and had such high political standing that promotion in mind, the reader can easily make the he was invited into Westminster Abbey to attend leap to part 2, which has been described as “an the coronation of George III while the father was explanation of Franklin’s bookkeeping method for forced to stand outdoors in a temporary booth attaining perfection through practice of the vir- (441). William was a royalist, and in 1771 when tues” (Shurr 437). Franklin penned this fi rst section of the Autobi- Thirteen years after the Revolutionary War, ography, he may have been seeking out insurance Franklin returned to his Autobiography and began in the form of his son against any possible punish- writing part 2. Unlike the politically uncertain ment for his own disloyal and rebellious behavior Franklin of part 1, the Franklin of part 2 had against the Crown (Shurr 441). emerged triumphant from the war. Another cen- Franklin’s awareness of how others might per- tral distinction between the two parts involves its ceive him remains a central theme in his autobi- intended reader. All references to William, whom ography. He explains to William near the close of he had publicly disinherited and disowned by this Benjamin Franklin 171 time, are noticeably absent (Shurr 437). Instead, topic that constitutes most of part 2: what Franklin the Autobiography is opened up to a larger read- himself described as the “bold and arduous proj- ership, an audience of “American youth,” as one ect of arriving at moral perfection.” The topic of of his friends imagined it in a letter included self-improvement is, not surprisingly, introduced at the end of part 1. To transition from a letter through Franklin’s brief treatment of his own reli- intended for his son to a larger endeavor intended gious beliefs and practices. While he states that for the edifi cation of the next generation, Frank- he “never doubted . . . the existence of the Deity lin includes letters from two of his friends: Abel that made the world and governed it by his provi- James and Benjamin Vaughan. James writes quite dence,” he “seldom attended any public worship.” directly of the singularity of Franklin’s character: He pays his annual subscription for the salary of “I know of no character living nor many of them the “only Presbyterian minister in Philadelphia,” put together, who has so much in his power as thy- but found the sermons “to me very dry, uninter- self to promote a greater spirit of industry and early esting, unedifying, since not a single moral prin- attention to business, frugality, and temperance ciple was inculcated or enforced.” Rather, Franklin with the American youth.” In Vaughan’s letter, insists, the aim of the ministers was more “to make he describes Franklin’s letter as a “noble rule and us Presbyterians than good citizens.” He sees the example of self-education.” Vaughan extends this two goals—religious and secular—as at odds with characterization of Franklin’s writing to the gen- one another and he would rather follow the latter eral population: “Your biography will not merely than the former. teach self-education but the education of a wise Franklin lists 13 precepts that he has met with man.” Thus, James imagines Franklin’s task as the in his reading. Not surprisingly, for a fi gure like education of the masses by a wise and sage man, his Franklin who has dedicated his life to language, friend, Franklin. he fi nds moral lessons in his daily reading mate- Part 2 is entitled “Continuation of the Account rial. The critic Christopher Looby believes that of My Life Begun at Passy 1784,” and yet critics “because Franklin claims a representative status for note the difference in tone, intended readership, himself, presenting his life as an allegory of Ameri- and subject matter. He briefl y recounts the creation can national experience, it is also an account of of the public library, which was originally called a the nation’s self-constitution in language” (73). In “subscription library,” and notes how it was expe- other words, the way in which Franklin declares and dient for him to create the pretense that “a number presents himself on the page becomes a model for of friends” had arrived at this idea rather than he future Americans to write of their own life stories. alone. Franklin displays his humility by willingly The 13 precepts are, in order, temperance, silence, forgoing the opportunity to “raise one’s reputation order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, jus- in the smallest degree above that of one’s neigh- tice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity, bors” and instead granting others a share in author- and humility. As Franklin reasons, “Temperance ship. Similarly, it is at his wife’s insistence that “her fi rst as it tends to produce that coolness and clear- husband deserved a silver spoon and china bowl as ness of head, which is so necessary where constant well as any of his neighbors” that china and plate vigilance was to be kept up, and guard maintained made their fi rst appearance in the Franklin house- against the unremitting attraction to ancient hab- hold. In both instances, Franklin is the benefi ciary its, and the force of perpetual temptations.” of the good opinion of others, even when he must It is a methodical, logical manner Franklin devises suppress his own role as inventor of the public in which to approach the moral and philosophical library in order to solicit subscriptions. issue of self-improvement. To fulfi ll his third pre- Perhaps one of the most enduring and infl u- cept for “order,” Franklin imposes on himself a ential aspects of Franklin’s autobiography is the “scheme on employment for twenty-four hours of 172 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers a natural day.” The social aspects of his life, which lin as a means of achieving perfection to Cot- he attributes to the distinction between a worker or ton Mather’s advice in Bonifacius. Are there “journey-man printer” and himself, “a master who points of commonality between the deist and must mix with the world,” cause this rigid schedule the Puritan? to give him “the most trouble.” He reconciles the 2. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the attempts made with the less-than-perfect results by titular character has written a similar list of likening the process to a man who fi nds shining an tasks he intends to perform in the name of self- ax an arduous process and who learns to appreci- improvement. How do his areas of concern or ate a speckled ax. The “speckled ax” symbolizes an concentration coincide with Franklin’s? awareness of one’s own mortality and thus of one’s 3. Compare Franklin’s moral virtues in part 2 with limitations, as well as a celebration of the achieve- some of the aphorisms and moral instructions ments one can make in a striving for perfection. he offers in Poor Richard’s Almanac. Franklin states it best: “Though I never arrived at the perfection I had been so ambitious of obtain- ing, but fell far short of it, yet I was by the endeavor a better and happier man than I otherwise should FURTHER QUESTIONS ON have been, if I had not attempted it.” FRANKLIN AND HIS WORK When Franklin returns to the Autobiography, to 1. Franklin offered advice packaged in witty aph- begin part 3, it is 1788, two years before his death. orisms and in a refl ective autobiography. How (The very brief part 4 was apparently left unfi n- do Franklin’s ideas for self-improvement refl ect ished.) His attention turns, at it naturally would at larger American values? such an advanced age, to ensuring that his contri- 2. Select one or two of Franklin’s works and argue for butions will be lasting and remembered. He men- their role and infl uence in shaping early American tions the Franklin stove, which he invented in 1742, letters. How does his writing compare with that and his refusal to accept a patent on it because “we of another founding father, Thomas Jefferson? enjoy great advantages from the inventions of oth- ers, [and] we should be glad of an opportunity to WORKS CITED AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES serve others by any invention of ours.” Although Brands, H. W. The First American: The Life and Times it is true that Franklin is technically writing about of Benjamin Franklin. New York: Doubleday, the benefi ts his open stove have had for others, it 2000. is not unreasonable to assume that his statement Brooks, Van Wyck, ed. Poor Richard’s Almanac for about the far-reaching benefi ts of one’s inventions the Years 1733–1758. New York: Ballantine Books, was a hopeful wish for his own long-lasting fame. 1977. It certainly has proven true that readers and writers Dray, Philip. Stealing God’s Thunder: Benjamin Frank- for several hundred years since his death in 1790 lin’s Lightning Rod and the Invention of America. continue to marvel at this politician, scientist, and New York: Random House, 2005. generally dynamic fi gure of the early American Dunne, Richard S., and John C. Van Horne, eds. Ben- years. jamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2005. For Discussion or Writing Emery, Edwin, and Michael Emery. The Press and 1. Part 2 of Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography America: An Interpretive History of the Mass Media. contains lists and schedules that remain a cen- Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1996. tral aspect of American life to this day (self-im- Forde, Steven. “Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography provement books and New Year’s resolutions). and the Education of America.” American Political Compare the secular tenets espoused by Frank- Science Review 86, no. 2 (June 1992): 357–368. Benjamin Franklin 173

Gallagher, Edward J. “The Rhetorical Strategy of Autobiography.” American Quarterly (1985): Franklin’s ‘Way to Wealth.’ ” Eighteenth-Century 73–96. Studies 6, no. 4 (Summer 1973): 475–485. Morgan, Edmund Sears. Benjamin Franklin. New Green, James N. “English Books and Printing in Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2002. the Age of Franklin.” In A History of the Book in Mott, Frank Luther. American Journalism: A History: America. Vol. 1, edited by David D. Hall, 248– 1690–1960. New York: Macmillan, 1962. 298. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Papers of Benjamin Franklin. Sponsored by the Ameri- 2000. can Philosophical Society and Yale University. Digi- Isaacson, Walter. Benjamin Franklin: An American tal Edition by the Packard Humanities Institute. Life. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003. Available online. URL: http://franklinpapers.org/ La Baree, Leonard W., ed. The Papers of Benjamin franklin/. Accessed April 23, 2009. Franklin. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Shurr, William H. “ ‘Now, Gods, Stand Up for Bastards’: Press, 1959. Reinterpreting Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography.” Lawrence, D. H. Studies in Classic American Litera- American Literature 64, no. 3 (1992): 435–451. ture. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1953. Talbott, Page, Richard S. Dunn, and John C. Van Lemay, J. A. Leo. Benjamin Franklin: A Documen- Horne, eds. Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a tary History. Available online. URL: http://www. Better World. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University english.udel.edu/lemay/franklin/. Accessed April Press, 2005. 23, 2009. Tebbel, John. A History of Book Publishing in the ———. The Life of Benjamin Franklin. Vol. 1, Jour- United States Vol. 1. New York: R.R. Bowker, nalist, 1706–1730. Philadelphia: University of 1972. Pennsylvania Press, 2005. Van Doren, Carl. Benjamin Franklin. New York: Pen- ———. The Life of Benjamin Franklin. Vol. 2, Printer guin, 1991. and Publisher, 1730–1747. Philadelphia: University Wood, Gordon S. The Americanization of Benjamin of Pennsylvania Press, 2005. Franklin. New York: Penguin, 2004. Looby, Christopher. “ ‘The Affairs of the Revolution Wright, Esmond. Franklin of Philadelphia. Cam- Occasion’d the Interruption’: Writing, Revolu- bridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University tion, Deferral, and Conciliation in Franklin’s Press, 1986. Philip Morin Freneau (1752–1832)

O Washington! —thrice glorious name / What due rewards can man decree— / Empires are far below thy aim, / And scepters have no charms for thee / Virtue alone has your regards, / And she must be your great reward.

(“Washington’s Arrival in Philadelphia”)

hilip Morin Freneau was the eldest of five chil- pont and Jonathan Edwards (sons of the famous Pdren born to a French father, Pierre Fresneau Calvinist Jo n a t h a n Ed w a r d s ), and Aaron Burr, (note the different spelling of the surname), and who would later go on to kill Alexander Hamilton a Scottish mother, Agnes Watson. They lived in (Marsh 17). Although Freneau roomed with Brack- New York, where Freneau was born on January 2, enridge for most of his time at Princeton, it appears 1752, but the family soon moved to New Jersey to that he also shared a room with Madison as the buy land and start a farm. His father constructed latter wrote home to his father about his new friend a country house at Mount Pleasant (near modern- and companion. day Matawan) and gained some wealth by working Much of Freneau’s early writing, including in timber. As the firstborn son and a child with a his first piece of fiction, Mr. Bombo’s Pilgrimage natural propensity for books and writing, Philip was to Mecca, exists because Will Bradford, a fellow groomed for life as a preacher. His father sent him Princeton student and admirer of both Freneau to school in New York. In 1767, when Philip was 15 and Brackenridge, recorded their writings in his years old, his father, Pierre, died, leaving behind a journals and notebooks (Marsh 20, 23). This early significant amount of land but little money. work of fiction tells of a shipwrecked Bombo, who The following year, 1768, Freneau entered the appears on the shore of Ireland, becomes a teacher, College of New Jersey (now known as Princeton but is expelled by his pupils, who dislike him. Fre- University), and, because of his academic prepara- neau’s unfortunate protagonist, after much travel- tion, he was accepted as a sophomore (Marsh 16). ing, arrives in Philadelphia, where he dies. Freneau The curriculum at Princeton included courses in also dedicated his talent to writing more serious rhetoric, oratory, and the classics (writings from poetry, including “The Power of Fancy,” which Homer and Longinus). Before Freneau enrolled was penned in 1770 when he was 18 years old. The at Princeton, the university founded two literary following year, 1771, Freneau, Brackenridge, and societies: The Cliosophic, who valued legal and Burr graduated from Princeton in a class of 12. religious arguments, and the Whig, who preferred His mother had remarried after the death of satire. Freneau and his roommate, Hugh Brack- his father with a man named Major James Kearny, enridge, provided the Whigs with their victories who had five children of his own from his previous against their rivals, the Cliosophes. Among the marriage. The recently graduated Freneau would Whigs were James Madison, who would become understandably need to support himself financially. the fourth president of the United States; Pier- He did so by becoming a teacher, first at a rural

174 Philip Morin Freneau 175 school in Flatbush (currently Brooklyn) and then ing Glory,” Freneau “returned to his fi rst love— with his friend Brackenridge in Somerset County, love of America, its future, and its perfectability” Maryland. He did not seem well suited to the pro- (63). He remained on the army’s rolls until May 1, fession, however, as he complained in a letter to 1780, meaning that he served for two years. When James Madison of the “30 students . . . who prey the 20-gun privateer that Freneau was sailing on, upon me like leeches” (Marsh 28). He also wrote the Aurora, was hulled, Freneau was arrested and to share the news of his fi rst publication, a small taken aboard a prison ship called the Scorpion (69). collection of poetry entitled “The American Vil- His time aboard the Scorpion was only three weeks lage,” which appeared in print in New York (Marsh as the conditions proved unhealthy and an ill Fre- 28–29). Perhaps because he was attempting to neau was transferred to the Hunter, a hospital ship, fulfi ll his father’s dying wish, perhaps because a on June 22 and exchanged on July 13. Freneau’s career in teaching seemed too unappealing, Fre- hatred for the British now was unmasked and per- neau returned to Princeton for two years (1773 and sonal. He drew on his own experience as a prisoner 1774) to pursue a career as a Presbyterian minister of war for his “The British Prison Ship,” which was (Marsh 32). His natural proclivity for Newtonian published in 1780. At this time, he began writing science, however, became too diffi cult to overcome, his play, The Spy, and satirical pieces for the New- and Freneau rejected Presbyterianism to embrace Jersey Gazette (72). deism. The biographer Philip Marsh attributes Fre- Freneau began working for Francis Bailey’s neau’s deism to his admiration for the writings of newspaper, the Freeman’s Journal, in July 1781. Addison in the Spectator (33). “The next year was his most productive. Reporting In February 1776, Freneau accepted the invita- news and commenting on it, in the next fourteen tion of John Wilkinson Hanson, owner of Prospect months he published forty poems and forty prose Hill plantation, to set sail with him for Santa Cruz pieces. . . . He now did his best satires” (Marsh (present-day St. Croix). He wrote later to his friend 77). He began a series of long essays named The Alexander Anderson of “being averse to enter the Pilgrim, which ran for 19 numbers and took its Army and be knocked in the head” (50). Marsh inspiration from Addison and Steele’s works in The argues that the island’s remoteness from scenes Spectator and the Tatler (81). He took on different of the Revolutionary War did not mean that Fre- personae and voices to address a variety of subjects: neau was ignorant of battles or of the Declaration “Christopher Clodhopper” and “Priscilla Trip- of Independence. Indeed, the island’s economic street” quibbled over ladies’ fashions; “Virginius” interest in trade alone would have guaranteed that took on a British perspective to express hopes of Santa Cruz would receive news (53). On the basis reconquering the States (85). Whatever his pseud- of Freneau’s application for a federal pension, we onym, Freneau seems to have written his last prose know that he spent time two years as a privateer for the Journal in June 1784, when he sailed for (54). It is certain that he sailed to Bermuda and the West Indies aboard the Dromelly. A hurricane stayed for fi ve weeks (56). On June 5, 1778, Fre- hit the ship, and they landed in Jamaica (97). Fran- neau left Santa Cruz and returned to the newly cre- cis Bailey published Freneau’s immigration propa- ated United States of America (57). On July 15, a ganda, “Stanzas on the Emigration to America,” in mere six days after his arrival at Monmouth, Fre- 1785 in Bailey’s Almanac, and the following year neau enlisted in the army as a private and served as a collection of over 100 of his poems appeared in a master aboard the Indian Delaware in October print, also with Bailey as publisher (99–100). 1778. While on board this ship bound for St. Eus- Freneau began writing more consistently on tatius, Freneau penned “American Independence,” the issue of American Indians in the latter half of which made fun of the British for their folly (Marsh 1790, and all of the essays were published in the 61–62). With the publication of this and “Ris- Daily Advertiser, a newspaper that employed him 176 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers in March of that year. On April 15, 1790, Fre- essays on the character of Richard Slender, which neau married the daughter of a neighbor, Eleanor continued until 1801 (266). Forman. Although Freneau had hopes of marry- Freneau’s biographer Marsh notes that when ing her as early as 1783, the wedding could not Freneau took to sea in 1801, under the fi nancial take place until her brother David withdrew his support of his brother Peter, his exact whereabouts objection (116, 118). Freneau left his position are unknown (285). He appears to have returned with the Advertiser and accepted a part-time job in 1804, when he docked in Charleston in June to as a translator. This move would solidify his posi- visit his brother. Freneau returned to writing for tion in history as a political writer. After all, it was the Aurora from 1808 until 1820. When a fi re James Madison, his old friend from college, and destroyed their family home in 1818, Freneau; his THOMAS JEFFERSON who secured the position for wife, Eleanor; and their two daughters who still him. Their motivation was for Freneau to publish a resided at home moved temporarily to a nearby Whig organ, as he did in 1792, and lambaste their house and then to the house of Eleanor’s brother. common enemy, Alexander Hamilton. Freneau Freneau seems to have fallen into drink to soften founded the National Gazette, which printed its his despondency about life in a place where he was fi rst issue on October 31, 1791. Freneau’s position no longer a pivotal fi gure. On December 18, 1832, as gadfl y with the Gazette gained the attention Freneau was walking home from the local store and of the president himself, as Washington dubbed pub when a snowstorm hit. Blinded by the snow, him “that rascal Freneau” during a cabinet meet- and perhaps disoriented from drink, he fell into a ing recorded by Thomas Jefferson (199). Because hole, broke his hip, and died in his sleep. Jefferson had a hand in appointing Freneau to his fi rst national position as translator, and because the National Gazette championed Jefferson and (1770) his political party while attacking Hamilton, Fre- “The Power of Fancy” neau found himself facing charges, fi rst in 1792 Infl uenced by Max Akenside’s The Pleasures of and later in 1801 (278). the Imagination, which was published in 1744, Despite its popularity and widespread reader- Freneau offers his own broad and sweeping trek ship, Freneau’s National Gazette published its last through portions of ancient Greece, sites made issue on October 26, 1793, in part because of an famous by Admiral Anson’s circumnavigation of outbreak of yellow fever and a general panic over the globe, “Britain’s fertile land,” fi nally resting contagion, as well as the newspaper’s practice of on the Pacifi c Ocean at “California’s golden shore” billing readers after they had received six months’ (87, 123). The suggestion Freneau makes by link- issues of the paper (206). Freneau returned to the ing images of classical literature and authors (such family home in Monmouth and began writing and as Homer, Virgil, and Sappho) with America, printing his own newspaper, called the Monmouth specifi cally California, seems quite obvious: North Almanac, which was his equivalent of BENJAMIN America will be the source of new authors, poets, FRANKLIN’s Poor Richard’s Almanac. When this and a new inspirational landscape. Fancy appears venture failed, Freneau joined the Jersey Chronicle in the poem alternately as the poet’s imagination, in 1795 and submitted a series of essays on Ameri- the muse’s inspiration, the transcendent quality of can Indians. In summer 1796, Freneau quit work in a beautiful landscape, and the ultimate source of rural New Jersey and returned eagerly to the bustle happiness for mortals on earth. of New York, writing for Bache’s Aurora and for Freneau begins and ends the poem with the the Time Piece until the end of 1798. In that year, morality of humans, which serves as both a source when he covered the presidential campaigns of of human limitation and a connection to “the Adams and Jefferson, Freneau wrote a series of 24 immortal race” (10). It is through the use of fancy Philip Morin Freneau 177 that mortals most closely approach the gods. Fre- Fancy” compared with “The Wild Honey neau explains how fancy can link humans with the Suckle” or “On the Universality and Other gods by describing all aspects of creation: “These Attributes of the God of Nature.” suns and stars that round us roll / What are they all, where’er they shine, / But Fancies of the Power Divine” (12–14). In other words, all of creation (1775) exists in the mind of the “Almighty,” and thus the “A Political Litany” ideas that Fancy implants or coaxes into the mind In the poem’s title and with each stanza beginning of the poet are refl ections, however pale, of the kind with the word from, Freneau takes the religious of real creation brought about by God’s ideas. style of a litany, which is a repetitive or incantatory As mentioned, Fancy is not relegated only to prayer, to plead for America’s independence from the realm of arts and letters, but also infl uences the evils of Britain. Within the poem readers can people’s understandings of the divine: “Leads me discern particular arguments that Freneau would to some lonely dome, / Where Religion loves to go on to repeat in his political poetry, essays, come, / Where the bride of Jesus dwells” (35–37). and thinly disguised opinion pieces published in The image of a lonely dome might refer to a cupola a number of newspapers. The central argument on a church, and thus the image Freneau creates is offered in the poem is for American freedom from of a single follower, perhaps bent in prayer, exalted a tyrannical government whose rulers are witless, by Fancy in his or her beliefs and faith. The image cowardly, and cruel. Freneau makes both direct of the bride of Jesus is taken from the New Testa- and indirect references to these leaders as he men- ment, where it serves as a metaphor for the New tions the royal governor of Virginia, John Murray, Jerusalem after the rapture, or the second coming who was also known as the earl of Dunmore; the of Christ. From the exalted place of heaven, Fancy royal governor of New York, William Tryon, who also descends “to the prison of fi ends / hears the quickly fl ed when he learned of revolutionary plans rattling of their chains / feels their never ceasing in his territory; and King George III, who appears pains— / But, O never may she tell / Half the as “royal king Log” (13, 21, 26). The appearance frightfulness of hell” (42–46). It is interesting to of these political leaders by name or inference was note the limitation Freneau imagines Fancy to have. a hallmark of Freneau’s particular brand of political Despite its ability to “walk upon the moon” and writing, which he introduced and honed during his listen to the music of the spheres, it cannot convey college days at Princeton when he led the writing a full sense of the horrors of hell (29). society known as the Whigs. He would address the The poem concludes in America, where the arguments or positions of his opponents, members speaker bids, “Fancy, stop, and rove no more” of the rival Cliosophes, by using a rhetorical strat- (124). In this fi nal landscape, the poet acknowl- egy known as ad hominem, meaning that he would edges his or her gratitude to Fancy and requests attack the person rather than his or her argument. that the two continue their walk “alone” (154). Freneau devotes more attention to King George III in this poem than to any other leader as he For Discussion or Writing stands as a symbol of Britain and is the ultimate 1. In his political poems, Freneau makes references authority over them all. Freneau likens him to the to classic Greek and Roman mythology. Com- frog king found in Aesop’s fable, a tale of a group pare his use of these symbols in “To Sir Toby” of frogs whose request for a king is answered with and “The Power of Fancy.” the appearance of a log for their ruler. Through 2. Nature serves as a source of inspiration in this this childhood cultural reference, Freneau chastises poem. Consider how it is described and what King George III as an inept ruler whose position qualities are assigned to it in “The Power of of authority is a kind of cruel joke on the people, 178â Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers who are desirous of a real ruler. This “tooth-ful of “trembling” from the effects of a dream, recol- brains / Who dreams, and is certain (when tak- lecting the details of a “fearful vision” (1–2). ing a nap) / He has conquered our lands, as they “Poetic dreams” are differentiated from those lay on his map” continues to develop the notion dreams “which o’er the sober brain diffused / of an inept authority who resides in the fantasy of [that] are but a repetition of some action past” colonization just as the tale of the frogs and their (15–16). By distinguishing the poet’s dream from King Log resides in the fantasy of childhood tales those more common dreams, Freneau establishes (26–28). the poet as a being of a “finer cast,” whose sus- The final three lines of the poem return to the ceptibility to the power of Fancy allows him to be religious structure of the poem by “send[ing] up to transported to scenes of heaven or hell (20). In heave our wishes and prayers” of deliverance from this particular dream, the poet is transported “by Britain, who he is certain is “damned” (30, 32). some sad means” (21). Because means can refer to the mode of transportation, the poet’s sad- For Discussion or Writing ness itself could be the poet’s conveyance to the 1. In “A Political Litany,” Freneau uses a religious House of Night. The lines in stanza 3 bear out format to launch a political plea, and yet the this reading, because the speaker leaves to others poem makes no mention of religion or worship. to “draw from smiling skies their theme. . . . I How can you reconcile the poem’s clearly reli- draw a darker scene, replete with gloom” (9, 11). gious format with its secular content? When he arrives at the house, a light from the 2. Freneau’s litany is dominated by a list of British upper room illuminates the garden, revealing in leaders and authorities. How do these figures an “autumnal hue,” “lately pleasing flowers all stand in for different aspects of British colonial drooping” (46–47). Rather than the bright, bril- rule that Freneau wants abolished? liant colors of May, the month in which this poem takes place, the speaker notes, “No pleasant fruit or blossoms gaily smil’d” (53). It is in the garden that the speaker spies the tombstone amid “laurel “The House of Night” (1779) shrubs.” Inside the house, reclining upon a couch, The biographer Philip M. Marsh attributes the the speaker is Death himself, and learns from a graveyard verse tone of Freneau’s “The House of “portly youth” that “Death [was] upon his dying Night” to the popularity that English poets of bed.” Despite his current state, Death ends the the “graveyard school” had in America beginning poem by reflecting on his past power and glory, a in 1747 with the publication of Robert Blair’s “six thousand years .Â.Â. sovereign.” He mentions “The Grave” (35). Including “Night Thoughts” having made both Alexander the Great and Julius and “Ode to Evening,” but best epitomized with Caesar die “beneath [his] hand.” “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard,” this school of poetry is noted for their themes of death’s For Discussion or Writing certainty, the folly of fame, and the ephemeral 1. Compare the use of gothic imagery in “The nature of beauty. William Collins, Edward Young, House of Night” to that of the late 18th-century and Thomas Gray dominated as the influential author Ch a r l e s Br o c k d e n Br o w n in Wieland voices of this literary school. or of the early 19th-century author and poet Freneau’s poem, written on the eve of the Edgar Allan Poe. American Revolution, but not published until 2. Consider how nature appears in this poem ver- 1779, is “a tale of grave, darkness, horror, and sus in “On the Religion of Nature” or “On the the illness, death, and funeral of Death him- Universality and Other Attributes of the God self” (Marsh 36). It begins with the speaker, still of Nature.” Philip Morin Freneau 179

3. Compare the personifi cation of Death in Fre- different but compatible ways: The poem itself neau’s poem to its appearance in Emily Dickin- provides notoriety to this river, whose course to son’s “Because I could not stop for death.” the ocean, “the main,” was previously unmarked, or “unnoticed,” or, because of the plans to use the Mississippi’s waterways for trade and commerce, its course will be navigated by ships whose crews “On the Emigration to America and will take note. Peopling the Western Country” (1785) The native inhabitants of the New World also The poem begins with the imagined journey appear, albeit briefl y, in Freneau’s poem, but and encounters of an emigrant recently departed rather than the noble savage who appears in “The from “Europe’s proud, despotic shores” (7). This Indian Burying Ground,” the “unsocial Indian modern-day Palemon, a young male traveler who far retreats / To make some other clime his own” appears in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Knight’s Tale, distin- (21–22). Freneau falls into the convention of the guishes himself by departing from the crowd and “vanishing American” that JAMES FENIMORE seeking “where nature’s wildest genius reigns” (2, COOPER would canonize in the next century. The 3). Freneau adheres to conventional—one might concept here is that the American Indian will sim- even suggest propaganda-fueled—depictions of ply vanish, or willingly and voluntarily relocate, the American landscape as the phrases “so long to make way for the incoming fl ux of Europeans. concealed, so lately known” echo the language of Such a notion is at odds with the portrait of Afri- discovery and entice the reader, as they do the emi- can slaves Freneau paints just a mere fi ve stanzas grant, to gain familiarity and mastery (20). Freneau later. He anticipates “the day / when man shall does depart somewhat from this traditional view of man no longer crush,” but this sentiment is only an American landscape by noting how the demo- reserved for African slaves and does not apply cratic form of government has imprinted itself onto to the American Indians, who are native to this the land: “In our new found world” the explorer “happier soil.” discovers a “happier soil, a milder sway” (9–10). It is as though the absence of a despotic presence, so For Discussion or Writing recently felt in the Revolutionary War against Brit- 1. Compare Freneau’s depictions of an American ain and King George III, impacts the foundation landscape with those offered in THOMAS MOR- or core of the land, its soil. TON’s New English Canaan, JOHN SMITH’s A Freneau quickly moves from democracy’s infl u- General History of Virginia, or CHRISTOPHER ence on the landscape to a celebration of its two COLUMBUS’s descriptions of the Americas. central rivers at the time: the Ohio and the Mis- 2. Drawing on other poems from Freneau that sissippi. Freneau praises the Ohio River, a “sav- address American Indians and African slaves, age stream,” as an enduring natural work of art write an essay in which you account for the dif- that demonstrates nature’s authority (13–14). The ferent treatments of the two races. sheer force and immortal quality of this particular river “outvie / the boldest pattern art can frame,” meaning that the river’s beauty overwhelms the (1786) museum or art gallery attempts to corral or con- “Wild Honey Suckle” tain the art in a frame. The Mississippi River also Freneau’s lyrical poem fi rst appeared in the Colum- receives praise, but not for its natural grandeur. bia Herald in 1786. The biographer Philip M. Freneau promises that “no longer through a dark- Marsh believes that “at its most tender, the lyric some wood / advance, unnoticed, to the main” genius . . . cultivated and elaborated, might have (33–34). These lines can be interpreted in two given the author a far greater fame” (105). The 180 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers poem’s lyric quality seems similar to that of Word- become someone. This effort could lead to loss, as sworth and WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT. Freneau admits, but the following line offers con- Freneau differentiates this fl ower from those solation by placing the endeavors of an individual that are cultivated or receive the doting attention of into a larger frame. He writes, “For when you die horticulturists by emphasizing its wildness. Nature you are the same” (22). One could read this line as personifi ed has cared for and nurtured this particu- evidence of a pessimistic view of the human condi- lar fl ower by “plant[ing] [it] here in the guardian tion: that one’s dreams, struggles, and losses prove shade / and send[ing] soft waters murmuring by” irrelevant. This reading would certainly be in keep- (9, 10). Although the honeysuckle is “untouched” ing with the tradition of the graveyard poetry that and “unseen,” it is protected from “roving feet” Freneau emulates in “The House of Night.” In the and a “busy hand” (5, 6). In writing a poem to this context of this poem, however, which speaks lov- “fair fl ower,” Freneau presents a pastoral image of ingly of a wild fl ower hidden but protected from humans’ relationship with nature. The mindful humans and nurtured by Nature itself, one might poet records the beauty of the fl ower for his read- arrive at a tempered version of the previous inter- ers. Rather than employ a “busy hand” to pluck pretation. Although Freneau expresses grief at the the fl ower and “provoke a tear,” Freneau busies his certainty of the honeysuckle’s “future doom,” he hand with pen and ink to immortalize the bloom has immortalized it in his poem and, in so doing, for posterity. offered something that endures beyond the “frail In the third stanza, Freneau links the fate of duration of a fl ower” (24). the wild honeysuckle to the fate of man after his fall from grace, identifi ed with his expulsion from For Discussion or Writing Eden. The poet’s use of biblical references might 1. As in “On Observing a Large Red-Streak seem surprising to readers more acquainted with Apple,” Freneau creates the image of a singu- his tone of biting satire employed in his political lar entity in nature in order to contemplate the essays and other writings, but one should keep human condition. Explain why the singularity in mind that Freneau was groomed by his father of the item addressed in the poems, whether to pursue a life as a clergyman, and to honor his honeysuckle or apple, matters in imagining the father’s wishes, Philip dedicated two years to semi- fate of humans. nary school. When Freneau writes that “the fl ow- 2. Freneau seems to advocate the expression of the ers that did in Eden bloom” were not “more gay” self by writing “if nothing once, you nothing than those witnessed in the postlapsarian world, he lose.” Compare this sentiment to Emily Dickin- seems to deny the Judeo-Christian separation of son’s expressed in the poem “I’m Nobody! Who humans before and after the Fall. If Edenic fl owers are you?” were not “more gay,” meaning that they were not happier or more colorful than those depicted after the Fall, then the distinction seems false or arbi- (1787) trary. What remains true is their shared fate: They “The Indian Burying Ground” will die (15). Originally entitled “Lines Occasioned by a Visit In the fi nal stanza, Freneau extrapolates from to an Old Indian Burying Ground,” the poem was the lesson contained in the brief but brilliant life published in November 1787 in American Museum of the honeysuckle to the lives of humans. When and appeared again the following year in Freneau’s he writes, “If nothing once, you nothing lose,” Miscellaneous Works, which also contained “The Freneau touches upon the risk of attempting great- Wild Honey Suckle.” Freneau’s biographer Philip ness in one’s life. A fi gure who is “nothing once” Marsh attributes Freneau’s interest in the subject of has the opportunity to accomplish something and American Indians to the appearance of members of Philip Morin Freneau 181 the Creek tribe in New York to broker a treaty with the landscape to consign American Indians to a the fl edgling republic (128–129). hoary past as no living relative of these buried men The poem opens with a contrast between the appears in the poem. burial rites and beliefs of the hereafter held by the culture referred to simply as “we” and those rites For Discussion or Writing and beliefs held by “the Ancients of these lands” 1. Freneau’s romantic treatment of American Indi- (5). Freneau establishes a binary of “us” and “them” ans, exemplifi ed in this poem, changed drasti- from the poem’s fi rst two stanzas, but the structure cally in his later years when he published “The for this comparison of cultures does not end there. Musical Savage” in 1814. Read this other poem Rather, Freneau imagines both groups of people in and compare its tone and treatment of Ameri- large, sweeping terms. The American Indians are can Indians to those in “The Indian Burying referred to as Ancients, and all Anglo Europeans Ground.” are addressed as we. By naming the American Indi- 2. Thomas Jefferson writes of Indian burial ans Ancients, however, Freneau casts them as mem- mounds in Notes on the State of Virginia. Com- bers of North America’s past. pare the two authors’ views on American Indi- Freneau begins with the premise that in examin- ans. How do they characterize them? ing burial rites, one can deduce how a culture imag- 3. How might Freneau’s depictions of Ameri- ines life after death: “The posture that we give the can Indians coincide with JAMES FENIMORE dead / points out the soul’s eternal sleep” (3–4). In COOPER’s? these lines, Freneau suggests that the burial of the dead, according to Western custom, reveals that culture’s belief that the afterlife is characterized by (1790) rest and repose. For the American Indians, who, “Part 2: The News” according to Freneau, bury their dead in a sitting “Part 2: The News” appeared in a four-part series position, the afterlife must be a continuation of the that Freneau wrote in December 1791 and early activities one engages in while alive: “activity, that January 1792 while working on the National knows no rest” (12). Despite Freneau’s brief dip Gazette, a newspaper that focused on political into a culture not his own, he maintains his old and congressional affairs in New York, which was opinion. Indeed, when he considers the clashing then the headquarters of the federal government. views of life after death—“can only mean that life “The Country Printer” appeared in four install- is spent / and not the old ideas gone”—Freneau ments and offered praise for the noble profession of forecloses on all other possible conclusions (15–16). printer. “Part 2: The News” is a blend of Freneau’s In other words, rather than consider amending his political prose and his poetry. belief or respecting the American Indians’ belief, Freneau heaps praise on the fi gure of the printer, Freneau defi nitively states that his culture’s “old a particular one cleverly named Type in this poem, ideas” prevail. who allows the rural village to remain connected Despite his insistence that his culture’s rites and to and informed of “whate’er is done on madam beliefs remain inchoate, Freneau requests that his Terra’s stage” (21). Freneau suggests the “farrago” readers, referred to as “stranger[s],” respect “the might include tales of “monarchs run away,” a ref- swelling turf” (19). He trains the reader’s eye to erence to America’s gaining independence from the symbols and signs of American Indians’ burial monarchical rule under England’s King George, or rites rather than the headstone; readers should be of “witches drown’d in Buzzard’s Bay,” a reference mindful of a “lofty rock” containing vestiges of a to the witch trials and executions that took place in “ruder race” (21, 24). Freneau projects past images Massachusetts (23–24). In juxtaposing these two of children playing and a “pale Shebah” to animate events, Freneau spans the nation’s most celebrated 182 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

and most scandalous moments and implies that the PHER COLUMBUS, THOMAS MORTON, or ÁLVAR newspaper will be wide in its scope and impartial in NÚÑEZ CABEZA DE VACA? How do these other its treatment of any given subject. writers connect the fertility of the land with the This avowal of journalistic impartiality is imme- fertility of its female inhabitants? diately undermined, however, in the following 3. How do Freneau’s notions of a journalist com- stanza, when Freneau admits jokingly, “Much, pare with contemporary notions? very much, in wonderment he deals” (27). As a patriotic voice shouting out the “wonders” of the newly formed republic, the newspaper writer acts (1791) as an everyday deity: “Some miracles he makes, and “On Mr. Paine’s Rights of Man” some he steals” (25). Those “miracles” are not of Written in the same style as all of Freneau’s politi- a religious sort, but they do aid in the creation of cally driven poetry, in iambic pentameter with a national myth or character. The general nature rhyming couplets, “On Mr. Paine’s Rights of of these “miracles,” stolen or made, involves the Man” also follows the poet’s form by focusing on often-touted fecundity of the New World. Fre- a specifi c issue (the overthrow of monarchy) and neau uses hyperbole to express this point, employ- tethering this idea to a specifi c fi gure, in this case, ing the farmer’s generous descriptions of the size THOMAS PAINE, the author of the 1791–92 Rights of his produce as an example: “apples grown to of Man. Further, as did most of Freneau’s poetry, pumpkins size” (28). The hyperbole extends to it bore another title: “To a Republican with Mr. “pumpkins almost as large as country inns” and Paine’s Rights of Man.” Although it is commonly ends with the most exaggerated of claims, “ladies thought to have been written in 1791, in the same bearing each, —three lovely twins!” (30). Freneau year as Paine’s infl uential text, it was not published shifts from the abundance and fertility of America’s until three years later in 1795. Readers familiar landscape, which can house people in its pumpkins, with Freneau’s poetry and his political arguments to the reproductive proclivity of America’s women, against the British Crown will recognize strains who bear “three lovely twins.” Clearly, three babies to appear in subsequent works. These recurring born at one time would be referred to as triplets, themes include the enslavement of men through and Freneau plays with the idea that in their inher- forced labor in mines or impressments into mili- ently fertile state, American women produce three tary service. As he will in later poems like “On the children while others only produce two. Causes of Political Degeneracy,” Freneau disman- The villagers’ deaths and births, the journalist tles the very symbols of monarchical rule, referring “with cold indifference views” (31). Freneau once to “that base, childish bauble called a crown” (6). again dismantles the disclaimer of objectivity by He likens a monarch to a “quack that kills . . . ending the poem with the following lines: “All that while it seems to cure,” meaning that the assumed was good, minutely brought to light, / All that was authority of a monarch, which is imagined to be ill, —concealed from vulgar sight” (35–36). sanctioned by God and/or the pope, does more harm than good because people trust its wisdom For Discussion or Writing and authority and lose their lives (presumably in 1. Compare Freneau’s description of a printer with wars or through “slavish” conditions) (10, 8). Benjamin Franklin’s. How are the two men sim- In contrast to the “miseries men endure” at the ilar in their views of the duties and responsibili- hands of monarchs, Freneau celebrates the liberat- ties of a printer? ing properties of Paine’s “bold reform” (13). In a 2. Consider Freneau’s treatment of America’s fer- reversal of fortunes, Freneau writes, “In raising up tile landscape. How does it compare with that mankind, he pulls down kings” (14). He accom- of travel writers and explorers such as CHRISTO- plishes this double-purposed goal by employing Philip Morin Freneau 183 reason as he “sketched the sacred right of man,” structure of Freneau’s poem, however, as he con- meaning that Paine utilized the very authority cen- tinually refers to the jarring dissonance between tral to a monarch’s claim for authority—God—and what is (slavocracy) and what should be (the aboli- “sketched” out its application to democratic rule. tion of slavery). In the passage from Shakespeare, Freneau imagines the shared reactions of his fellow the lovers are transported by the music they hear readers, who “glow . . . with kindling rage” at every and wonder at the fi gure incapable of being moved instance of “the rights of men aspersed, / freedom or having his fi ner emotions heightened. Their con- restrained, and nature’s law reversed” (27–28). clusion is that such a character’s “affections [are] as Monarchy and any government not respectful of dark as Erebus.” Thus, by casting the white man innate rights appear as unnatural, or against the who is insensitive to music and any sympathetic order of things. connections it should foster as “dark” and “black,” Freneau offers up Columbia, symbol of the Freneau reverses the common associations of race American republic, as a shining example, “famed and morality to rage against slave owners. through every clime,” of how democracy can thrive He continues this reversal of white and black (49). He opens four lines with the phrase “without by cataloging the atrocities slave owners mete out a king” to mark the fortunate present of America against fellow human beings. Rather than refer to as well as the hopeful future for Britain’s current the slave’s sufferings, he cleverly turns his atten- colonies (36, 37, 41, 50). This phrase concludes the tion to those infl icting the violence with lines like poem with a never-ending future “to see the end “one to the windmill nails him by the ears” (26). of time” (50). Lest the readers miss his condemnation, he writes of slaves “driven by a devil, whom men call over- For Discussion or Writing seer” (34). Their predatory nature sets them as one 1. Read THOMAS PAINE’s Rights of Man. How does of several “nature’s plagues”: “Snakes, scorpions, Freneau’s celebration of the text refl ect the con- despots, lizards, centipees” (9–10). The juxtaposi- tent of Paine’s book? How does it differ? What tion of reptiles with “despots” demonstrates that might account for these differences? their participation in slavery removes them from 2. How does the promise of 1776, depicted in Fre- humanity. neau’s “A Political Litany,” compare with the Freneau also employs the inversion of binaries reality of an American republic, as captured in by juxtaposing the beauty of Jamaica’s landscape this poem? with its hellish conditions. He draws upon classi- cal allusions to describe the island: “Here Stygian paintings light and dark renew, / Pictures of hell, that Virgil’s pencil once drew” (47–48). Virgil’s (1792) “To Sir Toby” images of the underworld, found in book 6 of his Freneau wrote about the conditions of island slaves Aeneid, parallel, in Freneau’s mind, the scenes of beginning in 1790 with a piece that looked specifi - slavery witnessed in Jamaica. This comparison con- cally at the condition of West Indian creoles. He tinues as slave ships, referred to as “Guinea ships” based this poem, often entitled “The Island Field in the poem, are sailed by “surly Charons,” refer- Negro,” on his own eyewitness accounts of life in ring to the boatman who shuttles the dead over the Jamaica in the early 1800s while he was employed river Styx and into the underworld (49–50). aboard the Dromelly (Marsh 97). He opens the poem with a seemingly unlikely quotation from For Discussion or Writing William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice that 1. Freneau employs Shakespeare and Virgil as liter- follows a conversation between two young lovers, ary predecessors to draw cultural authority for Jessica and Lorenzo. The passage fi ts the general his position against slavery. Read act 5, scene 1 184 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

of The Merchant of Venice and book 6 of Virgil’s innate goodness by stating that mankind is “born Aeneid and consider Freneau’s employment of with ourselves,” meaning that no prior history or these texts to lend credence to his poem’s politi- stigma exists at birth. Indeed, one’s natural inclina- cal message. tion is to “take the path of right,” or to behave in a 2. Compare Freneau’s argument against slavery morally sound manner. If this supposition is true, with the poetry of PHILLIS WHEATLEY. Do they Freneau contends, then humans need only look to make similar arguments? Do they reference sim- nature, to the world around and within them, for a ilar literary or cultural sources? “religion, such as nature taught” (13). 3. Consider the dangers inherent in Freneau’s Moreover, Freneau offers the conviction that a employment of racially loaded terms like dark religion of nature avoids all of the negative aspects and black to refer to slave owners. that characterize organized religion: “This deals not curses on mankind / or dooms them to per- petual grief” (19–20). When he writes these lines, Freneau refers to the doctrine of original sin, a (1795) “On the Religion of Nature” “curse,” and to a life lived in a postlapsarian world, As a precursor to the transcendentalists such as or “grief” after humans’ expulsion from Eden. Fre- Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson, neau states that all “can make their heaven below,” Freneau’s “On the Religion of Nature” marks his as a way of ignoring or negating the exile from par- belief in the divinity of nature, and an inevitable adise and providing a reward in the here and now progression from a sympathy for deist and pan- rather than in the hereafter (18). For those who theistic thought expressed in “On the Universality are nonbelievers in the religion of nature, Freneau and Other Attributes of the God of Nature.” As in notes that there are no negative repercussions: “It his other lyric poetry written in iambic tetrameter, damns them not for unbelief” (22). Freneau returns to an earlier aesthetic to convey He ends the poem with a hopeful note, imag- what would become a more popular, if still uncon- ining the “day when all agree” on the nature of ventional, form of theology. religion (25). On such a joyful day, “truth and Freneau begins by noting that nature’s power goodness lead” and “man’s religion [will] be com- that “gives with liberal hand” “abundant prod- plete” (28, 30). ucts of the year” is the source of life-giving and life-sustaining food and drink as well as the source For Discussion or Writing of religion itself (1, 4). The defi nition of religion, 1. Compare Freneau’s arguments against conven- however, will shift as the poem progresses to note tional religion with those raised by Emerson. the shortcomings it has or expresses in its current 2. Freneau offers less of an argument in favor of organized forms. Pointedly absent from the treat- transcendentalism than a critique of the short- ment of organized religions are any references to comings of other forms of religion. How does conventional iconography such as biblical fi gures this rhetorical strategy relate to his political or crosses. By writing more generally about both poetry? nature and conventional forms of religion, Fre- neau’s poem attains the kind of universality he seeks in support of transcendentalist thought. In contrast to the conventional doctrine of orig- “On the Causes of inal sin that believes humans are marked from birth Political Degeneracy” (1798) by the crimes committed by Adam and Eve, Fre- Freneau’s poem arguing against the doctrine of neau argues that humans are “born with ourselves, absolute monarchy, also titled “Refl ections on the her early sway / inclines the tender mind to take Gradual Progress of Nations from Democratic / the path of right” (7–9). He insists on humans’ Status to Despotic Empires,” was written and pub- Philip Morin Freneau 185 lished in 1798. He contemplates the source of des- wise and skillful, giv[ing] each part its place” (38). potism, wondering “whence came these ills, or from In the reference to machinery, one might see a what causes grew,” and considers the possibility that nod to deism over the Christian-based religions “this vortex vast” originated in Mother Nature (7, that provide a justifi cation for their rule by divine 8). Such a concept as nature’s producing despotism, right. At the heart of monarchical rule, Freneau once raised, is just as quickly dashed, for “her equal fi nds nothing more “base” than “a robber’s view,” blessings through the world displays,” meaning that meaning that avarice provokes monarchs to con- because Mother Nature provides equally for all, she quer new territories (66). The use of a term like cannot be the source of a “life accurst” (14, 4). To robber is also quite telling as it reduces the sym- exemplify nature’s egalitarianism, and thus to shore bolic power behind “crowns and scepters” to the up an argument for the naturalness of democratic weapons that they are in the despot’s artillery government, Freneau references seasons (death in (67–68). winter is balanced by birth or rebirth in spring) and the water cycle (evaporation will lead to condensa- For Discussion or Writing tion and precipitation). 1. How does Freneau’s depiction of slavery under Freneau compares the condition of humans sub- monarchical rule compare with his account of jected to the doctrine of absolute monarchy to that race-based slavery in “To Sir Toby”? of slaves: “Now starv’d in camps, now groveling in 2. Compare the use of natural metaphors to depict the mine, / Chain/d fetter’d, tortur’d, sent from democratic rule with the language employed by earth a slave” (22–23). The fi rst description of starv- such founding fathers as Franklin, JOHN A DAMS, ing in camps might be a reference to forced conscrip- Jefferson, and even Thomas Paine. tion into military service, a practice that England put into place when its numbers of soldiers and sailors were low. The mines clearly refer to the practice of employing native peoples in colonies to mine and “On the Universality and Other extract precious metals, such as gold, which were Attributes of the God of Nature” (1815) then shipped back to the colonial power. The image Although it appeared relatively late in Freneau’s of a fi gure chained, fettered, and tortured, in other career in 1815, this poem seems to be the product contexts, would clearly indicate the conditions expe- of his earlier conversion to deism, the same belief rienced by either a slave or a prisoner. Here, it is a held by the founding father Benjamin Franklin. common condition held literally or metaphorically The Freneau biographer Philip Marsh notes that by all who are under despotic sway. Freneau offers Freneau’s membership in the Deistical Society another example of the enslaving qualities of absolute began as early as 1797 (236). In the margins of monarchy when he writes of wars, bloodshed, and Burnet’s Theory of the Earth, Freneau wrote the countless dead at “some proud tyrant’s nod” (55). following praise of this system of belief: “The Warfare on a grand scale not only creates a signifi cant hypothesis of the Deist reacheth from top to bot- death toll, but, as Freneau points out, is opposed to tom, both through the intellectual and material humankind’s natural peaceful disposition: “Left to world . . . is genuine, comprehensive, and satis- themselves, where’er mankind is found, / In peace factory; hath nothing forced, nothing confused, they wish to walk life’s little round” (61–62). nothing precarious” (reported in Marsh 53). Freneau places the blame for despotism on According to deist thought, the world was cre- “man’s neglected reason [which] breeds all the ated by a benign but indifferent God commonly mischiefs that we feel or fear” (35–36). Against referred to as the “great clockmaker.” Following the “folly” and foolishness of the despot who this theory, the universe operates on mechanical deems himself capable of rule, Freneau offers the principles, and thus no nation or people may claim metaphor of democracy as a machine, with “man, miracles or special favor or the attention of God. In 186 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

Freneau’s poem, “nature’s God” has crafted a “sys- “On Observing a Large, tem fi x’d on general laws,” which some critics inter- Red-Streak Apple” (1822) pret as an indirect reference to Newtonian science In this poem, Freneau returns to an often addressed and its pursuit of general laws or principles govern- theme originating from his earlier days of writing ing key aspects of life such as gravity. As support poetry in the vein of the graveyard poets: the for deism’s renunciation of principles of predestina- inevitability of death. Rather than addressing the tion and a model society most favored or worthy of mortality of humans or Death personifi ed, as he favor by God, Freneau writes, “impartially he rules does in “The House of Night,” Freneau centers his mankind” and insists upon his existence “through- philosophical musings on a commonplace object, a out all worlds, to make them blest” (11, 24). red-streak apple. Freneau’s depiction of nature’s God seems to In the fi rst stanza, Freneau expresses admiration strike a compromise between the uncaring or at the resiliency of an apple, which can endure on a uninvolved “clockmaker” and a Judeo-Christian branch “in spite of” winter’s harsh conditions: ice, god who displays acts of benevolence. Unlike the snow, hail, frost, and blowing winds. He wonders absent fi gure of God common in deism, Freneau’s why the apple has “one wish to stay” “amidst this characterization “He lives in all, and never stray’d system of decay” (8, 7). He turns from the apple’s / a moment from the works he made” (7–8) har- durability to chastise nature as “a system of decay,” kens to a belief held by pantheists: that god resides or a large cycle that includes decline and death, to in everything and everywhere. The line “He all wonder at the motivation behind other larger sys- things into being loved” implies that the act of cre- tems such as fate and fancy (9). In the line “they ating the universe and all its inhabitants stemmed meant you for a solitaire,” Freneau conjectures from love. This sentiment seems more attuned to that these inscrutable forces intended for the apple a Judeo-Christian notion of God and the creation to function as a solitary gem does, gaining beauty as depicted in the Old Testament and less a deistic and brilliance by virtue of its isolation. As the only notion of an uncaring but wise Creator. apple remaining on the tree, the piece of fruit distin- The power of nature’s god is “unlimited,” but guishes itself. he is not cruel or capricious in the exercise of that When the narrator considers the possible though power. For Freneau, this power “to all intelligence unlikely future of the apple on the tree for a second is a friend,” meaning that he is a friend to all who spring, Freneau speaks of how unnatural such a feat value or embody intelligence but also that those would be: “Another race would round you rise / who are swayed by their rational intellect, as deists And view the stranger with surprise” (19–20). The must be, recognize a friend in nature’s God. solitary nature of the apple that was once its source of beauty and a symbol of its endurance, when For Discussion or Writing viewed in a different setting, the following spring 1. Compare Freneau’s notions of God, life, and or nature’s rebirth, becomes a “stranger.” Thus, death in this poem with those depicted in the fi gure who endures beyond its natural time or “The House of Night” or in “The Wild Honey time span would be estranged, rejected as an “old Suckle.” dotard” (22). Freneau might easily be considering 2. Examine how Freneau’s sympathies for deism his own fate, as he felt estranged and removed from compare to Franklin’s in his Autobiography. his former brilliance and fame as a writer for news- 3. How might JOHN WINTHROP’s notion of a “city papers and a fi gure in political circles. He pities the upon a hill” described in A Modell of Christian apple’s fate: “a sad memento of the past” (28). Charity or COTTON MATHER’s belief in a divine Freneau offers empty hope for this once-bril- war between good and evil, as detailed in Mag- liant and promising apple. In the language of the nalia Christi Americana, clash with Freneau’s subjunctive, he “would” that “the wrongs of time belief in the impartiality of nature’s God? restrain” (31). The futility of these hopes is immedi- Philip Morin Freneau 187 ately revealed as “fate and nature both say no” (33). other lines. In a fi ve-line stanza, “And England will This line offers the fi rst glimpse into a powerlessness reward you well” becomes more prominent as the shared by the poet’s subject, the red-streak apple, odd-numbered line in a poem dominated by eight- and the poet himself. Neither can chart a course for line stanzas. When taken in context, the line stands existence, as fate and nature reign in a capricious and as both a piece of sage advice intended for a “New perhaps inscrutable manner. The poet’s impotence England poet” and an angry complaint against a at being unable to enact his sympathy for the late- nation that pays its bards the same amount as “the blooming apple is best captured in the lines “All I meanest drudges” (5). can do, all in my power / Will be to watch your Freneau begins the poem with the disparity parting hour” (37–38). The poem accomplishes this between the knowledge the poet holds, “Though task by bearing witness to the apple’s demise. skilled in Latin and Greek,” with the modest The apple’s death does not mark its end. In a income he earns for his knowledge or education, moment reminiscent of the mythical phoenix who “fi fty cents a week” (1–2). The argument Freneau rises from its own ashes, Freneau imagines a prog- makes is that the poet, with his extensive classical eny of “three or four” that rise from the apple’s knowledge, should be wise enough to realize that core. Its seeds provide the poem’s fi nal note of hope there is no economic advantage to be gained by as the poet bids the apple, “live again” (42, 48). writing poems. But Freneau’s argument is less about the foolishness of the poet who pursues a less than For Discussion or Writing lucrative career. Rather, his real anger is targeted at 1. Compare the treatment of death in “On Observ- America’s lack of respect for poets, especially when ing a Large, Red-Streak Apple” and “The House contrasted with their treatment by the aristocracy of of Night.” How is the subject treated in each England. He writes specifi cally of the case of WASH- poem? INGTON IRVING, who did not gain fame in America 2. In “Thanatopsis,” Bryant writes of the dynamic until he had become a celebrated writer in England between humans and nature. Contrast Bryant’s and Europe in general. Freneau compares Irving’s sense of this dynamic with the one Freneau reception in England, “he has kissed a Monarch’s expresses here. hand! / Before a prince I see him stand,” with the daily stresses of a poet in America: “While you with terror meet the frown / Of Bank Directors of the town” (15–16, 19–20). The contrast is quite stark (1823) “To a New England Poet” and effective. While Irving is feted and celebrated in Freneau’s poem “To a New England Poet” follows England, the unnamed New England poet receives the form of iambic tetrameter, with four feet of disapproving looks from bank directors, perhaps unstressed followed by stressed syllables. The rhyme because his work is deemed unworthy, or perhaps scheme is aabbccddeeffgg, with a return to the because he owes money. rhyme of d (land and stand with hand and stand) Given Freneau’s dislike of British aristocracy, as in the third stanza and c in the fourth stanza (pay evidenced by the tone and content of his more polit- and day with away and pay). The least regular line, ically charged poems, the reader should not mistak- “And England will reward you well,” stands apart enly assume that Freneau wishes for the replication of from the remainder of the poem, in terms of both this system in America. Indeed, the lines describing its rhyme scheme and its content. As the 25th line Irving’s royal reception are defl ated with a reminder of the poem, it serves as the fulcrum, or crux on of the American Revolution and its express charge which the poem relies as its foundation. Thus, it is to eliminate rule by a monarch: “Forgetting times of all the more telling that the line, while it conforms seventy-six” (18). It is unclear from the placement of to the meter of iambic tetrameter, deviates from this line whether Freneau means to chastise Irving the rhyme scheme by not rhyming with any of the for acting in an un-American manner by “mixing” 188 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers with the “glittering nobles” or whether the nobles lyrical or less overtly political of his poems, how themselves have forgotten and forgiven the recent might you argue that this title is deserved? events of the Revolutionary War. The poem ends 2. Several critics consider Freneau’s poetry about on a somewhat humorous note with the esquires nature to anticipate the transcendentalists such in America “guzzl[ing] beer” (39). The image is as Emerson and Thoreau. How might you link a refreshing one in that it defl ates the pomp and his views of nature with his views of democracy? circumstance of the royal settings of England and In what ways are they mutually informing and replaces them with a lowly but more popular form. why? The poet, Freneau insists, should be of the people, not above them. WORKS CITED AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Austin, Mary S., and Helen Kearny Vreeland. Philip For Discussion or Writing Freneau, the Poet of the Revolution: A History of 1. Consider the political stance of “To a New Eng- His Life and Times. 1901. Reprint, Detroit: Gale land Poet.” How does its division of England Research, 1968. and America, the aristocratic and the plebeian, Leary, Lewis Gaston. That Rascal Freneau: A Study compare with Freneau’s more overtly political in Literary Failure. New York: Octagon Books, poems such as “A Political Litany,” “On the 1964. Causes of Political Degeneracy,” or “On Mr. Loughran, Trish. The Republic in Print: Print Culture Paine’s Rights of Man”? in the Age of U.S. Nation Building, 1770–1870. 2. W hat role does Freneau argue that poetry should New York: Columbia University Press, 2007. have in America? How does this argument Marsh, Philip M. The Works of Philip Freneau: A Criti- square with the position that Phillis Wheatley cal Study. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1968. and Sor Juana assume in their poetry, especially Pattee, Fred Lewis. Bibliography of Philip Freneau. in “To Maecenas” and “In Reply to the Gentle- New York: Dodd, Mead, 1902. man from Peru”? Philip Freneau (1752–1832). Available online. URL: http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/freneau. htm. Accessed April 23, 2009. “Philip Morin Freneau (1752–1832).” Perspectives FURTHER QUESTIONS ON in American Literature. Available online. URL: FRENEAU AND HIS WORK http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/ 1. Philip Freneau is best known as the “poet of chap2/freneau.html. Accessed April 23, 2009. the Revolution” because of the patriotic zeal for Vitzthum, Richard C. Land and Sea: The Lyric Poetry America that he expressed both in his prose and of Philip Freneau. Minneapolis: University of Min- in his poetry. Considering some of the more nesota Press, 1978. Jupiter Hammon (1711–18 0 6 )

If we should ever get to Heaven, we shall find nobody to reproach us for being black, or for being slaves.

(“An Address to the Negroes in the State of New York”)

upiter Hammon is often called the first published parents on two observations gleaned from studying Jblack writer in America. From the Lloyd family the Lloyd family ledgers: that Opium is one of two ledger, we know that Hammon was born into slav- slaves who were owned continually, and he was not ery on October 11, 1711 (O’Neale 38). His master hired out after Henry Lloyd’s establishments as lord at his birth was Henry Lloyd, and throughout his of the manor, and Jupiter’s birth, which both took life, Hammon would remain a slave of the Lloyd place in 1711. Hammon was able to attend school family. In 1763, when Henry Lloyd died, Jupiter’s and apparently served the Lloyd family as a clerk. ownership transferred to Joseph Lloyd. In his later The Long Island Quaker community helped Ham- years, Hammon became the property of John Lloyd, mon find a publisher for his work. the grandson of his original owner. The Lloyds were As has his contemporary Ph i l l i s Wh e a t l e y , “one of the few families on Long Island, or for that Jupiter Hammon has suffered his share of negative matter in the state of New York, which had strong criticism, most of it generated in the centuries after familial and commercial ties to Boston, Hartford, their works appeared. The contemporary critic and New York City, and London; the Lloyds obtained advocate Sondra O’Neale attributes the negative slave labor for their section of the state, prospering statements made by other critics, both past and greatly from an exchange of goods and human chat- present, to their lack of knowledge of the Bible and tel” (O’Neale 17). The family claimed ties to Welsh the circumstances inhibiting any overt rebellion in royalty and traced its lineage to Queen Elizabeth’s the published works of slaves (3). J. Saunders Red- personal physician. Their manorial grant in Queen’s ding, who wrote critically in 1939 of Hammon’s Village, which the family patriarch renamed Lloyd’s poetic style, focused primarily on the religious con- Neck, consisted of 3,000 acres. The nearby seaport tent of his prose and on the supposed absence of a proved essential to the family’s mercantile busi- political message. Redding referred to Hammon’s ness, which included the slave trade to the island of verse as “rhymed prose, doggerel, in which the Jamaica, as Henry Lloyd described his business ven- homely thoughts of a very religious and supersti- tures (O’Neale 18). The critic Sondra O’Neale, who tious man are expressed in limping phrases” (4–5). studied the Lloyd family ledgers, has asserted that Indeed, Redding yoked Hammon with Wheatley Jupiter Hammon’s parents were two other slaves when he offered his most scathing remark: “Both owned by the family: a male slave referred to only as preferred slavery in America to freedom in Africa” Opium and a female slave called Rose (22). O’Neale (5). Similarly to Redding’s assessment, the critic bases her assertion about the identities of Jupiter’s Benjamin Mays argues that Hammon’s devotion to

189 190 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

Christianity “serve[s] as an opiate for the people.” brutes, Africans. O’Neale believes that Hammon He also asserts that Hammon “was more interested was introduced to Puritanism (28); despite his in salvation in Heaven than he was in any form of knowledge of Puritan beliefs, it is quite evident social reconstruction” (102). For both Redding that Hammon received a more liberating sect of and Mays, Hammon appears as a naive and blindly Christianity in his association with the Quakers of devoted Christian whose religious convictions have Long Island and Oyster Bay (O’Neale 28). It was erased all vestiges of rebellion against and subver- the Quakers of Philadelphia who published Ham- sion of the institution of slavery. mon’s “An Address to the Negroes in the State of In her analysis of the often overlooked or New York” posthumously. unknown history of slavery in the North, Sondra Against critics who directly or indirectly insinu- O’Neale refers to the execution of slaves charged ate that Hammon must have been content with his with rebellion and attempted escape; the draco- lot as a slave or else he would have rebelled or died nian laws instituted in New York, Hammon’s home in his efforts to escape the bonds of slavery, O’Neale state, which dictated all aspects of a slave’s life; and offers a bleak picture of the slave named Opium, the environment he must have endured as a slave who she believes may have been Jupiter Hammon’s at the Lloyds’ manor house. One specifi c example own father. As mentioned earlier, O’Neale bases her in which O’Neale argues that most critics misin- assertion of Opium’s patrimony on his presence in terpret Hammon’s writings and messages involves the Lloyd household at the time of Jupiter’s birth his simple admonishment against slaves’ cursing. A and on his ownership by the Lloyd family for his law passed in New York in 1730 made the use of entire life. Judging from the Lloyd family ledger, profane language by a slave punishable “by whip- O’Neale argues that Opium was a valued member ping, not exceeding forty stripes” (O’Neale 13). of the household who was routinely rented out to In researching the legal statutes that regimented neighboring families for a sizable amount of money. the lives of slaves in New York, O’Neale offers a He is listed as one of the family’s assets at one point persuasive context in which critics should reimag- in the ledger, and family members request his pres- ine Hammon and his works. What on the surface ence when he is serving at other homes. Despite his seems to be a request for slaves to remain free of ability to generate signifi cant revenue for the Lloyd any form of sin becomes instead a matter of practi- family, Opium was also a signifi cant liability to their cal advice for slaves to save them from the whip- accounts, as he was returned only one day after ping post. being leased to a neighboring family because he was In defense of Hammon’s employment of the recalcitrant and had attempted to escape. According Bible in his writing, O’Neale asserts, “In antebel- to the ledgers, Opium made several escape attempts lum America the Bible functioned as a main instru- in his lifetime, and all of them ended with his pun- ment for slave proponents and abolitionists alike” ishment and return to the Lloyd manor. O’Neale (27–28). During Hammon’s life, Calvinist doctrine suggests that in witnessing the fruitless attempts of prevailed, and this sect promoted the institution of his fellow slave and possible father, Opium, Jupiter slavery as it complied with their vision of God and Hammon would have lost all hope in attempting their relationship to him. For Calvinists like the escape himself. Puritans who believed in predestination, humans To address charges by critics that Hammon had no free will: God had already selected who should have rebelled, O’Neale provides accounts would be among the “elect” to enjoy the pleasures of public executions held in New York of slaves of heaven after death. If God had such overwhelm- whose only crime was attempting to gain their own ing power over humans, then the humans were freedom. In 1741, 18 blacks and four white inden- well within their rights to exercise the same sys- tured servants were hung on the strength of the tem of complete control over those they deemed sole testimony of a fellow indentured servant, Mary Jupiter Hammon 191

Burton (O’Neale 12–13). A rash of house fi res in use of the term savior with the enslavement of the New York that were all imagined to be the work of Israelites, and their own enslavement by abstrac- house slaves fomented widespread panic about the tion. “It was impossible for a slave, writing the possibility of slave rebellion. O’Neale also points fi rst literary expression by an African-American, to to a succession of laws passed in 1708 and 1712 have penned the term ‘salvation’ without having “for preventing, suppressing, and punishing the slavery—his own ubiquitous crucible and that of conspiracy and insurrection of Negroes and other African fellows—utmost in mind” (42). slaves” (11). Although the fi rst law was created O’Neale alerts readers to the 18th-century inter- before Hammon’s birth in 1711, the passage of the pretation of another key term and concept, that second act in the year after his birth indicates that of redemption. “ ’Redemption related even more the animus spurring the fi rst law was still in exis- to implications of slavery and emancipation than tence and strong enough to warrant another piece ‘salvation.’ Old Testament Jews called Jehovah of legislation. the ‘Great Redeemer’ because he ‘bought’ them In his writings, Hammon exhibited a profound back from slavery” (43). As testament to the use and abiding understanding of the Bible and of its of the term redemption in African-American letters cultural importance in colonial American soci- to address release from slavery, Venture Smith, a ety. For contemporary readers of his works like 69-year-old former slave who wrote his narrative in “An Address to Miss Phillis Wheatley” and “An 1798, used this term when addressing the topic of Address to the Negroes in the State of New York,” buying the freedom of his wife and children (Por- knowledge of 18th-century culture and religion, as ter 551–555). Further proof of the term’s associa- well as knowledge of biblical Scripture, are a key to tion with emancipation from slavery appears in the understanding what O’Neale calls “the founder of Reverend Daniel Veysie’s defi nition of the term: “A African American literature” (34). price, in the common acceptance of the word, is something given in exchange for some other thing: and this price becomes a ransom, when it is given for the deliverance of a person who is in a state of “An Evening Thought: Salvation by bondage or captivity” (43). Christ, with Penitential Cries” (1760) In the opening stanza of his poem, Hammon In Jupiter Hammon’s fi rst poem, “An Evening writes, “Redemption now to every one / That Thought: Salvation by Christ, with Penitential loves his holy Word” (3–4). The notion expressed Cries,” he develops a theme that carries through- in these lines directly challenges Calvinist thought out his writings: a direct challenge to Calvinist about predestination, which held that God had belief in predestination of a select few, who do not selected a few who were to receive his salvation include Africans. O’Neale argues that Hammon’s while the majority would suffer for eternity. As challenge appears directly in the poem’s title in its Hammon declares, redemption is available to all use of the term salvation. “In eighteenth-century Christians. Hammon’s only qualifi er, “every one theological defi nitions, the meaning of ‘salvation’ that loves his holy Word,” does not discriminate was related to the title of Christ as Savior and to along lines of class, race, or nationality, but instead that act of redemption whereby a person was ‘saved’ penetrates these external trappings to consider only from sin and Satan. ‘Savior’ is the title for the Old their faith. Further, as O’Neale has argued, the use Testament Jehovah, who delivered the Children of the terms redemption and salvation in this fi rst of Israel from bondage in Egypt” (42). Therefore, stanza oriented readers to a more egalitarian sense O’Neale states, Hammon’s contemporary readers, of Christianity than that held by Calvinists in early who were well versed in 18th-century religious America, and immediately reached out to fellow rhetoric, would immediately associate the poet’s slaves. 192 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

With the lines “Dear Jesus give thy Spirit now / hold over fellow humans. If Christ is a slave, and Thy Grace to every nation / that hasn’t the Lord to he is the slave of the Lord, then only the Lord can whom we bow,” Hammon functions in his role as a rightfully occupy a position of authority. Hammon preacher and prays to God to extend his grace over cannot write out these conclusions in his poem and the world, and not reserve it only for select nations still have it published, but he can reference the gos- or countries. This belief, too, fl ies in the face of pel and trust that his readers, well versed in biblical early colonial thought, perhaps best expressed by text, would draw such a conclusion. JOHN WINTHROP, who imagined the Massachu- Hammon makes another biblical allusion, as setts Bay Colony, in “A Model of Christian Char- O’Neale notes, in stanza 11 when he writes of “our ity,” as a beacon for other civilizations to emulate, a lamentation.” She points out that in addition to the “city upon a hill.” Even those climes not currently traditional defi nition of the term as a “mournful devoted to Christianity receive Hammon’s sincere cry, it also is the title of an Old Testament book by hope for their salvation. Christ’s sacrifi ce, through the prophet Jeremiah. To understand Hammon’s his death and Resurrection, is imagined by Ham- use of the term, one should note that Jeremiah mon to extend to all, as he writes, “It’s well agreed wrote the brief book to lament Israel’s enslavement and certain true / He gave his only Son” (23–24). under Babylon” (64). As an interpretation of the In a deft rhetorical move, Hammon states what stanza’s fi nal line, “We felt thy salvation,” O’Neale is “well agreed and certain true,” yet takes this refers readers to a belief widely held “in the old- accepted knowledge of Christ’s Redemption and time camp meetings among Blacks in agrarian cul- applies it to himself and other slaves. This reading ture [that] prayer was not consummated unless the of Christ’s sacrifi ce as an act intended to save all of supplicant was assured that he had gotten his mes- humanity results from the combined effect of the sage through” (54). As an intermediary between preceding stanzas and their insistence on God’s fellow sinners and God, Hammon assures those grace for “every nation” and Redemption available joined with him in prayer that their penitential to “every one.” cries have been received, as evidenced by the speak- Hammon’s persona as a preacher in the poem er’s emotional response (54). Such a practice was appears again in stanza 7, when he pleads, “Lord widely exercised during the revivals of the Great hear our penitential Cry” (25). The use of our is Awakening in which sinners physically demon- key, as it expands the identity of the speaker from a strated their repentance (54–55). O’Neale’s inter- singular voice to a representative of a larger body, pretation extends to the next stanza and its second perhaps a congregation. If this our is fellow slaves, line, “give us a true motion.” Lest readers misin- as seems to concur with O’Neale’s interpretation, terpret this line for “true emotion,” O’Neale cau- then the plea for “Salvation from above” reso- tions, “Hammon is concerned here with general nates with a double meaning: spiritual salvation repentance rather than simply a veneer of church and physical relief from the sufferings of bondage. attendance and societal recognition that could Another reference to slavery appears in the follow- result in pseudoassumptions of authentic Christian ing stanza, stanza 8, in which Hammon names experience” (64). Christ as “being thy captive Slave” (32). O’Neale The poem’s fi nal biblical allusion to the com- traces Hammon’s reference to Christ as a slave to mon sufferings of Africans and Israelites in the the Gospel of Mark: “For even the Son of Man did bonds of slavery occurs in stanza 16 when Ham- not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his mon references “thy leading Staff.” O’Neale points life as a ransom for many” (10:45). The use of bibli- to Moses’ association with a staff in confrontation cal text to refer to Christ as a servant or slave places with Pharoah, “the archetypal oppressor of Israel- African slaves like him in an elevated position, as it ites” (64). For Moses, the staff functioned both as a calls into question the authority that slave owners weapon of revenge, for he used it to “bring plagues Jupiter Hammon 193 on the Egyptians,” and as a source of nourishment (12:1). Within this passage, we are reminded of and escape: “He parted the Red Sea with the same the faith that we held when we were young and liv- staff and used it to smite a rock to provide water for ing lives devoid of trouble and fi lled with pleasure. the tribes as they were exiting from Egypt” (64). Given Wheatley’s youth spent in Africa until her The speaker’s voice shifts from sincere suppli- kidnapping and enslavement at the age of eight, cant and preacher to that of God, assuring them this passage seems at odds with the fi rst stanza. all of the reception of their pleas and of their future Although Wheatley referred to her own delivery salvation in stanza 18. “Salvation gently given / O into a Christian nation from the “land of errors,” turn your hearts, accept the Word / Your souls are the circumstances of her early life seem to work fi t for Heaven” (62). Having laid the groundwork against a direct reading of Hammon’s own writing for an egalitarian interpretation of salvation from and references to the Bible. the initial stanza, Hammon makes clear that “your Psalm 136, verses 1, 2, and 3 accompany Ham- souls” includes his fellow slaves, whom Calvin- mon’s second stanza, in which he considers the pos- ism would deny a position among the elect. The sibility that were it not for “God’s tender mercy,” remaining stanzas of the poem eagerly anticipate Wheatley might still reside “amidst a dark abode” salvation in heaven: “let us with Angels share.” (7, 6). All three lines from the citation in Psalms begin with the same refrain, “Give thanks,” and For Discussion or Writing end, “His love endures forever” (Psalm 136:1–3). 1. In “An Address to the Negroes in the State of This second half of the refrain, which speaks of New York” as well as “An Address to Miss Phillis God’s enduring love, might echo as a consola- Wheatley,” Jupiter Hammon directly identi- tion to Wheatley for the temporary condition of fi es himself as a Negro slave, but his fi rst poem enslavement that marks her time on earth. Because makes no such statements. How does Hammon her journey to America occasioned her possession position or identify himself in this poem? of the “holy word,” the brief diffi culties she must 2. How does Hammon’s message in this poem endure will be rewarded in the hereafter. Ham- compare to those in his other works? How mon’s choice of terms, “Thou hast the holy word,” would you describe the tone of this poem? Does contains an allusion to her poetry, which is often it shift? If so, where? informed by her Christian belief (8). The third stanza builds upon the idea of slaves’ receiving their rewards after death for the ills suf- “An Address to Miss Phillis Wheatley, fered in life. Hammon writes of “reap[ing] the joys that never cease” (11). The second verse of Ethiopian Poetess, in Boston, Hammon’s fi rst of two biblical citations for this Who Came from Africa at Eight Years particular stanza seems most in line with his own of Age, and Soon Became Acquainted expression, as Psalm 1, 2 refer to God’s law that with the Gospel of Jesus Christ” (1778) the mindful Christian “meditates [on] day and Jupiter Hammon invites Wheatley, defi ned as a night.” The faithful who “does not walk in the “pious youth,” to celebrate God’s wisdom in tak- counsel of the wicked” are blessed (1). The meta- ing her to America from “that distant shore” so she phor of walking appears to be carried over into might “learn his holy word” (1, 3, 4). The comple- Hammon’s line “fair wisdom’s ways are paths of mentary biblical verse to this opening stanza is peace, and they that walk therein” (9–10). The from the fi nal chapter of Ecclesiastes: “Remember Psalms citation makes no mention of peace but your Creator in the days of your youth, before speaks instead of wisdom and joy. It is possible the days of trouble come, and the years approach that Hammon refers to peace as an indirect admo- when you will say ‘I fi nd no pleasure in them’ ” nition to those who would rebel against the harsh 194 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers conditions of slavery. Hammon’s reference to wis- life guided by righteousness, and of God’s love and dom appears also in the second biblical citation deliverance. for this stanza: “Do not be wise in your own eyes” Hammon returns to Wheatley in stanza 9, in (Proverbs 3:7). Despite the double appearance of which he advises her to “seek the living God,” this term in both the Bible and the poem, its mean- echoing the language of Matthew, which assures ing seems to be obscured rather than clarifi ed. the faithful that “he who seeks fi nds” (7:8). Such When considered in concert, the two references inquisitiveness, Hammon assures Wheatley, will to wisdom defer to God and to peace, as though result ultimately in her being “perfect in the word” advising Wheatley to place her faith in God’s plan (36). As with stanza 2, Hammon retains the double and thus act peacefully when confronted with any meaning of Wheatley’s understanding of the Bible, diffi culty. Given Wheatley’s propensity to utilize or holy word, and the crafted verse of her poetry. the authority and voice afforded by her position Although stanzas 10 and 11 return to the theme as a pious Christian, the two passages on wisdom of Wheatley’s removal from a “distant shore” and could easily be Hammon’s indirect applauding of “heathen shore,” neither of the accompanying Wheatley’s “wise” employment of Christian belief verses from Psalms refers to God’s deliverance. and biblical references when addressing the dif- Hammon’s invitation, “come magnify thy God,” fi cult subject of enslavement. closely echoes the declarations of extolling, prais- Hammon repeats the idea that “God’s tender ing, boasting, and glorifying the Lord (Psalm 34: mercy” was at work in removing Wheatley from 1–3). Africa. He writes of earthly and celestial rewards Hunger and thirst, two common needs that ani- that are available to her because of her conversion mals and humans alike must satisfy, are the sub- and abiding faith: “In Christian faith thou hast a jects of stanza 13, which Hammon transforms to share / worth all the gold of Spain” (15–16). The the basic needs the soul has for God. Psalm 42 rewards afforded by Wheatley’s Christian faith, as describes a person whose “tears have been [his] outlined in Psalm 103, include the following “ben- good,” a lamentable condition that too many slaves efi ts”: “He forgives all my sins and heals all my dis- shared (42:1–3). Hammon’s reminder, the third eases; he redeems my life from the pit and crowns time it has appeared in his poem, that Wheatley me with love and compassion” (3–4). “hast the holy word,” might now refer to her abil- Tellingly, the fi fth stanza, which alludes to the ity to live off the monies earned from the publica- middle passage that Wheatley endured “while thou- tion of her verse. In direct opposition to the subject sands [were] tossed by the sea” makes no reference of Wheatley’s meeting her basic needs on earth, to a supporting biblical passage. Instead, Hammon Hammon devotes his remaining eight stanzas to simply includes the ominous but accurate term to the rewards that Wheatley, as a righteous Christian, describe the sea voyage from Africa to enslavement can enjoy in heaven. The stark contrast between in the West: death. Hammon’s only reference to the very real condi- Stanzas 6, 7, and 8 provide a meditation on tion Wheatley and he could face as slaves—being the salvation purchased for both Wheatley and hungry—and his immediate return from this sub- mankind in general through the sacrifi ce of Jesus ject to “heaven’s joys,” where Wheatley may “drink Christ. For Wheatley in particular, the death and Samaria’s fl ood” and never thirst again, is worthy resurrection of Jesus oblige her to uphold herself as of further examination. Hammon seems to take on “a pattern” “to [the] youth of Boston town” (21, a tone of gentle but fi rm admonition in his address 22). The corresponding biblical passages from Cor- to Wheatley. While he has praised her before as a inthians, Romans, and Psalms make no mention model for the “youth of Boston town,” and thus of the obligation Christians have to model proper imagined within her a moral compass that would behavior, but all speak instead of the benefi ts of a guide her and allow her to guide others, his sub- Jupiter Hammon 195 sequent stanzas advise her to “seek heaven’s joys” 2. Compare Hammon’s treatment of slavery with and thus differentiate herself from those “thou- Wheatley’s and OLAUDAH EQUIANO’s. How do sands [who] muse with earthly toys” (67, 65). How they address freedom, racism, and the slave- can a reader reconcile these contrasting treatments owning Christians who use the Bible for justifi - of Phillis Wheatley—fi rst as a “pattern” for others cation of the institution of slavery? How do they and later as a potentially fallen Christian in need reconcile Christianity with slavery? of remonstration? It might well be that Hammon’s reference, however brief, to the conditions of slav- ery, which were too diffi cult to solve on earth, indi- cates that all he could imagine were the rewards of “An Address to the Negroes heaven for those like him and Wheatley who suffer in the State of New York” (1786) on earth. Hammon composed this prose piece at Queen’s For the fi rst time in the poem, he refers to the Village (present-day Hartford, Connecticut) in two of them as we and projects himself into the September 1786, and it fi rst appeared in print the poem. This occurs in stanza 17 when he writes, following year in New York, and then in Phila- “Where we do hope to meet” (68). The reference to delphia. The urban area of Hartford, which was a an eventual meeting place for the two of them is not haven for Joseph Lloyd during the Revolutionary to earth but rather to heaven, and the language falls War, proved a fruitful place for Hammon’s writ- short of the certainty expressed in previous stanzas ing, as it also was the location where he wrote as Hammon states that they “hope to meet.” Ham- and published his address to Phillis Wheatley mon again refers to their common fate in the 20th (O’Neale 248). The third edition of “An Address stanza, “Whene’er we come to die” (78). The two to the Negroes in the State of New York” appeared shall leave the body, “its cottage made of clay,” and in 1806, an indication that Hammon’s message transcend the brutal conditions of slavery imposed struck a cord with a readership across the century. on them on earth (79). This is the only reference The Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Aboli- made to the body or to his and Wheatley’s African tion of Slavery (the Quakers) published 500 copies racial identity until the closing lines, when Ham- of the “Address.” mon identifi es himself as “a Negro Man belonging Hammon’s “Address” is prefaced by both his to Mr. Joseph Lloyd.” This reference to himself as brief statement of humility, which was in keeping “belonging” to another breaks the unifi ed “we” with literary tradition, as well as an authenticating between him and Phillis Wheatley as the African- note from the publishing house, verifying Ham- born poetess had been manumitted in 1773, nearly mon’s identity as an African slave. In his authorial fi ve years prior to the writing and publication of address to “members of the African Society in the Hammon’s poem. With this knowledge in mind, city of New York,” Hammon commends them for readers might cast a second look at the hopefulness “discovering so much kindness and good will to of the fi rst half of the poem with the potential for those you thought were oppressed, and had no doing good deeds on earth and the transfer of such helper.” Hammon offers his humble hope that the high feeling to one’s life after death. society members will “think it is likely to do good among [African slaves]” and “be of any service to For Discussion or Writing them.” In their note dated February 20, 1787, the 1. Read some of the biblical references for the stan- printers attest, “As this address is wrote [sic] in a zas that are not provided in this entry and com- better stile than could be expected from a slave, pare the concepts presented in them with the some may be ready to doubt of the genuineness of message contained within Hammon’s stanza. the production.” In addition to attesting to Ham- How might you account for the differences? mon’s identity as both the author of the address 196 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers and a slave, the printers provide readers with a brief ing (213). “Hammon encouraged his slave audience moral sketch of him, avowing that he “has been to master reading and then to apply this skill to remarkable for his fi delity and abstinence from Scripture for two reasons: fi rst, they could hardly those vices, which he warns his brethren against.” understand his coded messages without some It is quite likely that the printers were mindful of knowledge of biblical symbolism, of narrative, and Puritan doctrine when offering statements regard- of ethics, and of God’s special concern for all pari- ing Hammon’s moral character, for the Puritans ahs; and second, they could not comprehend the feared that the written word could be a potential pretentiousness of colonists who professed Christi- source of moral corruption if either the author anity while continuing the slave system” (O’Neale or the message were morally tainted. The print- 215). O’Neale offers several biblical references that ers’ pledge about Hammon’s morality also speaks Hammon makes but “could not publicly explore” in indirectly to Northern fears of slave rebellion and his “Address” such as his references to God’s pref- contagion. If the printers were to disseminate a erence of the poor (slaves) to the rich (slave own- text by an amoral or immoral person to a body of ers), his fi nal judgment against slave owners, and a African slaves, they could potentially be responsible direct challenge to the Anglican-Calvinist belief in for inciting rebellion or insurrection. If, however, the absolute will of God. Hammon cites a passage as the printers testify, Hammon is free of the vices from the second book of James in the New Testa- he addresses in writing to his fellow slaves, then ment in which God chooses the poor for salvation. the possibility of his mounting an insurrection is This passage directly contradicts Puritan belief in negligible. predestination for the elect who envision them- Hammon likens his position of speaking to “my selves as the only ones deemed worthy of salvation; brethren, my kinsmen according to the fl esh” to if God has also selected the poor for salvation, then that of the apostle Paul, who writes in Romans to the Puritans are not the only elect ones. Further, as his fellow Jews who have not converted to Christi- O’Neale states, readers familiar with James would anity. By making this comparison, Hammon fore- naturally think of the fi rst book of this particular grounds his biblical knowledge and thus solidifi es Gospel, in which James writes that “the one who is the position of authority from which he speaks. As rich should take pride in his low position, because Paul, who was a Jew who preached among fellow he will pass away like a wild fl ower,” and recognize Jews to convert them to Christianity, Hammon in this indirect reference an indictment of wealthy imagines himself to be a prophet speaking to his slave owners (James 1:10). Another example of how fellow Negroes, who may or may not be Christians. Hammon relies upon the Bible as a “covert code” Additionally, Hammon’s specifi c use of Paul, as the for communicating with his fellow slaves involves critic Sondra O’Neale views it, serves a subtler, but his use of Ephesians in his imaginings of slavery. nonetheless crucial, purpose. The parallel with Paul In other portions of this gospel, Paul advised mas- allowed Hammon indirectly to reference the prac- ters to treat their slaves as brothers, and then, in his tice of segregation of black parishioners in colonial epistle to Philemon, Paul pointedly requests that churches just as Paul “vehemently disagreed with the master free his brother (former slave), who is this practice and the prejudice against Gentiles that now his equal. it perpetuated” in the book of Galatians (O’Neale Hammon offers his readers specifi c advice 213). that appears to contemporary readers and crit- By opening with a biblical reference, and implor- ics to advocate complacency in enslavement, and ing his fellow slaves to read and believe the Bible, for this reason, O’Neale and others believe that Hammon was not only looking to their spiritual “this misinterpretation has done much to damage well-being, but also providing them with what Hammon’s integrity and to prevent his veneration O’Neale refers to as a “secret code” to his own writ- as the fi rst Black writer of America” (228). When Jupiter Hammon 197

Hammon cautions his fellow slaves to refrain from Bible: “seeing that the Bible is the word of God and profanity, stating plainly, “All of those of you who everything in it is true and that it reveals such awful are profane are serving the devil,” his purpose must and glorious things, what can be more important be surmised from an understanding of New York than that you should learn to read it?” Were his law regarding slaves’ behavior. The historian Ham- fellow slaves to gain literacy skills and knowledge mond Trumbull provides a list of punishments for of the Bible, they would surely, as O’Neale argues, blasphemy, ranging from having a “bodkin thrust gain access to and fl uency in Hammon’s coded lan- through his tongue” to receiving “censure of death guage. They would recognize his pattern of alert- for his offence” (321). By advising his readers not ing readers to passages that require them to read in to curse, Hammon was attempting to save them the margins or periphery, to examine Hammon’s from the severe punishments meted out against application of the Bible to a language of protest and blasphemers. Similarly, his admonishments against a desire, however coded, for freedom. slaves’ stealing objects stem from knowledge of the legal consequences of such crimes. Hammon For Discussion or Writing plainly states, “You must think [stealing] as wicked, 1. Both SAMSON OCCOM and Jupiter Hammon and some accounts more wicked, to steal from your have the opportunity to address “their breth- masters than from others.” A slave named Johnson ren, their kinsmen according to the fl esh.” Green was hanged in 1786 “for the atrocious crime Compare Hammon’s imaginings of his fellow of burglary” (Greene 153). It is not that Hammon slaves with Occom’s address to his fellow “Indi- was advocating that slaves be well-behaved, but ans” in his address delivered at the execution of rather that he was mindful of the legal boundar- Moses Paul. How do they address and imagine ies of their behavior and the horrifi c sentences they their kinsmen? How do they position or iden- faced if they violated those boundaries. tify themselves? To what degree does their posi- When imaging the end of slavery in his address, tion as ministers inform their authority or their he does so in accordance with the general tenor of identity? New York and its plans for gradual emancipation. 2. How does Hammon’s representation of slav- “Many modern readers have been critical of Ham- ery compare to that of his fellow slave and poet mon for saying that he did not wish to be free and Phillis Wheatley? for suggesting emancipation only for slaves who were much younger than he” (O’Neale 221). In 1799, New York adopted a plan similar to that advo- cated by Hammon in his “Address,” and it was not FURTHER QUESTIONS ON until 1821 that the state had fi nally abolished slavery HAMMON AND HIS WORK (O’Neale 221). For O’Neale, then, an understand- 1. As a Christian, Jupiter Hammon was guided by ing of the historical context in which Hammon lived biblical morals and precepts, but as a slave, he would help contemporary readers understand why had to learn of the laws written and enforced his “Address” does not call for the immediate aboli- by slave owners in a secular world. In reading tion of slavery. Hammon was looking realistically at through his writings, which sets of rules or laws the tenor of the times and attaching his hopes to did Hammon seem to advocate or respect more future generations, who might taste a freedom he, at and why? the age of 76, would never know. 2. Some critics have referred to Hammon as the Short of rebellion or a call to insurrection, Ham- father of African-American literature. How mon advocates the forms of freedom that will pass might you see his infl uence in 19th-century under the radar of his white publishers. He calls for writers like Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, slaves to become literate so that they may read the and Frances Ellen Watkins Harper? 198 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

WORKS CITED AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES O’Neale, Sondra. Jupiter Hammon and the Bibli- Baker, Houston. “Balancing the Perspective: A Look cal Beginnings of African-American Literature. at Early Black American Literary Artistry. Negro Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1993. American Literary Forum 6, no. 3 (Autumn 1972): Porter, Dorothy. Early Negro Writing, 1760–1837. 65–71. Boston: Beacon Press, 1971. Bruce, Dickson D., Jr. The Origins of African Ameri- Redding, J. Saunders. To Make a Poet Black. College can Literature, 1680–1865. Charlottesville: Univer- Park, Md.: McGrath, 1939. sity Press of Virginia, 2001. Reuben, Paul P. “Jupiter Hammon (1711–1806?)” Carretta, Vincent, ed. Unchained Voices: An Anthology Perspectives in American Literature. Available of Black Authors in the English-Speaking World of the online. URL: http://www.csustan.edu/english/ Eighteenth Century. Lexington: University Press of reuben/pal/chap2/hammon.html. Accessed April Kentucky, 1999. 23, 2009. Greene, Lorenzo J. The Negro in Colonial New Eng- Robinson, William H., ed. Early Black American Poets. land: 1620–1776. New York: Columbia University Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown, 1969. Press, 1942. Trumbull, Hammond J. The True Blue Laws of Hammon, Jupiter. “An Address to the Negroes in Connecticut and New Haven and the False Blue the State of New York.” Available online. URL: Laws. Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing, http://etext.virginia.edu/readex/20400.html. 1876. Accessed April 23, 2009. Veysie, Reverend Daniel. The Doctrine of Atonement: Mays, Benjamin. The Negro’s God. New York: Russell Illustrated and Defended in Eight Sermons. Lon- & Russell, 1968. don: Sotheby, 1975. Handsome Lake (1735 –1815)

Take these cards, this money, this fi ddle, this whiskey and this blood corruption and give them all to the people across the water.

(“How America Was Discovered”)

andsome Lake was born in 1735 in Conawa- tribe members moved to the Alleghany settlement, Hgas, a Seneca village alongside the Genesee he fell into drinking, or, as Parker describes it, River, across from the present-day town of Avon, in “became affl icted with a wasting disease that was Livingston County, New York (Parker 9). His teach- aggravated by his continued use of the white man’s ings and prophecies were initially transmitted orally, fi re water” (9). Living alone in a “bare cabin [that] until the ethnographer Arthur C. Parker, himself a scarcely afford him shelter,” Handsome Lake seems member of the Seneca tribe, codifi ed much of his to have endured this sick or drunken state for nearly work in the 1913 book The Code of Handsome Lake, four years, until his daughter, who was married by the Seneca Prophet. Parker learned from interview- then, returned to care for him (9). During his ill- ing Buffalo Tom Jemison that Handsome Lake was ness, he experienced revelations or visions, which “a middle-sized man, slim, and unhealthy looking” he later described in detail. (9). Parker could not determine Handsome Lake’s Handsome Lake’s popular appeal gained the warrior name but did learn that he belonged to the attention of President THOMAS JEFFERSON, and “noble” class of Seneca, known as the Ganiòdai’iò after his visit to Washington, D.C., with a del- or Ska’niadar’iò (9). Although Handsome Lake was egation of Oneida and Seneca in 1802, Jefferson a member of the Turtle Clan, he was raised primar- requested that Secretary of War Dearborn write a ily by the Wolves (9). As Parker states, “The general letter commending the Seneca prophet. His mes- story of his life may be gleaned from a perusal of sage and his model of temperance were applauded his code, there being nothing of any consequence by Dearborn, who wrote that if the tribes follow known of his life up to the time of his ‘vision,’ ” Handsome Lake’s wisdom, “the Great Spirit will which took place in 1799 (9). The only exception, take of [them] and make [them] happy.” Parker admits, is the presence of Handsome Lake’s Handsome Lake’s vision in 1799 created what name on a treaty dating from 1794, but the future is referred to as the “Religion of Handsome Lake” prophet’s involvement in the debates leading up to and “The Old Way of Handsome Lake,” a set of the signing of the treaty is unknown. moral codes directed to members of the Six Nations, From general oral tradition, Parker learned that another name for the Iroquois. In the early 18th Handsome Lake suffered from alcoholism, fueled century, six tribes, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, in part by the despair he and fellow members of Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora, banded together the Seneca tribe felt upon losing the Genesee terri- to become the Six Nations. Parker describes the tory, which was his birthplace. When he and fellow emotional impact of Handsome Lake’s teachings by

199 200 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers contextualizing his message of hope and possibility claim the three-day-long recitation of the Gai’wiio, against the historical events that had demoralized the Iroquois name for Handsome Lake’s “new the tribe: loss of ancestral lands, broken treaties, religion” (6). Parker attributes the lasting appeal and daily acts of hostility from the encroaching of Handsome Lake’s teachings to the linguistic tie Anglo-European settlers. Against this atmosphere affected through the recitation of the Gai’wiio in of collective despair, Parker situates Handsome the Seneca language, as well as the lucid manner Lake’s vision as “a new system, a thing to think in which the moral precepts are expressed (7). The about, a thing to discuss, a thing to believe. His various versions of the Gai’wiio were consolidated message, whether false or true, was a creation of and codifi ed by Chief John Jacket in the mid-19th their own and afforded a nucleus about which they century when he transcribed what was deemed by could cluster themselves and fasten their hopes.” consensus to be the most accurate version of Hand- In Handsome Lake’s vision, he falls down out- some Lake’s words into the Seneca language (7). side his cabin, apparently dead, after having uttered The paper version was passed among the “holders” the words “So be it.” His daughter and son-in- so that they might memorize the portions that they law spread word of his death, and relatives gather had misspoken in past years, but one of them, Chief around his corpse only to discover a warm area on Cornplanter, a different Cornplanter from the chief Handsome Lake’s body that seems to spread until who was Handsome Lake’s half brother, reportedly the presumed dead man opens his eyes and declares “lost the papers sheet by sheet” (8). Cornplanter’s that he is well, and that he has been visited by four attempt to reconstruct the work was drawn to the beings who impart a message to him from the attention of Parker, and a translation was begun. Great Creator. In their message, they speak of four words that anger the Great Creator: alcohol, witch- craft, evil charms, and abortives (plants used to (1799) promote the spontaneous abortion of fetuses). The “How America Was Discovered” Great Creator’s additional words of advice primar- As the preface to Handsome Lake’s prophecy, ily concern the institution of marriage: He wishes which occurred in 1799 and was later memorized for husbands to remain with their wives, espe- and retold by six “holders” at sacred meetings held cially after they have borne children together; for around the time when the fi rst wild strawberries mothers-in-law no longer to intervene and disrupt appear, this is the tale of how America was discov- marital harmony between new brides and grooms; ered. In Arthur C. Parker’s The Code of Handsome for husbands to refrain from physically abusing Lake, the tale is entitled “How the White Race their wives; and for spouses to remain loyal to one Came to America and Why the Gai’wiio Became another. Interestingly, the Great Creator advocates a Necessity.” The term Gai’wiio refers to the moral practicing three activities that white men perform: teachings of Handsome Lake. Thus, in the prophecy cultivation of land, construction of houses, and the original appearance of Anglo-European settlers cultivation of livestock. in America is intricately tied to the moral teachings Handsome Lake’s prophecies, as the ethnogra- passed down from the Great Creator to Handsome pher Parker records in The Code of Handsome Lake, Lake through his vision. The contemporary version were still taught in the early 20th century as an of this tale derives from the oral version of “How integral part of the annual midwinter festivals that America Was Discovered” given to the ethnogra- take place on reservations in New York and Ontario pher and fellow Seneca Arthur C. Parker. (5). Six chiefs (originally including Handsome In Parker’s The Code of Handsome Lake, the Lake’s half brother, Cornplanter) are considered to tale begins by situating the place from which this be the “holders” of Handsome Lake’s teachings, young minister or preacher originates: “Now this and they exchange places with one another to pro- happened a long time ago and across the great salt Handsome Lake 201 sea that stretches east. There is, so it seems, a world bols of true believers who recognize a source of evil there and soil like ours. There in the great queen’s and turn their backs upon it just as the truly devout country where swarmed many people—so many were said to look away from the destruction of that they crowded upon one another and had no Sodom and Gomorrah in the Old Testament. When place for hunting—there lived a great queen” (16). the minister enters the castle and is asked to bear a The “great salt sea” refers to the Atlantic Ocean, bundle of fi ve things in exchange for a great reward, and the world that appears with “soil like ours” he has in essence sold his soul to the devil. Further, is clearly Europe. The reference to a queen rather the implication of moral corruption in Handsome than a king, and the later reference to CHRISTO- Lake’s tale is not reserved solely to the unnamed PHER COLUMBUS, specifi cally narrow the continent minister but is extended to all explorers, beginning down to Spain, with the queen as none other than with Columbus, who hears the minister’s tale and Isabella, who, along with King Ferdinand, fi nanced bargain and agrees to set sail for the new land. Columbus’s famous voyage that was supposed to The people who live “across the ocean that lies discover a new trade route to the Indies. toward the sunset [in] another world” are described Both versions, however, contain the same details as “virtuous, they have no evil habits or appetites of the young minister performing the duty his queen but are honest and single-minded.” Columbus requested of him: dusting some old volumes hid- takes with him to the New World a bundle con- den in a chest. When he fi nishes his chore, he opens taining fi ve things “that men and women enjoy”; in the fi nal book resting at the bottom of the chest. the longer version, these very items are described as In Parker’s longer version, the minister looks about the vehicle by which Columbus will “make [indig- him and listens for anyone approaching, signs “he enous people] as white men are” (Parker 17). The had no right to read the book and wanted no one fi ve items are playing cards, money, a fi ddle, whis- to detect him” (16). Thus, the knowledge derived key, and “blood corruption.” The latter is further from the book—that the preacher had been deceived defi ned in the longer version as a “secret poison and that the Lord was not on earth—appears in the [that will] eat the life from their blood and crumble longer version as forbidden knowledge, linked indi- their bones.” All are inextricably linked with accul- rectly with the Genesis tale of the Tree of Knowl- turation into Western civilization (18). Parker’s The edge from which both Adam and Eve ate, causing Code of Handsome Lake provides a more detailed their expulsion from Eden. This aspect of the longer explanation or defi nition of “blood corruption” so version recurs at the end of the tale, when the fi gure that it seems to refer to the fatal introduction of whom the minister trusts and with whom he enters epidemics such as smallpox to indigenous popula- into a bargain is revealed to be the devil. tions by Anglo-European colonists. The moral aspects of the tale are pervasive, with Both tales end with the same note—the devil the search for God on earth ending with mankind himself lamenting “his enormous mistake” of corrupting mankind. The journey the minister fi rst wreaking “havoc and misery” on such a grand makes takes him to a golden castle across a river that scale. is spanned by a bridge of gold. The multiple refer- ences to gold symbolize the avarice of early explor- For Discussion or Writing ers such as Columbus who seek out new lands in 1. As stated, Handsome Lake’s tale “How Amer- the hopes of exploiting their natural resources. The ica Was Discovered” appears as a preface for his minister ignores the warnings he has that his new moral tales and is even titled in such a way as acquaintance who dwells in the golden castle should to make the moral tales a necessity. Consider be feared and not trusted. Two of his fellow com- the moral aspects of the tale. Is it a particularly panions pray, fall on their knees, and quickly depart Christian morality? Does it directly condemn before ever reaching the castle doors. They are sym- European explorers such as Columbus? 202 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

2. Compare Handsome Lake’s stance on tem- less elements contained in the text that might perance with SAMSON OCCOM’s “A Sermon account for its continued infl uence. Preached . . . at the Execution of Moses Paul 2. Handsome Lake participated in the 1794 peace an Indian.” Who are the two men’s intended treaty that brokered peace between the Six audiences? How do they address the problem of Nations and the United States government. Read alcohol abuse among American Indians? What through the treaty and locate similar impulses for role does Christianity play in temperance? peace in Handsome Lake’s own writing. 3. Handsome Lake references CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS directly in this tale. Compare his WORKS CITED AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES view of Columbus’s arrival in the Americas with Bruchac, Joseph. The Good Message of Handsome Lake. Columbus’s own view of himself and his des- Greensboro, N.C.: Univorn Press, 1979. tiny. How does each writer employ images from Jefferson, Thomas. To Brother Handsome Lake. Christianity to justify his viewpoints? Available online. URL: http://avalon.law.yale. 4. Compare Handsome Lake’s vision of the origi- edu/19th_century/jeffi nd2.asp. Accessed April nal peoples in America with Thomas Jefferson’s, 23, 2009. either from Notes on the State of Virginia or from Martin, John H. “Saints, Sinners, and Reformers: his 1802 letter addressed to Handsome Lake. The Burned-over District Revisited.” Crooked Lake Review (2005). Available online. URL: http:// www.crookedlakereview.com/books/saints-sin- ners/martin1.html. Accessed April 23, 2009. FURTHER QUESTIONS Parker, Arthur C. The Code of Handsome Lake, the Sen- ON HANDSOME LAKE eca Prophet. Albany: SUNY Press, 1913. Available AND HIS WORK online. URL: http://www.sacred-texts.com/nam/ 1. The ethnographer and member of the Seneca iro/parker/index.htm. Accessed April 23, 2009. tribe Arthur C. Parker notes that Handsome ———. Parker on the Iroquois. Edited by William N. Lake’s vision continued to be told in tribal meet- Fenton. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1986. ings over a century after it originated. Reading Porter, Joy. To Be Indian: The Life of Seneca-Iroquois through the “Religion of Handsome Lake,” Arthur Caswell Parker, 1881–1955. Norman: Okla- write an essay in which you identify the time- homa University Press, 2002. Washington Irving (1783 –1859)

A sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener by constant use.

(“Rip Van Winkle”)

he youngest of 11 children, Washington Irving older brothers. In 1806, Irving completed his study Twas born on April 3, 1783, to a merchant fam- of law with Judge Hoffman and successfully passed ily residing in New York City. His father, William, the bar. As a lawyer, Irving joined his brother John derived from a wealthy Scottish family whose in a partnership (Warner 44). His association with ancestry could be traced back to the secretary the Hoffman family would endure throughout his and armor bearer of William Bruce. Because of lifetime and be the source of much joy and sorrow. the family’s declining circumstances, William left Judge Hoffman’s daughter, Matilda, soon became Scotland and took to the sea. During service in the enamored of Washington, as he did of her. Their French War, William met Sarah Sanders, and the families both embraced the possibility of marriage, two married in 1761 and departed two years later but young Matilda contracted a disease and died for New York, where William took up work as a a short time after at the age of 17. Irving’s grief merchant. As a testament to the family’s loyalties to was palpable and a central reason, as he explained the American cause of the Revolutionary War, they to the Foster family while in Dresden, Germany, named their youngest son after the nation’s found- years later, why he never entertained the thought ing father and fi rst president, George Washington. of marriage again. His biographer Warner reports The biographer Charles Dudley Warner reports that Irving slept for months with Matilda’s Bible that the family’s Scottish maid, following General prayer book beneath his pillow, and after his death, Washington into a shop, presented the baby named a locket of her hair, together with a sketch of her, after him, and that the young Irving received a were found among his possessions. blessing from his namesake. Little did the Revolu- Matilda’s death occurred while Irving was tionary War hero know that he was meeting one of still composing The History of New York. Irving his future biographers. writes of the incongruity of the two events in his Irving’s childhood education is described as memorandum: barely adequate, chiefl y because of the young boy’s desires to be outdoors, reading travel and adventure When I became more calm and collected, I books such as Robinson Crusoe and Sinbad. Owing applied myself, by way of occupation, to the to his lack of engagement with a formal education, fi nishing of my work. I brought it to a close, as he was allowed to complete his schooling at age 16, well as I could, and published it; but the time when his family insisted that he enter into the pur- and circumstances in which it was produced suit of law, following the career choice of two of his rendered me always unable to look upon it with

203 204 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

satisfaction. Still it took with the public, and from his association with Allston. In direct contra- gave me celebrity, as an original work was some- diction to Hedge’s reading of a growing aesthetic thing remarkable and uncommon in America. I in Irving, Warner argues that the young traveler was noticed, caressed, and, for a time, elevated enjoyed the fi ner aspects of society such as theater, by the popularity I had gained. salons, and fi ne dining, but “there is little prophesy that Irving would be anything more in life than a Irving began his literary career as a commenta- charming ‘fl aneur.’ ” tor on American life and character at the age of 19. While attending to his affairs as a lawyer, which In a series of pseudonymous letters signed Jona- included acting as a minor aide during Aaron than Oldstyle, Irving published his comments on Burr’s trial for treason, Irving stole away to write America’s desires to emulate France and Britain in and begin publishing a semimonthly periodi- the arts and fashion, among other subjects. The cal entitled Salmagundi, which means “hash,” a letters appeared in his brother Peter Irving’s Morn- parody of British periodicals such as Addison and ing Chronicle, which circulated in their hometown Steele’s Spectator. He delineated its purpose: “sim- of New York City (Hedges 17). All of Irving’s ply to instruct the young, reform the old, correct critics who read the Oldstyle letters recognize the the town, and castigate the age.” Irving received budding author’s parody of Addison and Steele, support from his brother William and the publisher British writers famous for their satirical articles in David Longworth (45). Irving’s recent journey to the newspapers the Spectator and the Tattler. Nev- Europe appears to have infl uenced his subject mat- ertheless, many critics see in Irving’s early writings ter for Salmagundi as Hedges states that travelers the hallmarks of what would be honed into his own and traveling “manifest a great deal of interest.” style and subject matter in subsequent years. He turns the lens on Europeans and their views of His view of society was signifi cantly widened America: “trying to read European meanings into when he embarked on the fashionable trend of the America” (Hedges 53). Warner notes that Salma- grand tour, leaving home for 21 months on travels gundi struck a cord with readers: “From the fi rst it through Italy, France, Switzerland, England, and was an immense success; it had circulation in other the “Low Countries.” The biographers William cities, and many imitations of it sprung up.” Hedges and Charles Dudley Warner reason that Irving followed the two years of Salmagundi Irving’s “respiratory ailment” was a central cause with The History of New York, a satire in which he of his journey. Just years before, Irving made sev- introduces readers to the highly unreliable histo- eral trips along the Hudson with the sole purpose rian Diedrich Knickerbocker. He was 26 years old of alleviating his pulmonary weakness, and when at the time of History’s publication. Warner writes symptoms erupted again, his brothers determined that Irving’s brother Paul was central to the earli- to send him to Europe. Hedges notes the trip’s est imaginings and drafts of the text, which origi- dual purpose: As his health improved, so too did nally offered “a mere burlesque upon pedantry and Irving’s aesthetic sense (34). In Rome, Irving’s erudition.” When Paul had to leave for Europe to focuses on the ruins and “sense of inevitable decay attend to business, however, Irving took it upon were to be his substitute for a theory of history or himself to complete the manuscript. In this text, a philosophy” (42). It was also in Rome that he Irving explores a relativistic concept of history, met Washington Allston, a painter whose passion which is highly dependent upon point of view. He for the art and enthusiasm for the city’s landscapes achieves such an end by offering readers a host of nearly persuaded Irving to remain in Rome and confl icting opinions on any given subject, rang- take up the profession of painting. It is quite likely ing from the superstitious and absurd to the most that some of his attention to landscape, seen most rational and studied. As a result, the latter seems particularly in “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” just as likely, or unlikely, as the former. The cre- where the landscape appears as a character, derives ative advertisement of the book bears mention, as it Washington Irving 205 adds another layer to Irving’s treatment of legend. One such area of contradiction that continues to In local newspapers, Irving advertised for a missing baffl e critics involves Irving’s own political views, person named Diedrich Knickerbocker, who was and his class-oriented sensibilities. The Irvings’ described as an old man clad in knee breeches and patriarch was a merchant, and the rather large fam- wearing a cocked hat. In subsequent weeks, the tale ily was populated by lawyers. Indeed, one of the of Knickerbocker had grown, including the fact judges under whom Washington Irving fi rst worked that he had left without paying his landlord, and became a member of the Supreme Court, and he that all that remained of his personal effects was an was then forced to take up with another judge. odd book. The book, of course, was Irving’s The Even then, Irving himself reports his doubts about History of New York. his abilities to have passed the bar without a certain As testament to the book’s success, Sir Walter predisposition in his favor among those determin- Scott wrote praise for Irving’s creation, comparing ing his examination results. Thus, Irving recognizes his wit to that of Jonathan Swift, author of Gul- how his family name and infl uential associations liver’s Travels, and Laurence Sterne, author of Tris- have worked in concert to gain him his career as tram Shandy: “I have never,” Sir Walter Scott wrote, a lawyer. It is clear, then, that Irving arrives at the “read anything so closely resembling the style of subject of his native soil from a privileged point of Dean Swift as the annals of Diedrich Knicker- view, and yet he does not categorically look with bocker. I have been employed these few evenings in disdain or condescension on the lesser elements of reading them aloud to Mrs. S. and two ladies who America. Indeed, they are celebrated, as they com- are our guests, and our sides have been absolutely pose the primordial mass of the nation. However, sore with laughing. I think, too, there are passages in 1816, when the family fell on misfortune, par- which indicate that the author possesses power of a ticularly with the law fi rm, Irving worried whether different kind, and has some touches which remind he could make a living as a writer. In a letter to his me of Sterne.” friend Brevoort, Irving expresses a less elite sense In 1848, when Irving issued a new edition of of himself and his joys in life: “Thank Heaven I The History of New York, he expresses his main was brought up in simple and inexpensive habits, aim in penning the book: “to embody the tradi- and I have satisfi ed myself that if need be, I can tions of our city in an amusing form; to illustrate resume them without repining or inconvenience.” its local humors, customs, and peculiarities; to The international success of The Sketch Book proved clothe home scenes and places and familiar names that he could. Warner includes as an anecdote to with those imaginative and whimsical associations support Irving’s fame that an English family, upon so seldom met with in our new country, but which viewing a bust of George Washington, mistakenly live like charms and spells about the cities of the identifi ed him as the author of The Sketch Book. old world, binding the heart of the native inhabit- Despite Irving’s declarations that he could econ- ant to his home.” Here, Irving expresses a desire omize without grousing, he expresses a genuine to yoke the enviable qualities of the Old World, its disgust with the masses with whom he spoke and charms and spells, to the sights of New York. And caroused while involved in the election campaign yet, when Irving does include legends in his tales, of a Federalist. “Oh, my friend, I have been in such their grandeur is severely undercut and critiqued holes and corners; such fi lthy nooks and fi lthy cor- by the banal, the man who dreams such wonder- ners; sweep offi ces and oyster cellars! I have sworn ful stuff while napping at the dinner table, or the brother to a leash of drawers, and can drink with any fi gure who is just as prone to enjoying the more tinker in his own language during my life, —faugh! sophisticated elements of culture as he is the most I shall not be able to bear the smell of small beer crude. Irving’s artistry, developed with this text, and tobacco for a month to come. . . . Truly this lies in his ability to create and explore further his saving one’s country is a nauseous piece of business, own contradictions. and if patriotism is such a dirty virtue, —prythee, 206 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers no more of it.” Despite these professed feelings of dauntless independence of all form, ceremony, fash- distaste for the masses, Irving proved himself too ion, or reputation of a downright, unsophisticated malleable than to be constricted by party lines, for American. Since the war, too, particularly, our lads although a Federalist and thus a loyalist to Alex- seem to think they are ‘the salt of the earth’ and ander Hamilton, Irving expresses sincere sympathy the legitimate lords of creation.” for Aaron Burr, who killed Hamilton in a duel. Despite his reluctant work for the law fi rm, Further evidence of his ability to cross party lines Irving managed to fi nd time for one of his favorite appears in a letter in which he expresses his surprise pastimes, enjoying the theater. When on a trip to when dining with the very men who the night prior visit his sister Sarah, who had married Henry Van had been excoriated by “honest furious Federalists” Wart of Birmingham, he came across a character of as “consummate scoundrels,” as Irving discovers whom a sketch would soon appear in his next and them to be “equally honest [and] warm” as those most famous book, The Sketch Book. In a draft of the previous night. what would become “The Angler,” Irving writes of During the War of 1812, Irving became editor a veteran angler who had spent some of his youth of the Analectic, a position that exposed him to in America. “What I particularly liked him for British periodicals as the organ reprinted leading was, that though we tried every way to entrap him reviews and articles from England, as well as origi- into some abuse of America and its inhabitants, nal material from America. He issued a second edi- there was no getting him to utter an ill-natured tion of The History and wrote letters to his friend word concerning us.” In comparison with Irving’s Brevoort about town gossip and his profound sense general critique of the Americans he had recently of lethargy and ennui. In 1814, Irving enlisted in spied in Liverpool, readers witness another in the the army and became Governor Tompkin’s aide author’s series of contradictions. While he was and military secretary. This is yet another example quick to judge his fellow Americans abroad harshly, of the contradictory nature of Irving, who had a he seems quite defensive about hearing any dispar- deep affi nity for Britain, but whose patriotism for aging words from Britons. America was riled with the burning of the capitol. While in England, Irving met such notable lit- Soon after his enlistment, in February 1815, peace erary fi gures as Lord Byron, Thomas Moore, and was brokered between the two nations and Irving Isaac D’Israeli (father of Benjamin Disraeli, an left for what was to be a brief trip to England to author and later prime minister of England). He visit his brother Peter. He remained in Europe for renewed his friendship with Sir Walter Scott. In the the next 17 years. fi rst part of 1818, all attempts to secure the fam- With Peter’s poor health, the future of the fail- ily fi rm were exhausted, and Peter and Washing- ing law fi rm fell to Irving, who spent 1815 and 1816 ton entered into bankruptcy. Although the process in Liverpool, engaged in attempting to buoy the was excruciating for Irving, his biographer Warner family business. Critics and biographers of Irving characterizes the end of his family obligations to all point to his dislike for the profession of law, as the fi rm as liberating, for it allowed the author to well as his predisposition, somewhat like his char- pursue his craft and allow nothing to distract him. acter Rip Van Winkle’s, to avoid profi table labor at This meant that the efforts of his brothers to pro- all costs. The two years thus employed were odious cure him political and military posts, as secretary of to Irving, as his letters home to his friend Brevoort legation and chief clerk in the navy, were declined. prove. In a bit of a reversal of the very patriotism Likewise, Irving turned down the generous offers he had just recently expressed for America in his of Walter Scott and Mr. Murray to act as editor for military enlistment, Irving writes to Brevoort of various periodicals. his general distaste for the breed of American he Instead, Irving dedicated himself exclusively to spied while in Liverpool: “Nothing can surpass the The Sketch Book, whose fi rst number appeared in Washington Irving 207

America in May 1819, with the series completing the tale of a lovable henpecked husband named Rip in September the following year. “Rip Van Winkle” Van Winkle who travels into the Kaatskill (Catskill) was one of the two pieces that appeared in the fi rst Mountains and sleeps for 20 years after having con- installment. Of the success and instant fame he sumed the contents of the Dutch settler Hendrick received on both sides of the Atlantic with the pub- Hudson’s fl agon and witnessed fi gures resembling lication of The Sketch Book, Irving writes humbly: “an old Flemish painting” enjoying a game of nine- “I feel something as I suppose you did when your pin. He hastens with his faithful companion, a dog picture met with success, —anxious to do some- named Wolf, to escape from the harping remon- thing better, and at a loss what to do.” To his friend strances of his wife. When he awakens and returns Brevoort he expresses his intended aesthetic goal: “I to the village, he discovers that his extended nap have attempted no lofty theme, nor sought to look transpired during the Revolutionary War, his wife wise and learned, which appears to be very much the and dog are deceased, and his daughter has grown fashion among our American writers at present. I and married, with a family of her own. Irving com- have preferred addressing myself to the feelings and plicates this fantastic tale of a sociable loafer with fancy of the reader more than to his judgment.” a propensity to “attend to anybody’s business but On the success of his latest work, Irving traveled his own” by interrogating the notions of truth, his- to Paris, returned to England, and, in search of a tory, and what may or may not be believed. cure for an unknown illness that plagued his ankles The epigraph for “Rip Van Winkle” derives and prevented him at times from walking, toured from a play entitled The Ordinary by the British Germany. He later returned to England and pub- playwright William Cartwright. In his selective lished “Tales of a Traveler.” Soon after, in Febru- reference to the play, Irving introduces readers to ary 1826, Irving journeyed to Madrid, Spain, and the idea that a person will keep truth “unto thylke began work on his famous biography of CHRISTO- day in which I creep into my sepulcher,” mean- PHER COLUMBUS, which was published in 1828. ing that a person carries his or her own version Warner considers this three-year period in Irving’s of truth until death. In referencing Cartwright’s life to be his most productive, as he also wrote The play, Irving preempts readers’ skepticism by turn- Alhambra, The Conquest of Granada, and The Leg- ing the very notion of truth on its head. If each ends of the Conquest of Spain. These works came person carries his or her own sense of truth to the about through Irving’s access to primary sources grave, then he or she cannot be persuaded to part and other documents, including Columbus’s jour- with what he or she believes to be true, and this nals. He returned to England when he received, truth is not subject to interrogation or inspection. and reluctantly accepted, an appointment as secre- For Irving, then, truth is subjective. On a humor- tary of legation to the Court of St. James. In April ous note, Irving’s theme of the capricious nature 1830, the Royal Society of Literature awarded him of truth, that it exists for everyone but is not nec- a gold medal in honor of his literary works. essarily shared, explains the odd pairing of Dame He died shortly after the fi nal volume of his last Van Winkle and her husband. To him, the other work, a biography of his namesake, George Wash- members of the village, and his numerous friends ington, was in press. He was buried overlooking and acquaintances, Rip Van Winkle is a “simple, Sleepy Hollow. good-natured man.” To Dame Van Winkle, his “termagant wife,” his reluctance to perform pro- ductive work for the farm has caused his estate to dwindle and fall into disrepair. (1819) “Rip Van Winkle” The discord between husband and wife, rep- On its most basic and straightforward level, Irving’s resenting two different notions of labor and value, short story, taken from The Sketch Book, recounts are refl ective, perhaps, of the cultural shifts America 208 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers experienced in the years prior to and immediately has successfully avoided the drudgery and demands following the Revolution. Dame Van Winkle appears of the work-a-day world, “he has had to surrender somewhat despotic, and Rip must avail himself of the major part of his mature life and become an the landscape, the physical distance separating Eng- alien in a community of which he had once been a land from the colonies, as a means of escaping from valued part” (Ringe 465). The critic Philip Young her. Just as England utilized the colonies for its own views the loss of time in Rip’s life in the follow- profi t (such as with the imposition of taxes such as ing manner: Rip “passes from childhood to second the Stamp Act), Dame Van Winkle relies upon her childhood with next to nothing in between” (570). husband to perform “profi table labor.” In his direct Young’s point is that Rip has avoided precisely the and indirect rebellions, Rip might represent the responsibilities that mark adulthood, which his American colonists desirous of a less despotic lead- wife has chastised him repeatedly for neglecting. ership than the “discipline of shrews at home.” His When he awakes, he has reached “that happy age general popularity among members of the village when a man can be idle with impunity.” likewise promotes the reading of Rip as an amiable The critic Donald Ringe views Irving’s story American: “The children of the village, too, would within a genre used by his fellow author JAMES shout with joy whenever he approached. He assisted FENIMORE COOPER in which New York writers cri- at their sports, made their playthings, taught them to tique the Yankee usurpers from New England who fl y kites and shoot marbles, and told them long sto- introduce rapid change and a profi t-driven mental- ries of ghosts, witches, and Indians.” In his pastime ity to the tranquil New York neighborhoods, such as a storyteller among the children, especially consid- as the old Dutch communities of Sleepy Hollow ering the topics of his tales, Rip Van Winkle repre- and Rip Van Winkle’s village. In contrast to the sents a more amiable fi gure than Ichabod Crane, as embodiment of New England in the fi gure of Icha- he substitutes the fantasy of the tales for the reality bod Crane, Irving permeates the very atmosphere of life. of the post–Revolutionary War village Rip encoun- The natural setting of New York plays a central ters upon awaking with “a strong New England role in this short story just as it does in “The Leg- accent” (Ringe 464). As testament to Irving’s end of Sleepy Hollow,” but the relationship between sense of New England as a destructive force, Ringe the Kaatskill Mountains and Rip Van Winkle dif- points to the inn that has become a Yankee hotel fers from that between Ichabod Crane and Sleepy and the great tree cut down for a liberty pole. This Hollow. Although nature seems indifferent if not critique, Ringe continues, was less about regions antagonist to Rip’s farm, it provides him with the per se and more about Irving’s associations with means of escaping from a termagant wife whose them. For him, and for Cooper, New York rep- tongue has been sharpened over the years by con- resented the last vestiges of peace and tranquility stant use berating her husband. Rip “declares it available in America; New England, on the other was of no use to work on his farm; it was the most hand, symbolized the chaos brought about by a pestilent little piece of ground in the whole coun- society intent upon progress and profi t at all costs. try; everything about it went wrong, and would go Ringe points to the fact that Rip is not a lazy fel- wrong, in spite of him.” Gone is the fruitful and low, as the narrative informs us of his numer- fecund landscape from “The Legend of Sleepy ous acts of labor performed for the benefi t of his Hollow” that provided the Van Tassels with such neighbors. What Rip is averse to, however, is the natural bounty. “In the fi ctional world of Rip Van very kind of labor that New England represented Winkle . . . [there is not] something familiar and for Irving: profi t-based work (Ringe 465). Irving comforting in nature” (Rubin-Dorsky 405). The writes elsewhere of his dislike for New Englanders wildness of the Catskills, however, provides Rip in “Conspiracy of Cocked Hats” in which he views with a refuge but not without a cost. Although Rip “all turnpikes, railroads, and steamboats [as] those Washington Irving 209 abominable inventions by which the usurping Yan- Rip’s tale reinforces the human condition: that all kees are strengthening themselves in the land, and experience change as the very fabric of their lives, subduing everything to utility and commonplace.” and that these changes, which occur perpetually, Another set of opposing forces like that repre- are the norm and thus not distinguishable from sented by New England and New York exists in each other. In such a reading, Rubin-Dorsky mini- Irving’s fi ction, that between truth and fi ction. mizes the disorienting effects of the Revolution Haskell Springer terms Irving’s tension between and its alteration of Rip’s village by arguing that truth and fi ction a “technique of self-contradic- the act of storytelling itself has a homogenizing tion: the story proper and the comments upon the effect, “mak[ing] one period of time the equivalent tale [move in] opposite directions” and by thus of any other.” As testament to this interpretation, foregrounding the “reality” of events like Rip Van Rubin-Dorsky notes that George Washington has Winkle’s 20-year slumber, keep the fi ctional ele- replaced George III, but there remains an author- ment of the tale ever present in the reader’s mind ity in place, whether monarchical or democratic. (14–15). The critic Jeffrey Rubin-Dorsky elaborates Second, his son, Rip, Jr., looks exactly the same as on Springer’s concept by considering “Rip Van he does and thus demonstrates how sameness can Winkle” as a meditation on the art and dynamics abide across time. In these continuities across time, of storytelling. Unlike the current inhabitants of in the discovery of a cyclical time that governs not Winkle’s village, who believe the long-bearded man only Rip Van Winkle but everyone, Rubin-Dorsky to have been out of his mind for 20 years, Rubin- sees that Irving has discovered a truth. Rip’s sto- Dorsky argues that the readers recognize the villag- rytelling “make[s] the connections between fact ers’ “blunder” in not “acknowledg[ing] that doubt and fi ction, between existence in the mutable world and belief combine to form the listening/reading and the unchanging foundations of all human experience” (399–400). Despite their initial skep- endeavor” (Rubin-Dorsky 405). ticism, the villagers fl ock to Rip precisely, Rubin- The tale does not end, however, with the inter- Dorsky believes, because he has a story to tell, a pretations of the villagers who “almost universally “palliative, alleviating the anxiety of his loss . . . gave [Rip]’s tale full credit.” In a note, appended and compensat[ing] for unsettling changes” (400). to Knickerbocker’s tale, he “shows that it is an By retelling his tale to the villagers in a postrevo- absolute fact, narrated with his usual fi delity.” Fact, lutionary period, Rip Van Winkle not only makes here, is entirely dependent upon perspective, and sense of his own unsettling experience of outliv- Knickerbocker’s avowal of factualness is more a tes- ing family and friends and returning to an entirely tament to the fact that he copiously scribed the tale transformed village, but makes the chaotic effects told to him rather than to the content of the tale of the Revolutionary War understandable because itself. Irving adds yet another level of storytellers he has turned them into a story. and truths in one additional layer in the postscript Ironically, despite the fact that Rip’s story cen- in which Knickerbocker details another tale of the ters on his witness to radical change in his vil- Catskills, this one a myth of American Indians. lage, the critic Rubin-Dorsky considers that his In the tale, Manitou, a trickster fi gure, dwells in narrative allows temporal shifts because it echoes the Catskills, in a place called Garden Rock. When other stories of life: “The real, profound changes a hunter trespasses into Garden Rock, Manitou are the ongoing, perpetual ones, those of mortal- drops a gourd, whose contents creates a fl ash fl ood ity. . . . This type of alteration is the result neither and drown the hunter. of historical nor political processes but rather of the natural ones of birth and death, growth and decay, For Discussion or Writing which never cease and, in effect, make one period 1. “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van of time the equivalent of any other” (401). Thus, Winkle” both address change and attempts to 210 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

resist it. How is this theme presented in the bent, he never broke; and though he bowed beneath Leatherstocking series, of JAMES FENIMORE the slightest pressure, yet, the moment it was away— COOPER, a fellow New York writer? jerk! —he was as erect, and carried his head as high 2. Rip sleeps through the nation’s foundational as ever.” Readers familiar with Thomson’s poem event, the Revolutionary War. Does he repre- would be likely to recognize that Crane resembles sent America, or is he a fi gure sympathetic to the inhabitants of the “Castle of Indolence,” and pre–Revolutionary War times when the colonies that their lack of will, alluded to in their extremely were ruled by England? supple spines, will be their undoing. 3. Both of Irving’s tales point to aspects of the Irving provides two frames for the telling of the country’s violent past—the Salem witch trials encounter between the itinerate schoolmaster, Icha- and the Revolutionary War. How does Irving bod Crane, and the famous headless horseman of reconcile his treatment of these two events with Sleepy Hollow. One of these frames involves the his general desire for an idyllic past, represented fi gure of Diedrich Knickerbocker, the inept fi ctional by the secluded Dutch communities in the two historian who narrates Irving’s satirical History of tales? New York and who also knits together his widely 4. How is the landscape imagined for the Dutch popular The Sketch Book. As a tale “found among and native communities? Consider the arid con- the papers of the Late Diedrich Knickerbocker,” ditions of Rip Van Winkle’s farm and the dan- the story of Crane and the headless Hessian soldier gers inherent in the Catskills. gains prominence. It is less the fi ctional tale meant to entertain and more the documented oral tradition of an antiquated Dutch community whose “popula- tion, manners, and customs, remain fi xed, while the (1820) “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” great torrent of migration and improvement . . . in Irving’s short story, taken from The Sketch Book, other parts of this restless country, sweeps by them opens with four lines from the Scottish poet James unobserved.” The second frame appears in the sto- Thomson’s “Castle of Indolence” in which a “most ry’s postscript, in which Diedrich vows to have given enchanting wizard” captures men who are curious “the preceding tale . . . almost in the precise words or desirous of the life of ease presented by a min- in which [he] heard it related at a corporation meet- strel who sings tales of the castle accompanied by ing.” The tale thus has multiple storytellers: Irving his lute. The promises of a life given over to plea- himself, his fi ctional historian Knickerbocker, and sure, repose, and the absence of work, however, are the unnamed storyteller who appears at the end of purchased at a dear price. The inhabitants of the the tale to discount nearly half of the story’s truth. castle lose their will and thus the means of escape: The multiplicity of narrators keeps the fi ctional aspect of the tale ever present in the reader’s mind, For whomsoe’er the villain takes in hand, as does Ichabod Crane’s reverence for COTTON Their joints unknit, their sinews melt apace; MATHER’s History of New England Witchcraft as As lithe they grow as any willow-wand, well as Irving’s references to Thomson’s poem and And of their vanish’d force remains no trace to a German folktale as the basis for the story of the headless horseman. Irving purposefully mis- In his description of his unlikely protagonist, Icha- takes the title of Mather’s tale of witchcraft and bod Crane, Irving clearly draws upon the language the witch trials, which was Wonders of the Invis- Thomson uses in describing the victims of the wiz- ible World, because his readers would be familiar ard: “He had . . . a happy mixture of pliability and with Mather’s famous book and would thus rec- perseverance in this nature; he was in form a spirit ognize the less-than-accurate account provided by like a supple jack—yielding, but tough; though he his fi ctional historian, Knickerbocker. Although Washington Irving 211

Mather’s recounting of the Salem witch trials does Likened by Thomson to a “syren song,” that not include any mention of a headless horseman, of women who lured sailors to their deaths by it does imbue the story with a foreboding tone in bewitching them with their beautiful voices as which diabolic elements prey upon helpless inhab- their ships drifted heedlessly toward a rocky shore, itants who have barely carved a space out of the the minstrel’s voice tempts the listeners who still howling wilderness for themselves. Indeed, most hear the song in their ears. The narrator of “The of the devilish acts retold by Mather occur in the Legend of Sleepy Hollow” assures the reader that wild, the same landscape that promotes the excita- “there are peculiar quavers still to be heard in that tions of Crane’s bewildered and befuddled mind. church, which may even be heard half a mile off, The presence of multiple narrators and narratives quite to the opposite side of the mill pond, of a still also contributes to the tale’s timelessness, which is a Sunday morning, which are said to be legitimately characterization not only of Tarry Town, but also of descended from the nose of Ichabod Crane.” Simi- the culture of Dutch settlers residing there. The very larly, the oral tradition of this Dutch community dress of the women who gather for the party hosted who trade tales of the Revolutionary War and then by Old Baltus Van Tassel is a “mixture of ancient promptly switch to more haunting tales of goblins, and modern fashions.” A sloop out on the Hudson specters, and the headless horseman creates an appears “suspended in the air,” as though its very alluring atmosphere that draws its listeners into movements are arrested and it exists in a kind of a kind of stupor. Crane is especially prone to the drawn-out time. In creating a place prone to repose effects of these tales as he encounters countless ter- and sleepiness, and in conjuring multiple storytell- rors on his walks homeward such as a snow-covered ers, Irving allows the very distant past and the pres- shrub that he mistakes for a ghost and his own feet ent to coexist, and even to interact. One example of crunching through frosty crust, which he imagines the past and the present’s coalescing are the rever- to be “some uncouth being trampling close behind berations of Crane’s voice as he sings out psalms him.” in order to calm his anxieties while traveling alone In the fi gure of Ichabod Crane Irving has cre- at night. After his disappearance from the town, a ated an unlikely protagonist with whom readers young boy “has often fancied [Crane’s] voice at a cannot identify, given Crane’s excessive nervous- distance, chanting a melancholy psalm tune among ness. His physical attributes do not speak highly of the tranquil solitudes of Sleepy Hollow.” The echoes him, for he is described as “a scarecrow eloped from or vestiges of Crane’s voice also appear in the tales of a cornfi eld” or “the genius of famine descending old country wives “about the neighborhood round upon the earth.” Further, his positions as the vil- the winter evening fi re” of how “Ichabod was spir- lage’s schoolmaster and singing master both appear ited away by supernatural means.” unwarranted, revealing more about the ignorance The image of a voice lingering long after the of the inhabitants than about Crane’s own inept- speaker has ceased talking appears in Thomson’s ness. In reference to his knowledge or intelligence, poem as the voice of the minstrel who seems to lure “our man of letters” is rumored to have “read sev- unsuspecting victims to the castle with his tales of eral books quite through.” His second occupation rest and pleasure: as the village’s song master gives him unparalleled access to his love, Katrina Van Tassel, but his tal- He ceas’d. But still their trembling ears ent for singing seems to reside mostly in his own retain’d opinion of himself, in his broken pitch pipe, and The deep vibrations of his witching song; in his ability to make up in volume what he lacks That, by a kind of magic power, constrain’d in talent. To enter in, pell-mell, the listening throng. Thus, it is in the naive narrator, who reveals (172–175) more about himself than he appears to understand, 212 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers that the kernel of Irving’s tale rests. Crane’s self- elty or despotism that marks England, represented importance and his somewhat cruel dispatching by Crane. Rather, Brom Bones is the local hero, of his duties as the village schoolmaster (he bore whom “neighbors looked upon with a mixture of in mind the golden maxim “Spare the rod and awe, admiration, and good will.” spoil the child” and his scholars certainly were not By casting Katrina as the love interest and spoiled) make him a likable version of England who point of contention and competition between the wrestled to maintain its despotic control over the two characters of Crane and Bones, Irving recasts colonies who fought for their independence in the the Revolutionary War in terms of a love triangle. Revolutionary War. Irving’s multiple references to Katrina becomes less a fully developed character this particular war, when the Hessian is said to have and more a symbol of the fecund land of North lost his head, aids in this reading of Ichabod. The America over which both nations fi ght. As Crane, language of empire and royal symbols abounds in perpetually hungry and searching out his next Irving’s descriptions of Ichabod Crane in the class- meal, sees all aspects of the landscape as future din- room and atop his neighbor’s horse. The school is ners, Irving assumes his voice in the description of referred to as “his little empire,” and on the day the young heroine. Crane describes her in terms that he receives an invitation to Van Tassel’s party, of food: “plump as a partridge; ripe and melting he “sat enthroned on the lofty school stool from and rosy cheeked as one of her father’s peaches.” when he usually watched all the concerns of his As he rides to their house to attend the party, the little literary realm. In his hand he swayed a ferule, last evening on which he will see Katrina, Irving that scepter of despotic power.” Tellingly, Brom lampoons Crane’s propensity to view the world in Bones, the rival to Ichabod’s suit with Katrina, is terms of his next meal by likening Katrina’s hand to the very image of physical power, but he is never pancakes: “Soft anticipations stole over his mind of described as given over to the cruelties associated dainty slap jacks, well buttered, and garnished with with Crane. Indeed, Brom Bones enjoys “to play honey or treacle, by the delicate little dimpled hand off boorish practical jokes” and “had more mischief of Katrina Van Tassel.” Crane’s avarice, channeled than ill will in his composition.” into a constant hunger and search for food, can- Given their diametrically opposed personalities not abide, and his favor with Katrina is quickly and and physical features, it is perhaps not so surprising ironically dispatched with a well-aimed pumpkin to imagine in the two suitors vying for Katrina’s thrown by Brom Bones. As the fi gure of Crane’s hand in marriage, and access to her father’s sizable fears, Brom Bones becomes the headless horseman and fertile estate, a replaying of the Revolutionary and drives the superstitious rival out of the village. War, which is also echoed again and again in the As America, mighty but just, marries Katrina, the retelling of war stories and the tale of the Hessian romantic recasting of the Revolutionary War con- soldier who rides out of his grave every night in cludes, along with Irving’s tale of “The Legend of search of his missing head. Crane’s power is cruelly Sleepy Hollow.” carried out against those who are smaller and less able to defend themselves, his pupils. Brom Bones, For Discussion or Writing on the other hand, who is “broad shouldered” and 1. Irving details the landscape of this particular known for his “feats of strength and hardihood,” nook in New York quite assiduously. Read over does not engage in a violent confrontation with some of these descriptions of the landscape and Crane, which he would surely win. In his “not explain their role in creating the story’s tone. unpleasant countenance” and “air of fun and arro- 2. In the postscript, the storyteller and one of his gance,” readers might see the personifi cation of the listeners engage briefl y over the question of a United States of America. He is naturally strong, tale’s purpose or moral lesson. The storyteller good-natured, and not prone to the kind of cru- concludes that he does not “believe one half of Washington Irving 213

it [him]self.” How does a dubious storyteller Hedges, William L. Washington Irving: An American affect the reader’s sense of the tale? Study, 1802–1832. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Uni- versity Press, 1965. Irving, Washington. The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon. Available online. URL: http://www.gutenberg. FURTHER QUESTIONS ON org/etext/2048. Accessed April 23, 2009. IRVING AND HIS WORK Museum of Washington Irving. Available online. 1. In both of Irving’s famous tales, “Rip Van Win- URL: http://www.museumofwashingtonirving. kle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” he com/. Accessed April 23, 2009. describes a fi gure who is both within and yet not Resources for Educators. About Washington Irving. a part of a particular society. What might be the Available online. URL: http://www.hudsonval- benefi ts of placing protagonists in such liminal ley.org/education/Background/abt_irving/abt_ positions? How are readers to assess the judg- irving.html. Accessed April 23, 2009. ments of Ichabod Crane and Rip Van Winkle? Ringe, Donald A. “New York and New England: 2. Irving scholars and critics argue that he both Irving’s Criticism of American Society.” American defended America from European insults and Literature 38, no. 4 (January 1967): 455–467. yet was abusive of Americans when living abroad Roth, Martin. Comedy and America: The Lost World of in Europe. Examining two of his stories, how Washington Irving. Port Washington, N.Y.: Ken- might you make an argument for Irving’s ideal nikat Press, 1976. notions of Americans? Are there characters who Rubin-Dorsky, Jeffrey. “The Value of Storytelling: ‘Rip embody these ideals, or are these characteristics Van Winkle’ and ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’ in dispersed among several characters? the Context of ‘The Sketch Book.’ ” Modern Philol- 3. Irving’s detailed landscapes are a signature ogy 82, no. 4 (May 1985): 393–406. aspect of his writing and are what critics believe Springer, Haskell. “Creative Contradictions in Irving.” helped to foster an American literary identity. In Washington Irving Reconsidered: A Symposium, Look closely at passages about the natural set- edited by Ralph M. Alderman. Hartford: Univer- tings in “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend sity of Connecticut Press, 1969. of Sleepy Hollow.” What conclusions might ———. Washington Irving: A Reference Guide. Bos- you draw about the Americanness of these ton: G. K. Hall, 1976. landscapes? Tuttleton, James. Washington Irving: The Critical Reaction. New York: AMS Press, 1993. WORKS CITED AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Warner, Charles Dudley. Washington Irving. New Alderman, Ralph M., ed. Washington Irving Reconsid- York: Chelsea House, 1980. ered: A Symposium. Hartford: University of Con- Williams, Stanley T. The Life of Washington Irving. necticut Press, 1969. New York: Oxford University Press, 1935. Ferguson, Robert A. “Rip Van Winkle and the Gener- Young, Philip. “Fallen from Time: The Mythic Rip ational Divide in American Culture.” Early Ameri- Van Winkle.” Kenyon Review 22 (Autumn 1960): can Literature 40, no. 3 (2005): 529–544. 547–573. Thomas Jefferson (1743 –1826)

The earth should belong . . . always to the living generation.

(letter to James Madison, September 6, 1789)

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter and abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such prin- ciples, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.

(The Declaration of Independence)

homas Jefferson was a Virginian, farmer, Peter Jefferson was born in Chesterfi eld, Vir- Tfather, husband, statesman, writer, revolution- ginia, in 1708 and he later “won fame and respect ary, collector of books, avid reader, lawyer, inven- for his industry, strength, endurance, and skill as tor, architect, diplomat, president of the United a surveyor and mapmaker” (Bernstein 2). Peter States, and founder of a university. He believed courted and won the hand of Jane Randolph, the in a strict interpretation of the Constitution, an eldest daughter of Isham Randolph, a tobacco lord unintrusive federal government, and states’ rights whose plantation was located on the James River but did not always follow these beliefs. Jefferson in Virginia. For two years Peter worked to build spent most of his life in public service, though he his farm and house so that he might entice Jane to “always claimed to yearn for a life of tranquil con- marry him, and she did in 1738. Though the Ran- templation spent with his books, his architectural dolph family was of the planter elite of Virginia, drawings, and his researches in science” (Bernstein they were living in London at the time of Jane’s ix). Jefferson is perhaps best known for his role in birth. Peter named his farm Shadwell for the place writing the Declaration of Independence and serv- in London Parish where Jane was born. ing as the third president of the United States. It is Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743, not surprising, given his paternal family’s history, at Shadwell in Goochland (later Albermarle) that he was involved in politics despite his claim of County, Virginia, “on the western edge of the Brit- distaste for public service. When Jefferson’s Welsh ish empire” (Bernstein 1). He was the third child ancestors fi rst immigrated to the colonies, one to Peter and Jane Randolph Jefferson. He had two served in the Virginia Assembly of 1619 (Parton older sisters, Elizabeth and Jane. Elizabeth, the 3). Jefferson’s father, Peter, served in the Virginia younger of the elder sisters, had “developmental House of Burgesses (Parton 10). disabilities” and died at the age of 28 when “she

214 Thomas Jefferson 215 wandered from the family house during a thunder- he claimed that he spent at least 15 hours a day at storm and was found dead after the storm cleared.” his studies during his time at William and Mary. It He revered his older sister Jane and shared her love is no surprise then that he constructed for himself of music. He often accompanied her singing with a rigorous schedule for his study of law. Jefferson his violin playing. According to Parton, when Jane, studied law under Wythe for fi ve years, more than “the best of [Jefferson’s] friends,” died, there was double the regular course of study. In 1767, Jeffer- a “void in the home and the heart [of Jefferson] son was admitted to the Virginia bar, with George that was never quite fi lled” (45). Jefferson also had Wythe as his sponsor. The following year, 1768, several younger siblings, one younger brother and Jefferson, following in his father’s footsteps, was two younger sisters. elected to his fi rst political post, in the lower house Jefferson was educated at home until the age of of the Virginia legislature, the House of Burgesses. nine, when he went to a local private school run He was 25. Jefferson joined the radical bloc, includ- by the Reverend William Douglass from Scotland. ing Patrick Henry and George Washington, against There he learned Latin, Greek, and French nearly those backing the royal governor; they sought to exclusively. In 1757, the year his father died, Jef- govern themselves. The seeds of independence had ferson added classical literature and mathematics to already been planted in Jefferson. his list of subjects, now under the Reverend James In 1765, two years before Jefferson was admitted Maury. Feeling he learned everything he could to the bar, the British Parliament and King George from Maury, Jefferson petitioned one of his guard- III enacted the Stamp Act against the colonies. ians, John Harvie, to allow him to enter the Col- This began the colonies’ argument against taxa- lege of William and Mary. He entered in 1760 and tion without representation. Though Jefferson was stayed until 1762. It was at William and Mary that not yet part of the legislature when the Stamp Act he met a man who was to be one of his lifelong Congress met—it was the fi rst intercolonial gather- friends and confi dants, as well as his law teacher ing to oppose British policies—the desire to see the and bar sponsor, George Wythe. colonies united was something Jefferson believed Jefferson met Wythe through Professor Wil- in. Even though Jefferson “insisted that the colo- liam Small, a mathematics, natural philosophy, and nists were freeborn Englishman,” he also insisted eventually moral philosophy professor. It was also that he was a Virginian and “a Virginian gentle- through Small that Jefferson entered the circle of man was as good as—and entitled to the same Virginia’s lieutenant governor, France Fauquier, also rights as—any native born Englishman” (Bernstein a compulsive gambler. Wythe, on the other hand, 19, 20). As such, Jefferson was one of the earliest was a much better infl uence and role model for Jef- proponents of the American cause. ferson. When Jefferson met him, he was one of the So in 1773, Jefferson, Dabney Carr, and Rich- two leading attorneys in Virginia and was already ard Henry Lee proposed a “committee of corre- “famous for his learning and culture” (Bernstein spondence.” This was to be a “group of politicians 5). Unlike some of the other students of law dur- who would write letters to like-minded politicians ing Jefferson’s time, Wythe “refused to let Jeffer- in other colonies to share ideas, spread news, and son’s legal training rest on the familiar, threadbare coordinate political strategy and tactics in resist- formula of Coke and copying. Rather, he used an ing British colonial practices” (Bernstein 20). After educational plan modeled on his own habits of the Boston Tea Party, “Virginia took the lead in thought and reading that was designed to inspire organizing colonial resistance” with Jefferson as a love of the law as a body of learning, devotion to crucial fi gure. The First Continental Congress was its study, and adherence to rigorous standards of formed as a result, and the instructions Jefferson legal research and argument” (Bernstein 6). This wrote for the Virginian delegates, though consid- would seem to suit Jefferson’s love of learning, as ered too radical, were published by his friends as 216 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

A Summary View of the Rights of British America religion” (Bernstein 42). Many of Jefferson’s other (1774) and became his fi rst major political work. bills, however, did not receive acclaim or support. In the midst of this political activity, Jefferson Jefferson was elected as Virginia’s second gover- suffered two major tragedies. One was the fi re on nor on June 1, 1779. The Revolutionary War infi l- February 1, 1770, that burned much of Shadwell, trated nearly every political issue and was Virginia’s where he was living with his mother and sisters. dominant problem. During his second term as gov- The most distressing part of the fi re for Jefferson ernor, Charlottesville and Monticello were seized was the destruction of his already extensive library briefl y by Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton of and his “painstakingly amassed collection of legal the British army. When Jefferson left the capitol notes and papers” (Bernstein 10). The other was before Tarleton’s seizure of it and joined his family the sudden death of his boyhood friend, brother- in Poplar Forest, he left Virginia without a gover- in-law, and fellow politician Dabney Carr in May nor for 10 days. Since the election was postponed, 1773. Amid these tragedies and his political work, he was still acting governor though he assumed on January 1, 1772, Jefferson and the woman he he was acting as a private citizen when he left two had been courting, a young recent widow, Martha days after when his term would have ended (Bern- Wayles Skelton, were married. stein 46). Jefferson was accused of cowardice and As the tensions between the American colonies an investigation was supposed to follow. However, and the British were rising, the call for indepen- when the inquiry was to begin, George Nicholas, dence from Britain became greater, and the Second who proposed the resolution to begin Jefferson’s Continental Congress, of which Jefferson was a investigation, did not appear. No one else was member, began to focus its attention on indepen- interested in pursuing the charges. Jefferson retired dence. Although he was not originally part of the from public service and would do what he would declaration committee, Jefferson replaced Richard do every time he left offi ce: swear he would never Henry Lee. John Adams, along with the general return to government. favor of the entire committee, persuaded Jeffer- By the time Jefferson retired from politics in son to draft the “declaration.” Though we like to what would become a string of retirements, he believe the myth that the Declaration of Indepen- had already left his legal career. In this retirement, dence was solely Jefferson’s own, and it chiefl y was, he began work on Notes on the State of Virginia. the Congress made several changes, each of which Originally Notes began as a response to a question- Jefferson took as a personal affront. naire sent out in 1780 by a French diplomat, Fran- Jefferson left the Congress in the fall of that çois Barbé-Marbois. Later this manuscript would same year (1776) to serve once again in Virginia’s be revised to help refute Georges-Louis Leclerc, lower legislative house, renamed the House of Del- comte de Buffon’s claims that America was natu- egates. He started immediately on law reform. His rally degenerative. The fi nished, authorized edition fi rst projects were the issues of entail and primo- was published in 1787, the fi rst publication bearing geniture—he believed that men should be able to Jefferson’s name on the title page. leave their properties and money after their death It was also during this retirement that Martha to whomever they wanted. At the time, Virginia Wayles Skelton Jefferson died on September 6, did not allow this. Jefferson’s “most sweeping law 1782, after giving birth to their sixth child, Lucy. reform, the one central to his vision of a just society Three of their children preceded her in death. Lucy and closest to his heart” was his “Bill for Estab- would die approximately two years later while Jef- lishing Religious Freedom,” which emphasized his ferson and his oldest daughter, Martha, were in belief in the separation between church and state France. Some speculate that it was because of his and “declared that the government has no right wife’s death that he returned to politics to assuage to dictate what anyone could believe in matters of his grief. In late 1782, he accepted his appointment Thomas Jefferson 217

by Congress as part of a delegation including BEN- States and France that he was not violating his dip- JAMIN FRANKLIN, JOHN ADAMS, and John Jay to lomatic duties (Bernstein 78). It seems that Jeffer- negotiate with the British. However, the three men son was determined to have a bill of rights passed were so successful in their negotiations that the somewhere, even if it was in France. Jefferson con- Treaty of Paris of 1783 was signed before Jefferson tributed signifi cantly to the drafting of the most arrived in Europe. famous document of the French Revolution, the Instead of going to Europe, he was then sent to Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen. Philadelphia to lead the Virginia delegation to the When Jefferson left Paris in fall 1789, he intended Confederation Congress. Jefferson’s main interest to return after six months, but he was to spend the was America’s expansion westward, and Congress remainder of his life in the United States. was amenable to his view. Because of his work in Jefferson and his daughters arrived back in the Congress, he had won great admiration and esteem United States about seven months after George and was once again given the chance to travel Washington had been unanimously elected as to Europe, this time as an American minister to the fi rst president of the United States. Upon his France, an appointment he accepted in 1784. The arrival, Jefferson received a letter from Washing- Congress also named Jefferson in this same year, ton informing him that he had been nominated again with Adams and Franklin, to negotiate com- and confi rmed as the fi rst secretary of state. Jef- mercial treaties with Europe. Though the only suc- ferson fi nally accepted the position after receiving cessful free-trade agreement Adams and Jefferson pressure from Washington. His ideological and were able to settle was with the king of Prussia, Jef- personal confl icts with other members of Wash- ferson was able to negotiate the Consular Conven- ington’s cabinet, particularly Alexander Hamilton, tion of 1788, which outlined diplomatic activities led to what became the Republican and Federalist between France and the United States. Aside from Parties. One of their main arguments was over for- treaty negotiations, Jefferson also excelled at gath- eign alliances. Hamilton wanted to remain neutral; ering information on other countries’ affairs and Jefferson “feared that Hamilton’s policies would reporting on it to the secretary of foreign affairs enslave the United States to the dangerous, cor- and other well-placed Americans. rupt nation from which Americans had won their While Jefferson was in France, the United States independence” and argued that they should ally Congress was busy working on the Constitution. with France since “the ideals of the French Revolu- Jefferson saw the main fl aw of the Constitution as tion—liberty and equality—were the ideals of the its lack of a statement of a bill of rights. In a letter American Revolution” (91). This, however, did not to James Madison on December 20, 1787, Jeffer- create the picture of revolution Jefferson had hoped son writes that “a bill of rights is what the people as his enemies and opponents linked him to the are entitle to against every government on earth, love of excess and extravagance found in Europe, general or particular, & what no just government particularly France (Bernstein 94). After a series of should refuse, or rest on inference” (Bernstein 72). frustrations and political battles, Jefferson resigned As Jefferson was advocating a bill of rights for the from his position as secretary of state on January 5, American constitution, he was at the same time 1794, and swore, once again, that he was fi nished witnessing the political turmoil and precursors to with politics. the French Revolution from the front row of the During the next three years, Jefferson spent French theater. Although Jefferson, as a diplomat his time at Monticello. As when he returned from another country, was supposed to remain neu- from France, he found Monticello in disrepair. tral, this did not stop Lafayette and his supporters He spent much of this time at home working on from seeking his advice, nor did it prevent Jefferson new crop rotations, planting trees, and continuing from giving it, despite assuring both the United his architectural hobby of building and designing 218 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

Monticello. Jefferson also experimented in farm- gress decided that the electoral votes had to be des- ing: “He spent months devising and experiment- ignated as a vote for “president” or “vice president” ing with a mechanical threshing machine. . . . He to prevent a tie. also designed a new type of plow that would cut Jefferson claimed that he wanted a smaller gov- through the soil more swiftly and with less resis- ernment and states’ rights, and that he would abide tance, making it easier and more effi cient to culti- by a strict reading of the Constitution. This was not vate the land” (Bernstein 107). Jefferson also had always the case, most notably in his purchase of the the opportunity to take on the role of the “doting Louisiana Territory from France. There was noth- grandfather” to Thomas Jefferson Randolph, the ing in the Constitution that allowed the federal son of Jefferson’s daughter Martha and her hus- government to spend money to buy land or make band, Thomas Mann Randolph. It was also during treaties for land purchase. Though the treaties that this time that Sally Hemings’s fi rst child was born. made up the Louisiana Purchase were ratifi ed by Today most scholars agree that Jefferson was the the Senate, “Federalists mocked Jefferson for hav- father of this child by his slave. ing abandoned [a] strict interpretation of the Con- Jefferson was called back to politics when he was stitution” (Bernstein 143). Another foreign policy elected vice president in 1796. At the time, the vice issue that challenged Jefferson’s commitment to a presidency was a rather undemanding job; at least it strict reading of the Constitution was his dealing was for Jefferson. During his vice presidency he was with the Barbary pirates. After “fi ve separate naval named the third president of the American Philo- bombardments” against Tripoli in 1804, the rescue logical Association, and he published A Manual of the crew of the captured Philadelphia, and a sea of Parliamentary Practice, which is still used as a and land raid on Tripoli in 1805 accompanied by a reference in Congress today. Jefferson’s major act threat to seize the city and overthrow the pasha, the as vice president was his response to the Alien and United States and the pasha signed a treaty involv- Sedition Acts, and his draft of the Kentucky Reso- ing a ransom payment for hostages held in Algiers. lutions, which “declared that a state could strike According to Bernstein, these events showed that down, or nullify, unconstitutional federal laws, “Jefferson was committed to a broad interpretation preventing them from having effect within its own of the president’s war powers—acting on his own borders” (Bernstein 125). Madison drafted a simi- initiative without asking Congress for a declaration lar resolution for Virginia. Both men hoped that of war” (146). these resolutions would have a broader acceptance On the domestic front during his fi rst term as and declare the acts unconstitutional; however, president, Jefferson commissioned the Lewis and only Kentucky and Virginia adopted them. Clark expedition to the Northwest. They returned As internal and external toil plagued the Fed- two years into Jefferson’s second term. In the eralists, by the elections of 1800 they were out of months before the 1804 elections, Jefferson’s vice offi ce. The Republicans, or rather what became president, Aaron Burr, fatally wounded Alexander the Jeffersonian Republicans, won both houses Hamilton in a duel. Burr’s self-exile in the South- of Congress and the presidency. Thomas Jeffer- west would cause problems for Jefferson during his son and Aaron Burr tied for the presidential vote. second term as president. Burr was an attractive candidate for the Federalists Jefferson’s second term was easily won with his because they were hopeful that there would be a new running mate, the New York governor, George spot for them in his government even though he Clinton. However, that seems to be about the only was a Republican. Nevertheless, on March 4, 1801, easy aspect of Jefferson’s second term. Domesti- Jefferson was sworn in as the third president of the cally, Jefferson waged an ongoing war with Chief United States, and Aaron Burr was sworn in as vice Justice Marshall over attempts to convict Aaron president. It was because of this election that Con- Burr. The Chesapeake-Leopard incident of 1807 led Thomas Jefferson 219 to the Embargo Act, which affected both foreign from the architecture to the hand-picked professors, and domestic relations. A watered-down version of to the way the courses of study were designed, Jef- the Embargo Act, the Non-Intercourse Act, was ferson’s brainchild (Bernstein 174). enacted in 1809, three days before the end of Jef- Though we can arrange Jefferson’s life and lega- ferson’s presidency. The results of these two acts cies by dates and accomplishments and sift through are what some scholars believe set the stage for the his correspondence and writings, he remains a bit United States’ lack of preparedness for the War of of a mystery, even today. He believed that slavery 1812 (Bernstein 169). would one day end and believed that it would be After his second term ended, Jefferson stayed in in his time, yet he never ended slavery on his own Washington long enough to witness James Madi- plantation. Likewise, his views and policies toward son’s inauguration. His reason for not seeking a American Indians were equally confl icting and third term, though under pressure to do so, was complex. And though he loved the company of that even though the Constitution did not forbid women, he never thought them fi t for public life or it, he feared the “offi ce would become one for life” politics, with the exception of ABIGAIL ADAMS. He (Cunningham 314). Once he returned to Virginia, remained vigorous into his 80s, but at the age of he stayed there for the remainder of his life. His 83, it seemed as if old age hit him all at once. Jef- time spent in his fi nal retirement was bittersweet. ferson was besieged by a series of ailments in that He was plagued by debts due largely to a lifetime of fi nal year of his life: diabetes, arthritis, a urinary overestimating what his crops would earn. He was tract infection, and what some biographers specu- also an extremely generous host in his later years. late was colon cancer (Bernstein 188). He died the Many believed that the majority of his visitors were day he was to be the guest of honor at the 50th looking for free room and board rather than gen- anniversary celebration of the Declaration of Inde- uinely interested in meeting the former president pendence in Washington, D.C., July 4, 1826. and the “sage of Monticello.” Furthermore, his Nicole de Fee lifelong project, Monticello, was expensive: “Jef- ferson continued to remodel his house until he no longer could commit funds to the enterprise” (1776) (Bernstein 171), and he “never recovered from the Declaration of Independence burden of debt with which he ended his public Thomas Jefferson composed the document that career” (Cunningham 345). Jefferson maintained remains a living testament to the Enlightenment his extensive correspondence with his friends, par- ideals embraced at the inception of the United ticularly James Madison. And his friendship with States of America. As Jefferson recounts in his John Adams was restored through the intervention Autobiography, a committee composed of him, of Benjamin Rush. In this fi nal retirement, he was BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, John Adams, Roger Sher- able once more to take on the role of the devoted man, and Robert R. Livingston was established grandfather. His daughter Martha and her eight to write the Declaration of Independence. Despite children moved in with him in 1809. By 1812 he the talents of members of this committee, they was a great-grandfather. asked Jefferson to take up the task alone. In his The legacy that Jefferson left in the fi nal years of trademark humble form, Jefferson refers to his his life was the creation of the University of Virginia. work in simple terms: “The committee for drawing For nearly 25 years Jefferson had been dreaming of the Declaration of Independence desired me to do this university, and on March 7, 1825, the university it. It was accordingly done, and being approved opened its doors for enrollment. Reportedly, “It was by them, I reported it to the House on Friday, the one of the happiest and proudest days of Jefferson’s 28th of June, when it was read, and ordered to lie life” (Bernstein 176). It was, in nearly every respect, on the table.” 220 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

The ensuing debates among members of the thir- 4. Consider other portions of the original Declara- teen colonies over the language and subject matter tion that have been omitted or revised and offer covered in this defi ning document are briefl y men- an argument that identifi es a pattern to these tioned in the Autobiography but not fully detailed. omissions. Rather, Jefferson’s Autobiography accounts for the redactions. He claims that “the pusillanimous idea that we had friends in England worth keeping terms with” caused the removal of “those passages Notes on the State of Virginia (1785) which conveyed censures on the people of Eng- As he mentions in the advertisement for the book, land.” Similarly, Jefferson states, “The clause . . . Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia originated reprobating the enslaving the inhabitants of Africa, as his 1781 response to a French delegation in was struck out in complaisance to South Carolina Philadelphia who were desirous of more infor- and Georgia, who had never attempted to restrain mation on the American states they were aiding the importation of slaves, and who, on the contrary, during the American Revolutionary War. As the still wished to continue it.” Despite the removal of book began as a formal response to a formal these passages, the Declaration stood and stands as query, Jefferson organizes each chapter or section a brilliant expression of the Enlightenment prin- in response to a specifi c question, such as “An ciples that governed the thinking of the founding exact description of the limits and boundaries of fathers of the nation. the state of Virginia?” Although the text is thus artifi cially constructed, and organized according For Discussion or Writing to the wishes of the French delegation, Jefferson 1. Compare the language and reasons for revolu- nevertheless fi nds rhetorical entry points that per- tion given in the Declaration of Independence mit him to craft the text to his own purposes, one with those of THOMAS PAINE’s Common Sense. of which was to refute Buffon’s theory of American Are the two documents written for different degeneracy, another of which was to contemplate audiences? Are the ideas the same but expressed his own thoughts on the fates of American Indians differently? and Africans in the new republic. The theory of the 2. In John Locke’s Second Treatise on Government, Comte de Buffon (George Louis Leclerc) of Ameri- Locke lists the natural rights as “life, liberty, can degeneracy was a particularly well-known idea, and property,” whereas Jefferson adds another, having been published in 1761, and Jefferson’s “the pursuit of happiness.” Consider reasons response to it was made public prior to the 1787 why Jefferson would make such a change, and publication of this book. In answering the query why the phrase refers to the “pursuit of happi- regarding the boundaries of Virginia, for example, ness” rather than simply to happiness itself. Jefferson demonstrates his adroitness at directing 3. One of the redacted sections of the Declara- the questions to his own ends by concluding his tion directly addresses the institution of slavery: scientifi c response of the longitude and latitude “[The king of England] has waged cruel war that form the boundaries of the state with a boast against human nature itself, violating its most of the enormous size of Virginia in comparison to sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of current British territories: “This state is therefore a distant people who never offended him, capti- one third larger than the islands of Great Britain vating and carrying them into slavery in another and Ireland, which are reckoned at 88,357 square hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their miles” (127). transportation thither.” Consider the sympathetic Jefferson delineates, in great detail, Virginia’s light in which Jefferson writes of slaves versus his river system, giving detailed accounts of naviga- treatment of them in his Autobiography. ble waterways, the tonnage of vessel that can pass Thomas Jefferson 221 unobstructed into various rivers, harbors, and the certain that Jefferson presents this information amount of water carried by each river. He is also as sources of future commerce routes. Indeed, he attentive to possible questions regarding the navi- begins his section on Mexican territories with a gation of certain rivers, with an eye toward future brief anecdote regarding the “not inconsiderable commerce and transportation. He anticipates the quantity of plate, said to have been plundered dur- Mississippi River to be “one of the principal chan- ing the last war by the Indians from the churches nels of future commerce for the country westward and private houses of Santa Fe on the North River of the Alleghaney” (131). Aside from his more sci- and brought to these villages [in Virginia] for sale” entifi c rendering of the rivers, such as his noting (133). that the channel of the James River is “from 150 to In his response to a query regarding the state’s 200 fathom wide,” Jefferson gives himself over to a mountains, Jefferson defers to the maps of Fry and prideful and somewhat poetic depiction of Virgin- Jefferson, as well as to “Evan’s analysis of his map ia’s waterways (129). He describes the Illinois River of America for a more philosophical view of them as “a fi ne river, clear, gentle, and without rapids” than is to be found in any other work” (142). When (133). He opines, “The Ohio is the most beautiful he begins to provide names for the mountains, river on earth” (133). The Mississippi River, aside Jefferson obliquely references the American Indi- from its promise as a central means for national ans who once inhabited the mountainous region. commerce and trade, provides a home to a host of The Appalachian Mountains, he warrants, received wildlife. Jefferson lists “turtles of a peculiar kind, their name from “the Apalachies, an Indian nation perch, trout, gar, pike, mullets, herrings, carp, formerly residing on it” (142). He defers to their spatula fi sh of 50 lb. weight, cat fi sh of an hundred native name for the mountains rather than those pounds weight, buffalo fi sh, and sturgeon” (132). imposed on the various ranges from European Note that the Mississippi River not only hosts an maps: “European geographers however extended abundance and variety of aquatic life, but also sup- the name northwardly as far as the mountains plies life to substantially large fi sh. It is as if Jef- extended; some giving it, after their separation into ferson were already anticipating his response to different ridges, to the Blue ridge, others to the Buffon’s theory by including a host of rather large- North mountain, others to the Alleghaney, others sized fi sh that dwell within Virginia’s rivers. to the Laurel ridge, as may be seen in their dif- Although Jefferson readily admits, “Since the ferent maps. But the fact I believe is, that none of treaty of Paris, the Illinois and Northern branches these ridges were ever known by that name to the of the Ohio since the cession of Congress, are not inhabitants, either native or emigrant” (142). longer within our limits,” “they shall be noted in To assert the precedence of inhabitants over their order” (132). It is as though the abundance foreign cartographers, Jefferson includes his own of life mentioned just prior in his description of the account of the spectacular view afforded in passing Mississippi River inspired him to lay claim to riv- from the Potomac through the Blue Ridge (known ers no longer within the state’s purview. He relies as the Natural Bridge and Potomac River Gap): upon the reports of Spanish merchants at Pancore “perhaps one of the most stupendous scenes in for news on the exact length of the Missouri River nature” (142–143). “The scene,” Jefferson assures (133). Jefferson does display a considerable knowl- his readers, “is worth a voyage across the Atlan- edge of some Spanish colonial territories such as tic,” yet he mentions those living in close proxim- Santa Fe, Potosí, and Zacatecas, even to the extent ity to the “monuments of a war between rivers and that he knows that a road extends from the Red mountains” who have yet to survey the spectacle River along the coast down to the city of Mexico (143). The critic Richard Slotkin notes of Jeffer- (133). Although he offers no additional comment son’s description of this particular natural wonder: on this connection to Spanish colonies, it seems “Jefferson adopts as his vision neither the pastoral 222 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers nor the sublime extreme. Rather, he combines the ticated animals have degenerated in America, and two into a vision of the land which both excites and “that on the whole [the New World] exhibits fewer soothes the soul, which stimulates the mind with species” (169). Jefferson provides readers with Buf- terrors and drama and sates it with bounty and fon’s theory behind his conjectures: “the heats of beauty, which exhibits both the ruinous force and America are less; that more waters are spread over the creative power of time and nature” (245). Slot- its surface by nature, and fewer of these drained off kin concludes, “For Jefferson the ideal experience by the hand of man” (169–170). Jefferson remarks of America is one which enables a man to immerse sarcastically, “as if both sides were not warmed by himself temporarily in the wild landscape and then the same genial sun,” before launching into a more to emerge on a high plane of thought, from which studied analysis of the French naturalist’s theory he can analyze the signifi cance of the spectacle (169). Buffon believes “moisture is unfriendly to below him” (247). animal growth,” and thus the abundance of water In query 6, which pertains to minerals, plants, in America renders animals smaller in size and stat- trees, and fruits, Jefferson opens with straightfor- ure. Jefferson points to experience: “We see more ward answers regarding the appearance and abun- humid climates produce a greater quantity of food, dance of precious metals and jewels. When he arrives we see animals not only multiplied in their num- at the subject of limestone, however, Jefferson bers, but improved in their bulk” (170). In his nar- mentions the discovery of petrifi ed shells impressed rative and in his comparison chart of America and within “immense bodies of schist,” considered by Europe, Jefferson includes the mammoth as proof “both the learned and the unlearned as a proof of of the superiority of American conditions (climate, an universal deluge” (154). Ever the rationalist, etc.) to produce extremely large quadrupeds. The Jefferson performs a brief calculation to refute this mammoth bones that Jefferson later ships to Paris claim and declares that a “second opinion has been are less a gesture of goodwill than additional proof entertained”: that the landmass was heaved up to of the superiority of the American climate over the higher lands in a time prior to recorded his- the European, and direct refutation of Buffon’s tory. Jefferson just as quickly dismisses this theory, theory. In addition to the mammoth’s bones, Jef- noting the absence of any “natural agent” pow- ferson offers the narrative a member of the Dela- erful enough to create such a “great convulsion ware tribe presented to the governor of Virginia of nature” (154). The third and fi nal theory Jef- regarding the mammoth, which they term the Big ferson considers to account for the appearance of Buffalo (165). the seashells in the North Mountain is that of M. Jefferson concedes Buffon’s argument regarding de Voltaire, who believes that the rock, which can the degeneracy of domesticated animals in America metamorphose into soft stone, shot its “calcareous but attributes their smaller size and weight not to juices” into the form of a shell (155–156). Rather the “heat and dryness of the climate, but . . . good than subscribe to any of these theories, Jefferson food and shelter” (181–182). Had the Americans proclaims a preference for ignorance over error: a greater population and less wilderness spaces in The “great phenomenon is as yet unsolved” (156). need of cultivation, they would not need to tax their In contemplating and rejecting various hypotheses beasts of burden so much with labor and a scanty as to the seashells’ origins, Jefferson assumes an air amount of food and rest. So, while he accedes to of a rational scientist, as he does in a considerable Buffon this particular aspect of his argument, he portion of his book. does so for entirely different reasons than Buffon’s, This air of confi dence is nowhere more apparent even to the point of indirectly chastising the Euro- than in his section on animals, where he directly peans for not being as industrious as Americans; if refutes Buffon’s theory that animals in the New they were, their domesticated animals would like- World are smaller than those in the Old, that domes- wise be smaller in stature and girth. Thomas Jefferson 223

Most noteworthily, Buffon extends his theory of population, and the circumstances that prevent American degeneracy beyond the animals inhabit- them from producing large families. Their position ing the New World to include humans, both native on battlefi elds and exposure to “excessive drudg- and immigrant. Jefferson disdains to address Buf- ery” make childbearing “extremely inconvenient” fon’s theories for the native population of South (186). Further, the women themselves are prone to America, likening the beliefs to “fables” like those “procuring abortions by the use of some vegetable; one would read by Aesop (183–184). Buffon’s and that it even extends to prevent conception for notion of degeneracy in humans relates specifi cally a considerable time after” (186). Thus, Jefferson to an absence or reversal of stereotypically male emasculates American Indian males not in accor- traits such as virility, bravery, and sexual prow- dance with Buffon’s line of thinking, that they ess. Jefferson celebrates the composite portrait of lack sexual prowess and virility, but in comparison American Indians: with the division of labor between the sexes prac- ticed in New England societies. “Were we in equal He meets death with more deliberation, and barbarism,” Jefferson argues, “our females would endures tortures with a fi rmness unknown be equal drudges” (186). As proof of the role envi- almost to religious enthusiasm with us: that he ronment plays in a human’s development, Jefferson is affectionate to his children, careful of them, points to the fecundity of American Indian women and indulgent in the extreme: that his affections who marry traders or who are held enslaved by comprehend his other connections, weakening, colonists (186–187). Similarly, the lack of educa- as with us, from circle to circle, as they recede tion is to blame for the apparent lack of genius or from the center: that his friendships are strong mental powers. and faithful to the uttermost extremity: that Jefferson offers up the eloquent speech of his sensibility is keen, even the warriors weep- Logan, Mingo chief, when addressing Lord Dun- ing most bitterly on the loss of their children, more as proof of “their eminence in oratory,” though in general they endeavor to appear which he believes rivals those of Demosthenes and superior to human events: that his vivacity and Cicero (188). Logan’s speech is delivered via a mes- activity of mind is equal to ours in the same senger as part of a peace treaty brokered among the situation. (185) Mingo, Delaware, and Shawanee with the governor of Virginia. The occasion of their battle involves Note that Jefferson’s depiction of American Indian the chief’s egregious loss of his entire family as males imagines them balancing the bravery neces- Colonel Cresap’s act of vengeful retaliation for the sary for battle and warfare with the tenderness robbery and murder of two frontiersmen by mem- requisite to create and maintain bonds of familial bers of the Shawanee tribe (188). Logan eloquently relations. These traits are similar to those imag- describes his own loss: “There runs not a drop of ined for male members of the republic. Jefferson’s my blood in the veins of any living creature” (189). portrait, however, deserves further consideration as Jefferson readily admits to “varieties in the race of there are rhetorical reasons for imaging American man, distinguished by their powers both of body Indians in such a positive and glowing light. If and mind,” but he does not subscribe to Buffon’s Jefferson were to accede to Buffon’s belief that the notion that such difference is dependent upon “the native population was governed by cowardice, he side of the Atlantic on which their food happens would cast a negative light on the colonial soldiers to grow, or which furnishes the elements of which who fought in King Philip’s War and other battles they are compounded” (189). By moving so swiftly against the nation’s native inhabitants. Rather from praise to denigration, Jefferson reveals here than address the virility of American Indian males, a tendency that prevails in his life and his writings Jefferson focuses on the fecundity of its female to deal inconsistently and incongruously with the 224 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

other races present in America. As to the eloquence cally, Jefferson seems to anticipate JAMES FENIMORE and literary merit of Anglo Americans, Jefferson COOPER’s notion, just decades later, of a vanishing takes on the critique of the Abbé Raynal, who enu- race of people. This is most evident in Jefferson’s merates the great poets of the Greeks, Italians, Por- entertaining of his own curiosity regarding the tuguese, English, and French but argues, “America burial rites of American Indians through the excava- has not yet produced one good poet” (190). Jef- tion of a burial mound. With the air of a detached ferson identifi es Washington, BENJAMIN FRANK- scientist, Jefferson details encountering the skull LIN, and Rittenhouse as three American-produced of an infant, another rib of an infant, and “a frag- geniuses whose brilliance in the arts of war, phys- ment of the underjaw of a person about half grown” ics, and astronomy was forged in their American (224). Nowhere in his description of the burial experiences. mound is there a reverence for those whose bodies In response to query 8, which asks about the he has decided to examine, but only a conjecture number of inhabitants in Virginia, Jefferson con- as to the circumstances leading to the mass burial sults public records, historians, and the census, (225). He concludes this section with anecdotes of calculating that “should this rate of increase con- the reverence that American Indians still hold for tinue, we shall have between six and seven millions such sites, mentioning that those who had visited of inhabitants within 95 years” (209). Jefferson a burial mound returned “with expressions which takes this occasion of projected populations to were construed to be those of sorrow” (225–226). It address the proposal to “produce rapid population might well be that Jefferson wished to maintain his by as great importations of foreigners as possible” tone of scientifi c objectivity and thus only expressed (210). Given America’s form of government, “more his own respect, perhaps, in the anecdotal form of peculiar than those of any other in the universe,” reporting its appearance in others. coupled with the fact that the “greatest number “By [1781] critics were already beginning to of emigrants” will have imbibed the principles of draw attention to his blunt pronouncement of absolute monarchies, Jefferson cautions against this human equality in the Declaration of Indepen- emigration policy (211). Further, he points to the dence, and his Notes on Virginia is his most com- differences in languages and fears that “they will prehensive explanation of his understanding of the infuse into [the nation] their spirit, warp and bias idea. This text, to a large degree, was an explication its direction, and render it a heterogeneous, inco- of the Declaration of Independence; it grounded, as herent, distracted mess” (211). Jefferson’s opposi- he thought, some of the grand philosophical prin- tion to massive immigration of foreigners, for fear ciples of the Declaration in the empirical proofs of that it will introduce heterogeneity into the polis, science” (Boulton 472). On the basis of Jefferson’s seems at odds with his policy for American Indians disparagement of blacks in Notes on the State of Vir- to intermarry with Anglo Americans. Similarly, Jef- ginia, Boulton concludes that his famous article ferson expresses another inconsistency in his think- “all men are created equal,” never included blacks, ing at the conclusion of this query; a slave owner as Jefferson “excluded blacks from the category of himself, he refers to the institution of slavery as man” (472). Boulton references Jefferson’s often “this great political and moral evil” (214). repeated phrases “physical distinctions proving When Jefferson addresses the question regard- a difference of race” and “the different is fi xed in ing the native inhabitants of Virginia, he offers up nature” as proof that Jefferson considered blacks to what he readily admits to be rather faulty numbers. be an inferior race (483). Notwithstanding, he observes the rapid depletion of the native population by “one-third of their former For Discussion or Writing numbers [based on] spirituous liquors, small pox, 1. Compare Jefferson’s treatment of the abundant war, and an abridgment of territory” (221). Rhetori- fl ora and fauna found in America with that rep- Thomas Jefferson 225

resented by THOMAS MORTON in his New Eng- “Jefferson’s educational object was to create an intel- lish Canaan. lectual aristocracy, by taking the most gifted young 2. Emerson, Murray, and others will also take up men, irrespective of their parents’ wealth or social Raynal’s critique of America’s lack of celebrated station, and giving them a liberal education—an literature. Examine their responses, as authors, education of which the classics and ancient history and compare them with these of Jefferson, who were the core—that they might be the more fi t to was primarily a statesman. govern America, to embellish her cities with beau- 3. Compare Jefferson’s exhumation of an Indian tiful buildings, and to write a national literature” burial mound with his contemporary PHILIP (Morison 78). “Jefferson saw three reasons for the MORIN FRENEAU’s “The Indian Burying study of the classics in America. These were, fi rst, Ground.” as models of pure style and taste in writing; second, 4. Compare Jefferson’s treatment of American Indi- the happiness and satisfaction to be derived from the ans with his treatment of Africans. Why might he ability to read the authors in the original; and last consider American Indians to be future citizens ‘the stores of real science deposited and transmitted but argue that “the injuries they have sustained; in these languages’ ” (Sand 94–95). new provocations; the real distinctions which On the subject of morality and religion, Jef- nature has made; and many other circumstances, ferson recommends “the writings of [Laurence] will divide us into parties, and produce convul- Sterne particularly form the best course of moral- sions which will probably never end but in the ity that ever was written.” He bases this belief in extermination of the one or the other race.” morality’s being located in Sterne’s fi ction, and not in the Bible, because of his conviction that “moral sense, or conscience, is as much a part of man as his leg or arm.” In other words, since Jefferson (1787) Letter to Peter Carr considered humans to be inherently moral, a tenet Peter Carr was Jefferson’s nephew, the son of Jef- that directly contradicts biblical interpretations of ferson’s sister Martha and brother-in-law Dabney mankind’s inherent evil based upon Adam’s fall Carr. Through advising his nephew on the subjects from grace, he would rather his nephew dedicate suitable for his study, Jefferson considers the repub- his moral education to Sterne than to the Bible. lic’s future and expresses his reliance upon an elite If Carr is to read the Bible, Jefferson recommends group of individuals possessing what he deems to perusing it “as you would read Livy or Tacitus,” be a solid education. Although Jefferson considers two respected Roman historians. He cautions Carr’s recent association with George Wythe, a self- against a literal interpretation of the Bible, espe- educated man who became a lawyer and statesman cially when it comes into direct contradiction to in Virginia, to be as fortuitous for his nephew as it “the laws of nature.” It is not surprising that Jef- was for himself, he nevertheless feels compelled to ferson would advocate knowledge of the classics “mention . . . the books . . . worth your reading, since his plans for public education in Virginia which submit to [Wythe’s] correction.” Central included a curriculum fi lled with classes in Latin to Jefferson’s notions of a worthy education is an and Greek that would permit young boys access understanding of Latin, which provides scholars to classical writings. What seems a bit surprising, with the ability to read the classics in their original however, is that Jefferson, who penned this epis- language. Jefferson detested reading translations tle while in Paris, should attempt to dissuade his and preferred the diffi cult pleasure afforded from nephew from similar travels, stating, “There is no deciphering texts on one’s own. Thus, he advises place where your pursuit of knowledge will be so Carr to learn Spanish as “the antient history of a little obstructed by foreign objects as in your own great part of America is written in that language.” country.” 226 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

For Discussion or Writing Interestingly, Occom never mentions white 1. Compare Jefferson’s vision for a young man’s men’s complicity in the alcoholism of American education, as outlined in his letter to his nephew Indians through their selling or trading of liquor. Peter Carr, with that for young women, as Handsome Lake, however, does. Jefferson acknowl- described in his letter to Nathaniel Burwell. edges that the Seneca chief’s “censures” not only What might account for these differences? What of his own people for buying and consuming the position must he imagine women taking in the alcohol, but of “all the nations of the white peo- nation? ple who have supplied their calls for this article” 2. Compare COTTON MATHER’s Bonifacius and its is understandable. Nevertheless, Jefferson initially reliance on the Bible to Jefferson, and his pref- defends the traffi cking of alcohol between natives erence for classical texts. How does each writer and whites by referencing the rules of a free-market imagine the inherent nature of mankind? What economy: “They have sold what individuals wish is the purpose of an education for both? to buy, leaving every one to be the guardian of his own health and happiness.” Jefferson’s argument here is that the supply for alcohol would not exist if the natives did not express a desire for it. He Letter to Handsome Lake (1802) further argues that each is responsible for his own In his November 3, 1802, letter to Ganioda’yo, the health and happiness, a tenet expressly derived, Seneca Indian chief commonly known as HAND- ironically, from the Declaration of Independence. SOME LAKE, Jefferson continues to advance many Having expressed these defenses of the white men’s of the theories he set forth in Notes on the State of trading and supplying an “article” Jefferson readily Virginia regarding the present and future of Ameri- admits is a central cause of the demise of the native can Indians in the nation, with the exception of the population, he proceeds to applaud Handsome considerable focus placed on the sale of “spirituous Lake’s efforts to arrest the trade of alcohol for his liquors.” In Notes, Jefferson included liquor as one people’s own good and promises to assist in stop- of three central enemies responsible for the drastic ping the fl ow of “spirituous liquors” to his tribe. reduction in the native population. In his letter This bit of praise, however, is not without negative to Handsome Lake, Jefferson dilates upon the repercussion. Jefferson writes, “As you fi nd that our subject of alcohol: “It has weakened their bodies, people cannot refrain from the ill use of [alcohol], I enervated their minds, exposed them to hunger, greatly applaud your resolution not to use [alcohol] cold, nakedness, and poverty.” Years prior, on the at all.” Note that Jefferson does not point to a lack occasion of Moses Paul’s execution for murdering of restraint of natives when it comes to the “ill use” a fellow American Indian during a drunken brawl, of alcohol, but of fellow white people. the missionary SAMSON OCCOM provides a similar, Evidently, Jefferson continues in his belief that but more elaborate list of alcohol’s ill effects: “By whites represent the model to which native peoples this sin we can’t have comfortable houses, nor any need to aspire in their struggle for progress. This thing comfortable in our houses; neither food nor belief informs his next topic in the letter: natives’ raiment, nor decent utensils. We are obliged to sale of their “excess” land and forfeiture of their put up with very mean, ragged, and dirty clothes, hunting and gathering mode of living for the more almost naked. And we are half-starved, for most of civilized practice of agriculture. Jefferson assures the time obliged to pick up any thing to eat. And Handsome Lake that America is “ready to buy our poor children are suffering every day for want land” provided “your consent is freely given [and] of the necessities of life; they are very often cry- a satisfactory price paid.” He further testifi es, “Nor ing for want of food, and we have nothing to give do I think, brother, that the sale of lands is, under them; and in the cold weather they are shivering all circumstances, injurious to your people.” Jeffer- and crying, being pinched with cold.” son urges Handsome Lake to persuade his people Thomas Jefferson 227 to abandon hunting in favor of agriculture. The use would, Jefferson avows, be mutually benefi cial results, he forecasts, will reverse the image of ruin to both citizens of the United States as well as its and degradation presented in the fi rst half of the native inhabitants: “While they are learning to do letter in reference to the abuse of alcohol: “Your better on less land, our increasing numbers will women and children well fed and clothed, your be calling for more land, and thus a coincidence men living happily in peace and plenty, and your of interests will be produced between those who numbers increasing from year to year.” have lands to spare, and want other necessaries, Jefferson’s letter to Handsome Lake concludes and those who have such necessaries to spare, and with language of kinship and amity as he describes want lands.” As farmers, Jefferson seems to sug- the Seneca as “our brethren of the same land.” gest, American Indians will become more accultur- ated to an American sensibility and will thus situate For Discussion or Writing themselves in a position to pursue his ultimate 1. Compare Jefferson’s treatment of the ruinous goal, the incorporation of American Indians into effects of alcohol on American Indians with American culture: “The ultimate point of rest and Samson Occom’s portrayal of the “devilish sin of happiness for them,” Jefferson writes, “is to let our drunkenness” in his sermon preached at Moses settlements and theirs meet and blend together, to Paul’s execution. intermix, and become one people.” 2. Jefferson hired Philip Morin Freneau to author As the historian Roger Kennedy remarks, Jef- a propaganda organ for his political party. Con- ferson’s own family history attests to his approval sider how the two men write about American of interracial marriage: Jefferson “was pleased with Indians. his daughters’ marriages to men who claimed Poca- hontas as an ancestress” (105). Kennedy is quick to point out, however, that Jefferson’s approval of miscegenation was strictly reserved for mixtures (1803) Letter to Benjamin Hawkins between American Indians and Anglo Americans; As he expressed in Notes on the State of Virginia, he did not conscience unions between blacks and Jefferson disapproved of American Indian indus- whites, despite his own notorious affair with the tries and what he deemed to be their ineffi cient use slave Sally Hemings. His somewhat utilitarian of the land, particularly because such activities as notions of land use and interracial marriage were hunting and gathering exposed native women to predicated on the belief that American Indians were drudgery and were central reasons for the low birth- capable of improving to the level of Anglo Ameri- rates among native peoples. The political scientist cans; all they wanted was for a change in environ- Claudio Katz believes that Jefferson relied on a ment or circumstances. Indeed, nothing speaks to “Lockean vocabulary of improvement . . . enclo- Jefferson’s sense of egalitarianism with American sure and husbandry would enable Indian families Indians than his plans to confer U.S. citizenship to use much less land to provide a more comfort- upon them. He writes to Hawkins, “Incorporating able subsistence for themselves” (9). Katz argues themselves with us as citizens of the U.S., this is that Jefferson’s acknowledgment of native rights what the natural progress of things will of course to the soil “was a tactical concession: purchase was bring on, and it will be better to promote than to a safer and less expensive way of acquiring land retard it.” than war, and it made for a better representation of American intentions before European public For Discussion or Writing opinion” (9). 1. Historians have long argued that Jefferson’s In his letter to Hawkins, Jefferson expresses his policy toward American Indians was a guiding plan for Indians to quit the “business of hunting” principle for President Andrew Jackson’s Indian and “become better farmers.” Such a shift in land Removal Policy of the 1830s. In his letter to 228 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

Hawkins, Jefferson advocates extending U.S. riage. While the parent of a young single woman citizenship to American Indians. How might can derive pleasure from seeing “his daughter Jefferson’s policy apply to Jackson? qualifi ed to participate with her companions” in 2. Consider Jefferson’s stance on education as a dance, for the married woman, “gestation and cornerstone to citizenship and an elite-run gov- nursing leav[e] little time to . . . this exercise [to ernment. How might this belief be reconciled to make it] either safe or innocent.” Drawing, which his imaginings of an American Indian citizenry? he confesses to be more fashionable in Europe than What kinds of education does he suggest for the in America, is nevertheless useful and may be later nation’s native population? employed in the mother’s instruction of her chil- dren. Likewise, music, provided the young woman “has an ear,” is an essential accomplishment and “furnishes a delightful recreation for the hours of (1818) Letter to Nathaniel Burwell respite from the cares of the day.” Jefferson confesses that prior to Burwell’s letter, “a Jefferson concludes by acknowledging the cen- plan of female education has never been a subject tral educational subject of “household economy,” of systematic contemplation with me.” That said, in which “the mothers of our country are gener- he consults his “surviving daughter” and one of ally skilled and generally careful to instruct their her pupils to arrive at the general goals and specifi c daughters.” Given the thoroughness of mothers’ subjects deemed proper for a “good education.” instructions to their daughters on this subject, Jef- Although his letter to Peter Carr advocates the ferson does not feel the need to provide any further novels of Laurence Sterne, such as Tristram Shandy, detail or recommendations. Rather, he elevates the for their moral content, Jefferson warns against importance of a house’s order and economy by not- young females’ “inordinate passion prevalent for ing that in its absence, “ruin follows and children novels.” He fears that “the result [of reading too [are rendered] destitute of the means of living.” many novels] is a bloated imagination, sickly judg- ment, and disgust towards all the real businesses of For Discussion or Writing life.” One might conjecture that Jefferson’s warn- 1. How would you characterize Jefferson’s expec- ing stems from a fear that females are prone to tations for women in the nation on the basis of indulge in the fantasies presented in novels to the his recommendations for their education? neglect of their household duties, or to the dedi- 2. Contrast Jefferson’s suggestions for a good cation of their attentions to more serious subjects. female education with his suggestions for a He does not dismiss literature altogether, however, good male education. but recommends narratives modeled “on the inci- 3. Compare Jefferson’s ideal female education with dents of real life” because they are “useful vehicles HANNAH WEBSTER FOSTER’s as presented in The of sound morality.” He likewise cautions against Boarding School and JUDITH SARGENT MURRAY’s too liberal a reading of poetry but applauds Pope, as outlined in “On the Equality of the Sexes.” Dryden, Thompson, and Shakespeare for “forming style and taste.” Markedly absent from Jefferson’s list of subjects indispensable to a young female’s (1821) education are the classics, which have a consider- Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson able infl uence on him and on his views about a Jefferson identifi es his own “ready reference” and proper man’s education. “information [for] my family” as the chief reasons Jefferson advocates the “ornaments” of dancing, compelling him to write “some memoranda and drawing, and music, although he strictly admon- state some recollections” of his life at his current age ishes any female who pursues dancing after mar- of 77 (3). He begins by tracing back his paternal side Thomas Jefferson 229 of the family to Wales, and then briefl y mentions his les, to his wife, Martha Wayles Skelton, who was uncles, Thomas and Field, before proceeding with the 23-year-old widow of Bathurst Skelton (5). an account of his father, Peter Jefferson, born in Interestingly, Jefferson’s description of their mar- either 1707 or 1708 (3). His mother, Jane Randolph, riage is devoid of any sentiment but speaks instead married at the age of 19 and was born to a family of their fi nancial standing. Her patrimony, minus derived from England and Scotland (3). Jefferson debts, “was about equal to my own patrimony, dedicates considerably more attention to his father, and consequently doubled the ease of our circum- writing with pride that despite his father’s lack of stances” (5). an education, his “strong mind, sound judgment, Jefferson narrates his initial experience with and eager[ness] for information” soon garnered him revolutionary events as a law student, “at the door the honor of becoming a mathematics professor at of the lobby of the House of Burgesses,” where he William and Mary College, and later cartographer, overhears the eloquent oration of Patrick Henry with Mr. Fry, of the fi rst map of Virginia. Jefferson (5–6). Just a few years later, Jefferson joined the references his father’s map in his Notes on the State ranks of Henry and others to create a committee of Virginia. Jefferson further distinguishes his father that would unite the thirteen colonies in concert by referring to him as the “third or fourth settler of against the British government (6–7). Although the part of the country in which I live” (4). Almost the consulting members wished Jefferson would immediately after these passages, Jefferson abruptly represent them, he demurred, offering his brother- writes of his father’s death: “He died August 17, in-law, Mr. Carr, instead (7). The second request 1757” (4). made for Jefferson to take a leadership role, how- Jefferson’s autobiography then proceeds to ever, was met with his approval, and in anticipation address his own education, beginning at his father’s of the new meeting designed to combat the Boston behest at the age of fi ve in English, and continuing at port bill with a day of fasting and prayer, Jefferson age nine in Latin. After his father’s death, Jefferson wrote a draft outlining the relationship between pursued his study of Latin with a more apt instruc- the colonies and Great Britain, which was pub- tor, the Reverend Mr. Maury, whom he describes lished in pamphlet form as “A Summary View of as a “correct classical scholar,” for two years, fol- the Rights of British America” (10). In a precursor lowed by two additional years at William and to the Declaration of Independence, this pamphlet Mary College (4). His greatest mentor, however, is was “penned in the language of truth, and divested George Wythe, whom he met through Dr. William of those expressions of servility which would per- Small while attending classes at William and Mary. suade his majesty that we are asking favours, and Through Wythe, whom Jefferson refers to fondly as not rights, shall obtain from his majesty a more “my faithful and beloved mentor in youth, and my respectful acceptance” (105). most affectionate friend through life,” he began his Jefferson recognizes that the historical events he legal studies and an association with then-governor is recounting of the Constitutional Congress blend of Virginia, Fauquier (4). His positions as a law- both personal history, and thus are placed rightly yer, as well as a “member of the legislature,” were within his autobiography, and “general history . . . both abruptly stopped by the events of the Ameri- [thus being] known to every one, and need not can Revolutionary War (5). Despite laboring under therefore be noted here” (10). In their review of a government that attempted to circumscribe their two recent biographies of Thomas Jefferson, the minds “within narrow limits,” Jefferson “made one historians Jan Lewis and Peter Onuf address this effort in that body for the permission of the eman- very issue of Jefferson’s personal history’s blending cipation of slaves” (5). with the nation’s by quoting the 1874 biographer His position as a lawyer introduced him, through James Parton: “If Jefferson was wrong, America his acquaintance with his fellow lawyer John Way- is wrong. If America is right, Jefferson was right” 230 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

(125). Pauline Maier attributes the synedochal readers with notes on debates among the founding relationship between the nation and Jefferson to fathers regarding the census and how each state will his authorship of the Declaration of Independence determine its tax, whether by the number of work- (reported in Lewis and Onuf 125). ers in the state (both free and slave), the number Through the reported speech of Governor Liv- of houses, or the number of free persons. Further ingston, Jefferson includes a fi ne piece of praise for debate ensues regarding the establishment of vot- his writing, and readers understand a link between ing rights for the various states, especially since the the penning of his pamphlet and his eventual con- states vary so widely in size and population (24 –32). struction of the Declaration. Livingston deems the He leaves these debates without imputing his own former “a production certainly of the fi nest pen opinion until he introduces a bill that would change in America” (11). With equal humility, Jefferson the system for inheritance. Rather than allow the states, “I prepared a draught of the Declaration patriarchs of “founding great families” to pass all committed to us” (12). He proceeds to offer read- of their property and thus create “an aristocracy ers a rare glimpse into the internal struggles and of wealth, of more harm and danger, than benefi t, debates within the Second Continental Congress, to society” through the practice of primogeniture, including the fear and reservations of some colo- Jefferson proposes to require an even distribution nies to approve the Declaration of Independence of lands among a father’s children. Such a require- (15–17). When all thirteen colonies were in agree- ment, he believes, will “make an opening for the ment with the proposed resolution to break ties aristocracy of virtue and talent, which nature has with England, the various representatives deliber- wisely provided for the direction of the interests of ated on the exact wording and sentiments expressed society and scattered with equal hand through all in that all-important document. Jefferson attributes its conditions” (32). Jefferson considers such a class the striking out of certain language related to “cen- of people to be “essential to a well ordered repub- sure on the people of England . . . lest they should lic” (32). Such a belief accords with Jefferson’s let- give them offence” to the “pusillanimous idea that ter to his nephew Peter Carr, as well as his plans we had friends in England worth keeping terms to establish schools throughout Virginia and the with” (18). South Carolina and Georgia argued for University of Virginia (42–43). Jefferson writes of the removal of a clause “reprobating enslaving the his attempts at legislation regarding education in inhabitants of Africa” (18). Other passages removed the state of Virginia. The bill to introduce elemen- or amended are made available to the reader in the tary education “for all children generally, right and pages immediately following, with Jefferson’s judg- poor” does not succeed because “it would throw ment: “The sentiments of men are known not only on wealth the education of the poor; and the jus- by what they receive, but what they reject also” tices, being generally of the more wealthy class, (18). By introducing the original Declaration of were unwilling to incur that burden” (42–43). Independence, Jefferson makes an indirect state- Interestingly, Jefferson promises readers to ment regarding his own sentiments. As author of “recur again to this subject towards the close of my the document, Jefferson expresses more passionate story, if I should have life and resolution enough sentiment, both in his desire to end the institution to reach that term; for I am already tired of talking of slavery and in his critique of King George III’s about myself” (43). Just as he has written earlier despotism (19–24). in his autobiography, Jefferson again links his pri- Jefferson informs readers that he writes selec- vate life to the public history of Virginia: “Being tively of the “details of reformation only; selecting now, as it were, identifi ed with the Commonwealth points of legislation prominent in character and itself, to write my own history during the two years principle, urgent, and indicative of the strength of of my administration [as governor], would be to the general pulse of reformation” (37). He provides write the public history of that portion of the revo- Thomas Jefferson 231 lution within this state” (45). Jefferson continues, Mason and James Madison (36–37). Lest readers “For this portion therefore of my life, I refer alto- believe Jefferson prone to verbosity, he declaims gether to [Girardin’s] history” (45). the current method by which Congress “waste[s] Jefferson abruptly changes topic to address and abuse[s] the time and patience of the house” another bill he successfully introduced to stop the by giving in to lengthy and tedious debates (53). importation of future slaves. Recalling his failure to As examples of succinct debate, he points to Dr. include language regarding this very subject when Franklin and George Washington, both of whom he was fi rst a representative of the House of Bur- he “never heard . . . speak ten minutes at a time, gess, and while authoring the Declaration of Inde- nor to any but the main point which was to decide pendence, Jefferson seems pleased to know that his the question” (53). In such praise, readers recog- bill “stopped the increase of the evil by importa- nize that Jefferson’s own aesthetic is informed by tion, leaving to future efforts in fi nal eradication” his preference for brief but well-spoken comments. (34). He returns to the subject a few pages later and From 1777 to 1779, Jefferson worked arduously writes more forcefully about the inevitable end of with Pendleton and Wythe to create laws for the slavery and emancipation of all slaves: “Yet the day state of Virginia; Mason and Lee, who were on the is not distant when it must bear and adopt it, or original committee with them, both excused them- worse will follow. Nothing is more certainly writ- selves from the diffi cult task (37–40). These four ten in the book of fate than that these two people bills Jefferson was pivotal in drafting and passing— are to be free” (44). Despite these strong words abolishing religious tyranny, abolishing primogeni- that presage the Civil War, which would be fought ture, creating general education, and providing the in large measure over this very subject, Jefferson right to trial by jury—he regards as “forming a sys- does not imagine a future for Africans in America: tem by which every fi bre would be eradicated of “Nor is it less certain that the two races, equally ancient or future aristocracy; and a foundation laid free, cannot live in the same government. Nature, for a government truly republican” (44). habit, opinion has drawn indelible lines of distinc- After the completion of his services as gover- tion between them” (44). nor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, Jefferson In his descriptions of heated debates regarding returns to his service in Congress. He takes up the the abolition of “religious tyranny” in Virginia, debate over national currency, is involved in the Jefferson is quite kind to his opponents, Mr. Pend- ratifi cation of the peace treaty with Great Britain, leton and Robert Carter Nicholas. Jefferson’s love and is appointed as plenipotentiary to Paris, where for oral debate is made evident in his praise of wor- he takes his eldest daughter and joins Dr. Franklin thy opponents: “In justice to the two honest but and John Adams (54–55). Jefferson devotes sev- zealous opponents . . . they were more disposed eral pages to an international proposal he makes, generally to acquiesce in things as they are, than to and whose terms he successfully negotiated with risk innovations, yet whenever the public will had various European countries, in an attempt to once decided, none were more faithful or exact in mitigate against the “piratical states of Barbary,” their obedience to it” (35). When debating Pend- who attack and plunder ships (59–61). Despite his leton over the form of inheritance, Jefferson refers valiant efforts, and his ability to garner support to him as “the ablest man in debate I have ever met from various ambassadors and representatives of with. He had not indeed the poetical fancy of Mr. other nations, Jefferson’s proposal ultimately “fell Henry, his sublime imagination, his lofty and over- through” because his own nation failed to ratify whelming diction; but he was cool, smooth and it, believing themselves incapable of gathering persuasive; his language fl owing, chaste and embel- the necessary funds to contribute to a peacekeep- lished, his conceptions quick, acute and full of ing force of frigates who would patrol the waters resource” (33). He offers similar praise of George against pirates (61). 232 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

Uncharacteristically, Jefferson provides readers stitution [is] timid, his judgment null, and without with some insight into his personal life by mention- suffi cient fi rmness even to stand by the faith of his ing his own travels through France in an attempt word,” the queen, who exercised “absolute ascen- to alleviate the pain caused by “a dislocated wrist, dancy over him,” in concert with the aristocratic unsuccessfully set” (65). He provides readers with ministers “whose principles of government were a list of the various towns and provinces he visits, those of the age of Louis XIV,” reversed the king’s fi rst as part of his pursuit of “mineral waters” and declarations by the evening of the same day (80). later in a more offi cial capacity to determine favor- Jefferson “felt it very interesting to understand the able trade routes and to assess the rice country of views of the parties of which it was composed, and Piedmont (65). In this passage that provides readers especially the ideas prevalent as to the organization a rare glimpse into Jefferson’s personal life, he also contemplated for the government. I went therefore mentions the arrival of his “younger daughter Maria daily from Paris to Versailles, and attended their from Virginia by way of London, the youngest hav- debates, generally till the hour of adjournment” (83). ing died some time before” (66). Jefferson treats the Jefferson further places himself squarely within the death of his wife in a more emotional manner, writ- French Revolution and parallels it with the recent ing: “I had two months before that lost the cher- one in America: “I was much acquainted with the ished companion of my life, in whose affections, leading patriots of the assembly. Being from a coun- unabated on both sides, I had lived the last ten years try which had successfully passed through a similar in unchequered happiness” (46). reformation, they were disposed to my acquain- Upon his return to America, Jefferson debates tance, and had some confi dence in me” (85). On the the absence of particular articles to the Constitu- basis of this rapport, Jefferson proceeds to advise the tion, which he had no part in orchestrating. Spe- French patriots to “secure what the government was cifi cally, Jefferson points to the term limitations for now ready to yield, and trust to future occasions for the president, the right to trial by jury, and “dec- what might still be wanting” (85). In other words, larations ensuring freedom of religion, freedom of Jefferson attempted to prevent the bloody warfare the press, freedom of the person under the uninter- of the French Revolution by asking the patriots to rupted protection of the habeas corpus” (71–72). accept the rights offered by the king. Further, Jefferson worries over the independence Despite the bloodshed of the Revolution, Jeffer- of judges from the executive branch of the gov- son believes that the French have never achieved any- ernment (72–74). In their current position, Jeffer- thing more than the nine original articles of rights son labels them “the corps of sappers and miners, and privileges the king initially offered (85). Jeffer- steadily working to undermine the independent son’s close proximity to the events of the Revolution rights of the States, and to consolidate all power in places him passing through the lane just moments the hands of that government in which they have before the “signal for universal insurrection” com- so important a freehold estate” (74). menced with the stoning of French cavalry that led His discussion of the obstacles currently facing to their desertion of Versailles (89). Jefferson learns the United States naturally blends into a historical fi rsthand from Monsieur de Corny of the arming of recounting of the French Revolution, and Jeffer- the people by the governor of the Invalides (90). He son’s passion for a republican form of government is squarely lays the blame for the bloodshed and horror reignited as he speaks against the various means of of war on the queen, who did not allow the king to oppression imposed on the citizens of France (78). act as Jefferson feels assured that he would have and The declarations made by the king in December who held undue sway over the monarch. Twice Jef- 1788 closely resemble those that appeared in Jeffer- ferson assures his readers that the king always acted son’s Declaration of Independence, including a free with France’s best interest, “and had he been left to press and the states’ independence from new taxes himself, he would have willingly acquiesced in what- imposed by the king (80). Because the king’s “con- ever they should devise as best for the nation” (92). Thomas Jefferson 233

When the marquis de la Fayette, Duport, Barnave, references to these characteristics and identify oth- Alexander La Meth, Blacon, Mounier, Maubourg, ers that Jefferson states directly or else assumes. and Dagout all attend dinner at Jefferson’s, in the 2. Jefferson’s autobiography is in many ways a his- hopes of allaying their fears regarding dissension tory of the early republic. Compare this connec- among the patriots surrounding the nation’s con- tion between public and private to his treatment stitution, Jefferson is asked to moderate the more of groups other than Anglo-European males, passionate voices and to promote a “wholesome and namely, American Indians, Africans, and Anglo- practicable reformation only” (95–96). Jefferson European females. How do you reconcile the dis- concludes his autobiography with an awareness that parity between his public and private treatments his account of the French Revolution has been dis- of these groups? proportionate in the “grand scale of my narrative” (97). He justifi es his prolonged attention to this WORKS CITED AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES event by stating “the whole world must take in this Ambrose, Stephen E. Undaunted Courage: Meriwether revolution” (97). He imagines France’s wrestling Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the with the rights of man to have a ripple effect on the American West. New York: Simon & Schuster, “tyrants of the North,” who are allied against the 1996. spirit of independence fi rst created in America and Bernstein, R. B. Thomas Jefferson. Oxford: Oxford Uni- now being addressed by France (97). He returns to versity Press, 2003. America upon receiving General Washington’s let- Boulton, Alexander O. “The American Paradox: Jef- ter notifying him of his appointment as secretary of fersonian Equality and Racial Science.” American state (98). His return home allows him to attend to Quarterly 47, no. 3 (September 1995): 467–492. his eldest daughter’s wedding, and to the sickbed Burstein, Andrew. “Jefferson’s Rationalizations.” Wil- of Dr. Franklin (99). Jefferson abruptly concludes liam and Mary Quarterly 57, no. 1 (January 2000): his autobiography with the following sentence: “I 183–197. arrived at New York on the 21st of March where Cunningham, Noble E., Jr. In Pursuit of Reason: The Congress was in session” (103). Life of Thomas Jefferson. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1987. For Discussion or Writing Gordon-Reed, Annette. Thomas Jefferson and Sally 1. How does Jefferson’s autobiography compare Hemings: An American Controversy. Charlottesville: with Franklin’s? How do these two founding University Press of Virginia, 1997. fathers imagine themselves and their roles in the Jefferson, Thomas. Letters from the Head and Heart: creation of the nation? Writings of Thomas Jefferson. Edited by Andrew 2. Much of Jefferson’s autobiography involves his Burstein. Charlottesville, Va.: Thomas Jefferson public life as a politician rather than his private Foundation, 2002. life as a father and husband. How might you Katz, Claudio J. “Thomas Jefferson’s Liberal Anticapi- account for this shift in a sense of the self? How talism.” American Journal of Political Science 47, might you argue that this is or is not the proper no. 1 (January 2003): 1–17. subject for an autobiography? Kennedy, Roger G. Mr. Jefferson’s Lost Cause: Land, Farmers, Slavery, and the Louisiana Purchase. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Lewis, Jan, and Peter S. Onuf. “American Synecdoche: FURTHER QUESTIONS ON Thomas Jefferson as Image, Icon, Character, and JEFFERSON AND HIS WORK Self.” American Historical Review 103, no. 1 (Feb- 1. Jefferson advocated wealth and education as two ruary 1998): 125–136. essential tenets of American citizenry. Reading Library of Congress. Declaration of Independence through the Declaration of Independence, locate Web Guide. Available online. URL: http://www. 234 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/DeclarInd. 1860. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, html. Accessed April 23, 2009. 1973. Morison, Samuel Eliot. “Is ‘Liberal Education’ Demo- Stanton, Lucia. “The Other End of the Telescope: cratic? What Jefferson Advocated.” Hispania 27, Jefferson through the Eyes of His Slaves.” Wil- no. 1 (1944): 78–79. liam and Mary Quarterly 57, no. 1 (2000): Parton, James. Life of Thomas Jefferson, Third Presi- 139–152. dent of the United States. Boston: Houghton, Mif- Tauber, Gisela. “Notes on the State of Virginia: Thomas fl in, and Co., 1874. Jefferson’s Unintentional Self-Portrait.” Eigh- Sand, Norbert. “The Classics in Jefferson’s Theory of teenth Century Studies 26, no. 4 (Summer 1993): Education.” Classical Journal 40, no. 2 (1944): 635–648. 92–98. Thomas Jefferson Digital Archive. Available online. Slotkin, Richard. Regeneration through Violence: URL: http://etext.virginia.edu/jefferson/. Accessed The Mythology of the American Frontier, 1600– April 23, 2009. Cotton Mather (1663 –1728)

I write the Wonders of the CHRISTIAN RELIGION, fl ying from the Depravations of Europe, to the American Strand.

(Magnalia Christi Americana)

amed after two “most honored families in early edged and privileged his son’s family heritage. NNew England,” the Cottons and the Mathers, Increase expected Cotton to follow in the family’s Cotton Mather was destined for life as a Puritan profession, and so he did. minister. His paternal grandfather, Richard Mather, Early in life, Cotton began to exhibit signs of his migrated to Massachusetts in pursuit of religious propensity for knowledge and religion. He is said to freedom from the Church of England. Richard have begun praying, even creating his own prayers, Mather preached for nearly 34 years in Dorchester. around the time when he fi rst began to speak. As He is perhaps best known for drafting the famous had his father, who fi rst attended Harvard at the Cambridge Platform of 1648, which established age of 12, Cotton Mather proved himself no less the particular form of church government known dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. By the age as Congregationalism. Cotton Mather’s maternal of 11, Cotton had read Cato, Tully, Ovid, and Vir- grandfather, not surprisingly, was also a Puritan gil in Latin, as well as good portions of the New minister. In fact, John Cotton delivered the farewell Testament in Greek. Reading in Greek was a skill sermon for JOHN WINTHROP’s departure for Massa- he honed while attending Harvard. As part of the chusetts Bay in 1630 (Silverman 3). Just a few years curriculum, students were expected to translate later, John Cotton, along with his congregation, left Old Testament passages from Greek into Hebrew England and landed in America, where he minis- or from English into Greek (Solberg xxiv). In 1674, tered at the First Church of Boston. Cotton passed the entrance examination, which Richard Mather’s son, Increase, married Maria involved proving a working knowledge of Greek Cotton, the daughter of John Cotton, on March and Latin, and was admitted to Harvard as its 6, 1662. Six years prior, Richard had married John youngest student. He was 11. Because most of the Cotton’s widow; thus, the union of Maria and scholars were years older, ranging in age from 15 Increase created a double bond between the two to 18, and because Cotton suffered from a speech formidable Puritan families, forged by consanguine impediment (he stuttered), he left Harvard as a and affi lial relations. “At a quarter past ten in the resident student after a month or so and studied morning, February 12, 1663,” Cotton Mather was at home with his father. His stutter remained with born (Silverman 6). He was named after his mater- him until a few months prior to his 21st birthday, nal grandfather, “the most Eminent Man of God and then returned again years later. that ever New-England saw” (Silverman 6). With Cotton Mather graduated from Harvard at the such a name as Cotton Mather, Increase acknowl- age of 15; the following year, on August 22, 1680,

235 236 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers he began his career as a Puritan minister by deliv- who he thought would make him closer to Christ, ering his fi rst public sermon in his grandfather’s Mather was clearly physically and sexually attracted church in Dorchester. He spent fi ve years in can- to Lydia. His third wife’s considerable wealth and didacy before his ordination as a minister. During social standing put him and his family in a much this time, Cotton suffered a crisis of faith and sex- roomier house than he had previously had. ual temptation (Solberg xxvii). It is not surprising, In April 1721, a smallpox epidemic raged in given his repeated advice in Bonifacius for readers Boston, infecting nearly half of the city (Silverman to devote themselves to periods of self-examina- 336). Because Mather had two children, Elizabeth tion, that Mather devoted a considerable amount and Sammy, who had been born after the last epi- of time in his fi ve years prior to candidacy to just demic (1702–3), he was particularly fearful that this practice. Given the Puritan belief in original they would become infected. During the smallpox sin and the impossibility of successfully purging epidemic in Boston of 1721, Mather took a con- himself of all sin, especially lust and pride, Mather troversial proinoculation stance (Jeske 585; Silver- sought out divine intervention. These two par- man 338–339). In July of that same year, Mather ticular vices would haunt Mather for a good part addressed a letter to local physicians, informing of his life and cause him anguish and self-doubt. them of the effi cacy of inoculation in warding off When he was awarded membership in the illustri- the deadly effects of epidemics like smallpox. Much ous Royal Society, for example, Mather debated in of his letter was based on information he had gath- his diary whether or not to wear the ring that signi- ered from the Royal Society’s Transactions. His fi ed his membership. His diary contains repeated biographer Kenneth Silverman also asserts that entreaties to God to assist him in making sure that Mather’s own servant, Onesimius, also served as his actions were taken not to satisfy his own ambi- a source on inoculation (339). Further, Mather’s tions and desire for fame and recognition, but to early interest in medicine, piqued during his days at further the glory of God. Harvard, provided him with a requisite knowledge On March 4, 1686, he married Abigail Phillips, of medical theories in practice. Indeed, he corre- the daughter of “worthy, pious, and credible Par- sponded briefl y with Robert Boyle, who fi gures ents” who resided in Charlestown. She was nearly prominently in Mather’s The Christian Philoso- 16, and he was 23 (Silverman 50). Their fi rstborn, pher, while acting as an amanuensis for Dr. William Abigail, died after fi ve months, and two others died Avery. Mather’s interest in preventing fatalities in infancy; Cotton was extremely fearful for the from the 1721 outbreak of smallpox also resulted lives of his children who survived past the fi rst few in a “Letter about a Good Management under the years. He prayed fervently for the life of his son, Distemper of the Measles,” which he intended as a Increase, Jr., also known as “Creasy.” Samuel died; means of instructing people unable to afford physi- Mehetabel died; Abigail died. His wife, Abigail, cians. In it, Mather provides detailed descriptions succumbed to smallpox on December 1, 1702. He of smallpox symptoms along with potential rem- married his second wife, Elizabeth, the daughter of edies, but his main advice is to let nature take its the Boston physician Dr. John Clark and widow of course. His scholarly interests and pursuits did not Mr. Hubbard, and had four more children. Eliza- rest solely in the contemplation of religious mat- beth Hubbard died in 1713 during a measles epi- ters, however. In fact, Mather’s scientifi c inquiries, demic, along with the twins she had recently borne, published in A Christian Philosopher, contributed and their daughter, Jerusha. He married his third to his being made a fellow of the Royal Society in wife, Lydia Lee Green, who was the widow of the 1713. wealthy merchant John George and the daughter of Cotton published over 460 texts in his lifetime the Reverend Samuel Lee, on July 5, 1715. Unlike but was most disappointed that he could not fi nd a his almost pious devotion to his fi rst two wives, publisher for his Biblia Americana. At the end of Cotton Mather 237 his Bonifacius, Mather includes a lengthy advertise- of the governor of Massachusetts and in the restora- ment for Biblia, in the hope that it would pique tion of their charter. As a religious fi gure, Increase the interest of subscribers and fi nd a publisher. He was known for a history of prognostications. He describes the work as a collection of information seemed to have the uncanny ability to predict on the Bible from nearly every conceivable angle, disastrous events that befell New England, such as including biblical geography, the history of Jerusa- King Philip’s War. As did his father, Increase, Cot- lem, scientifi c theories on the fl ood and Creation, ton believed in the occult, or the ability to divine and analysis of various translations of the Bible. A God’s intent through signs in nature. The death of book that Mather worked on for nearly 15 years, his wife Abigail in 1702 to consumption, as well from 1693, Biblia was a staggeringly large text as the death of his second wife, Elizabeth, to mea- whose sheer size made its publication cost prohibi- sles, however, severely tested this faith, as he had tive. Indeed, the fi nished product was six volumes, divined the signs to foretell of both wives’ recover- each volume containing roughly 1,000 pages. ies (Levin 753). As Perry Miller, Sacvan Bercovitch, and other Like most sons, Cotton was desirous of his scholars have argued compellingly, Cotton Mather father’s approval and felt himself constantly tasked employed the jeremiad in much of his writings. He with the diffi cult goal of surpassing a very accom- strove to restore what he saw to be an increasingly plished and well-respected member of the Puritan straying and secularized Puritan culture to the ori- community. Most tellingly, in the years of Increase’s gins of their religious convictions. With the dying residence in England, Cotton enjoyed a promi- out of the fi rst generation of Puritans, Mather nence in both political and religious circles that he began to see the potential demise of the constant never enjoyed before or afterward. Another exam- battle New England was waging between the ple of Increase’s infl uence on his son can be seen in Puritans and the creatures of the invisible world, a general perusal of Cotton’s papers and journals. witches and devils, who wanted to tempt the pil- He copied his father’s sermons in a deliberate script grims away from their path of righteousness. In and annotated them. At times, his annotations far his lifetime, New England suffered two smallpox outpaced the number of pages of his father’s origi- epidemics, two fi res that destroyed large portions nal sermons. of Boston, and King Philip’s War. Puritans read With the shift in the British monarchy from religious portent into these disasters and viewed Protestantism to Catholicism under King James them as a harsh judgment from God for their back- II, Massachusetts and the Puritans saw a challenge sliding. This central theme—decline—operates to their way of governance and worship. A new through most of Mather’s sermons and published governor was sent to rule over New England, and materials. Besides heralding the deplorable condi- he took with him a revocation of the Massachu- tions of a society, however, the jeremiad contains setts charter as well as the king’s commission for a message of future hope. Despite the fallen sta- a new government. Sir Edmund Andros, the new tus of Puritan New England, Mather writes, there governor, demanded Anglican services be held in remains the potential to reclaim past glories and to the same church currently serving the Puritans; he surpass them. arrested Cotton’s father, Increase, on charges that The relationship between Cotton and his he had slandered Edward Randolph, “a leading father is particularly relevant when understanding advocate of strict royal control over Massachusetts” the confl icting emotions that animated the son. (Silverman 61–65). When Increase left for England Increase was a formidable force. Not only did he to meet with King James and discuss his indul- have multiple visits with the acting monarchs in gences for non-Catholics, as well as the environ- England, but he seemed to have curried enough ment under Andros’s governorship, Andros seems political favor to be instrumental in the appointing to have targeted Cotton. In 1689, Andros sent out 238 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers a warrant for Cotton’s arrest on the same charges of Massachusetts) launched a highly unsuccessful that his father faced—libel against Randolph. Just attack against the French in Canada. When Phips months before, Cotton had managed to copy bits was appointed the new governor, and returned to of Randolph’s letters that clearly displayed his ani- Massachusetts with Increase, the colony once again mosity for New Englanders. However, the charges had a charter that blended the relationship between against Cotton included an anonymous pamphlet church and state. Further, it should be noted that it published two years prior entitled A Brief Discourse was Increase Mather who negotiated the new char- Concerning the Unlawfulness of Common Prayer ter with William and Mary. Worship. At the insistence of William Stoughton, lieu- When King James’s wife bore a son, William of tenant-governor under Governor William Phips, Orange gathered Dutch allies to help him attack who presided over the witch trials, and that of the king and reclaim the throne. The Glorious several other judges (including Judge Hathorne, Revolution in England resulted in Bostonians’ tak- great-grandfather of the well-known author ing arms against Andros and his government; the Nathaniel Hawthorne), Cotton Mather set about arrest warrant that had been pending for nearly two explaining and supporting the trials. Samuel months over Cotton’s head was now no longer a Sewall, Wait Winthrop (grandson of John Win- threat. Wait Winthrop, who would soon after serve throp), John Richards, and Lieutenant-Governor as a judge in the Salem witch trials, was instrumen- William Stoughton, the men who made up the tal in squelching the arrest order. Scholars remain seven-man commission for the witch trials, were uncertain of the degree of Mather’s involvement all close friends of the Mathers (Silverman 97). in this revolution against Andros, partly because Cotton Mather began writing from court summa- Mather’s journal is missing for this period, and ries, called breviates, and completed The Wonders partly because his chief adversary, Edward Ran- of the Invisible World in mid-October 1692, just dolph, accused Mather of fomenting crowds to a few weeks after the fi nal execution in Salem on riot against Andros and of holding meetings with September 22, 1692. It is perhaps this particu- armed men at his own home. What is certain is that lar text, which was a best seller in its time, that in April 1689, Andros was arrested, chained, and solidifi es the relationship between Mather and the imprisoned. The king recalled Andros, Randolph, Salem witch trials. In 1689, Cotton and his wife, and their sympathizers in July to stand trial against Abigail, took in Martha Goodwin for a period of complaints against them. fi ve or six weeks to try to learn more about the Out of these events in New England emerged invisible world and to depossess the girl. Martha the Declaration of the Gentlemen, which may or claimed to be suffering under the torments of a may not have been penned by Cotton Mather. It laundress named Goody Glover. Mather published is certain, however, that he embraced its notions of his account of Martha Goodwin in Memorable nonviolent revolt against Andros’s governance in Providences, Relating to Witchcrafts and Posses- New England, which they proclaim to be part of a sions in 1689. It went through a second edition in larger plot to undermine Protestantism in the New London in 1691 and a third edition in Edinburgh World in favor of Catholicism. Despite their seizure in 1697. Because of this particular publication, of government offi cials, the colonists of New Eng- some critics see Cotton Mather as an instigator in land maintained their allegiance to England. This the Salem witch trials, arguing that he taught the moment helped to launch Cotton Mather into a people of New England how to see cases of witch- dual role as a political and religious leader. craft. In the 18 months between the publication Three months into their rule over England, Wil- of the Goodwin case and the Salem outbreaks, liam and Mary declared war against the French. In Cotton Mather continued to draw the public’s New England, Sir William Phips (future governor attention to the existence of devils and witchcraft. Cotton Mather 239

While it is certainly true that a signifi cant num- Within 10 days after the publication of Wonders ber of Mather’s sermons, most of which were pub- of the Invisible World, the court hearing witch trials lished, addressed issues of witchcraft and deviltry, disbanded, and most of those still held in jail were his was not the only voice preaching from the pul- set free. It is clear from his notes in his diary that pit on these subjects (Silverman 88). Mather was uneasy with his text, feeling, perhaps Although his ill health prevented him from rightly, that he had been too swayed by Governor accepting John Richard’s invitation to attend the Phips and others on the court to render a more just trials, he did write an extensive letter where he laid treatment of the trials. He was soon facing trials of out guidelines for the court. He believed that the his own as his fi rst son, named Increase, was born surest sign of witchcraft was in the form of cred- with an imperforate anus and died just a few days ible confession from the accused. Further, and this later. It was said that Mather’s own wife, Abigail, point is worth emphasis, Mather warned against had been assaulted by devils and other specters dur- the overreliance on spectral evidence, arguing that ing her pregnancy and that this accounted for the the devil could represent the fi gure of an innocent infant’s demise. In January of the following year or virtuous person (Silverman 98). He was alarmed (1694), Robert Calef, who had voiced his opposi- when Bridget Bishop, the “thrice-married owner tion to Mather and the witch trials just months of an unlicensed tavern,” was found guilty and before, wrote a lengthy letter accusing Cotton and hanged on June 10, 1692, the fi rst victim of the tri- his father of having inappropriately touched a young als (Silverman 100). In response, Mather wrote The woman (Mercy Short) under the pretext of saving Return of Several Ministers, in which he chastised her from witches and posed leading questions to the court for acting so hastily and placing an undue induce her to confess to being plagued by witches. emphasis on spectral evidence, the only form of evi- Until 1696, the two would carry on lengthy cor- dence used against Bishop. Nevertheless, Mather’s respondence in which Calef would pose direct and statement went on to “humbly recommend unto diffi cult questions regarding the Salem witch tri- the government the speedy and vigorous prosecu- als that Mather would elide or in other ways evade. tion of such as have rendered themselves obnox- Chief among his questions, however, was whether ious, according to the direction given in the laws humans were capable of committing acts previ- of God, and the wholesome Statutes of the English ously ascribed to devils or God exclusively. He also nation, for the detection of witchcrafts.” inquired into the extensive reliance on spectral After the execution of eight of nine condemned evidence as the primary means of convicting and witches, Increase Mather wrote Cases of Conscience executing. Concerning Evil Spirits Personating Men (1693), in Mather’s heated debates with Calef were not which he “declared and testifi ed that to take away the end of his controversial tangles. In 1701, when the life of any one, merely because a spectre or devil Joseph Dudley (brother to the early Puritan poet in a bewitched or possessed person does accuse ANNE BRADSTREET), who had served under the them, will bring the guilt of innocent blood on much-despised Governor Andros, began writ- the land.” Fourteen of the prominent ministers in ing letters to Cotton Mather, he was seeking the Boston signed Mather’s statement; Cotton Mather minister’s assistance in becoming the next gover- did not sign. Cotton had his reasons for dissent- nor of Massachusetts. Mather grudgingly com- ing. He believed this statement might endanger plied, thinking that far worse individuals could be the lives of the judges, might divert attention from appointed by the king to serve as governor (one per- the diabolical plot unleashed against the Puritans, son who resigned before sailing for New England and might undermine the new government that his had been convicted of murder). Dudley arrived in own father had helped to establish after the revolt 1702, 13 years after he had been imprisoned along of 1689 (Silverman 114). with Governor Andros in the Revolt of 1689. He 240 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers quickly proved himself a dangerous fi gure for the with her (Silverman 188). In his private journal, Mathers, as he advocated the Church of England, Cotton confesses to the signifi cant impact Kate had a branch of religion that the Mathers regarded as on him as a man and as a minister. He felt himself close to the papists, who practiced Catholicism. tempted by her, even to the point of questioning When Dudley became involved in Queen Anne’s his belief in God. It is thus understandable how War against the French and indigenous tribes of Cotton must have reacted when Dudley brought North America in 1706, the differences bubbling up her name up again in their public feud. below the surface erupted. Mather accused Dudley Dudley’s attack on Cotton Mather’s character of having illicitly traded with the French, the very seems to have invited other such forms of abuse. people he was sworn to fi ght. When exchanging Quakers printed a broadside in 1710 entitled A Just prisoners with the French, Dudley and his friend Reprehension of Cotton Mather in which they accuse Captain Samuel Vetch are reported to have initi- him of anonymously writing invectives against ated trade with the French in Nova Scotia, and to people, but not signing his name because he was have profi ted personally from it. Mather seems to rightly ashamed of his own work. In his The Brit- have joined forces calling for Dudley’s removal by ish Empire in America (1708), the historian John authoring a pamphlet entitled A Memorial of the Oldmixon lambasted Magnalia Christi Americana Present Deplorable State of New England . . . by the as something that “resembles school boy’s exercises Male-Administration of their Present Governour forty years ago” (reported in Silverman 222). (1707). In the anonymous pamphlet, Dudley’s But even in these diffi cult times for Mather when crimes under Andros’s governorship are recited, as his public persona and reputation were being ques- well as accusations of his most recent illegal trade tioned, his published inquiries into religious and of ammunition and other supplies to the French scientifi c matters were gaining him an international and Indians. Dudley adroitly had himself cleared name. Mather received an honorary doctorate from of all the charges laid out in the pamphlet and then the University of Glasgow, the fi rst American to proceeded to name the new president of Harvard. have such an honor bestowed upon him, in 1710. This seems to have been a turning point, for both His Magnalia Christi Americana was listed as a Increase and Cotton began an earnest and much singular reason for his doctor of divinity degree. more frank campaign against Dudley. Dudley’s Yet just as Mather was gaining international promi- recent failed attempt to attack Port Royal against nence, his reputation and his involvement in gov- the French was viewed as proof of his treason; the ernment and the North Church were diminishing. troops he led did not attack the fort, Mather wrote, The building of a New North Church, only three precisely because Dudley “peremptorily forbad it.” blocks away from his own church, and the consid- Dudley replied by publicly ridiculing Cotton. erable depletion of his congregation surpassed his He dredged up the name of Katharine Mccarty, public feud with Dudley. a woman who had written to Cotton two months Mather died on February 13, 1728, one day after the death of his wife Abigail and declared her after his 65th birthday. His fi nal words are reported love for him. Although in his journal he expresses to have been “Now I have nothing more to do admiration for her “rare wit and sense,” he fi nds here. . . . My will is now entirely resigned to the will a divide between her and his life in the ministry. of God.” In this death, as in his life, he wished to What compels him to continue visiting her, Cot- make of himself a subject of instruction and emula- ton insists, is her conversion. Kate, however, had tion. His son, Sammy, who would go on to pen a developed a bad name in the community; her repu- biography of his famous father, wrote: “He alone tation, coupled with the congregation’s shock over was able to support the character of this country Cotton’s attentions to her so soon after his wife’s abroad, and was had in great esteem through many death, made him ultimately decide against a match nations in Europe” (reported in Silverman 425). Cotton Mather 241

Today Cotton Mather, perhaps unfairly, is chiefl y ruin. This was, for Mather, a representation of the remembered for his connection to the Salem witch Puritans’ war with the invisible world, over which trials. One can discern him in the rigorous reli- witches and devils reigned. Also of importance to gious climate dominating Hawthorne’s The Scarlet the witch trials was the specter of Catholicism. It Letter and see him quoted directly in Whole His- is thus without surprise that several of the court tory of Grandfather’s Chair. His infl uence contin- testimonies include the taking of sacraments as a ues across the centuries, deeply informing Arthur devilish variation on Catholic belief in transub- Miller’s The Crucible, a play about witch hunts that stantiation (that the wine and bread offered during parallels the events of the late 17th century with Mass are indeed the Blood and Body of Christ). the McCarthy hearings against communism in When taken in the recent context of the Glorious the mid-20th century. Bonifacius was most infl u- Revolution, when a Protestant (William of Orange) ential to BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, who fashioned his took the throne from a Catholic (James), the refer- pseudonym, Silence DoGood, and his Poor Richard’s ences to “popery” are not surprising. Almanac after Mather’s famous essays. The two Nor is Mather’s racialization of the devil or men met at least once, and Mather is reported to of witches in general. In early “confessions” by have attempted to warn Franklin as he headed out Tituba, the servant from Barbados who was accused the door to stoop lest he hit his head on the door- of affl icting Betsy and Abigail, the devil is clearly jamb. Franklin did just that, and Mather advised described as a prominent white man. It is only in him, “You are young, and have the world before subsequent “confessions” that the devil transforms you; stoop as you go through it, and you will miss into a “tawny” or a “little black man.” Most of many hard thumps.” Mather’s sermons reveal a racialization of the devil so that he resembles American Indians or African slaves. Critics attribute this to the racial uncon- scious of the colony, which imaged itself as besieged (1693) The Wonders of the Invisible World by forces within (American Indian tribes that were At the urgings of Chief Justice William Stoughton being displaced and decimated through direct and and Governor William Phips, Mather’s account of indirect means) and without (King James’s Cathol- the Salem witch trials was completed and published icism, Andros’s insistence on holding Anglican ser- a mere month after the fi nal execution, which vices, the French conversions of American Indians took place on September 22, 1692 (listed as Sep- along the East Coast and into Canada). Indeed, tember 17 in Craker). It contained multiple parts: Mather summarizes the book’s intent by writing, “Enchantments Encountered,” which covered the “I have indeed set myself to countermine the whole kinds of evidence that should be, but were not plot of the Devil, against New England.” used, in the Salem trials; two sermons, “A Dis- Perhaps the most widely known section of course on the Wonders of the Invisible World” and Mather’s work is the trial involving Martha Car- “An Hortatory and Necessary Address”; a brief rier. In court testimony, which Mather reproduces, account of witchcraft in England; fi ve summaries Carrier’s own children number among those who (transcripts) of New England witchcraft trials; an accuse her of witchcraft. A repeated theme in the account of witchcraft in Sweden. It concluded with testimony offered by Carrier’s neighbors are their a sermon entitled “The Devil Discovered.” Mather dead cattle, for which they believe Carrier to be completed Wonders on October 11, 1692. responsible. Samuel Preston testifi ed that “he had In The Wonders of the Invisible World, Mather lately lost a cow . . . a thriving and well-kept cow, argues that there is a diabolical conspiracy under which without any known cause quickly fell down way in New England: Witches wish to root out and died.” A commonality in the accusations of Puritanism from America and plot New England’s witchcraft involved individuals’ suffering some 242 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers ailment, affl iction, or signifi cant loss in property for questioning. After two days of interrogation, or income. Because Puritans subscribed to the Tituba apparently confessed to being in league Platonic notion of the world in which objects on with the devil. She and another accused woman, earth were merely shadows of the real things in Sarah Good, went to trial and were found guilty of heaven, any occurrence, such as the unexplained witchcraft on May 25 (Silverman 97). death of one’s cattle, could be, and was, taken for The gender dynamics of the trials are worth a sign from God. mentioning as more women were accused and The witch trials of 1692 can be divided into executed than men. By some accounts, the ratio two periods: the Salem phase (late February to is three women to every man. The scholar John early June 1692) and the Andover phase (mid-July McWilliams creates the following profi le of women to mid-September 1692). Combined, these two most likely to be accused of being witches: “over courts tried 156 individuals who were accused of forty years of age, without a secure social position witchcraft. Of that number, 60 confessed to mak- or a male heir, but known to have a sharp tongue, ing pacts with the devil (Craker 333). The majority skills and midwifery, familiarity with tavern life, of those who confessed (43) did so in the Andover and/or a reputation for having practiced white or phase of the trials. Twenty-eight individuals were black magic” (580–581). brought to trial; 20 were executed by hanging. Confession was the surest way to avoid trial. Inter- For Discussion or Writing estingly, spectral evidence (based on the belief that 1. Consider the devil and witches affl icting Salem a person who has entered a pact with the devil thus and the Puritan community in general as a man- enables him to assume the person’s appearance in ifestation of Mather’s and other Puritans’ fears. order to recruit others) did not result in a single What are those fears? Is there any consistency or execution of a person accused of witchcraft. Fur- pattern to them? ther, spectral evidence alone was not considered by 2. How is Mather’s text a defense of the Salem the court to warrant a trial (Craker 333). Indeed, witch trials? What information does he give in the most damaging type of evidence in the Salem defense? What does he assume about the beliefs witch trials was what Craker refers to as “non- of his reader? spectral evidence of malefi c witchcraft,” by which 3. The topic of witchcraft, and a society obsessed he intends the attribution of maladies, deaths of with rooting out evil threatening it from within, cattle, accidents, or other woeful events to a single reappears in the centuries following Wonders person. with Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter The events of 1692 began in February with and Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. Consider the Betty Parris (age nine) and her cousin, Abigail Wil- treatment of witchcraft in two of these three liams (age 11), exhibiting strange behavior (bab- historical moments and argue for commonali- bling, crawling under chairs) and complaining of ties or differences among or between them. some unseen person pinching them in a most pain- ful manner. The Reverend John Hale later pub- lished an account of their sufferings in A Modest (1698) Inquiry (1702). The two girls were in such a terri- Magnalia Christi Americana ble state that their neighbor, Mary Sibley, implored First conceived in early summer 1693, Mather’s her servant named Tituba to fashion a “witchcake” opus, a history of New England, was occasioned in order to discover who was behind these demonic in part by the deaths of many members of the acts against Betty and Abigail (Breslaw 538). When fi rst generation of Puritans. The critic Michael their “symptoms” worsened, Tituba found her- G. Hall singles out this particular text, arguing self accused of witchcraft, arrested, and taken in that “Magnalia has received more attention over Cotton Mather 243 the past two-and-a-half centuries than any other of Dying Religion in our Churches.” Thus, Mather writing by an American Puritan” (496). The noted saw in the death of the fi rst generation the poten- scholar Sacvan Bercovitch refers to it as “perhaps tial death of the passion and conviction so neces- the supreme achievement of American Puritan lit- sary for the original Puritans who settled in New erature” (337). This seven-volume work establishes England to practice a religion for which they were an originary myth for the Puritans in America: his- persecuted by the Church of England. tory of the settlement of New England, lives of the Book 1 addresses the fl ight of the “primitive governors, lives of the leading ministers, history of Christians” from Europe, described as the “king- Harvard, account of New England manner of wor- dom of Anti-Christ” and a depraved environment, ship (“Acts and Monuments”), “Remarkables of across the Atlantic to the “pure enjoyment of all Divine Providence,” and a history of the invasion his ordinances” in America. With the founding of of New England churches by heretics, Governor the fi rst Puritan church, Mather relates how “an Edmund Andros (a member of the Church of Eng- howling wilderness in a few years became a pleas- land), devils, Indians, and others. Critics continue ant land.” Mather’s book on the history of Har- to argue over the nature of Magnalia. David Levin vard includes biographies of 10 of the university’s refers to it as history; Sacvan Bercovitch recog- “exemplary” graduates. nizes its indebtedness to The Aeneid and Milton’s Sir William Phips, who became governor of Paradise Lost; Kenneth Silverman values its “sheer Massachusetts during the Salem witch trials, fi g- amassment of precious information about the early ures prominently in Mather’s section “The Great history of New England” and its function as “a Works of Christ in America.” Within this section, small anthology of early American poetry” (338, Mather retells the stories of how Phips overcame 158). The work not only addresses the biblical and a mutiny plot on his frigate and how his discov- Puritan notion of regaining a glorifi ed position ery of sunken treasure off the coast of Hispaniola with respect to God, but continues to imagine an resulted in his knighthood. The point of this story ongoing battle between God and Satan in which explains why Mather includes the life of a gover- the latter has the advantage. What unites this seem- nor who was previously a rather raucous treasure ing mass of disparate items (sermons, biographies), hunter among the lives of former ministers in New a book made up of “many little rags,” is Mather’s England. Phips was able to maintain rule and order desire to set down a history of American Puritans at a time of mutiny. Further, he is an early example in New England, and a sustained argument regard- of the kind of self-fashioned individual, “A Son ing the elect status of the Puritans as the chosen of his own Labours,” made popular by Benjamin people of God. Franklin (Silverman 163–164). With the deaths of many of the fi rst generation of Book 3 contains biographies of 50 of the great- Puritans, the people of New England began clam- est ministers who laid the foundation of New Eng- oring, as early as the 1670s, for someone to write land theocracy. Chief among them is a hagiography the history of God’s providences toward New Eng- of John Eliot, who was known as an “apostle to the land (Silverman 157). Among the primary sources American Indians.” Just as Mather was called upon Mather used to assemble his history of America were to help justify the Salem witch trials in Wonders of WILLIAM BRADFORD’s history of New England, the Invisible World, he felt the need to provide a surviving diaries, letters, his father’s correspon- similar narrative to justify the marked absence of dence, and Cotton’s own personal acquaintances proselytizing by members of the Massachusetts Bay with members of the fi rst generation (Silverman Colony in Magnalia Christi Americana. Indeed, 158). The larger aim of Mather’s Magnalia Christi several criticisms had been launched against New Americana was “of keeping Alive, as far as this Englanders for their apparent unwillingness to poor Essay may contribute thereunto, the Interests engage in one of the practices that were central 244 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers to their charters—the conversion of “heathens.” The Negro Christianized: An Essay to Excite Eliot himself, who receives such high praise from and Assist That Good Work, the Instruction Mather in this text, fi rst arrived in North America of Negro-Servants in Christianity (1706) in 1631 but did not begin the business of con- This essay was published in the same year that verting the Algonquian until 1646 (Post 418). As members of Mather’s congregation purchased Mather relates, Eliot believed American Indians to Onesimus, a young man “of a promising aspect be descended from Israelites and cites their many and temper,” for their minister. Mather encour- similarities (including dowries, aversion to pork, aged Onesimus’s study, permitted him to work and tradition of parables). outside the household and keep his income, and Mather devoted book 6, “Remarkables of allowed him to marry. In 1716, however, the ser- Divine Providence,” to accounts of God’s favor of vant proved to be “wicked, and grow[ing] useless, the Puritans. This particular book responded to forward, immorigerous,” and Mather permitted calls made by his father and by a group of church the rude and disobedient Onesimus to purchase his elders in 1681 for ministers around the country own freedom. In The Negro Christianized, Mather to provide accounts of “apparitions, possessions, argues for the conversion of African slaves and ser- inchantments, and all extraordinary things wherein vants in the face of common belief that Christian- the existence and agency of the invisible world is ized servants would become discontent and were more sensibly demonstrated.” therefore more likely to revolt or demand their The fi nal book characterizes the Indian wars as freedom. On the contrary, Mather argued, Chris- the latest obstacle set before the New Jerusalem. tian servants would be more patient and faithful to Because these wars were ongoing, they appear their masters. This idea was in part due to his belief in the Magnalia as a continuation into the pres- that Christianity “wonderfully dulcifi es, and mol- ent moment of the religious battles the American lifi es, and moderates the circumstances” of slavery. Puritans had been fi ghting since their fl ight from Not surprisingly, Mather employs biblical pas- Europe and their initial landing in the New World. sages as proof that masters should become the The battles helped to solidify the connection “happy instruments of converting the blackest Mather was drawing throughout the Magnalia instances of blindness and baseness, into admirable between Puritans and the children of Israel. candidates of eternal blessedness.” Although apolo- gists for slavery habitually made use of biblical pas- For Discussion or Writing sages to justify their cruel institution, abolitionists 1. Mather’s Magnalia resembles an accordion in like Harriet Beecher Stowe (author of Uncle Tom’s its ability to expand to address the millennium Cabin) wrote nearly a century and a half later than and the second coming and its ability to contract Mather of the Christian duty to free slaves, convert and discuss the life of an early Puritan minister. them to Christianity, and eliminate the institu- Find examples of both movements in the text and tion of slavery altogether. Mather does not dismiss argue for their relationship to each other. the belief that African Americans might well be 2. Mather imagines Puritan Americans embattled the sons of Ham (a biblical argument set forth by and in a current moment of struggle against slave owners in the 18th and 19th centuries), but demonic forces. Provide textual support for this he does postulate that they may also “belong to idea of warfare and trace its biblical and histori- the Election of God!” In offering up this possibil- cal parallels. ity that African Americans can be among the elect, 3. As mentioned, Sacvan Bercovitch sees parallels among the chosen people of God, Mather insists between Mather’s book and the Aeneid, as well upon their humanity, their possession of souls, and as Milton’s Paradise Lost. Consider one of these the duties that their masters have in treating them two texts and argue either in favor of or against as fellow members of the community. However, Bercovitch’s comparison. Mather’s characterization of servants is limited; he Cotton Mather 245 sees them as “barbarous” and “stupid.” Neverthe- pates critics of his book, arguing that a reader can- less, what is remarkable about Mather’s essay is its not call him- or herself a Christian and chastise a insistence on the humanity of slaves and the duty of book whose aim is to perpetuate good in the world. masters to attend to their salvation. Indeed, he goes so far as to call “an enemy to the Among Mather’s recommendations in The Negro proposal” as “little better than a common enemy Christianized are the employment of children in of mankind” (21). He passionately writes about the the home, a teacher on a plantation, and a master need for repentance, and for people to be humbled over his household to assist in the teachings of the by the little good they have done in the world. Peo- catechism to black servants. He created a three- ple need to put as much thought into their souls as line catechism to instruct “poor Stupid Abject they do into their business transactions (28). The Negro’s” and personally paid a schoolmistress to noblest question in the world, Mather suggests, is teach blacks to read (Silverman 264). Specifi cally, “What good may I do in the world?” Mather reminded readers of the shared humanity Mather’s instructions or suggestions for parents with African “servants”: “Men, not Beasts, that are particularly lengthy and detailed. In considering you have bought.” them, readers may easily infer Mather’s own par- enting practices and, perhaps, those of his famous For Discussion or Writing father, Increase Mather. Parental resolutions begin 1. Locate and summarize Mather’s characteriza- with baptizing children and reminding them of tions of African servants. How does this charac- their covenant with God formed in the baptismal terization square with his proposition that they rites, praying daily for the children’s well-being, may be among God’s elect? teaching them stories from the Bible, teaching them 2. Consider Mather’s use of the Bible in The Negro short biblical passages that they can memorize and Christianized. Explain how it is employed to recite, teaching them the catechism, and teaching dual purposes. how to pray and how to conduct themselves with a 3. Mather’s congregation purchased Onesimus in courteous disposition. Mather suggests giving chil- the same year as this essay’s publication. Con- dren money that they may then pass along to the sider the passage on Onesimus and how it might poor in their community. He also advocates paren- relate to Mather’s own confl icting views of tal duties in the education of their children: teach- slavery. ing them to read and write, providing them with 4. Compare Mather’s use of religion in his treatment suitable books, teaching them to follow Christ’s of slaves to the writings of OLAUDAH EQUIANO example, hearing their confessions, inquiring into and PHILLIS WHEATLEY on the same subject. the state of their souls, watching carefully over the character of their companions, and preparing them for eternal life in Christ after their deaths. Mather directs various proposals in this essay to Bonifacius: An Essay to Do Good (1710) different readers: family members and friends, chil- As with most of Mather’s work, Bonifacius actually dren, servants, neighbors, distant relatives, masters, has a much longer title: An Essay upon the Good, pastors, schoolmasters, magistrates, physicians, rich That Is to Be Devised to Answer the Great End of men, deacons, constables, grand jury members, Life, and to Do Good While They Live. Early on selectmen, church elders, commanders at sea, mili- in the essay, Mather establishes the reason for his tary commanders, lawyers, judges, and ministers. book: “I am devising such a book; but at the same For each of these different groups of people, he offers time offering a sorrowful demonstration, that if a list of activities they should engage in in order for men would set themselves to devise good, a world them to do good works. Chief among these, not of good might be done, more than there is in this surprisingly, are practices that Mather engages in: present evil world” (19). Cleverly, Mather antici- reading good books in leisure time; spending time 246 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers in private meditation, prayer, and fasting; visiting entifi c matters and discoveries, believing that one widows, orphans, and the affl icted; giving alms to could read God’s blueprint in nature. It is no sur- the poor; praying at home with family and servants; prise, then, that the Royal Society, which accepted being watchful over members of the community as Mather as a member in 1713, was founded in 1663 well as the associates of your family members; teach- by a majority of Puritans (Jeske 584). In this book, ing catechism to children, servants, and members of which was originally a series of 10 letters sent to the community; and spending time contemplating the Royal Society under the title of “The Christian what good works still need to be performed. Virtuoso,” Mather seeks to yoke science and faith, Mather returns to the arguments he made in using examples from scientifi c discoveries as proof The Negro Christianized by asserting that servants of the existence and genius of God. The Christian should be taught to read and write and be con- Philosopher was the “fi rst general book on science to verted to Christianity. Against critics who claim be written in America” (Silverman 249). Within its that Christianized servants are prone to rebel and pages, Mather summarizes the works of other emi- escape, Mather argues, “They would be better nent scientists such as Flamsteed (who was the fi rst servants to you, the more faithful, the more hon- royal astronomer), Leeuwenhoek (Dutch merchant est, the more industrious, and submissive servants who refi ned the microscope), Huygens (who writes to you, for your bringing them into the service of on the laws of refraction and refl ection of light), your Common Lord” (68). and Newton (who studied the laws of gravity). The purpose of the text was to demonstrate Mather’s For Discussion or Writing own “Enquiries into the Wonders of the Universe, 1. Despite its extensive list of different occupa- so it is both an Instruction and a Pattern to a seri- tions and thus different readers, Mather’s Boni- ous mind.” Patterning the work on other physico- facius is by no means exhaustive. Consider one theological writing, Mather sees all of the recent or more occupations absent from the book and scientifi c discoveries, particularly those afforded by conjecture reasons for the omission. the use of telescopes and microscopes, as further 2. One of Mather’s central concerns is to eliminate proof of the divine purpose of the cosmos. To “fi lthy” or “evil” books, which are more specifi - balance his praise of scientifi c discoveries with his cally identifi ed as “foolish romances, or novels, continued belief in supernatural phenomena such or playes, or songs” (58). Why might Mather as witches, Mather concludes by reminding readers address these particular genres as working of the limitations of human reason: “Every Thing against his book’s premise, which is to instruct puzzles us. Even the Nature, yea, the Extent of an people on how to perform good works? Atom, does to this Day, puzzle all the Philosophers 3. Education and child rearing would quickly fall in the World.” Mather’s text contributed greatly to into the purview of republican mothers (18th the popularity of new scientifi c knowledge in New century) and the cult of true womanhood (19th England (Silverman 25). Mather’s prominence as century). How does Mather’s advice for parent- a minister in North Church, as well as his fam- ing skills and practices compare with the writings ily’s connections to Harvard University, certainly of HANNAH FOSTER WEBSTER’s The Coquette, or contributed to the reception of this book. Mather the writings of Lydia Maria Child and Harriet hoped it would appear in “our colledges” and that Beecher Stowe? students in Glasgow would benefi t from it (Solberg xlviii). Beyond the summarization and recitation of other famous scientists and their theories, Mather (1720) The Christian Philosopher includes information on his own scientifi c experi- In the mid-17th century, there was a growing trend ments and scientifi c observations made in his neigh- among theologians of making inquiries into sci- borhood (De Levie 364). The two most frequently Cotton Mather 247 cited passages from The Christian Philosopher are pies the highest position of all earthly creatures in Mather’s treatment of the hybridization of Indian the golden chain of being, which has God as its corn and his description of winter in New England highest link. Mather states that humans “wert (Solberg lxvi). These two original passages, proba- designed by God to be, the high-priest and orator bly taken from information gathered at the Boston of the universe” (237). In his study of the human Philosophical Society, have provided historians and body, Mather affi rms, “Every writer of anatomy will cultural critics alike with valuable information on offer enough to trample atheism under foot” (239). life in Puritan New England. Mather exclaims, “Who can behold a machine In April 1683, Increase founded the Boston composed of so many parts, to the right form, and Philosophical Society; naturally, Cotton was a order, and motion whereof there are such an infi nite member. The society patterned itself on England’s number of intentions required, without crying out, Royal Society and endeavored to collect remarkable who can be compared to the Lord” (247–249). events like earthquakes and fl oods that displayed In his earnest effort to prove that each aspect of God’s glory and served as warnings against sin- the body serves a divine purpose, Mather accepts ners (Solberg xxiv). Mather drew heavily from the and offers as evidence some observations that con- descriptions of natural phenomena in New England temporary readers will fi nd absurd. He observes, collected by the Boston Philosophical Society, as for example, that men’s breasts “besides adorning well as from John Ray’s Wisdom of God and William of the breast, and their defending of the heart, Derham’s Physico-Theology. Indeed, Mather’s debt sometimes contain milk” (240). Mather contin- to these two texts is so great that Winton Solberg, ues by reference to Thomas Bartholin’s example who edits the most recent edition of The Christian of a widower who suckled his infant son after his Philosopher, states that “about 79 percent” of the wife’s death. Likewise, Mather offers multiple uses text is taken from these two books (xlix). for hair, “not only to quench the stroke of a blow As the fi rst comprehensive study of science’s rela- to the skull, but also to cherish the brain” (250). tionship with faith written in America, The Chris- Mather refutes the ancients’ belief that earwax is tian Philosopher examines how American Puritans the “excrement of the brain,” yet he offers up testi- in the 18th century conceived of new scientifi c dis- mony of its healing properties against scorpion and coveries and technologies. Styled after other pub- serpent bites (262). When relating tales of affl icted lished works and respected scientifi c treatises (it men cured by music, Mather expounds, “But after was originally titled The Christian Virtuoso, which all, who but a God infi nitely wise could contrive is the title of Robert Boyle’s publication), Mather’s such a fi ne body, so susceptible of every impression book borrows its organizing structure for each of that the sense of hearing has occasion for” (268). the 32 essays. He cites ancient authorities such as Finally, when discussing the marvels of the intes- Pliny and Plato, then provides information from tines, Mather rhapsodizes, “The intestines, ’tis modern writers (including his own observations), wonderful, they are six times as long as the body and fi nally closes with an argument that the newly to which they appertain and now that they should acquired knowledge “redounds to the glory of keep their tone, and their site, and hold on doing God.” Mather also draws on the metaphor of two their offi ce, and give an undisturbed passage to books: the Bible and nature. This metaphor, which what every day passes thro them, and this for some is a central tenet of natural theology, can be traced scores of years together, ’tis impossible for me to back to its pagan origins with Plato, who used the consider without falling down before the glorious beauty of the natural world, coupled with general God” (283). consent, as his two-prong argument in favor of Aside from providing summations of various God’s existence. medical and scientifi c treatises, measurements, In the fi nal and longest essay, “Of Man,” Mather and experiments into the human anatomy, Mather discusses how “the lord of this lower world” occu- offers up the human cognitive faculty of reason as 248 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers further evidence of God’s existence. “Reason, what Manductio ad Ministerium (1726) is it, but a faculty formed by God, in the mind of It was not until the 1710s and 1720s that Mather Man, enabling him to discern certain maxims of and other writers began to formalize the curriculum truth, which God himself has established, and to for New England ministers. Mather’s Manductio ad make true inferences from them! In all the dictates Ministerium, later published under the title Dr. Cot- of reason, there is the voice of God” (297). ton Mather’s Student and Preacher (1781 and 1789), Mather concludes The Christian Philosopher was a guide for ministerial candidates in New Eng- with a clear statement of the book’s purpose: “To land during their college years. From Mather’s own enkindle the dispositions and the resolutions of experience of fraudulent ministers in Boston, it was piety in my brethren, is the intention of all my imperative that strict guidelines be created for the essays, and must be the conclusion of them” (308). education and screening of ministerial candidates. “Were what God hath spoken duly regarded, and were these two things duly complied with, the One “preacher” in particular, whose tale Mather World would be soon revived into a desirable Gar- recounts in A Warning to the Flocks (1700), was a den of God” (309). In short, were readers to follow man named Samuel May who advised the female the example Mather lays out in his book, mankind members of his congregation to sleep with him. would be improved on such a scale that they would When the true story of this “preacher” was exposed, be in the “Garden of God.” This statement is very he was found to be Samuel Axel, a brickmaker from much in keeping with all of Mather’s work: He Hampshire (Silverman 142). envisions the third generation of Puritans as back- Among Mather’s recommendations for future sliding, moving further away from the purpose and ministers was knowledge of Greek and Latin, a goal of the founding Puritan fathers; with recogni- curriculum that closely followed the requirements tion, repentance, and a strict adherence to Puritan for Harvard. Although Hebrew was out of favor in dogma, New England could fulfi ll its destiny and England and New England, Mather suggested its become a “Garden of God.” use in elucidating the Bible. Instead of studying Aristotle, whom Mather deems a “muddy-headed For Discussion or Writing pagan,” he suggests reading the works of Sir Isaac 1. Consider a recent scientifi c discovery and con- Newton. As further proof of Mather’s conviction sider how it challenges Puritan faith. How in liberally educated ministers, he advocates such might you incorporate some of Mather’s tech- subjects as mathematics, astronomy, music, and niques for demonstrating the harmony between geography. It is no surprise that Mather would science and religion? place such heavy requirements on ministers, as 2. Mather relies heavily on two central scientifi c he declared their profession to be “certainly the fi gures from his time—Ray and Derham. Who highest dignity, if not the greatest happiness, that would replace them in current times? What human nature is capable of.” kinds of literary responses have they received? 3. In Mather’s time, the telescope and the micro- For Discussion or Writing scope were instrumental in scientifi c discover- 1. In light of Mather’s infl uence not only on the ies. What technologies are central to our current education of ministers, but on liberal education understanding of the world and beyond? in general, what particular ideas in Manductio 4. Contrast Mather’s insistence on the mutually ad Ministerium remain important to a contem- reinforcing relationship between science and porary defi nition of an education? faith to Hawthorne’s “Rappacini’s Daughter” 2. In terms of Mather’s rigorous curriculum for or “The Birth-mark,” where science seeks to ministers, what kind of role or position does he replace faith. imagine them to have in society? Are these roles Cotton Mather 249

different for contemporary ministers who are Craker, Wendel D. “Spectral Evidence, Non-Spec- not required to adhere to the same educational tral Acts of Witchcraft, and Confession at Salem program? in 1692.” Historical Journal 40, no. 2 (1997): 331–358. De Levie, Dagobert. “Cotton Mather, Theologian and Scientist.” American Quarterly 3, no. 4 (1951): FURTHER QUESTIONS ON 362–365. MATHER AND HIS WORK Hall, Michael G. “Genius in America: A New Biog- 1. The transcendentalist writers Ralph Waldo raphy of Cotton Mather.” Reviews in American Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Margaret History 7, no. 4 (1979): 494–498. Fuller envisioned their own distinctive relation- Jeske, Jeffrey. “Cotton Mather: Physico-Theologian.” ship between spirituality and the natural world. Journal of the History of Ideas 47, no. 4 (1986): To what extent does transcendentalism follow 583–594. mid-17th-century theology promoted in The Levin, David. Cotton Mather: The Young Life of Christian Philosopher? the Lord’s Remembrancer, 1663–1703. Cambridge, 2. Critics agree that the jeremiad continues to Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1978. be a popular and enduring genre in America. Mather, Samuel. The Life of the Very Reverend and Examine how Mather uses the jeremiad in two Learned Cotton Mather. Boston: 1729. of his writings. Identify the central values being McWilliams, John. New England Encounters: Indians threatened and the remedies that Mather advo- and Euroamericans Ca. 1600–1850: Essays Drawn cates for regaining them. Are they echoed in from the New England Quarterly. Edited by Aldent, secular writings such as JAMES FENIMORE COO- Vaughan. Boston: Northeastern University Press, PER’s Leatherstocking Tales? 1999. Middlekauff, Robert. The Mathers: Three Generations WORKS CITED AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES of Puritan Intellectuals, 1596–1728. New York: Bercovitch, Sacvan. “New England Epic: Cotton Oxford University Press, 1971. Mather’s Magnalia Christi Americana.” ELH 33, Miller, Perry. “Errand into the Wilderness.” William no. 3 (1966): 337–350. and Mary Quarterly 10, no. 1 (1953): 3–32. ———. Puritan Origins of the American Self. Madi- Norton, Mary Beth. In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem son: University of Wisconsin Press, 1980. Witchcraft Crisis of 1692. New York: Knopf, Breslaw, Elaine G. “Tituba’s Confession: The Mul- 2002. ticultural Dimensions of the 1692 Salem Witch- Post, Constance. “Old World in the New: John Eliot Hunt.” Ethnohistory 44, no. 3 (Summer 1997): and ‘Praying Indians’ in Cotton Mather’s Magna- 535–556. lia Christi Americana.” New England Quarterly Cohen, I. B. Benjamin Franklin’s Science. Cambridge, 66, no. 3 (1993): 416–433. Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1990. ———. Signs of the Times in Cotton Mather’s Paterna: Cotton Mather, an American on Patmos. Avail- A Study of Puritan Autobiography. New York: AMS able online. URL: http://www2.lib.virginia.edu/ Press, 2000. exhibits/brimstone/mather.html. Accessed April Silverman, Kenneth. The Life and Times of Cotton 23, 2009. Mather. New York: Harper & Row, 1984. Cotton Mather Home Page. Available online. URL: Solberg, Winton U. “Science and Religion in Early http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/mather.htm. America: Cotton Mather’s ‘Christian Philoso- Accessed April 23, 2009. pher.’ ” Church History 56, no. 1 (1987): 73–92. Thomas Morton (1579 –1647)

I will now discover unto them a country whose endowments are by learned men allowed to stand in parallel with the Israelites Canaan, which none will deny, to be a land far more excellent than Old England in her proper nature

(New English Canaan)

he biographer Donald Connors notes that details following year, 1623, Morton’s ongoing disputes Tof Morton’s early life are relatively scarce, with with George Miller resulted in his abandoning his the exception of his birth in the western part of Eng- wife and taking all of her property with him (Mur- land in 1579. Records indicate that Morton studied phy 761). law at Clifford’s Inn, one of the Inns of Chancery Morton arrived in New England in June 1624 in London. After his training, Morton practiced law aboard the Unity and soon became head of a trad- as an attorney in England’s “west countries.” On ing post at Passonagessit (which translates as “little November 6, 1621, Morton married Alice Miller, a neck of land”) located near present-day Quincy, wealthy widow who owned signifi cant property. He Massachusetts. On May Day, May 1, 1627, Morton had been managing her legal affairs for roughly four erected a maypole at Mount Wollaston, a place so or fi ve years prior to their marriage. Court docu- named after Captain Wollaston, who commanded ments reveal that questions of property rights soon the ship that fi rst carried Morton from England. In became a bone of contention between the newly celebration of May Day, Morton renamed Mount married Morton and his stepson, George Miller, Wollaston as Ma-re Mount and engaged in May Day who had just come of age (Connors 18). games with local planters, fur traders, and native The following year, in 1622, he sailed for the fi rst traders. His social interactions with American of several trips to New England. Donald Connors Indians did not sit well with his neighbors, how- argues that Morton actually arrived in 1624, not ever. Nor did his indulgence in alcohol in celebra- 1622, as has been previously reported, and offers tion of what the neighboring Puritans decried as a as evidence Morton’s name on the passenger list for pagan holiday. Because his antics directly offended Captain Wollaston’s ship. WILLIAM BRADFORD’s Of the Puritans, Miles Standish arrested Morton and Plymouth Plantation, which mentions the arrival of sent him back to England for the fi rst time in 1628. Wollaston’s ship in 1624, supports Connors’s claim. Morton spent the month of July on the Isle of Further, the critic Edith Murphy’s investigation Shoals (thinly disguised as Cape Ann in The New into Morton’s legal battles with George Miller, his English Canaan) and, the following month, was stepson, reveals that their disputes were ongoing in shipped back to England to face trial. 1622, and thus Morton’s appearance in America at The charges against Morton were dropped and such a time seems quite unlikely. She argues that he returned the following year, but his house at his physical presence would probably have been Ma-re Mount was seized or burned by Puritans, required in England to resolve these matters. The and he was forced to fl ee to England once again.

250 Thomas Morton 251

Morton began to work in earnest with an anti-Pu- of life in New England. And it is in this third ritan Anglican authority to undermine the Massa- book, entitled “Containing a Description of the chusetts Bay Colony, but to no avail. It is during his People That Are Planted There, What Remark- 12 years in England when Morton penned his work able Accidents Have Happened There since They praising New England but lampooning the Puri- Were Settled, What Tenets They Hould, Together tans, New English Canaan, which was fi rst pub- with the Practice of Their Church,” that Morton lished in Amsterdam. Morton was associated with attempts to provide his own version of history, the Council for New England and employed his which is markedly removed from Puritan doctrine. resources with them to promote book sales. When The two central principles animating Morton’s he returned to New England again in 1644, he was publication are promotion of colonization in New charged with slander and imprisoned in Boston. England and warning of the antics of the Puritans, He settled in Maine and died two years later. who he believed would undermine or in other ways Morton’s legacy is his single but infl uential pub- frustrate the colonial enterprise. lication, New English Canaan, not only because it Morton writes in his preface that the impetus provides contemporary readers and scholars with for the book lies in “the zeale which I beare to the details of early colonial life, but also because it advancement of the glory of God, the honor of his gives insight into American Indian culture and a majesty, and the good of the weale publike, hath balance to early colonial history, which has tradi- incouraged mee to compose this abstract, being tionally focused on Puritans exclusively. the model of a rich hopefull and very beautiful According to the colonist Edward Winslow, country, worthy the title of nature’s masterpeece, when the settlers in Plymouth heard of a plot for and may be lost by too much sufferance” (3). To the American Indians to attack Wessagusett and the reader, Morton writes of a desire to provide then Plymouth, they arranged a meeting, locked “better information of all such as are desirous to the doors of the meetinghouse, and killed all of the be made partakers of the blessings of God in that conspiring natives as a “preemptive” act of self-de- fertile soyle, as well as those that, out of curiousity fense (Kupperman 660). The remaining colonists onely have bin inquisitive after novelties” (6). His from Wessagusett found passage back to England, target of the Puritan settlers is obliquely referenced and the Plymouth colony lost its only source of as “divers persons (not so well affected to the weale competition in the fur trade so necessary for their publike in mine opinion) out of respect to their success (661). owne private ends)”; these folks “have laboured to keepe both the practice of the people there, and the reall worth of that eminent country concealed from publike knowledge, both which I have abundantly (1637) New English Canaan in this discourse layd open” (6). Part promotional tract, part political pamphlet, Morton opens book 1 with a discussion of the part natural history, and part ethnography, Thomas temperate zones (Torrida Zona and Frigida Zona) Morton’s New English Canaan contains three sec- and discusses the need for moderation in life (peo- tions that address life in New England. The fi rst ple should not desire to be rich, for they risk Nebu- book, “Containing the Originall of the Natives, chadnezar’s fate, or too poor, for fear of despairing, Their Manners & Customes, with Their Tractable as Job’s wife did). He agrees with Aristotle that Nature and Love towards the English,” provides the Frigida Zona is “unfi t for habitation” and readers with a detailed account of American Indi- thus praises Sir Ferdinando Gorges Knight as the ans in Massachusetts. The second book focuses “noble minded gentleman” who found the “goul- specifi cally on detailing the landscape: fl ora, fauna, den mean” between these two poles and “what land and land. The fi nal book takes on the subject is to be found there,” meaning he discovered New 252 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

England by navigating a path between these two may be well conjectured to be from the scattered extremes (15). Because New England “doth partic- Trojans, after such time as Brutus departed from ipate of heat and cold indifferently, but is oppressed Latium” (22). with neither: [it] therefore may be truly sayd to be Chapter three opens with the story of fi ve within the compasse of that golden mean, most apt Frenchmen who survived the burning of their ship, and fi t for habitation and generation, being placed where they traded beaver with the natives. The fi ve by almighty God the great creator . . . and is there- men became servants of fi ve sachems. The remain- fore most fi tt for the generation and habitation of ing survivor warned them that God would punish our English nation” (15–16). Because England is them for “their bloudy deede,” but the “savages situated at similar latitude to New England’s, Eng- replyed and sayd, that they were so many, that God landers seem destined for this New Canaan, where could not kill them” (23). As Morton recalls, their they can enjoy life in a temperate climate; Massa- foolish pride is quickly checked by the visitation chusetts is ripe for colonization; and its coastline of a plague that “fell heavily upon them with such and wind currents are conducive to anchoring ships a mortall stroake, that they died on heapes” (23). (17). As further proof of divine Providence’s hand Because of the catastrophic nature of the plague, in British colonization, “the wondrous wisedom the natives were unable to bury their own dead; and love of God, is shewne, by sending to the place instead, the carcasses became fodder for kites and his minister, to sweepe away by heapes the salvages” other vermin. Morton informs readers how highly (15). Here Morton refers to the large number of unusual this was, as the “custome of those Indian native inhabitants killed by the plague. In the fi rst people [is] to bury their dead ceremoniously, and book, dedicated to the lives of American Indians, carefully, and then to abandon that place” (24). Morton tells of the plague of 1616–18 and remarks Once again, Morton insists that the plague severely how fortuitous it was that this disaster rid the land reduced the native inhabitants of Plymouth with of most of its native inhabitants and thus made the result that “the place is made so much the more New England more fi t for English colonization. fi tt, for the English nation to inhabit in, and erect In chapter 2, Morton states that he was in New in it temples to the glory of God” (24). England in 1622 and reports that of the “two In chapter 4, Morton compares the houses of sortes of people” that he discovered there, “the the natives of New England to those of the “wild infi dels [were] most full of humanity, and more Irish” (24). He provides some minute details friendly then the other,” or “Christians” (17). regarding the materials central to the construction Morton spends time among the natives of New of teepees (24–25). He also writes of Native hospi- England, seeking to learn their language, which he tality, stating that they will feed their guests as well declares “doe use very many wordes both of Greeke as provide bedding for them if they remain long and Latine” (18). Morton disagrees with those enough to sleep. “Such,” Morton declares, is “their who believe “the natives of New England may pro- humanity” (26). In comparison to the “gentry of ceede from the race of the Tartars” (19). Rather, he civilized natives,” the natives of New England do offers up the theory that “the natives of this coun- not summer or winter in the same place but remove try might originally come of the scattered Trojan” in the seasons to hunting or fi shing grounds. In (20). As a sign of the natives’ desire to traffi c in their leisure time Morton notes that they perform commerce with England, Morton points to the juggling tricks and “all manner of revelles” (26). presence of a “mixed language” (20). Morton relies Morton cites Cicero’s belief that even the most on the writings of Sir Christopher Gardiner Knight barbarous people have some form of worship and and David Tompson, a Scottish gentleman, both of argues that if Tully had had the same experiences whom are “scollers and travelers,” in his conclusion he has had with the natives of New England, Tully that “the originall of the natives of New England would have changed his opinion (27). Further, Thomas Morton 253 his theory would be refi ned were he to take the As further testament to Morton’s recognition of “judiciall councell of Sir William Alexander” (27). the humanity and civility of New England’s native Despite other sections that directly and indirectly tribes, Morton writes in chapter 8 of their rever- address native worship, Morton concludes this ence and respect for their elders, hoping that this chapter by stating quite defi nitively, “The natives will “reduce some of our irregular young people of of New England have no worship nor religion at civilized nations when this story shall come to their all” (28). Indeed, Morton confesses himself more knowledge, to better manners” (33). In essence inclined to believe that elephants worship the moon Morton’s characterization of American Indians, than to believe natives have a form of religion (27). and his detailed accounting of social and cultural In the chapter dedicated to Indian apparel, practices ranging from clothing to the treatment of Morton speaks of the modesty of natives, who are elders, results in a reversal, at times, of the racially ashamed of their nakedness and their “secreats of charged categories of civilized and barbarian. nature; which by no means they suffer to be seene” Native behavior becomes exemplum for the more (29). Once again, Morton compares the Natives to “civilized” Britains to emulate. the Irish, stating that in their apparel, they look Chapter 9 briefl y covers the subject of the sha- like “their trouses, the stockinges joyne so to their man and equates the natives’ respect for their breeches” (30). The Native men wear shoes and “powahs” with the British esteem for surgeons and stockings and mantles that are so long that they physicians (36). Morton concludes with an anec- trail the ground behind them. Morton applauds dote of an unnamed Englishman cured of a swol- their modesty, which he places on par with that of len hand by a powah. Chapter 10 covers the rules civilized people (31). of dueling, which involve two combatants’ fi ring Morton seems to be impressed by the physical arrows at each other from behind two trees. strength of pregnant women, who are capable of Chapter 11 relies on one particular anecdote of carrying heavy burdens on their backs without the a married woman whose father would not return threat of miscarrying the child (31). Further, Mor- her to her husband and whose husband would not ton remarks that the babies are born “of complexion send men to accompany her on her return as an white as our nation” (32). This issue of racial mark- illustration of the weight of reputation. ings seems key to this particular chapter as Morton Morton provides some details of native com- writes at length about the conjecture that follows merce between tribes and with the British. Their the birth of a gray-eyed child. Morton, on seeing the currency is called Wampampeak and consists of child’s eyes, informs the father in his native language white shells (which Morton likens to silver) and vio- that the child is a bastard. The father responds that let shells (which he compares to gold) (40). Morton the child should have an English name (32). What mentions the natives’ ability to discern counterfeit Morton is indirectly addressing here, despite an or fake forms of Wampampeak but fails to mention apparent insistence on racial difference, is the inter- whether it is the British or other natives who have marriage and thus the closing off of any apparent been the counterfeiters. Note again that Morton’s gaps between the natives and the British. Indeed, subject of study presupposes not only that British Morton remarks on the artifi cial means employed settlers will engage in trade with the native popula- by mothers to give their children tawny skin. The tion, but also that the natives have their own econo- mothers make a bath of “walnut leaves, huskes of mies and currency systems, symbols of civilization. walnuts, and such things as will staine their skinne In a discussion of native industry, Morton turns to for ever” (32). Thus, were it not for actions taken the fi gures of labor common from Aesop’s fables, the by the mothers to effect a change in their children’s ant and the bee. As they do, he declares, the natives skin tone, it appears as though they would be indis- store corn for the winter (42). Morton believes that tinguishable from children of Morton’s nation. if they knew of the preservative quality of salt, which 254 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers he deems a “chiefe benefi t in a civilized common- sinfulness. As further testament to the parallels wealth,” they would diversify their stored foods to between the two belief systems, Morton concludes include fi sh and meats (43). It is quite possible that the chapter with an anecdote of a savage who had Morton mentions salt because of its potential as a lived with him before marrying and raising a fam- commodity for future trade. ily. This same man approached Morton with the Morton warns against an underestimation request that his son taught to read the Bible and of natives: “These people are not (as some have thus become an Englishman and a good man (50). thought) a dull, or slender witted people; but very Morton is not personally interested in converting ingenious and subtile” (43). He follows this pro- natives to Christianity, so his mention of this event nouncement with a tale of how a sachem named in which a father wishes for his son to emulate the Cheecatawbak used subtlety and psychological ways and beliefs of the English might be seen out- warfare to make the Narragansett believe the Eng- side the context of proselytizing. lish with whom they had been trading were angry Morton relates burial and mourning customs, not- with them and would surely kill them if the natives ing that they differ in accordance with the nobility or did not depart quickly. To persuade the English to obscurity of the person who has died. He mentions raise arms and prepare to battle the Narragansett, that the Plymouth planters defaced the burial site of Sachem Cheecatawbak spun a tale of the ulterior Sachem Cheekatawback’s mother, believing it to be motives for trading: to gain information on the superstitious, and that the natives rightly considered strength of the English and assess their weapons this an impious act (51). Further, Morton includes and storehouses in order to reclaim the corn they an additional offense the English colonists commit- had traded. ted against the natives when they made mention of Morton’s celebration of this one particular anyone who had died, since the natives consider it sachem’s military or psychological strategy is fol- a painful reminder (52). With an oblique reference lowed by a chapter in which he makes a similar to future democracy, Morton includes the natives’ assessment of their physical skills. He is amazed by observation that the English must be without a their keen sense of sight, stating that they can spy sachem since all of their graves look similar (52). an approaching ship before the English, as well as In chapter 18, Morton details the custom of con- their sense of smell. He claims that a native man trol burns to remove underbrush (“underweedes”) can sniff the hand of a Frenchman and distinguish (52–53). As a result, Morton suggests that settlers his scent from a Spaniard’s (48). search the lower grounds and valleys when looking Despite previous statements denying the pos- for large trees and good timber (53). sibility of natives’ practicing religion, including Ever with an eye toward the English settlers’ a rather exaggerated statement that elephants are success in New England, Morton mentions the use more likely to worship the moon than natives hold of “lusty liquors” as a central component to trad- a theology, Morton states that “these salvages” ing in the northern parts of the country (54). Given have their own creation myth, which includes Morton’s reported May Day revelries with American the initial origin of humans in one man and one Indians, which included a fair amount of alcohol, woman, dominion over the earth, and a fl ood as it might seem as though he had no reservations in punishment from a higher being. This fi gure is supplying the native inhabitants with “fi re water.” called Kytan, and those who are good are taken Such an assumption, however, would be inaccurate. to his house when they die; those who are evil go He seems to add a word of caution and even one to the centers of the earth. This belief very closely of remonstrance by closing this short chapter with a follows the Genesis myth of the Old Testament tale of a native man who, when drunk, put a gun in in which God creates the human race from Adam his mouth and pulled the trigger. Keeping this story and Eve and delivers a fl ood as punishment for of desperation brought on by drink in mind, Mor- Thomas Morton 255 ton avows, “Yet in al the commerce that I had with promotional tract. Chapter 2, for example, covers them, I never proffered them any such thing” (54). the various trees to be found in plenitude. Chapter Morton concludes the fi rst book of The New 3 briefl y mentions “pottherbes and other herbes English Canaan with an earnest and detailed for sallets” (66–67). Chapter 4 covers native fowl, attempt to dispel myths that the natives of New and chapter 5, “beasts of the forrest” (83). Morton England—and hence the English settlers who live covers stones and minerals in chapter 6 and fi sh there—lead harsh lives. Morton assures the reader in chapter 7. Chapter 8 is dedicated to the waters that the natives are without want; indeed, were the and contains tales of their extraordinary proper- beggars of England to fi nd food with such ease as ties, such as a water that cures melancholy located the natives of New England, no one would starve on Morton’s property at “Ma-re Mount,” a water in the streets and there would no longer be “gal- that cures barrenness, and a water that produces a louses with poore wretches” (55). The riches to be deep sleep for 48 hours (93). The idea of medici- found in New England are not equal to the fi neries nal waters was quite popular, stemming in part and luxuries of civilized nations like England, Mor- from tales of miraculous healing waters in places ton admits, but these trappings make men prone to like Lourdes that were circulated by the Catholic sin. They become too proud of their clothing; they Church. become gluttonous if their food is always served Morton declares it to be truly a land of milk “in dishes of plate with variety of sauces” (57). In and honey (93). The fi nal two chapters of book 2 New England, one learns to appreciate simple plea- cover various aspects of “New Canaan”: moderate sures and be unencumbered of too many trinkets rainfall, winds milder than in England, no inhab- or “superfl uous commodities.” Indians live con- itants suffering a cold or cough, and fertile soil. tented lives without the pomp that they daily wit- “And since the separatists are desirous to have the ness in the English planters (58). Morton compares denomination thereof, I am become an humble the idyllic life of natives to the utopic society envi- suiter on their behalfe for your consents (courte- sioned by Plato. ous readers) to it, before I doe shew you what rev- Morton opens the second book by writing: els they have kept in New Canaan” (96). In the fi nal chapter, he speaks of increased understanding What I have resolved on, I have really performed between the British and natives through knowl- and I have endeavoured, to use this abstract as edge of each other’s language: “It is tenne yeares an instrument, to be the means, to communi- since fi rst the relation of these things came to the cate the knowledge which I have gathered by eares of the English: at which time wee were but my many yeares residence in those parts, unto slender profi cients in the language of the natives, my countrymen, to the end, that they may the and they, (which now have attained to more perfec- better perceive their error, who cannot imag- tion of English), could not then make us rightly ine, that there is any country in the universal apprehend their meaninge” (98). Contemporary world, which may be compared unto our native historians and ethnographers have benefi ted greatly soyle, I will now discover unto them a coun- from Morton’s documentation of Native languages try whose indowments are by learned men and customs. What might have been a strategy to allowed to stand in parallel with the Israelites appear as an expert in American immigration or Canaan, which non will deny, to be a land farre an attempt otherwise to curry favor with those in more excellent then Old England in her proper charge of the colonies, Morton’s inclusion of lin- nature. (61) guistic information has been invaluable. To express the potential for England to lose or In fulfi llment of this purpose, book 2 offers, at forfeit its colonial hold on America, unless they act times, a catalog of fl ora and fauna that reads like a in a timely fashion, Morton mentions the threat the 256 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

Dutch pose by encroaching on the Hudson River sachem the day before their arranged meeting and and gaining control of the beaver trade over both demands the skins of the sachem (125). the French and the English (99). Morton offers When Weston fi nally arrives at his plantation, he up the possibility that one of the great rivers men- learns of the number of planters dead from sick- tioned by the natives might well prove itself to be a ness or else killed in battle against the native popu- passage to East India (100). For all of the reasons lation. The surviving planters who have scattered laid out in detail in book 2, Morton concludes that in Plymouth begin to spin tales of the dangerous, “it would be adjudged an irreparable oversight to subtle, secret, and mischievous nature of the sav- protract time, and suffer the Dutch (who are but ages (113). Morton seems to catalog this series of intruders upon his majesties most hopefull coun- calamities for two purposes: to exonerate Thomas try of New England) to possesse themselves of Weston of the crimes carried out by those he fi t- that plesant and commodious country of Erocoise ted out to create a plantation and to demonstrate before us” (100). how treacherous and deceitful the Plymouth plant- Book 3 “contain[s] a description of the people ers are predisposed to be. As a corrective to these that are planted there, what remarkable accidents unfounded portrayals of the native population, have happened there, since they were settled, what Morton assures readers, “I have found the Mas- tenets they hould, together with the practise of their sachusetts Indian more full of humanity then the church” (103). Morton opens the fi rst few chapters Christians, and have had much better quarter with of book 3 on the fate of Thomas Weston’s enter- them” (114). Morton concedes that it is inevitable prise to colonize Massachusetts. He tells of how when two nations meet that “one must rule and the English colonizers were known by the name the other be ruled” (114). Wotanquenange, which translates as “stabbers or The planters do not limit their treachery to the cutthroats” (112). The savages at Wessaguscus were natives of Massachusetts but mistreat the “good enjoying a feast set for them by the English plant- merchant,” Thomas Weston himself. They confi s- ers who were their guests when the Plymouth plant- cate his ship, rob it of its contents, and hold Weston ers murdered them with their own knives (111). hostage while they do so. Just as they glossed their Another act of cruelty and injustice against the own misdeeds with Weston, so they spread false natives occurred when one of the “planters of New tales of Weston’s madness to cover their actions England” stole a cache of corn. Although the Parlia- against him. ment desired to punish this man by executing him, They then conspire to abandon Morton on Cape they could not bring themselves to follow through Ann, under the pretense that the weather requires with this plan. Instead, they dressed an old and sickly them to take shelter. Morton chronicles how the man in the clothes of the young man and prepared planters’ plans were foiled by the wise Weston, who to execute him instead. A third action that results insisted that the oars and sails be taken ashore (thus in a battle between these two groups is caused by dashing their plans to maroon him on Cape Ann desecrating the grave of the sachem’s mother (107). and sail away in the night). Morton opens a bottle Morton provides another anecdote “so that by this of “lusty liquor,” a sparkling Claret that the con- [the reader] may easily perceive the uncivilized peo- spirators begin to drink in great quantities. Morton ple are more just than the civilized” (125). He tells has quite fun declaring the religious implications a tale of theft when white settlers take the 10 skins of this act by the very people who had earlier been meant as payment for corn taken from the house of lamenting the lack of “the meanes” to worship: Passonagessit. The white settlers take the skins for “knowinge the wine would make them Protes- themselves rather than pass them on to the owner; tants” (118). In response to the Plymouth plant- the owner then asks the sachem for payment of 10 ers’ request for a minister, Master Layford is sent skins for the corn. This time, a man approaches the as their preacher. When they ask him to renounce Thomas Morton 257

his calling from England (and thus the Church of 2. Morton’s tale seems similar to JOHN SMITH’s England) as “hereticall and papisticall” (118) and because both men are early settlers whose cen- he refuses, the “brethren” manufacture a scan- tral concerns were fortune and fame rather than dal about Master John Layford to “conclude hee fi nding a safe haven for religious tolerance. What was a spotted beast” (119). They rid themselves of or who becomes the higher authority for these another Anglican minister, John Oldam, by declar- authors instead of God? How do they imagine ing him to be too passionate and moody (119). religion’s role in America? Morton makes good sport of a new minister, 3. Morton’s narrative marks itself as different whom he names Master Bubble. This man makes because of its inclusion of poetry mixed in such use of his profound oratory gifts, his whole with ethnography, history, and personal narra- audience was fast asleep (122). When Bubble takes tive. Consider how this mixture of genres aids up residence with a man at Passonagessit, he says or detracts from Morton’s tale. How does his grace so lengthily that the meat turns cold (123). mixture of genres compare with ÁLVAR NÚÑEZ He proves ineffective in helping his host hunt for CABEZA DE VACA’s? fowl because by the time he “paddles out like a cow in a cage,” all of the ducks have departed and escaped (124). Chapter 12 relates the deceitful actions of FURTHER QUESTIONS ON Master Bubble, master of ceremonies, who takes MORTON AND HIS WORK some guides with him on his hunt for beaver. In 1. Not much is known about the life of Thomas the night, Bubble leaves behind his sack with all Morton, aside from New English Canaan his provisions and his shoes and makes his way out and Bradford’s treatment of him in Of Plym- into the forest with his pants over his head to shield outh Plantation. What details or aspects of his his head from imaginary arrows. The next day, his life can you glean from reading New English guides, bewildered by his absence, consult the Eng- Canaan? lish, carrying Bubble’s effects intact. The English 2. As a gadfl y, Thomas Morton might provide read- are at fi rst inclined to believe their tale of Bubble’s ers with more insight into the reality of Puritan mysterious disappearance but suspect something life. What aspects of Puritan culture does Mor- when they notice that he left without his shoes. ton address or defy most directly? What con- The English threaten to kill the natives’ wives and clusions might you draw about Puritan life and children unless they give Master Bubble back, alive culture in early America from Morton’s outsider or dead. When they discover the “maz’d man,” he perspective, and how do these conclusions com- spins a tale of his travels and “perilous passages” pare with those of early writers within the Puri- that Morton deems them worthy of “knight errant, tan culture such as William Bradford and JOHN Don Quixote” (128). Morton closes this chapter, WINTHROP? urging the reader to “observe whether the savage people are not full of humanity, or whether they WORKS CITED AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES are a dangerous people as Master Bubble and the Connors, Donald Francis. Thomas Morton. New York: rest of his tribe would perswade you” (128). Twayne, 1969. ———. “Thomas Morton of Merry Mount: His First For Discussion or Writing Arrival in New England.” American Literature 11, 1. Compare the vision animating Morton’s work no. 2 (1939): 160–166. with that of his nemesis, WILLIAM BRADFORD. Dempsey, Jack. Thomas Morton of “Merrymount”: The How central is the depiction of American Indi- Life and Renaissance of an Early American Poet. ans to each man’s vision of the “New World”? Scituate, Mass.: Digital Scanning, 2000. 258 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

Griffi n, Edward M. “Dancing around the Maypole, Read, David. New World, Known World: Shaping Ripping Up the Flag: The Merry Mount Caper and Knowledge in Early Anglo-American Writing. Issues in American History and Art.” Renascence Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2005. 57, no. 3 (Spring 2005). Sterne, Richard Clark. “Puritans at Merry Mount: Kupperman, Karen Ordahl. “Thomas Morton, Histo- Variations on a Theme.” American Quarterly 22, rian.” New England Quarterly 50, no. 4 (1977): no. 4 (1970): 846–858. 660–664. Thomas Morton (c. 1575 or 1579–1647). Available McWilliams, John P., Jr. “Fictions of Merry Mount.” online. URL: http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/ American Quarterly 29, no. 9 (1977): 3–30. amlit/morton.htm. Accessed April 23, 2009. Murphy, Edith. “ ‘A Rich Widow, Now to Be Tane Zuckerman, Michael. “Pilgrims in the Wilderness: Up or Laid Downe’: Solving the Riddle of Thomas Community, Modernity, and the Maypole at Merry Morton’s ‘Rise Oedipus.’ ” William and Mary Mount.” New England Quarterly 50, no. 2 (1977): Quarterly 53, no. 4 (1996): 755–768. 55–277. Judith Sargent Murray (1751–1820)

I feel the pride of womanhood all up in arms.

(letter to a female cousin, 1777)

udith Sargent was the fi rst of eight children born from Gloucester, on October 3, 1769, and their Jto Captain Winthrop Sargent and Judith Saun- marriage lasted 17 years. In reviewing Judith’s let- ders Sargent. Both her mother and her father were ters to her sister, it is evident that the marriage, like from wealthy New England families; her mother’s most of its time, was not based on love, and Judith family was associated with the area’s maritime expresses a longing to return to her childhood industry, and her father was a shipowner and mer- home and the emotional comforts afforded by her chant. As Judith Sargent wrote in a letter to her mother and her siblings (Harris xviii). brother, her early education was hardly adequate: Because of the Revolutionary War’s impact on “But during my fi rst years, although our parents the maritime industry, as well as the fi nancial ruin were, as you know, the best of human beings, they of Judith Stevens’s father-in-law, John Stevens was yet did homage to the shrine of fashion, custom forced to take to the seas in the hopes of avoiding tyrannizes over the strongest minds—It was the debtors’ prison and recouping some of the fam- mode to confi ne the female intellect within the ily’s lost monies. He sailed to the West Indies in narrowest bounds, and by consequence I was 1786, and shortly after his departure, Judith Ste- robbed of the aid of education—I shall feel the vens received news of his death. While she seemed effects of this irrational deprivation, as long as I content to live out her life as a widow, her growing shall continue an inhabitant of this world.” As friendship with a fellow Universalist, John Mur- Sargent would go on to advocate women’s access ray, who preached at the fi rst Universalist meeting- to education, it seems certain that her own lack of house, which was dedicated to him in 1780 by her a formal education infl uenced her later writings. father, blossomed into love and the two were wed Sargent’s parents eventually recognized her excep- on October 6, 1788. In stark contrast to a loveless tional intelligence and employed the Reverend marriage of respect with Stevens, Judith Sargent John Rogers to tutor both her and her younger Murray describes a marriage of equals in her happy brother, Winthrop, Jr., who was to prepare for his union with second husband, John Murray. entry into Harvard (Harris xvi). Because Sargent The critic Sharon Harris speculates that the cou- deliberately destroyed letters written before 1774, ple’s dedication to the principles of Universalism, which she refers to as “a kind of history of my juve- which Harris is quick to point out Murray advocated nile life,” we do not have much further information years prior to her marriage to John Murray, might on her childhood (Harris xvii). She married her have contributed to their egalitarian marriage (xxi– fi rst husband, John Stevens, who was a sea captain xxii). Universalism set itself in contradistinction

259 260 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers to Puritan belief in the elect, or predestination, in it had only one performance, on March 2, 1795, it which only a select few were “elected” by God for had the honor of being “the fi rst play by an Ameri- eternal salvation. In Universalist thought, all people can author [to be] performed at [Boston’s Federal were eligible for salvation, and moreover, they had Street Theatre]” (Harris xxxvii). The critic Sharon individual religious liberty. The Universalist Church Harris contradicts the assessment of other critics was the fi rst to ordain women; its fi rst three female who attribute the play’s single run to its lack of ministers would prove to be fi gures in the feminist quality and points instead to the gender bias that movement. Murray certainly embraced the faith’s caused one critic to assume that her husband had belief in equality of the sexes, as she would delve coauthored the play, and a second critic to refer into the religious and biblical aspects of this theme to her as a man, assuming that only men could be in her famous essay “On the Equality of the Sexes.” playwrights (xxxvii–xxxviii). She recognized the infl uence of the Genesis tale of In 1798 Sargent Murray gathered her most pop- Adam’s, and thus humankind’s, fall based on Eve’s ular writings and published them in a three-volume temptation as a cornerstone to sexual inequality set entitled The Gleaner under her pseudonym, and wrote her own version of the fi rst couple, pro- Constantia. Despite her use of the pen name, Sar- viding Eve equal if not superior status to Adam. gent Murray’s identity was well known at the time On their travels together during John’s preaching she published The Gleaner. The three-volume series tour, Judith had occasion to meet some of the key offered 100 essays on various topics and represents fi gures of the 18th century, including JOHN ADAMS “a compendium of cultural issues relevant to late and ABIGAIL ADAMS, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, and eighteenth-century America” (Harris xxxix). The Martha Washington. series was extremely popular and successful, its list Just as she offered support to her husband in of subscribers including the foremost fi gures in his career as minister for the Universalist Church, 18th-century America: John Hancock, Martha and so did John promote and support Judith’s literary George Washington, President John Adams, the career. The Massachusetts Magazine, to which she governors of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, began contributing in earnest in 1789 after the still- and SUSANNA HASWELL ROWSON, author of the born birth of her fi rst child, was the “longest lived best-selling seduction novel Charlotte Temple. The of all eighteenth century American magazines” family’s fi nancial strain was a central reason why and the central vehicle of Murray’s publishing Murray published The Gleaner, and despite its suc- career (xxiii). The Magazine provided Murray with cess, they continued to suffer. the distinguished honor of being the fi rst female Her cousin Lucius Murray was a source of criti- writer in America with her own ongoing column cism and cruel tricks. In 1807 21-year-old Lucius (Harris xxv). She published under the pseudonyms wrote to his 56-year-old cousin under the pretense Constantia and The Gleaner and under the second of being a printer from Blecher & Armstrong with published an ongoing column focusing on contem- an interest in publishing her latter works, which porary cultural topics (Harris xxvi). Her fi rst and appeared under the pseudonym Honora Marte- only novel, The Story of Margaretta, appeared seri- sia. After the demise of the Massachusetts Maga- ally in the Gleaner in 1792. zine, Sargent Murray had returned to poetry and, When the Murrays moved to Boston in 1793, in honor of her time with the former, sought out Sargent Murray was introduced to a more cul- a new pen name for the work she published with turally and politically rich arena, and she quickly the Boston Weekly Magazine. After Sargent Mur- found herself debating some of the central issues ray “devoted precious time selecting appropriate of the day in her columns for the Massachusetts works for the collection,” she was stunned to read Magazine. It was while in Boston that she began from Armstrong that the printers had made no writing and producing her plays, the fi rst of which such request (Harris xlii). Lucius Murray in further was The Medium, or Virtue Triumphant. Although acts of cruelty attempted to tarnish the reputation Judith Sargent Murray 261 of Sargent Murray’s daughter, Julia Murray Binga- only between those endowments deserving merit man, alleging that she had seduced her future hus- and those void of it but also the regard Margaretta band while he was a boarder in her parents’ home should have for herself and her accomplishments. and that her pregnancy forced Adam Bingaman to Rather than cultivating vanity or false pride in their marry her. adopted daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Vigillius nurture In 1809 John Murray suffered a stroke that left her self-esteem, placing due value on those aspects him paralyzed until his death six years later in 1815. of her that deserve consideration. Armed with such In his last years of life, Murray edited and published sage advice, Margaretta steers clear of Sinisterus’s her husband’s writings, as well as wrote a biography traps, depicted in the essay’s poem as the dangers of him. After his death, Murray moved to Natchez, facing a ship at sea. If a young woman is not truly Mississippi, to live with her daughter Julia and her apprised of her beauty and her features, Murray son-in-law, Adam Bingaman, and remained there suggests, then she is prone to a seducer’s fl attering until her own death at the age of 69. Judith Sargent tongue and corrupting infl uence. Murray was buried in the Bingaman family cem- Murray moves from the vague example of the etery on St. Catharine’s Creek. “beautiful female” to a more intimate illustration of her point, her instruction for her own daughter. Although she would readily concede her daugh- ter’s external beauty, Murray would, above all else, “Desultory Thoughts upon the address her “as a rational being” and persuade Utility of Encouraging a Degree of her to “adorn her mind.” To “set [her daughter] Self-Complacency, Especially in above the snares of the artful betrayer,” Murray Female Bosoms” (1784) believes her child should be well acquainted with Murray’s other central essay on the station of the language of praise: so that “her mind would women in 18th-century America opens with a not be enervated or intoxicated . . . by a delicious poem in which she expresses the need for “self surprise.” In so doing, Murray feels that a parent estimation” in young women. As her virtuous like her “would destroy the weapons of fl attery, or eponymous heroine does in The Story of Marga- render them useless” because the novelty of praise retta, Murray argues that young girls are easily would have worn off through years of kind words the prey of conniving men unless they are armed from the young woman’s family. A healthy dose of with enough sense of self-worth that they recog- self-esteem would serve not only the young woman nize praise as empty or hollow words and are thus unaccustomed to praise, but also her kindred who immune to its seductive effects. Murray utilizes a are “taught also to regard her character ridicu- nautical metaphor to imagine the effects of a lack lously contemptible.” The “depression of the soul” of self-esteem: “lost to conscious worth, to decent resulting from a parent’s desire to eradicate pride pride / Compass nor helm there is, our course to appears to Murray to have an extreme infl uence guide” (15–16). and to render the child just as susceptible to the In delineating the various subjects compos- seducer’s fl attery. ing Margaretta’s education, the narrator dilates at length on the necessity of “constantly incul- For Discussion or Writing cating one grand truth . . . her person, the sym- 1. How does Murray’s advice about a young wom- metry of her features . . . are the endowments of an’s education relate to the descriptions of the nature—while the artifi cial accomplishments with educations received by SUSANNA H ASWELL ROW- which she is invested, resulting wholly from acci- SON’s Charlotte Temple and HARRIET WEBSTER dent, and being altogether independent of her own FOSTER’s Eliza Wharton? arrangements, confer upon her no real or intrinsic 2. Compare Murray’s treatise on female education merit.” In this passage, Murray distinguishes not with that of COTTON MATHER. To what extent 262 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

do the religious beliefs of the two authors con- “that in those entertainments which are produc- tribute to their ideas about education? tive of such rational felicity, she is not qualifi ed to accompany him.” Minds thus fi lled with worthy thoughts and substantive contemplations “would have little room for the trifl es with which our sex (1790) “On the Equality of the Sexes” are, with too much justice, accused of amusing Murray’s most famous and anthologized essay fi rst themselves . . .” appeared in the Massachusetts Magazine in March Against the argument that educated wives would and April 1790. Murray opens with a poem in neglect their household duties, Murray insists that which she expresses her belief that “such distinc- these activities are “easily attained” and, once tions [between men and women] only dwell below” attained, “require no further mental attention.” In because “the soul unfetter’d, to no sex confi n’d” short, because no education is necessary for con- (40–41). Thus, the poem establishes Murray’s ducting themselves about their daily chores in their central argument in the essay: For souls that are homes, wives would be “at full liberty for refl ec- not “confi n’d” by sex, gender is irrelevant and only tion” even as they are “pursuing the needle or the becomes a concern to those on earth, who “dwell superintendency of the family.” If time permitted, below.” The distinction, then, between men and wives could commit these refl ections to paper; if women is not inherent but due to depriving women not, they would contribute to a more “refi ned and of the substantial education reserved for men. rational” conversation. Affl uent women have the Murray playfully addresses the issue of women’s leisure time to devote to studies and more com- innate mental faculties by dividing these up into mendable subjects of contemplation, while for those four categories: imagination, reason, memory, and who are in “embarrassed circumstances” Murray judgment. As proof of women’s capacity for inven- recommends early hours and close application. tion, she offers up the daily changing fashions and On the subject of men’s superior physical women’s “talent for slander.” Any lack of reason strength, Murray points to not only the presence she places squarely on the general defi ciency of the of masculine females and effeminate males, but education available to women: “We can only reason also to great minds like that of Alexander Pope, from what we know.” She likewise attributes any “clogged with an enervated body and distin- disparity in women’s and men’s reasoning facul- guished by a diminutive stature.” As yet another ties to “the difference in education, and continued example that physical strength does not account advantages.” From an early age, Murray argues, for a natural inequality among the sexes, Murray the male “is taught to aspire” while the female points to those who, though approaching death, “is early confi ned and limited.” As a result, when and thus possessed of a “clay built tabernacle . . . the young girl arrives at womanhood, she “feels a well nigh dissolved,” remain capable of attaining void . . . she feels the want of a cultivated mind.” sublime heights. Had she received something more substantial than Murray ultimately arrives in a supplemental arti- a “proper education,” the woman would employ cle to the Magazine at the most diffi cult argument her knowledge of geography, astronomy, or natural held up to prove the inequality of the sexes: the philosophy in her understanding and contempla- downfall of humanity (and Adam) through the bib- tion of God. In other words, Murray assures her lical tale of Eve. Extracted from a letter she wrote readers that educated women would be pious, more to an unnamed male friend in December 1780, capable of religious devotion because of minds Murray tackles the “sacred oracles” that constitute cultivated to comprehend God. Further, educated the entirety of her friend’s argument in favor of the women would be better wives to their husbands. inequality of the sexes. Murray disagrees with the With their current lack of education, Murray traditional reading of a “malignant demon” who argues, wives are set so far below their husbands appeared to Eve in “the guise of a baleful serpent” Judith Sargent Murray 263 and instead relies upon “the criticks in the Hebrew devoted so many of her Gleaner papers to discus- tongue” who insist that the “fallen spirit presented sions of ideas not normally found in the American himself to her view as a shining angel.” Further, she magazine literature written by blue-stockinged considers the message of this entity, a promise of females during our early national period. Judith “perfection of knowledge.” Thus, she deduces, Eve Murray’s mind was as catholic and resilient as her was animated by “a desire of adorning her mind, heart was exquisite and tender. Her interest in a laudable ambition fi red her soul, and a thirst for masculine ideas is suggested most boldly in her knowledge impelled the predilection so fatal in essays on nationalism, the battle between ancients its consequences.” Her motivation was not based and moderns, and liberty in a federal republic” upon a satisfaction of her base appetite, but a noble (Jorgenson 74). Murray tackles the thorny issue of desire for knowledge. Adam, Murray suggests, was the French Revolution and debates whether Amer- not acting upon such a noble premise; nor was he ica, which had so recently been the benefi ciary deceived as Eve was, for he had witnessed “the fal- of France’s aid in breaking its colonial ties with lacy of the argument, which the deceiver had sug- Britain, is obliged to lend support to France. She gested.” Adam “was infl uenced by no other motive considers the idyllic scene America enjoys because than a bare pusillanimous attachment to a woman!” of its peaceful period after the Revolution. Com- Sharon Harris traces the germs of this revision of merce thrives, agriculture is hearty, and literature Adam and Eve’s tale of fatal fall to a letter Mur- and the arts, genres specifi c to America, are grow- ray penned to her cousin in 1777: “That Eve was ing. These signs of a peaceful republic, however, indeed the weaker Vessel I boldly take upon me to are rather recent, as the nation had suffered not deny” (reported in Harris xxv). long before from the chaos and bloodshed of war. Murray offers an uncommon view of war by For Discussion or Writing focusing her attention on the women who weep at 1. Compare the subjects delineated in Hannah home for husbands never returned, and on the men Foster Webster’s The Boarding School as proper conscripted into service who suffered “camp sick- and suitable for a young woman’s education ness and fatigue.” “These are not fancy pictures,” with those suggested by Murray in her essay. In Murray avows. terms of the subjects they advise, what conclu- Neither are the images of France in its current sions might you draw about their expectations state of chaos and barbarity, Murray argues. “But for women after graduation? alas! France exhibits, at this period, a spectacle, from 2. Murray’s direct address to biblical precedent as which lacerated truth indignantly hastes, at which an argument in favor of women’s inferiority to reason stands aghast, while morality and holy reli- men only appears in the essay as a supplemental gion have received from base and murderous hands a address extracted from a letter to an unnamed fatal stab.” In this image, Murray paints the destruc- male friend. How does this form relate to the tion of the very institutions of civility upon which all supplement’s content? Does it matter that it was societies rest. Thus, at the same time that she offers addressed to a male? a dire image of France, she suggests an immediate need for America to intervene. Murray character- izes factionalism with “its cloven foot” as the main obstacle preventing America from going to the aid of “Sketch of the Present Situation those from whom “we derived advantages so indis- of America, 1794” (1794) putably benefi cial.” Murray wonders at the motiva- As early as 1940, the critic Chester Jorgenson tions of those who ascribe to Federalist thought and praised Murray for her ability to tackle the thorny goals, which she terms “an aristocracy in the midst political and philosophical issues raging in the of your brethren.” And it is once she has alighted newly formed nation. “Greater wonder is it that she upon this subject that the reader recognizes that 264 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

Murray’s main purpose is to hold up the promise servant. Although she describes it in socioeconomic of America, symbolized by a fragile and infantlike terms, Eliza’s desire to marry on equal standing Constitution, against the terrors of France and the with her husband resonates with Sargent Murray’s threat by Federalists to a government of the people. own ideas of the equality of the sexes, which she wrote about in the Massachusetts Magazine. The For Discussion or Writing appearance of her maternal uncle, Colonel Mell- 1. Compare Murray’s and CATHARINE MARIA font, functions as the play’s deus ex machina as he SEDGWICK’s treatment of the factionalism, as explains to her in the fi nal act that she fl ed, under described in “A Reminiscence of Federalism,” the false advice of Olivia, on the eve of discovering dividing Federalists from Democrats. Consid- her mother’s patrimony. ering that the two women subscribed to the Sargent Murray peoples the play with characters two opposing factions (Murray was a Democrat who do little more than offer comic relief, such while Sedgwick was raised a staunch Federalist), as Captain Flashnet, who repeatedly mixes classic how do they imagine national harmony and the references to Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey with allu- end of divisions? sions to contemporary writers like Jonathan Swift 2. How does Murray’s argument about equality and John Milton. His fl ashiness is also revealed in among people, a central tenet of Democrats his exaggerated tales of bravery during the Revolu- rather than Federalists, adhere to the views she tionary War and his close friendship with General expresses of women’s position in society? Washington. The female version of Captain Flash- net is a catty socialite named Miss Dorinda Scorn- well, who brags of “already looking in on a little hundred of her friends” before visiting Augusta (1795) The Medium, or Virtue Triumphant Bloomville. Although Scornwell laments “stiff Murray’s fi rst play was produced at the Federal compliments” and “the awkward grimace of cer- Street Theatre, but only for one night. Critics emony,” she immediately proceeds to engage her speculate on the reason for the short-lived run, friend Matronia in a recitation of the previous eve- offering up critiques of the play’s quality as well ning’s entertainment, replete with a narration of as sexism that clouded male theater critics’ vision, her own central position in the pleasantries. prohibiting them from imagining a woman to be a Sargent Murray delivers the message of mod- playwright, or, for those who knew her to be the erating such hectic social schedules in the advice author, to believe that she had authored the play Mrs. Matronia Aimwell offers to her newly mar- independently of her husband, John Murray. ried niece, Augusta Bloomville, after hearing from In a refreshing reversal of emotional stereo- Augusta’s husband that the new bride is rarely at types, Sargent Murray casts Ralph Maitland in the home, having packed her schedule with social role of mercurial male in need of a medium while events and shopping sprees. Augusta refl ects, “I Eliza Clairville and her star-crossed lover, Charles have plunged into a life of gaiety, and the conclu- Maitland, embody virtue. Ralph Maitland’s moods sion, which forces itself upon me, does not decide in vacillate greatly, even as he professes a desire to favor of dissipation.” She, too, amends her extreme embrace a calm medium between extreme emo- behavior in promising at the play’s conclusion to tions. He banishes his son when he learns of the dedicate herself to her marriage and her husband, latter’s desire to marry a penniless orphan, Eliza. Major George Bloomville. Despite their strong and abiding feelings for one another, Charles and Eliza refuse to marry against For Discussion or Writing his father’s wishes, which are predicated on Eliza’s 1. Compare the depiction of marriage in the two social status as an orphan and fi nancial status as a plays, The Medium and The Traveller Returned. Judith Sargent Murray 265

What roles does Sargent Murray imagine for young gentleman, Alberto Stanhope, who wishes men and women? to marry Harriot and to whom she seems better 2. In this play, Sargent Murray emphasizes the need suited. The marriage plots are suspended while the for moderation, or striking a happy medium, play turns to the plot of Rambleton, who has been both in married life and in one’s personal life. falsely accused by the Vansittarts of being a Tory What are the political ramifi cations of this mes- spy (in the wake of Benedict Arnold and Major sage? How does it resonate with her writing in Andre) and is detained by members of the Com- The Gleaner? mittee of Public Safety. By aligning Rambleton’s disguised identity to the famous spies so recently associated with the Revolutionary War, Murray makes the events of the domestic plot (Montague (1796) The Traveller Returned has taken on this disguise to test the fi delity of his Murray’s second play was fi rst performed at the wife) resonate with the national plot (America’s Federal Street Theatre in Boston on March 9, gaining its independence from Britain and wor- 1796. The play appeared in printed form in The rying about harboring any disguised Tories or Gleaner. Loyalists). Act 1 opens with a scene of Mr. Rambleton and The play’s two plotlines resolve themselves in his servant, Patrick O’Neal, arriving on the docks the fi fth and fi nal act, when Mrs. Montague rec- of a major port city (presumably Boston). Mr. ognizes her husband in the fi gure of Rambleton; Rambleton’s identity and motivations for arriving Mr. Montague reunites with his daughter Har- at the city are immediately called into question as riot; and the parents become reacquainted with his servant, Patrick, begins to puzzle aloud about their son, who has been raised by a friend under his master’s reticence to reunite immediately with the name Harry Camden rather than Harry Mon- his wife and family. As the play progresses, the tague. Mrs. Montague considers in horror the audience pieces together that Montague Ramble- possible sin she might have forced upon Harry and ton wishes to discover whether his wife has been Harriot had their arranged marriage taken place, true and faithful to him, and so he has affected for brother and sister would have been united in the disguise of Rambleton. The master and ser- holy wedlock. The specter of incest appears briefl y vant quickly befriend a hero of the Revolutionary in the play as the domestic equivalent to spying, as War named Major Camden, and in their lauda- both oppose the natural affi nities that one should tory exclamations on the heroism and greatness of have for one’s family members and one’s nation, General Washington, Rambleton proudly recog- newly formed. nizes the fi gure of his long-lost son, although he delays their reunion until later in the play. Patrick For Discussion or Writing and Rambleton lodge in the same boardinghouse 1. How does Murray’s play imagine the American as Camden, and there they are introduced to Revolution? What place, if any, do women have Camden’s landlords, Mr. and Mrs. Vansittart. in this nation-building event? His wife, Louisa Montague, worries about the 2. How do the women in the play (Mrs. Louisa marriage of her daughter Harriot to the young Montague, Harriot Montague, and Emily military hero, Major Harry Camden, who saved Lovegrove) relate to the model of republican her life. While Camden feels some affection for motherhood? Harriot, her cousin, Emily, who discovers to her 3. Compare Murray’s treatment of General Wash- own dismay that she reciprocates his affection, ington and his role in the Revolution to PHILIP stirs his fi ner feelings. The love triangle is poten- MORIN FRENEAU’s in his poem dedicated to tially resolved with the introduction of a second Washington. 266 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

The Story of Margaretta (1798) be drowned during a storm at sea, ends the Ham- ilton’s fi nancial woes and happily reunites father Murray’s serialized novel, which appeared in the and daughter. Further, Margaretta’s fears that her Massachusetts Magazine under the pen name The husband was in love with his childhood compan- Gleaner, distinguishes itself by being narrated from a male perspective (that of Margaretta’s adopted ion, Serafi na Clifford, are dispelled by Serafi na’s father, Mr. Vigillius), and by breaking with nar- declaration that she and Edward are in fact brother rative convention, a tale of marriage and honor and sister. As with her two dramas, Murray relies prevailing over seduction and fatal shame written upon the unexpected return of family members partially in epistolary form. Margaretta, with the and the discovery of secret identities that aid in sage advice and solid moral upbringing of her family reunions. The critic Sharon Harris believes adopted parents, Mr. and Mrs. Vigillius, escapes Murray’s only novel distinguishes itself from other moral fall at the hands of the aptly named seducer, 18th-century fi ction by incorporating the fi ctional Sinisterus Courtland. Through the machinations critiques within the story’s plotline. As the novel of her parents, Margaretta learns Courtland’s true appeared in serial form, Murray had opportunity nature and ends their association. Soon after, she to refl ect upon some aspect of the novel that might receives a letter from her friend Amelia Worthing- have piqued the readerships’ curiosity or drawn ton informing her of Courtland’s part in the ruin of their critique. “Murray uses reader-response criti- a young orphan named Frances Wellwood, whose cism for two signifi cant purposes—fi rst, to suggest patrimony he quickly depleted and whose reputa- the eclectic nature of her readership; and second, tion he tarnished. Enclosed in Amelia’s letter is a to emphasize her theme of equality” (Harris xxxi). short epistle written by Wellwood herself, begging On the subject of equality, Murray devotes several Margaretta to “help [her] to reclaim a husband, pages on the subject of Margaretta’s education and who, not naturally bad, hath too long wandered in her right to choose her own husband (even if her the dangerous paths of dissipation.” Fanny Well- choice opposes her parents’ wishes). wood promises to “draw the impenetrable veil of silence” over Courtland’s past indiscretions in the For Discussion or Writing hope that he will “acknowledge the honorable and 1. How does Murray’s depiction of marriage dif- endearing ties [of] father and husband.” Again, fer from that in her plays and essays? What role Margaretta and her adopted parents prove their does she imagine for women as wives and moth- virtuous nature by reuniting Courtland and Well- ers? What role does she imagine for men as hus- wood, settling the debts that imprisoned Court- bands and fathers? land, and overseeing their matrimonial vows. Thus, 2. Compare Murray’s novel to Susanna Haswell Murray not only allows for Margaretta’s escape Rowson’s Charlotte Temple and Hannah Web- from Courtland’s seductive snare, but redeems the ster Foster’s The Coquette. What enables Mur- unfortunate victim of his vice, Frances Wellwood, ray’s heroine to avoid the traps that ensnare and their illegitimate children, through the bonds Eliza Wharton and Charlotte Temple? of holy wedlock. Margaretta reunites with her intended, Edward Hamilton, and the two marry once Margaretta (1798) has reached the proper age of 19. Their marriage, “Observations on Female Abilities” however, suffers from Hamilton’s gambling debts, The critic Nina Baym celebrates “Judith Sargent which threaten to separate husband from wife Murray, [as] the only Enlightenment historian since Hamilton’s only fi nancial solution seems to of women-as-such, [who] based her account on be to take to the open seas, as had Murray’s fi rst claims of equality: scrutiny of the historical record husband, John Stevens. The arrival of Margaretta’s showed women to be equally brave, equally intel- biological father, who was erroneously reported to ligent, equally articulate, equally loyal, and so on” Judith Sargent Murray 267

(40). Murray’s essay “Observations on Female Marat). Murray adheres to the notion of republican Abilities” offers, in its introductory poem, to pres- motherhood when presenting examples of female ent readers with examples of the “Sex’s worth” heroism: mothers who tender up their young men in “the patriot’s zeal, the laurell’d warrior’s claim or husbands in service of the nation. Murray con- / The scepter’d virtues, wisdom’s sacred name / siders both the physical taking up of arms, as well Creative poesy, the ethic page” (2–5). She further as the emotional sacrifi ce necessary to send loved enumerates the various pieces of evidence that will ones to war, equally powerful proofs of women’s be produced in the essay’s span to prove women’s shared qualities with men. equality “in every respect” to men. These shared In contrast to the beliefs in innate equality qualities include bravery, patriotism, infl uence, between the sexes espoused by the Godey’s Lady’s heroism, ingeniousness, emotional endurance, elo- Book editor, Sarah Josepha Hale, who recorded in quence, faithfulness, literary merit, and leadership the Woman’s Record the opinion that the sexes’ in government. difference stems from “an organic difference in In support of women’s ability to endure, Mur- the operations of their minds,” Murray not only ray points both to the women of Britain and to provides a catalog of historical women whose feats the “savage” women who are “subjected to ago- illustrate on a factual and incontrovertible level the nies unknown to manhood.” Murray anticipates a equality of women to men, but also considers con- common 19th-century theory that native women temporary women in England and America who were unfairly treated by their men and forced to deserve the laurels of fame and recognition for their suffer physical as well as mental hardships that accomplishments (reported in Baym 40). their Anglo-American counterparts were spared. Murray concludes by considering how many Women’s ingenuity, which she believes too preva- more women would prove themselves worthy lent to require any specifi c example, is nevertheless members of and contributors to society were they expressed in the tale of a queen who commissioned given adequate educations to expand and cultivate an artist to render a feast in gold, as a means of their minds. convincing the king to desist from overworking his people in the mines while the fi elds lay fallow For Discussion or Writing and his subjects were starving. Murray draws again 1. In this essay, Murray takes up what could argu- upon classical history to narrate the incredible tale ably be called “male” traits and proves that of heroism and fortitude exemplifi ed by Arria, a women also possess them. Does she offer any Roman wife who, when apprised that she could not celebration of stereotypically “female” traits? If procure the freedom of her husband, took the dag- so, what are they and how are they treated? ger he was to use to dispatch his own life and killed 2. Consider Murray’s argument in light of THOMAS herself. Handing the weapon to her husband, Mur- JEFFERSON’s two letters addressing the proper ray relates, Arria stated, “Paetus, this gives me no subject matters for both men and women, his pain.” Not wishing to limit her examples to ancient letters to Benjamin Hawkins and Nathaniel Roman times, Murray points to Lady Jane Grey Burwell, respectively. and Miss Anna Askew, who both bore their death sentences with grace and heroic stoicism. Females who took up arms to defend themselves and their families or to avenge the bloody deaths FURTHER QUESTIONS ON of their family members are counted as illustrious MURRAY AND HER WORK examples of women’s displays of heroism. Murray 1. Murray penned several essays on the subject of briefl y recounts the tales of Jane of Flaunders, Mar- female equality. Reviewing them as a whole, garet of Anjou, and Charlotte Corday (who was decide which essay appears most credible or per- executed for killing the Jacobin leader Jean Paul suasive and why? 268 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

2. Consider the qualities Murray holds up as Jorgenson, Chester. “Gleanings from Judith Sargent exemplary of both men and women. How do Murray.” American Literature 12, no. 1 (1940): these characteristics coincide with her notions 73–78. of democracy and the American nation? Which Schloesser, Pauline E. The Fair Sex: White Women and characteristics do not seem particularly laudable Racial Patriarchy in the Early American Republic. or do not require education? New York: New York University Press, 2002. Skemp, Sheila. Judith Sargent Murray: A Brief Biog- WORKS CITED AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES raphy with Documents. Boston: Bedford Books, Baym, Nina. “Between Enlightenment and Victorian: 1998. Toward a Narrative of American Women Writ- Smith, Bonnie Hurd. Judith Sargent Murray. Avail- ers Writing History.” Critical Inquiry 18, no. 1 able online. URL: http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/ (1991): 22–41. duub/articles/judithsargentmurray.html. Accessed Eldred, Janet Carey, and Peter Mortensen. “ ‘Persua- April 23, 2009. sion Dwelt on Her Tongue’: Female Civic Rheto- Tanselle, G. Thomas. “Royall Tyler, Judith Sargent ric in Early America.” College English 60, no. 2 Murray, and The Medium.” New England Quar- (1998): 173–188. terly 41, no. 1 (1968): 115–117. Harris, Sharon, ed. Selected Writings of Judith Sar- Zagarri, Rosemarie. “Morals, Manners, and the gent Murray. New York: Oxford University Press, Republican Mother.” American Quarterly 44, no. 1995. 2 (1992): 192–215. Samson Occom (1723–1792)

I was both a School master and Minister to the Indians, yea I was their Ear, Eye & Hand, as Well as Mouth.

(“A Short Narrative of My Life”)

he American Indian critic Bernd Peyer believes The pivotal event in Occom’s life occurred in T“Native American literature in English actually 1741, when he was 17 years old; the Reverend John began in the second half of the eighteenth century Davenport converted Samson Occom to Christian- with the writer Samson Occom” (208). Occom’s ity. Tellingly absent from his own narrative is his position as the “father of modern Native Ameri- appointment by Ben Uncas as one of 12 council- can literature” seems all the more impressive when lors for the Mohegan. When he was 19, the Mohe- one considers both the circumstances of his own gan placed Occom into a leadership role. It is quite life and the larger cultural and political tensions likely that his conversion to Christianity might have he had to negotiate (215). At the time of Occom’s seemed at odds with his newfound position within birth in 1723, factors including disease and colonial his tribe, and thus Occom chose not to focus on genocide had reduced the number of Mohegan to it in his narrative. It is also just as likely, however, 350 (Peyer 209). Further, the remaining members that his baptism into Christianity prompted his had divided into two factions over land disputes. selection as a councillor because it placed him in an Ben’s Town and John’s Town were named after the intermediary role between the two cultures. two communities’ sachems, or leaders. Although In Occom’s own account of this life-changing Occom’s brief autobiography does not detail his event, his conversion to Christianity is strongly family history, Peyer cites Harold Blodgett’s 1935 linked to his desire for literacy and access to biblical biography of Occom, which mentions his paternal texts. On December 6, 1743, he began his educa- grandfather’s migration from “the region around tion with the Reverend Eleazor Wheelock, a disciple the Shetucket and Quinebaug Rivers” (in northeast- of the Great Awakening who was appointed pastor ern Connecticut and south-central Massachusetts) of the Second Congregational Church of Lebanon to Mohegan territory in the early part of the 17th one year after his graduation from Yale University. century (209). His father, Joshua Ockham, married The Great Awakening, which lasted from the 1730s a woman named Sarah, who was a Mohegan. Her through the 1770s, was especially popular in Eng- ancestry is rumored, according to The Life of the land, Scotland, Germany, and in the British colo- Countess of Huntingdon, to trace back to Uncas, nies in North America. Evangelical preachers held the famous leader of the Mohegan. Both Blodgett revivals throughout Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Peyer attribute Samson Occom’s conversion to Massachusetts, and beyond in the hope of counter- Christianity to his mother, Sarah’s, prior embracing ing the secularization of society caused by the age of the Christian faith. of Enlightenment. The prominence of the Great

269 270 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

Awakening in England and Scotland would prove disheartening scene of his family “in a state of pivotal to Occom’s fund-raising tour of these two extreme poverty and ill health” (Peyer 212). For countries in 1766 and 1767. At the behest of his Occom, the Mason Controversy and the dire cir- former teacher, Wheelock, and under the fi nancial cumstances his family suffered during his absence support of George Whitefi eld, the second earl of while fund-raising for the Indian school revealed Dartmouth, Occom traveled to England and Scot- how money could corrupt human relations and land, delivering over 300 sermons to collect funds replace the respect one should have for another for what would eventually become Dartmouth Uni- with greed for more money. To add insult to injury, versity, which was then Wheelock’s Indian Charity Occom discovered that Wheelock “was no longer School. Peyer reports that Occom’s efforts raised inclined to instruct Native American missionaries £12,000 for the school (211). . . . and was removing the [Indian] school to New When Occom returned from his successful trip Hampshire . . . [where it] would be of no benefi t to to England and Scotland, he learned of a land dis- [Occom’s] people” (Peyer 212). In an 1894 news- pute commonly referred to as the “Mason Contro- paper account of Occom written by the Reverend versy,” between the governor of Connecticut, who Dr. W. Deloss Love, the latter reports that the for- gained jurisdiction over the tribe in 1725, and the mer “fell into intemperance. The original authority Mohegan. The Mason family, who represented the for the charge was a confession by Occom himself” Mohegan in the court case, appealed the return of (Utica Morning Herald). The community deter- their lands from Connecticut’s possession (Peyer mined that Occom’s intemperance was due to par- 210). Occom’s support of the Mohegan created taking of a small amount of alcohol on an empty tension between him and his fellow Christians, stomach, and not to a more alarming pattern of including his employers, who threatened to with- alcohol abuse. Those who heard Occom’s famous draw their fi nancial aid for his missionary work. temperance sermon, delivered at the execution of In a letter following the court’s decision in favor Moses Paul on October 31, 1772, might well have of the colony of Connecticut, Occom writes of his heard rumor of his drinking problem and imagined outrage: that he wrote the sermon with himself in mind. Occom’s disillusionment with Wheelock, cou- The grand controversy which has subsisted pled with further confl icts between American Indi- between the Colony of Connecticut and the ans and English colonists, prompted him to join his Mohegan Indians above seventy years, is fi nally former pupil and son-in-law, Joseph Johnson (who decided in favor of the Colony. I am afraid the had married Occom’s daughter Tabitha), to take up poor Indians will never stand a good chance lands offered by the Oneida in New York as a reset- with the English in their land controversies, tlement location for American Indians from New because they are very poor, they have no money. England who had converted to Christianity. As Money is almighty now-a-days, and the Indians early as July 1774, Occom and one of his brothers- have no learning, no wit, no cunning; the Eng- in-law, David Fowler, traveled to New York to sur- lish have all. (reported in Caulkins 163) vey the lake and land that would eventually become a new settlement of converted American Indians. Occom had good reason to rail against the undue The outbreak of revolutionary activities, culminat- sway money held over the English. While he was ing in the Revolutionary War, which lasted until sermonizing in England and Scotland to raise 1783, postponed the settlement. On November 7, funds for an Indian Charity School, Occom was 1785, Occom and Johnson founded Brothertown, under the mistaken impression that Wheelock “a Native American community with a political would meet the needs of his wife, Mary Fowler, system modeled after Connecticut town govern- and their 10 children. Instead, he returned to the ment” (Peyer 213). Twenty families, including that Samson Occom 271 of Occom’s son-in-law, Anthony Paul, traveled history and traditions of Oneida county” (Utica to Brothertown. The Oneida Historical Society Morning Herald). reports that the town was geographically centered on the home of David Fowler, which also served as one of two places of worship over which Occom (1768) presided as pastor. The other house of worship was “A Short Narrative of My Life” located in Stockbridge at Hendrick Aupaumut’s Samson Occom’s “A Short Narrative of My Life” home. was unpublished until 1982, when the 10-page In 1787, just two years after the founding of manuscript began to fi nd its way out of Dartmouth Brothertown, the settlement’s utopian vision was College’s library and onto the printed page of contemporary collections and anthologies of early shattered by a land dispute between Occom and American literature. Its three sections divide his life his extended family and the Oneida, who had ini- in terms of his conversion to Christianity, his time tially gifted Occom and his followers with the land. studying with the Reverend Eleazar Wheelock, Elijah Wampy, who brokered the deal with the and his life as a missionary after leaving Wheelock. Oneida to provide land for the new settlement, was By imagining his life in such a framework, Occom later urged by the tribe to yield their tract and live emphasizes the religious and spiritual aspects of his in common with the tribe. Occom and his faction, life and diminishes or all but erases his preconver- led by David Fowler, had begun to make a living sion life among the Mohegan. as farmers and did not wish to forfeit their labor The fi rst sentence of his narrative establishes a to the community. Although a treaty was bro- preference for his life after his conversion to Chris- kered the following year that reaffi rmed Occom’s tianity: “I was born a Heathen and Brought Up in and Fowler’s title to the land, and thus affi rmed Heathenism, till I was between 16 and 17 years of their right to own tracts privately rather than com- age, at a place called Mohegan, in New London, munally, the bitterness from the dispute lingered. Connecticut, in New England.” Casting it in this Matters regarding land rights and use continued light of heathenism, Occom offers no redeeming to haunt the inhabitants of Brothertown. When qualities about his indigenous childhood except in English colonists began to lease lands from the negative contrast to his life after his midteen years. American Indians, Occom once again resisted. Such a construction serves more than one purpose: He maintained that lands could only be leased to It allies him immediately with an English Christian outsiders with the community’s consent. Included readership who would ascribe to the very language among Occom’s notion of outsiders were not only and belief promulgated in the opening sentence and the white colonists, but members of other tribes thus forms an alliance with these readers against from New England that were not “pure blooded,” non-Christian American Indians. It also creates but had intermixed with Africans. “Occom had a trajectory of conversion that would be expected introduced into the original deed of gift, October from such readers and thus reaffi rms the kind of 4, 1774, a condition that no such [people] should work that he performs as an ordained missionary have any right to land in Brothertown, for his pur- among the Oneida and Mohegan tribes. There pose was to keep the New England blood pure and remains yet a third purpose served by Occom’s vir- preserve a tribal unity” (Utica Morning Herald). tual silence regarding details from his own early Samson Occom died on July 14, 1792, at the childhood, and that is that he is able to maintain a age of 69. The Reverend Samuel Kirkland preached cultural allegiance to the Mohegan by not reveal- the funeral sermon. The Oneida Historical Society ing the sacred aspects of their culture to outsiders. ended their 1894 meeting with a charge to “fi nd The very tensions laid out in analyzing the opening the lost grave of Reverend Samson Occom, whose sentence of Occom’s narrative are not fully resolved fame as a fervid Indian preacher lives on in the early in the brief tale of his life. 272 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

In his description of the Mohegan, Occom were rather unversed on theories of contagion and appears almost reticent to reveal many details, writ- infection, one would offer an anachronistic reading ing instead that the tribe “chiefl y depended upon of this passage by imagining that Occom was aware hunting, fi shing, and fowling for their living.” of the blankets’ capacity to transmit fatal diseases. Truly, this statement could be made about every He certainly was not. His point here is merely to tribe residing along the East Coast as well as the contrast the desires of the English minister with British settlers who were newly arrived. It is pos- those of the native population. sible from the generic nature of this description to By portraying the Indians as uninterested in gain further insight into Occom’s doubleness—his Christianity, Occom is certainly not categorizing all status as a member of the Mohegan and his tenta- indigenous peoples as doomed to heathenism, but tive status as a Christian missionary. By portraying rather is creating a niche for his own invaluable ser- the Mohegan in the same light as one would any vices as a native missionary. As the narrative devel- other people residing in America, Occom might ops, it becomes rather clear that Occom feels he be in effect making a subtle comparison between has been a remarkably successful missionary, whose the two cultures that recognizes their similarities cultural and linguistic knowledge of the Mohe- rather than their differences. This notion of cul- gan people prove invaluable tools in their conver- tural similarity between the heathen and the Chris- sion to Christianity, a goal that the minister from tian certainly resonates when Occom writes that New London was unable to accomplish because he they had no connection with the English except could not create any desire, curiosity, or regard for to “traffi c with them in their small trifl es.” Again, the Christian religion among the native popula- this very statement would certainly have been true tion. Occom continues by mentioning the sporadic as a descriptor of the English, who isolated them- efforts and successes of the missionaries to teach selves from the indigenous tribes, only meeting “Indian children,” including him, to read. Occom with them when brokering economic deals. recalls that when he was 10, he and fellow children The uneven nature of the trade between the two would “take care to keep out of [the missionary’s] cultures, however, breaks down this brief moment way.” When the unnamed man was able to catch of cultural cohesion. Occom writes that the Ameri- Occom or other children, he would “make [them] can Indians would attend meetings held by “a Min- say over [their] letters,” but “this was soon over too; ister from New London” but not with the intent and all this time there was not one amongst us that of fulfi lling the missionary’s purpose of converting made a profession of Christianity.” From Occom’s them. Occom suggests that they did not attend the recollection, past missionaries proved ineffective meetings out of “regard [for] the Christian reli- not only at teaching literacy, but, more critically, at gion, but [for] the blankets given to them every fall the very task they set out to accomplish: converting of the year.” Far from meeting their spiritual con- American Indians to Christianity. cerns, the American Indians were more invested in In his second section of the narrative, entitled fulfi lling the practical concerns of keeping warm for “From the Time of Our Reformation Till I Left the coming winter months. Contemporary readers Mr. Wheelocks,” Occom briefl y relates his own will no doubt recognize the bitter irony of Ameri- conversion to Christianity and his time studying can Indians’ sitting through meaningless sermons under the tutelage of Wheelock. Having heard “a in order to receive blankets. Historians have linked strange rumor among the English, that there were the signifi cant number of deaths among American Extraordinary Ministers Preaching from Place to Indians after their initial contact with English set- Place and a Strange Concern among the White tlers to the infection of the plague, which was trans- People,” Occom introduces a collective identity mitted, unbeknown to either culture, through the and recollection of the events leading up to his circulation of blankets. As 18th-century scientists own conversion. He also subtly implies that such Samson Occom 273 acts as baptism and acceptance of God and Jesus the powerless position of humans, whose lives are Christ provoke anxiety in the English colonists directed by God, it seems understandable that by referring to the latter’s reactionary feelings as Occom would write in a similar fashion, in which “strange.” It was certainly true in the 18th century all the events that transpired in his life are attrib- that baptism was a controversial sacrament because uted to God rather than to his own devices. Fur- it affi rmed the humanity of American Indians and ther, Occom’s precarious position as a converted Africans, the very people who were deemed to be Mohegan, a fi gure existing between two worlds, “savage heathens” by the Puritan culture. Because would necessitate some rhetorical maneuvering baptism is predicated on the notion of a soul that on his part when leading up to his fi nal argument will be saved for all eternity from the damnation of in the narrative, which is for equal pay and equal hell, the act of baptizing or being baptized carried treatment as a missionary. This being said, the nar- with it the tacit agreement that the baptized had a rative is of Occom’s own life, and the tradition of soul. A Christianized American Indian, derisively autobiography provides literary license for authors termed a “praying Indian” by the captive MARY to exercise authority over their own accounts. WHITE ROWLANDSON, would prove very challeng- Occom’s concluding plea for additional funding as ing to Puritan belief in the “savage heathen” as a missionary must of necessity boast of his actions he or she would undermine the certainty that the and abilities. Thus, this early moment in the narra- native inhabitants of North America were not the tive, which one would imagine to be pivotal to the Puritans’ equals and thus could not be dispatched life of a missionary, that is, conversion, seems to be in such an inhumane manner. rhetorically at odds with the rest of the narrative, Interestingly, Occom portrays his own conver- which tells of his accomplishments and qualities. sion as being less the result of work by “extraordi- Immediately after the rather strange description nary missionaries” or himself and more the result of of his conversion, Occom begins writing in active “Divine Infl uence.” Occom writes, “It pleased the voice of his desires and accomplishments such as Lord, as I humbly hope, to Bless and accompany learning to read and write. After six months of with Divine Infl uences to the Conviction and sav- going to “all the meetings [he] could come at,” ing conversion of a number of us.” The phrase “I Occom experiences a “trouble of mind” that results humbly hope” requires further attention. If neither in his literacy lessons. Given the vague nature of the missionaries nor he is responsible for his con- the phrase “trouble of mind,” one can only specu- version to Christianity, and divine infl uences are at late as to its meaning. In the context of his con- work in the conversion of Occom and several oth- version and fi rst attempts at literacy, it may be that ers, then why would he “humbly hope”? Taken as he is troubled by the inability to read the Bible on a whole with the previous section that spoke with his own. However, his lessons seem to be secular some judgment on the ineffectiveness and sporadic in nature, as he describes the process: “Got me a nature of visits and efforts of previous missionaries, Primer, and used to go to my English neighbors this description of his actual conversion appears to frequently for assistance in Reading, but went to no be unfathomable. No one, not even God, seems to school.” Once again, the vague nature of Occom’s have orchestrated it. prose leaves it to the reader to discern whether he The absence of any language clearly identifying is gently rebuking the missionaries who held meet- an agent or agents central to Occom’s Christianiza- ings but did not offer classes in reading and writ- tion seems to continue in this section. This rhetori- ing, or whether he is touting his own initiative to cal strategy could be attributed to his conversion, learn by any means available, or both. The “English his identity as Mohegan, or both. Because a strong neighbors” are not described as fellow Christians, tenet of Christianity, particularly Calvinism, which so one might argue that the missionaries were not preaches the doctrine of predestination, involves involved in the education of converted American 274 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

Indians. If this was true, then it makes one wonder for Occom’s efforts to “reclaim them” in his “mild about the missionaries’ view of “praying Indians” way.” and their perceived mental capacity to deepen their Occom makes his motivations in taking up the spirituality through studying the Bible. position of teacher and missionary clear by noting Regardless of the missionaries’ views of Ameri- that when he lived and taught among the Mon- can Indians, Occom believed them to be his tauk, he “left it with them to give [him] what they “Poor Brethren According to Flesh” who could be pleased; and they took turns to provide food for redeemed through literacy and religious conversion. [him].” The absence of any language about a salary His phrasing, which he would use also in his ser- or wages is telling, as the latter portion of the auto- mon on the occasion of Moses Paul’s execution, is biography is given over to a direct and matter-of- taken from the Bible. In Romans, the apostle Paul fact address about the disparity in pay between him speaks of the Jews who have not accepted Christ and a fellow white missionary without his years of as “my kinsmen according to the fl esh.” His four experience or linguistic and cultural skills. Occom years under the tutelage of Mr. Wheelock included continued with this arrangement until his mar- the study of English and Hebrew. Because of severe riage and “needy circumstances” required him to eyestrain and ill health, Occom “was obliged take up the matter of his salary with Mr. Wheelock to quit [his] Studies.” Turning the tables in his and Mr. Buell, who “were so good as to grant fi f- analysis of the teacher/student dynamic, the critic teen pound sterling.” Despite the increase in salary, Bernd Peyer believes “it was primarily because of Occom’s additional responsibilities and the births [Wheelock’s] experience with Occom that [the for- of several children necessitated an additional boost mer] decided to concentrate his teaching efforts on in salary. His tale now becomes extremely detailed Native American students and founded the famous as he provides an account of his various responsi- Indian Charity School” (210). It is an interesting bilities, including acting as judge, visiting the sick, angle for analyzing the dynamic of Wheelock and and entertaining visitors. He details his pedagogi- Occom, as the latter’s time in England and Scot- cal methods for teaching literacy, to include “mak- land, fund-raising for Wheelock’s school, would ing an Alphabet on small bits of paper, and glu[ing] demonstrate how Wheelock had begun to rely them on small chips of cedar” and requiring stu- on, and even prey upon, the intellectual work and dents to fetch particular letters as a means of learn- goodwill of Samson Occom. Once Occom returned ing their alphabet and recognizing alphabetical from his European tour, his friendship with Whee- order. lock abruptly ended. Occom also details his extreme circumstances at Occom concludes his brief autobiography by home, including the “increase of [his] family fast.” developing his character and skills as a missionary In all, Samson and Mary had 10 children. Occom after his ordination as a minister in 1759. He writes “was obliged to contrive every way to support [his] that he “endeavored to fi nd some employ among family.” He mentions his endeavors to supplement the Indians.” He taught in New London for two his income by raising corn, potatoes, and beans; years and subsequently moved to Long Island and keeping swine; binding books; catching fi sh or taught among the Montauk for 11 years. In direct hunting for his family’s meals; carving wooden contrast to his memories of the Mohegan reactions spoons and ladles; stocking guns; and making pails to missionaries, “the Indians were very desirous to and other items out of wood to sell. He briefl y have [him] keep a School amongst them.” Occom mentions an unlucky streak with horses: a young further distinguishes himself from other mission- mare who slipped into quicksand and died, another aries by directly comparing the receptions of Mr. who disappeared or was stolen, another who broke Horton and of him. Despite “a remarkable revival a leg, and another who died of distemper. All of of religion among these Indians,” they abandoned these detailed accounts of his responsibilities, his Mr. Horton and would have been lost were it not attempts to augment his income, and his diffi culty Samson Occom 275 with livestock and crops culminate in providing an addresses the issue of temperance. On the day of emotional plea at the autobiography’s conclusion. Moses Paul’s execution, September 4, 1772, Sam- For all of his work, for all of his resourcefulness, for son Occom delivered a sermon, at Paul’s request, all of his skill as a bilingual and bicultural mission- on repenting one’s sins and on abstaining from ary, Occom has received “180 pounds for twelve the evils of alcohol. The sermon was so popular years service, which they gave for one year’s ser- that Thomas and Samuel Green published it on vices in another mission.” October 31, 1772, and it went through 19 editions Occom rightly guesses the reason for the gross (Peyer 213). With the publication of this execution disparity in salary and points directly at the inher- sermon, Samson Occom became the fi rst American ent racism practiced among his fellow missionaries. Indian to publish in English. He compares his plight to that of a “poor Indian Occom opens the printed version of the ser- boy” who explains that the reason he is beaten mon, which he considerably lengthened for pub- almost every day is “because I am an Indian.” lication, with a preface that situates his voice and his message within an overabundant literary mar- For Discussion or Writing ketplace: “The world is already full of books,” 1. Occoms fails to provide any account of his early Occom writes, but he offers readers three “consid- childhood before conversion to Christianity and erations that have induced [him] to be willing to remains silent on the topic of his family and his suffer [his] broken hints to appear in the world.” role as husband and father. Consider possible One of these three considerations is his plain style, reasons for these silences in the narrative of his a voice that “common people understand.” Unlike life. “the most excellent writings of worthy and learned 2. How does Occom’s image of himself compare men,” who write in a “very high and lofty stile,” with that constructed by BENJAMIN FRANKLIN Occom’s “talk” is accessible to little children, “poor in his Autobiography? What or who helped to Negroes,” and his “poor kindred the Indians.” His fashion them into the men that they became? use of plain style also keeps him well within the 3. How does Occom articulate an American parameters of Puritan culture, which emphasized Indian identity? How does it compare with the the need to eliminate all sources of vanity in its depictions of American Indians presented by writers and ministers as well as avoid any poten- THOMAS JEFFERSON in Notes on the State of Vir- tial corruption of its readers through falseness, ginia or in the poetry of PHILIP MORIN FRE- misinterpretation, or immoral reference. Occom’s NEAU? How does it compare with the fi ctional appeal to those fi gures on the outskirts of society, depictions of American Indians such as Chin- to include him, was quite radical for the period and gachgook in JAMES FENIMORE COOPER’s Leath- imagines that Africans and fellow American Indi- erstocking Tales? ans are just as worthy an audience. The biographer Harold Blodgett recognizes a coyness in Occom’s preface, writing that he was “probably no more poorly educated than many a preacher of his day, “A Sermon Preached by Samson Occom, and in eloquence, earnestness, and simplicity, supe- Minister of the Gospel, and Missionary rior to not a few” (36). of the Indians; at the Execution of Occom includes two other “considerations” in Moses Paul an Indian” (1772) his preface that might persuade readers to consider Moses Paul, an American Indian sailor from his published sermon. He considers his own ethnic Martha’s Vineyard, was sentenced to hang for identity to be a reason for readers to be induced to the murder of a fellow American Indian, Moses read: “because it is from an Indian.” His next “con- Cook, in December 1771. The murder happened sideration,” that God “has used weak and unlikely during a drunken brawl, and thus Occom’s speech instruments to bring about his great work,” seems 276 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers to amplify his second consideration regarding his for Occom to be at the heart of American Indians’ self-identifi cation as American Indian. Rather than suffering, be it from a lack of food and shelter or an treat his identity as a member of the Mohegan as inability to stave off the weather and supply fami- a liability to his position as a writer and a minis- lies with creature comforts. Because drunkenness ter, Occom proudly proclaims it as a compelling undermines Natives’ ability to replicate the markers reason for others to consider reading his work. of civilization set forth by the English colonists, it He identifi es the ethnic affi nity between himself demeans them to the level of beasts and thus serves and the condemned man, Moses Paul, by refer- to reaffi rm negative stereotypes about them. This ring to him as “the bone of my bone, and fl esh of line of argument is much in keeping with Occom’s my fl esh.” He calls Moses a “despised creature” original indictment of Moses Paul: They make them- but offers his sin of murder as the cause for this selves despised creatures because they do nothing to condition rather than his ethnic identity. In short, overcome the negative stereotypes associated with Occom both plays upon the ethnic difference he American Indians. Occom concludes his sermon by and Moses Paul share in contrast to the majority calling on all in attendance to “break off from your of his audience and readership and insists upon the drunkenness . . . and now awake to righteousness.” similarities. When imagining the fate of those des- The fi rst edition of Occom’s sermon sold out in tined for hell, such as unrepentant sinners, Occom two weeks, and demand necessitated a second edi- writes, “Thus must be the unavoidable portion of tion in November and a third the following month all impenitent sinners, let them be who they will, (Peyer 214). It remained in circulation until well great or small, honorable or ignoble, rich or poor, into the 19th century (Peyer 215). bond or free. Negroes, Indians, English or of what nations soever, all that die in their sins, must go For Discussion or Writing to hell together.” Occom’s position as a minister 1. Compare the images and rhetoric in Occom’s allows him to make statements about the inherent sermon with JONATHAN EDWARDS’s “Sinners in equality of all men based upon their potentially the Hands of an Angry God.” How do they per- shared fate as sinners condemned to hell. suade their readers or listeners to repent? How Occom further distances Moses Paul from the do they depict eternal damnation? racist notions of American Indians by expounding 2. What aspects of Occom’s sermon are ethni- on his exceptional qualities: “You have been brought cally marked as Mohegan? How does he iden- up under the bright sunshine, and plain, and loud tify himself as American Indian, and how does sound of the gospel; and you have had a good educa- this identity compare with that projected in his tion; you can read and write well; and God has given autobiographical writing? you a good natural understanding.” Such qualities, 3. Compare Occom’s sermon with HANDSOME Occom argues, make Paul’s sins all the more egre- LAKE’s moral teachings. How does the shift in gious because they were not committed “in such an intended audience change their message about ignorant manner as others have done.” the evils of alcohol? Occom concludes by directly addressing the sin of drunkenness and its sinners, “the Indians, my breth- ren and kindred according to the fl esh.” He compares the state of Moses Paul, for whom “the sin of drunk- FURTHER QUESTIONS ON enness . . . has brought this destruction and untimely OCCOM AND HIS WORK death upon him,” and the race as a whole, stating that 1. In his sermon and in his autobiographical writ- “this abominable, this beastly, and accursed sin . . . ing, Samson Occom addresses radically differ- has stripped us of every desirable comfort in this life ent audiences. How does he identify himself . . . [and] for this sin we are despised in the world.” in these two pieces? How does he successfully Drunkenness, or a “love of strong drink,” appears or unsuccessfully bridge the gap between two Samson Occom 277

cultures: Native and Anglo European? Look for Murray, David. Forked Tongues: Speech, Writing, and evidence in the pieces to support your claim. Representation in North American Indian Texts. 2. As a minister, Occom gains an authority denied Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991. to most American Indians in the 18th century. Papers of the New Haven Colony Historical Society. What are the conditions of his authority? In Vol. 3. New Haven, Conn.: Tuttle, Morehouse & what ways does Occom use his authority? Is it Taylor, 1882. exclusive to him, or does he extend it to others? Peyer, Bernd. “Samson Occom: Mohegan Missionary 3. What is Occom’s vision for future relations and Writer of the 18th Century.” American Indian between Anglo Europeans and American Indi- Quarterly 6, no. 3 (Winter 1982): 208–217. ans? What are the conditions under which they Richardson, Leon B. An Indian Preacher in England; might live together harmoniously? Being Letters and Diaries Relating to the Mission of the Reverend Samson Occom and the Reverend WORKS CITED AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Nathaniel Whitaker to Collect Funds in England Blodgett, Harold. Samson Occom. Hanover, N.H.: for the Benefi t of Eleazer Wheelock’s Indian Char- Dartmouth College Press, 1935. ity School, from which Grew Dartmouth College. Brooks, Joanna. American Lazarus: Religion and the Hanover, N.H.: Dartmouth College, 1933. Rise of African-American and Native American Samson Occom or Occum (1723–1792). Available Literatures. Oxford and New York: Oxford Univer- online. URL: http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/ sity Press, 2003. amlit/occom.htm. Accessed April 23, 2009. Love, William DeLoss. Samson Occom and the Chris- “Samson Occom: The Founding of Brothertown by tian Indians of New England. 1899. Reprint, Syra- Christian Indians.” Utica Morning Herald, 14 cuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 2000. February 1894. Thomas Paine (1737–1809)

These are the times that try men’s souls.

(The American Crisis)

homas Paine, a notable fi gure in America’s his- 1759 a master staymaker, Mr. Morris, loaned him Ttory, lived a life full of both accomplishments money to set up his own shop in Sandwich. Paine and controversy. He was considered to be a strong met Mary Lambert, who was a maid for one of infl uence on Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, the town’s shopkeepers. Their marriage was short- and George Washington. He was a catalyst in the lived. Mary and their child died during childbirth colonies’ separation from England. He advocated in 1760. Mary’s father worked as an offi cer for the promoting equal rights, creating a world peace Customs and Excise Service and persuaded Paine organization, establishing a social security system, that he should study in this same fi eld. At fi rst and abolishing slavery. His ideas have proven to be Paine was unsure, but when his staymaking shop a forerunner to many of today’s political policies in Sandwich was having major fi nancial problems, and beliefs. Paine decided to return to Thetford and study to Paine was born Thomas Pain on January 29, be an excise offi cer. 1737, in Thetford, England, to Joseph Pain, who Shortly after his fi rst job collecting excise taxes was a Quaker staymaker (a maker of corsets, which in Alford, Lincolnshire, he was fi red because he are women’s underclothes), and Frances Cocke Pain, stamped a shipment without inspecting the con- who was an Anglican. Thomas Paine added the e to tents. He decided to move to Norfolk and resume his name when he arrived in America (Fruchtman staymaking but still was not content. So, in 1766, 56). Paine had one sister, Elizabeth, who had died he moved to London and tried his hand at teach- at birth. The young Paine attended school until ing. He discovered that the salary was too low, so he the age of 13, when he left his studies behind and wrote a letter of apology to the excise offi ce, hop- became a staymaking apprentice. In 1753, Paine did ing to mend fences and return to his previous line attempt to join a merchant ship, but his father found of work. His request was accepted, and in 1768 he him and prohibited him from boarding. Luckily for was appointed to another excise post in Lewes, Sus- Paine, he did not remain on the ship, because it was sex. Because of his fi nancial situation, Paine became reported that most of the seamen were killed. Sev- a boarder of Samuel Ollive, who was a prominent eral months later, Paine attempted once again to join tobacco shop owner. Shortly after Ollive’s death in a ship, and this time he was successful. In 1756, he 1771, Paine married Ollive’s daughter, Elizabeth, served on the King of Prussia. and took over the tobacco shop. After his short attempt to work at sea, he From 1772 to 1773 Paine abandoned his job returned to the trade of staymaking in 1757. In and went to London to establish an excise tax col-

278 Thomas Paine 279 lectors’ movement for higher salaries. He suffered 1776, and quickly became popular. Common Sense a series of setbacks: The movement failed, he was actually began with “an analysis of the principles of fi red for leaving his post, his tobacco shop became government and an attack on hereditary rule and bankrupt, and his wife left him. In 1774, while the validity of monarchy, not with a discussion of in London, Paine met BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, who America’s relations with Britain” (Foner 75). With- helped him emigrate to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, out Common Sense to sway public opinion, most where Paine ventured into journalism. historians now agree, the American rebellion would He published an antislavery tract and became have failed from lack of popular support. THOMAS coeditor of the Pennsylvania Magazine. From Feb- JEFFERSON reportedly was inspired by Paine’s essay ruary to September 1775, Paine worked as an edi- when writing the Declaration of Independence. tor and contributed poems and essays of his own. In 1777 Paine joined the army and served as an These early writings were already establishing the aide to one of George Washington’s generals. While foundation for his later more political writings. at Valley Forge, Paine wrote The American Crisis, For the magazine, Paine wrote articles about the which had a signifi cant positive impact on the sol- latest inventions; later Paine himself would be the diers’ morale. In April 1777 Congress appointed inventor of an iron bridge, smokeless candle, and Paine as secretary of its foreign affairs committee, several other items. In addition to covering the which included Indian affairs. In 1780 Paine wrote newest inventions, he wrote articles on social issues Public Good, a text that further explored the themes that interested him such as calling for the humane in Common Sense. Public Good explains Paine’s dis- treatment of animals and urging equal civil rights agreement with Virginia’s claims to western land. (but not suffrage) for women. Paine was extremely In 1787 Paine returned to Europe and spent vocal in his political beliefs. In one of his own arti- the next four years traveling in Britain and France. cles, which he published on March 8, 1775, Paine While in France, Paine published the fi rst part of advocated the abolition of slavery. In April 1775, The Rights of Man (1791), a doctrine banned by he helped found one of the fi rst abolitionist societ- the English government and William Pitt, the ies. He also criticized the colonists for complaining leader of the Tories, because it supported the about Britain’s enslaving them whereas many of the French Revolution. The book criticized the idea of colonists kept their own slaves. monarchies and other European social institutions. Through his association with the magazine, Paine further argued for the ideal of a republic Paine met Benjamin Rush, who was a friend of governed under a constitution with a bill of rights, JOHN ADAMS and other members of Congress. elected leaders serving limited terms, and a judi- These individuals were already contemplating the ciary accountable to the general public. He urged idea of a free and independent America. Benjamin equal suffrage for all males. Rush was the person who suggested to Paine that Paine wrote and published part 2 of The Rights he write a pamphlet on the subject of the colonies’ of Man in 1792. “Paine declared that governments separating from England. Rush was concerned exist to guard the natural rights of people unable to with how the pamphlet would be accepted so he ensure their rights without that government’s help. cautioned Paine to avoid the terms independence The four inalienable rights he named are Liberty, and republicanism (Freed 74). Paine disregarded Property, Security, and Resistance to Oppression.” the warning. Paine further argued that because in God’s eyes all At fi rst, no publisher would agree to set the men are equal, every generation had the right to pamphlet in print, but fi nally Robert Bell agreed. establish a political system that satisfi ed its needs. Paine wanted to title the pamphlet Plain Truth, but “Paine argued rationally that all men had an equal Rush suggested the name Common Sense (Foner claim to political rights and that government must 75). The pamphlet was published on January 10, rest on the ultimate sovereignty of the people. He 280 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers expanded on this belief by explaining the ideal of a was the inspiration for the Declaration of Inde- republic governed under a constitution with a bill pendence, Americans treated him as an outcast in of rights, elected leaders serving limited terms, and society. His old friend, James Monroe, gave Paine a a judiciary accountable to the general public. He place to live until he regained his strength. Once his urged equal suffrage for all men (but not women). health seemed to improve, he then moved to New In part 2 Paine called for the end of social divisions York’s Greenwich Village in 1808 into a fi rst-fl oor by virtue of birth, rank, economics, or religion. He boardinghouse room paid for by a friend. Paine died suggested specifi c social legislation for removing eight years later on June 8, 1809, at the age of 72. class inequities. He wanted The Rights of Man to Some biographers thought Paine had arteriosclerosis inspire in England the same revolutionary thirst of the brain, but this was never confi rmed. for independence from the monarchy as Common Paine’s will, dated January 1809, requested that Sense had inspired in America. Pitt was furious he be buried in the Quaker cemetery, but his request with Paine, but Paine felt safe because he was in was denied. He was fi nally buried in a corner of the France. Nevertheless, Pitt had him tried in absentia New Rochelle Farm. His will also stated that he and Paine was convicted of treason. Paine’s native wanted his gravestone to read only his name, age, country, England, had banished him in December and the words Author of Common Sense. 1792. According to Craig Nelson, in 1809, William Thought to be safe in France, Paine was still in Cobbett, a journalist who in the past had openly the middle of political upheaval. France was also criticized Paine, now began to admire his politi- having some political problems in 1793 and Paine cal ideas. Cobbett dug up Paine’s bones and trans- once again found himself in the middle of the con- ported them to England for reburial under a grand troversy. In 1793, Paine was imprisoned in France patriotic monument that Cobbett intended to for not endorsing the execution of Louis XVI. build. The British government refused to allow During his imprisonment, he wrote and distrib- the construction of the monument. Paine was still uted the fi rst part of what was to become his most considered an outlaw of the country. Cobbett died famous work at the time, the antichurch text The in 1835 before anything pertaining to the reburial Age of Reason. Many people believed it to be an could be settled. The location of Paine’s remains assault on organized religion. He was to be exe- has become a mystery. Some researchers such as cuted, but most biographers report that because of Isaac Kramnick and Michael Foot suggest that the a mistake in marking prisoners’ doors, Paine was majority of them were lost at sea in the transporting spared. Finally, in 1794, thanks to James Madison, from America, but this does not seem to be accu- then the United States minister to France, Paine rate because there are ship records that when Cob- was released, poor and sickly, at the age of 57. bett arrived in England, his luggage was inspected In 1795 Paine wrote his last pamphlet, Agrar- and it was recorded that he had transported the ian Justice, which further developed ideas proposed bones of Thomas Paine. Other researchers suggest in The Rights of Man as to how the institution of that when Cobbett had died, his son took Paine’s landownership separated the great majority of per- remains and possibly buried them in the family sons from their rightful natural inheritance and plot, and still others suggest that they were sepa- means of independent survival. The United States rated and still being kept by unknown individuals. Social Security Administration recognizes Agrar- The location of his remains is still unknown today. ian Justice as the fi rst American proposal for an Paine’s statement in The American Crisis that old-age pension (Kaye 211). “these are the times that try men’s souls” also Paine remained in France until 1801, when he seems to be appropriate in describing his contro- returned to America at the invitation from Thomas versial life. Paine felt strongly about political issues Jefferson. Paine was in poor health. Although he and was able to relate his concerns to the common Thomas Paine 281 man. His writing was accessible to the average indi- exercise religious freedoms and escape mandatory vidual, not just the elite. Because of his ability to membership in the Church of England. Paine’s explain his ideas to everyone, Paine was a man who very title, Common Sense, speaks to an audience on had great infl uence on the founding of America as an entirely different ground, arguing for American we know it today, yet at the time of his death it independence from a secular perspective. This appeared that he had lost everything that was dear very basis for his argument would later become a to him. Paine’s biographer Jack Fruchtman charac- point of public outrage against Paine, as he was terizes Paine’s legacy: “He wrote and said things considered both in Great Britain and in America that distinguished him as one of the great original as a threat to Christianity since his model for a thinkers, whose observations seem intensely rel- harmonious society was not predicated on religious evant even today” (32). Paine, the man who was belief. believed to suggest the United States of America as In his introduction, Paine creates a parallel the name for the colonies, died without acknowl- between America’s “cause as the cause of all man- edgment that was due him. In the 21st century kind” and his anonymity as author of the pamphlet. there has been a resurgence of interest in the life of Paine sees the crisis before America “not [as] local, Paine, and maybe fi nally there will be some closure but universal, and through which all the principles to the question of his remains and he will have the of all Lovers of Mankind are affected.” Similarly, he acknowledgment he deserved. refuses to identify himself as the pamphlet’s author, Cardaic Henry arguing that “the Object for Attention is the Doc- trine itself, not the Man.” This rhetorical strategy, staged in the introductory pages of the pamphlet, sets the reader’s expectations for the argument that (1776) Common Sense will ensue and emphasizes the universal import Thomas Paine’s most famous pamphlet is fully of American independence. The concept of natu- titled Common Sense: Addressed to the Inhabitants ral rights, for Paine, is larger than America and its of America, on the Following Interesting Subjects: struggles with Great Britain, just as it is larger than I. Of the Origins and Design of the Government in the writer himself, who remains anonymous in General, with Concise Remarks on the English Con- order to focus attention on the issue at hand rather stitution. II. On Monarchy and Hereditary Succes- than on its author. sion. III. Thoughts on the Present State of American In his fi rst section, “Origin and Design of Gov- Affairs. IV. Of the Present Ability of America, with ernments in General,” Paine wishes to separate Some Miscellaneous Refl ections. It fi rst appeared society (produced by our wants) from govern- on January 9, 1776, and quickly went through 25 ment (produced by our wickedness). He offers a editions in that year alone, a publishing feat that hypothetical situation, “a small number of per- speaks to the general interest Paine aroused in the sons settled in some sequestered part of the earth, Americans who were clamoring for independence unconnected with the rest,” to illustrate the natu- from Great Britain. It was not as though other ral evolution of society and to provide readers with writers were not arguing for America to separate a “clear and just idea of the design and end of gov- itself from Britain; rather, what made Paine’s argu- ernment” (6). One man alone, Paine argues, will be ment so singular, aside from his deliberate use of unable to survive in this new environment unless plain style to reach the widest reading public pos- he forms bonds of “reciprocal blessings” with other sible, was its basis in reason rather than in the reli- immigrants, whose combined labor allows for the gious realm of the Bible. Prior to Paine’s pamphlet, construction of houses and mitigates against the Separatists and Puritans had made new homes vulnerability of the individual to disease or other for themselves in America precisely so they could misfortune. 282 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

When the colony reaches a certain number, king, but also denied their right to create heredi- however, Paine describes the necessity for repre- tary succession (14). Likewise, Samuel, when called sentative government rather than public gatherings upon to rule as king, prayed to God for guidance in which all residents participate as they could do and even asked God to send signs in the forms of initially when their numbers were not so great. The thunder and rain so that the populace might under- presumption, Paine states, is that these representa- stand how God discountenanced their desire for a tives will have “the same concerns at stake which king (15–17). Just as he employs two tales of spe- those have who appointed them [have]” (7). This cifi c men who refused the title of king in the Old form of government, in which representatives are Testament, so, too, does Paine cite a specifi c mon- elected, re-creates the image of the organically arch, William the Conqueror, to launch his argu- appearing society, for the electors “will establish a ment about hereditary succession. Quite plainly, common interest with every part of the commu- Paine labels William the Conqueror “a French bas- nity, they will mutually and naturally support each tard landing with an armed banditti, and establish- other” (8). To this representative form of govern- ing himself king of England against the consent of ment, which Paine believes “the simple voice of the natives.” William the Conqueror, Paine quips, nature and reason will say . . . is right,” he harshly is “in plain terms a very paltry rascally original” contrasts England’s unwritten constitution, whose (20). Paine returns again to the Bible, noting, “A complexity makes it nearly impossible to discern family of kings for ever hath no parallel in or out of “in which part the fault lies” (9). scripture” (20). Indeed, with the notion of origi- Paine believes that the English constitution nal sin passed down to all humanity from Adam’s merely allows the absolute monarchy to continue, fall, Paine notes, none can claim superiority over with only the pretext that the government contains another (21). On a less religious and more practical some “republican materials.” Even though the con- note, Paine mentions that minors are able to gain stitution gives the commons the ability to check access to the throne, as are those too increased in the king’s power, the king can exercise the same age to rule rightfully (21–22). power over the commons, thus reinforcing the In the third and best-known section of Com- notion from the days of absolute monarchy that the mon Sense, in which he tackles “the present state king is wiser than any group of people (10). Paine of American affairs,” Paine prefaces his argument concludes this fi rst section by likening the Ameri- with a plea to the reader to maintain an open mind: cans’ loyalty to the British constitution to a man’s “No other preliminaries to settle with the reader fancying a prostitute: Such an individual is unfi t to than that he will divest himself of prejudice and choose a wife. “Any prepossession in favor of a rot- prepossession, and suffer his reason and his feel- ten constitution of government will disable us from ings to determine for themselves” (24). He has discerning a good one” (12). not required such a precondition of his readers in In the second section, which covers the topic of previous sections, thus leading the reader to rec- the monarchy and hereditary succession, Paine sit- ognize the singular importance of this section; it uates the origins of monarchies with the heathens, is the heart of Common Sense. Paine immediately stating, “It was the most preposterous invention the calls for war between America and Britain in the Devil ever set foot on for the promotion of idola- second paragraph, deeming the “volumes [that] try” (13). He cites the Holy Scriptures, specifi cally have been written on the subject of the struggle” as Gideon and Samuel, as expressly disapproving of “ineffectual” and “the period of debate . . . closed” government ruled by kings (14). Paine recalls how (24–25). His tone is more strident, effective, and Gideon, after his successful campaign against the direct. Midianites, not only refused the public outcry for He justifi es the call to arms and war by refer- him and his children to rule over the people as their ence to the battle of Lexington, which took place Thomas Paine 283 on April 19, 1775. He considers this battle, “the not enough to convince his readers of the need commencement of hostilities,” as a turning point, for American independence, Paine lists the ways which rendered all previous “plans [and] proposals” in which America is victimized by England. Great as “useless now” (25). Paine deems it “right” to Britain’s foreign policy dictates America’s so that if examine “on the principles of nature and common England engages in a war, America is compelled to sense” what America stands to gain through inde- send troops and fi ght against “nations who other- pendence and to lose through continued depen- wise seek our friendship and against whom we have dence on Britain (26). To address America’s losses neither anger nor complaint.” America’s foreign as a colony of Britain, Paine examines the metaphor trade, Paine notes, is also determined by Britain’s of “Mother England,” stating that even if America foreign policies. is the child who has “thrived upon milk,” it is just Paine’s fi nal section calls for immediate action as preposterous to suggest that a child, even at the in the form of a military campaign against Great age of 20, should maintain the same diet as it is Britain in order to obtain independence. “The to suggest that America, who has been a colony present time, likewise, is that peculiar time, which for too long a time, should persist in its infantile never happens to a nation but once, viz. the time and dependent state. As a child does, America has of forming itself into a government” (55). Against grown, and as a child who has grown up should, anticipated arguments that Britain and its forces, America should demand its independence. Follow- particularly its naval power, signifi cantly outnum- ing this metaphor further, Paine states that if “Brit- ber American forces, Paine argues that the geo- ain is the parent country . . . then the more shame graphical distance is to America’s advantage since upon her conduct. Even brutes do not devour their Britain must travel overseas in order to refi t and young, nor savages make war upon their own fami- resupply its forces, that the absence of many sea- lies” (27). His reference to cannibalism stems from ports means America has less territory to protect, the various ways in which Britain fi guratively feeds and that the military powers are based upon expe- upon the American colonies as a source of raw riences of American colonists from the last war. materials, soldiers for its battles, and tax revenues for its coffers. For Discussion or Writing To disentangle the parent/child relationship 1. Paine takes a logical approach to the subject between Britain and America further, Paine returns of America’s independence from Great Britain, to his favorite whipping boy, William the Con- except in section 2, where he repeatedly cites queror, noting that as the “fi rst king of England the Bible as a source opposed to monarchies and of the present line” of monarchs, he was a French- the practice of hereditary succession. Consider man, “and half the peers of England are descen- the shift in his argument, and write your own dants from the same country.” Further, Americans version of section 2, in which you take a logical themselves are not wholly British: “Not one third approach to these two political practices. of the inhabitants, even of [Pennsylvania] are of 2. Compare Paine’s argument for natural rights English descent.” In addition to the fi ction of com- with PHILIP MORIN FRENEAU’s depiction of mon English blood uniting Britain and America, them in his poem “On Mr. Paine’s Rights of Paine notes the geographical distance between Man.” Does Freneau’s characterization do jus- the two continents: “Even the distance at which tice to Paine’s prose? How do you reconcile the the Almighty hath placed England and America different genres (pamphlet and poem) to the is a strong and natural proof that the authority manner in which the message of natural rights of the one over the other, was never the design of is presented? Heaven.” Where these arguments regarding the 3. Paine’s Common Sense and The Age of Reason fi ction of unity between Britain and America are infl uenced both the American Revolution and 284 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

the French Revolution. Review the doctrines cause (and not so subtly prodding lapsed militiamen and list several similarities in his arguments. to return to their units). In a stunning display of ver- bal dexterity, he contends that the obstacles facing the military actually work to the country’s advan- The American Crisis (1776–1783) tage, for “what we obtain too cheap we esteem too The fi rst installment of The American Crisis begins lightly” (170), and that the challenges will bring thus: out the best of the “manly and martial spirit” (173) in the soldiers and General Washington. The gen- These are the times that try men’s souls. The eral himself must have agreed with this notion, for summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, he commanded that this pamphlet be read to the in this crisis, shrink from the service of their troops on Christmas Eve 1776, shortly before the country; but he that stands it now deserves the historic crossing of the Delaware—a victory that love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, served as proof that American forces could in fact like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have defeat the ruthless mercenaries hired by the British. this consolation with us, that the harder the Paine signed this and all further installments of The confl ict, the more glorious the triumph. Crisis not with his name but with the title of his fi rst pamphlet, Common Sense. These electrifying opening words effectively The second Crisis, published on January 13, capture Thomas Paine’s tenor in the pamphlets 1777, was addressed “To Lord Howe,” the com- that he published serially throughout the American mander in chief of British forces during the Revo- Revolution. Intended to rally the revolutionaries lution. The pamphlet was not, however, a personal and bolster the morale of soldiers during periods appeal to the general, but rather a lampoon of his of doubt and uncertainty, the 13 Crisis papers (one tactics and personal character. Paine published honoring each colony) stress the promise of Amer- this paper in response to Howe’s proclamation ica, assert the righteousness of the cause as well as that all members of provisional congresses and its signifi cance in world history, and insist on the commissions must cease and desist from “treason- certainty of victory despite the frequently dismal able acts.” In The Crisis, Paine ridicules this pro- outlook on the battlefi eld. At times fi ery, bitingly nouncement, claiming that Howe does not possess funny, and meticulously rational, Paine’s rhetoric the authority to make such a proclamation since appeals to both the sentiments and the intellect of America has already declared its independence. his countrymen. The pamphlets, which Paine com- Paine explicitly states that his purpose in penning posed in what he called “a passion of patriotism,” this pamphlet is “to expose the folly of your pre- were reprinted in newspapers across the country, tended authority as a commissioner; the wicked- cementing Paine’s reputation as one of America’s ness of your cause in general; and the impossibility leading writers and as one of the most highly of your conquering us at any rate. On the part of esteemed public fi gures of the revolution. the public, my intention is, to show them their The fi rst issue of The Crisis was published on true and solid interest; to encourage them to their December 19, 1776, in the Pennsylvania Journal. As own good, to remove the fears and falsities which was the case with following installments, the author bad men have spread, and weak men have encour- donated all profi ts to the cause. In it, Paine argues aged; and to excite in all men a love for union, and in his characteristically clear and direct style that, a cheerfulness for duty” (192). He accomplishes despite the dire situation confronting the American these tasks by disparaging Howe’s honor, attack- forces, “no great deal is lost yet” (171). Paine assures ing him for his mercilessness, and reiterating the his countrymen that there is no cause for fear, urg- idea that every challenge to the American side is ing each individual to volunteer aid in support of the in fact an opportunity for success. Thomas Paine 285

This suggestion that obstacles actually present violence, but will retaliate if the king acts on his important possibilities for victory surfaces again threats. Published only a month later on November in the third and fourth installments of The Cri- 20, the fi fth pamphlet is addressed “To the People sis. In the third pamphlet, published on April 19, of England,” whose lack of anger about the war 1777 (exactly one year after the Battle of Lexing- Paine attributed to the deceptions of Parliament ton, which signaled the beginning of the confl ict), and the enormous distance between the countries, Paine compels his readers to refl ect on the course which makes the horrors of the confl ict diffi cult that the war has taken thus far and learn from to grasp. Appealing to the national honor and the the experiences, both positive and negative. He pragmatism of English subjects, Paine urges the implores his fellow patriots to recall the arguments British public to entreat their government to end in support of independence in order to maintain the war, as it is causing both fi nancial and moral their clarity of purpose. Crisis IV, published soon damage. after the stinging defeats at Fort Ticonderoga and The eighth pamphlet was published in March Brandywine, adopts a more austere tone, as Paine 1780, fi ve years after the beginning of the hostili- writes, “Those who expect to reap the blessings of ties. Again addressing the people of England, Paine freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of speaks about the “wanton cruelty” of the British in supporting it” (229). Paine also notes that Ameri- America (294) and asks the English to imagine how cans should take heart, for many British victories they would respond if the situation were reversed. have revealed themselves to be catastrophic failures He urges the British to liberate themselves from over time. their insular prejudices and put an end to the war The year 1778 saw three installments of The before any more damage is done to either nation. Crisis. In the fourth issue, published on March 21, On May 12, the British captured Charleston, Paine mocks Howe, noting that although the gen- South Carolina, issuing the Americans one of the eral merits a monument for his infamy, it would have worst defeats in the war. The Continental Army was to differ from traditional memorials; ultimately, he already so bedraggled and lacking in provisions that suggests that Howe be preserved as the pharaohs the baron von Steuben had dubbed the American were, but embalmed with tar and adorned with troops sans-culottes (no pants). In response, Paine feathers. He then reasons that Howe’s conquests contributed his entire life savings to the military and are trivial when compared with the vast expanse of on June 9 published Crisis IX, an appeal to the states America and further reassures his countrymen that to support the federal government, warning of the the English army is in its last throes. Finally, he fi nancial penalties they would confront were they to compares the republican project to that of Greece, become subjects of England once again. He argues arguing that America has far surpassed its prede- that the United States will not be conquered piece- cessor in the scope of this new democracy. meal and that defeats such as this one only rouse The fi fth pamphlet, published on October 20, more passion for the American cause. This pamphlet is addressed “To the Earl of Carlisle, General Clin- was followed by a supernumerary Crisis paper titled ton, and William Eden, Esq., British Commission- “The Extraordinary Crisis” and dated October 6, ers at New York,” who were sent to quell the chaos 1780, in which Paine defends the taxes being lev- in the colonies. Congress responded that it would ied on the American public in support of the war. only consent to peace if Britain recognized Amer- Since the rebellion was largely in response to Brit- ica’s independence, but the king scoffed at this ish taxation, fi nancing the war becomes a delicate idea, replying that “farther concession is a joke” issue. Printing more currency was often proposed as (261). Again, Paine indicates that the subsequent a quick solution, but, as Paine notes, this practice proclamations are “tedious and unmeaning” (262) led to rampant infl ation. Ultimately, Paine demon- and stresses that the revolutionaries do not seek strates through various calculations that the taxes in 286 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

America are far less than those paid by British sub- warns that the nation must realize and hold true jects and argues that it is better to pay now in sup- to its promise; the experiment of democracy is on port of the Revolution than to lose the war and pay display for the rest of the world, and “it would be exorbitant taxes to the British Crown. a circumstance ever to be lamented and never to be There is a large gap before the publication of the forgotten, were a single blot, from any cause what- next Crisis, and the sea change that occurred in the soever, suffered to fall on a revolution, which to the intervening years is immediately clear in the 10th end of time has contributed more to enlighten the installment, published on March 5, 1782. Subtitled world, and diffuse a spirit of freedom and liberal- “On the King’s Speech,” it is a response to a speech ity among mankind, than any human event (if this the king made on November 27, 1781, just six may be called one) that ever preceded it” (372). weeks after General Cornwallis’s surrender at York- town, which effectively ended major combat. In this For Discussion or Writing speech, however, the king hints at further aggres- 1. Compare Common Sense with The American Cri- sion (and, indeed, the Treaty of Paris that solidifi ed sis. In both, Paine employs a clear, easily accessible the peace would not be signed until 1783). Paine writing style. What function does this “simple” declares that the king’s words were “inquired after language serve? What rhetorical strategies does with a smile, read with a laugh, and dismissed with Paine employ to attract others to his cause? disdain” by the American people (323). The second 2. So much of The American Crisis is concerned part is addressed to the people of the United States, with the project of independence that we fre- and it urges the government not to underestimate quently neglect to examine Paine’s imagina- the costs of the war. Looking ahead, Paine argues tion of the future. How would you describe the for a strong central government in which “each state America and the Americans Paine envisions? To is to the United States what each individual is to what extent was this vision realized? the state he lives in” (341) for reasons of safety and Aimee Woznick national strength. The last three Crisis papers confront an America at the close of war. The 11th edition, published on (1794) May 22, 1782, and entitled “On the Present State The Age of Reason of News,” warns of Britain’s attempts to establish Paine’s The Age of Reason must be understood treaties with countries such as France without the in its intellectual context. Historically, the period participation of their allies. Paine advises the United between the 1600s and 1800s was an intellectual States to reject any unilateral treaty proposed by revolution that provided the basic framework for Britain, because broken alliances would under- modern man. By rejecting medieval theology as the mine the new nation’s standing abroad. Eight years fi nal authority on matters, modern man now dis- after the initial battles at Lexington and Concord, covered that he was able to interpret the universe, on April 19, 1783, Paine published Crisis XII, in the world, and himself through reason, science, which he casts doubt on America’s ability to forgive and logical analysis. This “new rationalism” was and work with Britain in the future. The fi nal Cri- widely considered by the 18th century to be the sis paper, aptly titled “Thoughts on the Peace, and fi nal key to the problems of mankind, and during the Probably Advantages Thereof,” declares, “ ‘The these two centuries of intellectualism, the “ratio- times that tried men’s souls’ are over—and the nalists,” fi nding in mathematics and science what greatest and completest revolution the world ever they believed to be infallible methods for solving knew gloriously and happily accomplished” (370). problems, accepted a mechanical interpretation of Despite this celebratory tone, Paine does express nature, which eventually led to the application of some concern over the future of America. He natural law to religion, society, and government. Thomas Paine 287

Some effects of this intellectualism can be found duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, in its application to religious ideas and purposes, and endeavoring to make our fellow-creatures since both religion and the concept of God were happy. But, lest it should be supposed that I also altered and transformed. Some rationalists believe many other things in addition to these, were skeptical of traditional religious views and I shall, in the progress of this work, declare the instead established a new religion of reason: deism. things I do not believe, and my reasons for not To deists, the traditional views of God were con- believing them. I do not believe in the creed trary to other accepted attitudes concerning the professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman freedom of man in an open and tolerant society. church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish God was now simply the clock winder of the uni- church, by the Protestant church, nor by any verse and, surprisingly, an impersonal force that was church that I know of. My own mind is my own absent from micromanaging individual lives. The church. All national institutions of churches, God who fashioned the Newtonian world machine, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear they said, would never “reveal” anything to man to me no other than human inventions set up to unless it was simple, clear, and logical. Since natural terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize religion—that is, religion without revelation—had power and profi t. . . . Each of those churches always been accepted as perfectly useful, revelation shows certain books, which they call revelation, could add nothing to it. They, therefore, admit- or the Word of God. Each of those churches ted that God had indeed created the universe, but accuses the other of unbelief; and, for my own after that, its immutable laws (laws that, by defi ni- part, I disbelieve them all. tion, excluded and rejected any concept of miracles) came into play, and those laws alone would be the It is diffi cult to overemphasize just how con- focus of reason. It became useless and presumptu- nected these religious attitudes of deism were to the ous to attempt to change these laws by prayer or conception of a free individual in an open society. by any other means. The deists accepted the moral Since the God of old refrained from micromanag- and ethical teachings of Christ, but they refused ing human affairs, man himself was left to his own to recognize the tenets of traditional Christianity, rational devices. Divine commands handed down which they described as a mysterious and incompre- from revelation were rejected, and instead the hensive body of revelation. To them, the miracles moral and ethical teachings of Christ were under- associated with the divinity of Christ were in direct stood and followed in a naturalistic, as opposed confl ict with reason and established scientifi c law. to supernaturalistic, context. This naturalism was The attitudes of deism can be found most clearly connected at that time to the radical idea of self- among the writings of the early American found- government, as opposed to government by an ers—specifi cally in Thomas Paine’s The Age of Rea- absolute ruler (Durant 613–615). son. Paine’s book is divided into two parts. The fi rst consists of an overview of deism and its relation to Soon after I had published the pamphlet, Com- reason, and the second consists of the application mon Sense, in America, I saw the exceeding of reason to critiques of both the Old and the New probability that a Revolution in the System of Testaments. (Criticism of traditional religious belief Government, would be followed by a revolu- is provided throughout both parts.) Paine writes in tion in the system of religion. The adulterous the fi rst few pages: connection of church and state, . . . [entailed that] those subjects could not be brought fairly I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope and openly before the world: but that whenever for happiness beyond this life. I believe in the this should be done, a revolution in the system equality of man, and I believe that religious of religion would follow. (Paine 667) 288 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

But political considerations aside, Paine’s criti- otherwise, all the people, since calling themselves cisms of revealed religion in general (and of Chris- Christians, had believed otherwise; for the belief of tianity in particular) are the primary focus of The the one comes from the vote of another” (675). Age of Reason. In addition to Paine’s claim that all Second, Paine simply appeals to historical revealed religions are promoted through the suspi- explanations: cious modes of “mystery, miracle, and prophecy” (711), his formal criticisms fall into several general It is . . . not diffi cult to account for the credit categories: (1) attacks on the concept of revelation; that was given to the story of Jesus Christ being (2) claims that Christianity either is founded on, the Son of God. . . . It was not a new thing at or has adapted to, the earlier “heathen mytholo- that time to believe a man to have been celestially gies”; (3) claims about the atrocities committed in begotten: the intercourse of gods with women God’s name in the Old Testament; and (4) claims was then a matter of familiar opinion. (669) about the irrationality of miracles and doubts about authorship claimed in both the Old and the New Third, Paine believes that both the Old and the Testaments. It will be convenient to take each of New Testaments, with their stories of Creation, the these categories in turn. Fall, and sacrifi ce by innocent proxy, are both mor- For one, Paine draws an important distinction ally atrocious and unjust. In addition to calling the between revelation and hearsay: claim that “God visits the sins of the fathers upon the children” morally unjust, Paine is critical of further Revelation, when applied to religion, means examples of bloodshed in the Old Testament by something communicated immediately from claiming it to be “scarcely any thing but a history God to man. . . . But admitting, for the sake of the grossest vices, and a collection of the most of a case, that something has been revealed to paltry and contemptible tales” (668, 680). a certain person, and not revealed to any other Consider also his rejection of the assumptions person, it is revelation to that person only. . . . It concerning sacrifi ce through crucifi xion: is revelation to the fi rst person only, and hearsay to every other; and consequently, they are not If I owe a person money and cannot pay him, obliged to believe it. . . . It cannot be incum- and he threatens to put me in prison, another bent upon me to believe it in the same manner, person can take the debt upon himself and pay for it was not a revelation made to me, and I it for me. But if I have committed a crime, every have only his word for it that it was made to circumstance of the case has changed. Moral him. (667–668) justice cannot take the innocent for the guilty, even if the innocent would offer itself. . . . It That is, hearsay can be objectively evaluated— is then no longer justice. It is indiscriminate and this is very different from the subjective nature revenge. (Paine 685) of revelation. For hearsay, Paine will offer reasons for why this or that claim in the New Testament Finally, Paine offers two sets of criticisms. The ought to be believed. But he also understands that fi rst concerns the irrationality of miracles: for any claimed case of revelation, reason simply cannot be applied. He is also critical of the way in Suppose, I were to say, that when I sat down to which such “revelations” were arranged into the write this book, a hand presented itself in the completed forms we see today. Paine writes, “they air, took up the pen, and wrote every word that decided by vote which of the books, out of the col- is herein written; would any body believe me? lection they had made, should be the WORD OF certainly they would not. Would they believe GOD, and which should not. . . . Had they voted me a whit the more if the thing had been a Thomas Paine 289

fact? certainly they would not. Since then, a real those aligned with reason will always refl ect. But, miracle, were it to happen, would be subject in contrast, those who have blind faith in revealed to the same fate as the falsehood, the incon- religion will claim heresy (cf. Romans 14:23). sistency becomes the greater, of supposing the Almighty would make use of means that would For Discussion or Writing not answer the purpose for which they were 1. Consider Paine’s proclamation that institutions of intended, even if they were real. (715) churches are “human inventions set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and These comments actually parallel David Hume’s profi t.” How does this statement resonate with thoughts on the subject (1748): his fellow deist Benjamin Franklin as he addresses his own religious beliefs in his autobiography? When anyone tells me, that he saw a dead man 2. How do the tenets set out in The Age of Reason restored to life, I immediately consider with compare with those in Paine’s Common Sense? myself, whether it be more probable, that this Does he imagine the same audience for both person should either deceive or be deceived, or texts? How does his treatment of faith and orga- that the fact, which he relates, should really have nized religion compare in the two? happened. I weigh the one miracle against the Bob Seltzer other; and according to the superiority, which I discover, I pronounce my decision, and always reject the greater miracle (Hume). FURTHER QUESTIONS The second set concerns skepticism about the ON PAINE AND HIS WORK authorship in both the Old and the New Testa- 1. Thomas Paine’s biography reveals that he was ments. After pointing out numerous inconsisten- not born into a wealthy family and that he tried cies in the Bible, Paine concludes: his hand at a variety of occupations before arriv- ing at his true calling as a writer of revolutionary The books . . . ascribed to Matthew, Mark, pamphlets. Read through one of his works and Luke, and John, were not written by Matthew, consider the role that class status played in help- Mark, Luke, and John, and . . . they are impo- ing him to formulate arguments for America to sitions. The disordered state of the history in separate from England. these four books, the silence of one book upon 2. Paine fell out of favor for his statements against matters related in the other, and the disagree- organized religion and in favor of deism. How ment that is to be found among them, implies are these beliefs in keeping with the political that they are the productions of some uncon- ones he espouses? Is there a sense of continuity nected individuals, many years after the things between his desire for American independence they pretend to relate. . . . In fi ne, that they have and his belief in a God who functions as a great been manufactured as the books of the old tes- watchmaker? tament have been by other persons than those whose names they bear. (796) WORKS CITED AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Foner, Eric. Tom Paine and Revolutionary America. The Age of Reason closes with a challenge to the New York: Oxford University Press, 1976. reader. Paine writes, “I leave the evidence . . . to be Freed, Judah. Meet Thomas Paine: A Visionary Revo- refuted, if any one can do it” (830). This challenge, lutionary. Media Visions Press. Available online. of course, goes right along with Paine’s attitude, for, URL: http://www.media-visions.com/tompaine. if ever an argument is to be suggested for a belief, html. Accessed March 9, 2007. 290 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

Fruchtman, Jack. Thomas Paine: Apostle of Freedom. Paine, Thomas. “The Age of Reason.” In Thomas New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 1994. Paine: Collected Writings. New York: Library of Kaye, Harvey J. Thomas Paine and the Promise of America, 1995. America. New York: Hill & Wang, 2005. ———. “The American Crisis.” In The Writings of ———. Thomas Paine: Firebrand of Revolution. Thomas Paine. Edited by Moncure Daniel Conway. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. New York: Burt Franklin, 1962. Larkin, Edward. Thomas Paine and the Literature Snyder, Louis L. The Age of Reason. New York: Van of Revolution. New York: Cambridge University Nostrand, 1955. Press, 2005. Thomas Paine National Historical Association. Avail- McCartin, Brian. Thomas Paine: Common Sense and able online. URL: http://www.thomaspaine.org/. Revolutionary Pamphleteering. New York: Power Accessed April 23, 2009. Plus Books, 2002. Thomas Paine. Available online. URL: http:// Nelson, Craig. Thomas Paine: Enlightenment, Revolu- www.ushistory.org/PAINE/. Accessed April 23, tion, and the Birth of Modern Nations. New York: 2009. Viking, 2006. Vickers, Vikki J. “My Pen and My Soul Have Ever Gone Nicolson, Harold George. The Age of Reason and the Together”: Thomas Paine and the American Revolu- Eighteenth Century. New York: Doubleday, 1961. tion. New York: Routledge, 2006. Mary White Rowlandson (1637–1711)

I have been in the midst of these roaring lions and savage bears.

(Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson)

orn in Somerset, England, to John White and other grievances, chief among them the continual BJoan West, Mary White and her nine siblings encroachment of English settlers into Wampanoag immigrated to the Bay Colony in 1639. Although territory. Further, the death of a “praying Indian” they fi rst lived in Salem, in 1653 the Whites were (Christianized Indian) named John Sassamon among the earliest Puritans to settle in Lancaster, sparked retaliatory actions on both sides: The Eng- Massachusetts, which was then a frontier town lish executed three Wampanoag, and Metacom (around 35 miles west of Boston). The land com- attacked the village of Swansea. As sachem of the prising Lancaster had been purchased 10 years prior Wampanoag, Metacom rallied members of his own from the Nashaways by a “Boston trader” (Blevins tribe, as well as soliciting the aid of the Nipmuc Faery 25). Mary must have enjoyed a relatively and Narragansett to form an alliance against the privileged childhood since her father was Lancast- English. Because his sister-in-law, Weetamoo, was er’s wealthiest original landowner (Burnham 14). squaw sachem of the Narragansett, it was easy to Scholars attribute her uncommon degree of literacy, unify these two tribes against a common enemy. which afforded her the necessary skills to pen her Rumors of a potential attack on Lancaster spurred own remarkable narrative of captivity and deliver- Joseph Rowlandson to travel to Boston to seek ance, to her class status and its access to education. additional support. During his absence, Mary Around 1656, Mary White married Joseph Rowlandson and the couple’s three children were Rowlandson, a prominent Puritan minister of Lan- taken captive. caster. Joseph had been the only graduate in his On February 10, 1676, the town of Lancaster was class at Harvard in 1652; he began his ministry in attacked. Their garrison house, which was meant to Lancaster two years later, in 1654 (Blevins Faery be a fortress against the “vast and howling wilder- 26). Their fi rst child, a daughter named Mary, was ness,” housed Rowlandson’s immediate family, plus born in 1658, but died at the age of three. The two of Mary’s sisters and their families. Of the 37 Rowlandsons had three other children: Joseph people living in the Rowlandson home, 24 were (1662), another Mary (1665), and Sarah (1669). taken captive. Rowlandson and her youngest, Sarah, Because of its remoteness, Lancaster was a likely were separated from her elder children, Joseph and target for attacks. In June 1675 King Philip’s War Mary. Although Sarah died of wounds she received broke out. The cause was the sudden death of while in captivity, Rowlandson was rescued on May Metacom’s older brother, who Metacom suspected 2, 1676. A few weeks later, son and daughter were was poisoned by English settlers, and a number of reunited with their family. Historians conjecture

291 292 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers that her captivity was due to the fact that her hus- Connecticut, and whose grandfather, Theophilus band was a prominent fi gure in the community, Eaton, was the governor of New Haven Colony with the result that she would fetch a high ransom. (Greene 31). Two years into their marriage, how- Indeed, her ransom was £20. John Hoar of Concord ever, Nathaniel disappeared, and it was rumored secured Mary’s release on May 2; her total time in that he had died. Just when the courts were will- captivity was 82 days. ing to consider evidence of his death, however, After her return, Rowlandson’s family moved news arrived that he had appeared in court in to Boston and eventually settled in the town of 1707, declaring that Joseph Rowlandson, along Wethersfi eld in Connecticut. In 1678, just six years with another man named, David Jesse, had gotten after her captivity, her husband, Joseph, died sud- Nathaniel drunk, put him on a boat sailing for Vir- denly. The following year, Rowlandson married ginia, and sold him as a servant (Greene 32). Joseph Captain Samuel Talcott, a leader in the local com- was arrested. Scholars have used court records of munity, who was also named as one of the those the trial to determine both the birth and the death appointed to administer her late husband’s estate of Mary Rowlandson, as she served as a guarantor (Greene 28). Talcott was born into an armigerous that her son would appear in court. family, meaning that they were of a class entitled On January 5, 1711, at the age of 73, Mary to bear arms, and was a graduate of Harvard. Nev- White Rowlandson Talcott died. Her legacy con- ertheless, as his father and stepfather were trades- tinues, as her captivity narrative has remained in men by profession, it is clear that Talcott gained print since its fi rst edition in 1682. Rowlandson’s social status when marrying Rowlandson. Samuel narrative was widely read and recommended by Talcott was a member of the War Council during some of the most prominent and learned men of King Philip’s War (June 1675–1678). His fi rst wife, New England: Samuel Sewall, Increase Mather, Hannah Holyoke, died in February of either 1677 COTTON MATHER, and Thomas Prince (Der- or 1678 and left behind six sons and two daughters ounian-Stodola 39). Increase Mather was already (Greene 29). personally acquainted with the circumstances of Rowlandson’s Narrative of her captivity was Rowlandson’s captivity since her fi rst husband had published in 1682, with an introduction by the sought out the minister’s assistance in securing the Reverend Increase Mather, an infl uential family release of his wife (Derounian 241). friend. Talcott died in 1691, and his will bequeaths to his “dear and Loveing wife Mary, the sum of The Soveraignty and Goodness of GOD, ten pounds per annum; & the use of one of the lower room in my dwelling house, which she shall Together with the Faithfulness of His choose, with convenient cellaring & use of an oven Promises Displayed; Being a Narrative or ovens in the same, as she shall have need, with of the Captivity and Restoration of sutable land for a garden, as she shall desire, & the Mrs. Mary Rowlandson (1682) keeping of one cow, which she shall choose out of As Kathryn Derounian-Stodola notes, Rowland- my cows to be at her owne dispose” (reported in son’s narrative went through four editions in Greene 29). 1682, and “its estimated minimum sales of over Mary’s son, Joseph, was the center of a sen- 1,000 copies made it one of the earliest American sational case in the colonial period involving the bestsellers” (36–37). Rowlandson’s narrative of her disappearance of his brother-in-law, Nathaniel Wil- three-month captivity is sandwiched between an son. Joseph’s wife, Hannah Wilson, was part of an introduction, signed per amicum but most likely upper-class family from Boston. Nathaniel made an written by Increase Mather, and an appendix con- even better match. He wed Susannah Jones, whose taining her fi rst husband, Joseph Rowlandson’s, father, William Jones, was the deputy-governor of fi nal sermon, delivered on November 21, 1673, in Mary White Rowlandson 293

Wethersfi eld, Connecticut, just three days prior to of her narrative works assiduously to squelch any his death. It was customary for a parish to publish thoughts of improper female behavior on Row- the fi nal sermon of their minister upon his passing. landson’s part. Second, Mather characterizes Row- John Woodbridge, Jr., who succeeded Joseph Row- landson’s narrative less an autobiography and more landson in his position in Wethersfi eld, is thought a form of testimony where a faithful member of the to be responsible for collecting Rowlandson’s fi nal community narrates events that illuminate divine sermon and for sending it, along with Mary’s Providence. In this manner, Rowlandson’s captiv- captivity narrative, to the printer in Boston. (The ity is less about her and more about the Puritan Woodbridge family, as noted in the entry on ANNE community in general; less about the affl ictions BRADSTREET, was also instrumental in the publica- suffered by one person, and more a “dispensation tion of her fi rst book of poetry.) of publick note and of Universal concernment.” Mather opens the “Preface to the Reader” with Finally, Mather casts the story of Rowlandson’s a recitation of the military events preceding Row- capture and release as a moral tale whose mes- landson’s capture. After English victories over the sage warrants multiple readings by members of Narragansett, Wampanoag, and Nipmuc, the War the faithful community of Puritans. He closes his Council agreed not to pursue the “Heathen[s]”; preface in the following manner: “Reader, if thou this decision, Mather opines, “soon proved dis- gettest no good by such Declaration as this, the mal.” Removed from their territory and with fault must needs be thine own. Read, therefore, dwindling supplies, the Narragansett “fell with a peruse, ponder, and from hence lay up something mighty force and fury upon Lancaster.” What fol- from the experience of another, against thine own lows for Mather “is a Narrative of the wonderfully turn comes: that so thou also through patience and awful, wise, holy, powerful, and gracious provi- consolation of the Scripture mayest have hope.” dence of God.” He likens Rowlandson’s trials to Rowlandson’s narrative is structured by those depicted in the Bible for Joseph, David, and “removes,” or the geographical locations where Daniel. In Genesis, God saves Joseph from prison; she and her captors struck camp temporarily before in Samuel 1, David is saved from Goliath; and in continuing their journey. There are 20 removes in Daniel, he is saved from a den of lions. Thus, Row- total, and scholars who have tracked her descrip- landson’s rescue fi ts as another story in the book tions of various locations—as well as the comings of divine providence from which Puritans can read and goings of certain members of the Narragansett of “God’s dealing with her.” Because the Puri- tribe—have estimated that she traveled around 150 tans took a Platonic notion of the world where all miles in the span of 83 days (Leach 353). observable events were interpreted as signs of God’s In her opening scene of the attack on her house judgment, Increase Mather naturally views Mary and on the town of Lancaster in general, Rowland- Rowlandson’s captivity as such an event. son includes gruesome details of human carnage: Mather’s framing of Rowlandson’s tale as an people knocked on the head, “stript naked” with exemplary narrative laden with religious and com- their bowels split open; witnessing fi rsthand the munal portent deserves further comment. First, deaths of her brother-in-law, John Divoll, and her Mather’s stamp of approval helps to dissipate asper- eldest sister; a bullet that passes through her side sions on the unorthodox situation her narrative and mortally wounds her daughter, Sarah, whom creates by thrusting a female member of the Puri- she is holding in her arms; and her house burning tan community into the public eye. In Puritan cul- to the ground. She characterizes her attackers as ture, women were to be modest; that Rowlandson “merciless Heathen” “hell-hounds” and “ravenous penned her own narrative, and that her narrative is Beasts.” This depiction of American Indians, how- about herself, did, undoubtedly, place her outside ever, will shift during her captivity as Rowlandson the bounds of acceptable female conduct. Mather’s becomes acquainted with people who treat her endorsement of her as author and as the subject nicely and extend unexpected courtesies to her. 294 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

Rowlandson’s shifting depiction of Ameri- the Wampanoag squaw sachem. Weetamoo was the can Indians has been a subject of much discussion widow of Metacom’s deceased brother, Wamsutta. It and debate among scholars. Although she shows a is from King Philip’s own mouth that Rowlandson marked dislike for neophytes (Christianized Indi- learns of her impending release. ans), whom she refers to as “praying Indians,” she Unlike slaves or indentured servants in Puritan appears to develop a friendship with Metacom, King culture, Rowlandson as captive of the Narragan- Philip. Two “Praying Indians,” Tom and Peter, who sett receives payment for her labor. When she makes were converted members of the Nipmuc, mediated shirts, hats, stockings, aprons, and socks for her between the English and the Narragansett for Row- master, mistress, and other tribesmen, she receives landson’s release. Despite their crucial role in liber- food and money as compensation. She attempts to ating her, Rowlandson paints all “praying Indians” hand over her payment to her master, “but he bade with the same brush, remarking on one person in me keep it: and with it I bought a piece of Horse- particular, who liked to “wear a string about his fl esh.” As an illustration of how common a practice neck, strung with Christian Fingers.” And yet, Row- it was for Rowlandson to receive compensation for landson’s narrative contains numerous examples of her labors, she tells in the ninth remove of “a sorry large and small acts of kindness. There are people Indian, who spake to me to make him a shirt, when I who give her the last of their food and go without so had done it, he would pay me nothing.” Rowlandson that she can eat. There are people who invite her to hounds him until he agrees to give her a knife if she live in their wigwam when she fi ghts with her mis- makes another shirt for his papoose. These details of tress. Rowlandson details how “the squaw laid a mat exchange are important, as they indicate the social under me, and a good rug over me; the fi rst time I position Rowlandson held while captive. Had she had any such kindness shewed me.” been viewed as a slave or a mere piece of property, it Among some of the more signifi cant courtesies is doubtful that she would continue to receive food extended to her in captivity are her reunions with and other forms of payment for her services. her son, Joseph, and her surviving daughter, Mary, Another subject commonly discussed by schol- and her possession of a Bible. Soon after the death of ars as a sign of Rowlandson’s gradual accultura- Sarah, Joseph’s mistress takes him to see his mother tion into Native society is her changing palate for while his master leaves for an assault on the village indigenous foods. At fi rst, she writes, “I hardly ate of Medfi eld. Rather than recognize the kindness of any thing . . . ’twas very hard to get down their Joseph’s mistress in arranging a meeting between fi lthy trash.” But by her third week in captivity, she her son and her, however, Rowlandson attributes begins to fi nd a Native diet “pleasant and savoury.” this act to God. Similarly, she writes, “I cannot but Contemporary readers might blanch at her pro- take notice of the wonderful mercy of God to me fessed taste for horse liver, bear, a fawn taken from in those affl ictions, in sending me a Bible. One of the womb of a slain deer, boiled horse hoof, and the Indians that came from Medfi eld fi ght and had horse entrails. Indeed, she steals the horse hoof brought some plunder; came to me, and asked me, from a captive English child who is having diffi - if I would have a Bible.” Although she is a captive culty chewing it. and thus a pawn among the Wampanoag, Narra- Rather than depict Rowlandson’s life after her gansett, and English, Rowlandson retains much of return, the narrative concludes with a list of fi ve pas- the class status into which she was born. The excep- sages of providence that are meant to speak more tionality of her status among the Puritans continues generally to the contentious relationship between even while she is a captive. Rowlandson developed a the American Indians and the English settlers, and friendship with Metacom, King Philip, himself. Her God’s favor for the one group over the other. The master and mistress during her captivity were Quin- fi rst “remarkable passage of providence” is a repeti- napin, the Narragansett sachem, and Weetamoo, tion of Mather’s preface in which he writes that the Mary White Rowlandson 295

Puritans’ decision not to pursue the Wampanoag because she is one of the earliest female authors directly resulted in the attack on Lancaster and the to have her work published, but also because capture of Rowlandson and her children. By the sec- she is a female captive in a genre perhaps made ond passage, which indirectly chastises the slowness most notable by JOHN SMITH and his tale of of the English army in pursuit of the Naragansett, captivity by Powhatan. How does Rowlandson readers recognize that instead of presenting exam- account for herself as a woman and as a pub- ples of how God favored the Puritans, Rowlandson lished author? How do her portrayals of herself is expressing her anger at the considerable amount of provide contemporary readers with insight into time it took for her recovery, and at what appears to 17th-century American culture? be the general incompetence of the English forces. 2. For 17th-century readers, Rowlandson’s tale The Indians are able to fi nd sustenance while the of captivity, suffering, and deliverance was English starve; the Indians (including women with intended to be a moral tale. Comparing Row- papooses and the elderly) are able to ford a river landson’s tale to more contemporary captivity while the English cannot. Scholars have described stories such as those of Pattie Hearst, Elizabeth these passages in Rowlandson’s narrative as moments Smart, and Jessica Lynch, consider the extent to when the Puritan belief in divine providence seems which the genre is steeped in morality. Does the to break down, to be turned into an indirect critique moral tale shift when the captive is male? If so, against the considerable delay of her rescue. how or why? If not, why not?

For Discussion or Writing WORKS CITED AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES 1. Consider Rowlandson’s contradictory portrayal Blevins Faery, Rebecca. Faery’s Cartographies of Desire of American Indians. Examine the language Captivity, Race, and Sex in the Shaping of an Increase Mather uses in his preface to describe American Nation. Norman: University of Okla- American Indians in general and compare it to homa Press, 1999. the particular stories contained in Rowlandson’s Burnham, Michelle. Captivity and Sentiment: Cul- narrative. What might account for these differ- tural Exchange in American Literature, 1682– ences? How might Rowlandson and Mather dif- 1861. Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New fer in their treatment of Indians? England, 1997. 2. What role does Rowlandson’s faith play in her ———. “The Journey Between: Liminality and Dialo- narrative? What about “Praying Indians”? Con- gism in Mary White Rowlandson’s Captivity Narra- trast Rowlandson’s view of converted American tive.” Early American Literature 28 (1993): 60–75. Indians to SAMSON OCCOM’s autobiographical Castiglia, Christopher. Bound and Determined: Cap- portrayal of himself as a minister. tivity, Culture-Crossing, and White Womanhood 3. How signifi cant is the scene in which she from Mary Rowlandson to Patty Hearst. Chicago: receives a Bible? How prevalent are biblical pas- University of Chicago Press, 1996. sages and comparisons in her narrative? What of Derounian, Katherine Zabelle. “The Publication, Promo- the passages and events that are without biblical tion, and Distribution of Mary Rowlandson’s Indian or religious references? Captivity Narrative in the Seventeenth Century.” Early American Literature 23 (1988): 239–261. Derounian-Stodola, Kathryn Zabelle. “The Indian Captivity Narratives of Mary Rowlandson and FURTHER QUESTIONS ON Olive Oatman: Case Studies in the Continuity, ROWLANDSON AND HER WORK Evolution, and Exploitation of Literary Discourse.” 1. Mary Rowlandson’s tale is pivotal to our under- Studies in the Literary Imagination 27, no. 1 standings of early American literature not only (Spring 1994): 33–46. 296 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

Faery, Rebecca Blevins. Cartographies of Desire: Captivity, Mary Rowlandson. Available online. URL: http:// Race, and Sex in the Shaping of an American Nation. www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/rowlandson. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999. htm. Accessed April 23, 2009. Greene, David L. “New Light on Mary Rowlandson.” Namias, June. White Captives: Gender and Ethnicity Early American Literature 20 (1985): 24–38. on the American Frontier. Chapel Hill: University Lavender, Catherine. Mary Rowlandson, The Nar- of North Carolina Press, 1993. rative of the Captivity and the Restoration of Mrs. Sayre, Gordon M., ed. American Captivity Narratives: Mary Rowlandson (1682).” Available online. URL: Olaudah Equiano, Mary Rowlandson, and Others. http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/ Boston: Houghton Miffl in, 2000. lavender/rowlandson.html. Accessed April 23, 2009. Stevens, Laura M. The Poor Indians: British Mission- Leach, David Edward. “The ‘Whens’ of Mary Row- aries, Native Americans, and Colonial Sensibility. landson’s Captivity.” New England Quarterly 34, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, no. 3 (1961): 352–363. 2004. Susanna Haswell Rowson (1762–1824)

A history which would tend to prove that retribution treads upon the heels of vice, and that, though not always apparent, yet even in the midst of splendor and prosperity, con- science stings the guilty.

(The Trials of the Human Heart)

orn on February 5, 1762, Susanna Haswell fi ction, so it is diffi cult to determine through her Bwas the daughter of Susanna Musgrave Has- writing how she might have felt toward them. well and the British naval offi cer William Haswell. What does appear quite prominently in Haswell’s The two had married at the parish church of St. fi ction, however, is an event that held substantial Thomas a Becket in Portsmouth, England, on meaning for her and her family—the American March 3, 1761. Although Susanna Musgrave Has- Revolution. With the outbreak of the war, there well became ill only a few months after marriage, were growing pressures for the Haswells to declare she was able to give birth to her only child. She their allegiances. As the biographer Patricia Parker died 10 days after childbirth, and parish records argues, this was no easy matter for William Has- indicate that William buried his wife on February well. He and his daughter were born in England, 5, 1762, and baptized his daughter a mere 10 days and he held a position with the Royal Navy; his later. After his wife’s death, William contracted second wife was American, as were his two young with a nurse to look after Susanna as he departed sons. Further, the family owned property in Mas- for Massachusetts to work as a customs collector sachusetts and had extended family residing in for the Royal Navy. Three years later, in 1765, neighboring towns. In the hope of a compromise, William married his second wife, Rachel Wood- William declared himself a neutral fi gure, neither ward, in the port town of Hull, Massachusetts, at a Whig nor a Tory. Given their geographical prox- the entrance of Boston Harbor. In 1766, William imity to Boston Harbor, the Haswells witnessed returned to Portsmouth to retrieve fi ve-year-old many of the early signs of impending war, such as Susanna and her nurse. The three returned to Hull the destruction of a British schooner off the coast to join Haswell’s new wife. In her autobiographical of Hog Island (Parker 6). Even more pressing and work Rebecca, Haswell describes her stepmother dramatic a scene played itself out within their very in the fi ctionalized fi gure of Mrs. Littleton. This home as the Haswells tried unsuccessfully to tend less than matronly character professed “sentiments to a wounded British soldier, who died within that are narrow and illiberal” as well as a “a kind of hours of his arrival. Susanna assisted her father in worldly knowledge which rendered her suspicious burying the soldier in their backyard. of the integrity of every human being” (9, reported Soon after William Haswell requested to return in Parker 4). Although Rachel Haswell bore two to England, the family was taken prisoner. They sons, Robert and William, Jr., Susanna Haswell were held from October 28, 1775, to December 5, makes no mention of young or teenage boys in her 1777, in a small home in the town of Hingham.

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They were then moved by order of the Massachu- husband, but she did raise his illegitimate son. Her setts General Court farther inland to Abington. career in the theater seems to have been the fam- Rachel’s health, which had been failing during ily’s main source of income, and, given the mobile their imprisonment in Hingham, took a turn for status of the theater, they must have moved quite the worse during the winter spent in Abington. often in accordance with her employment. Susanna’s father also took ill and it was up to the A good indication of Rowson’s industrious eldest child, then 15, to gather fi rewood and keep nature can be seen in the list of her contemporane- the family warm during the brutal winter. In May ous accomplishments. Because many of the smaller 1778, William successfully petitioned the legisla- troupes of actors did not have casts large enough ture for permission to leave for Nova Scotia in the for all of the roles demanded in any given play, and hope of being exchanged with other prisoners. The because they typically staged new plays every night Haswells were traded with the American captain or every other night, Susanna was required to learn of the Rattlesnake and recuperated in Hull-upon- lines for up to 20 parts at a time (Parker 12). In Humber before moving to London. 1786, the same year that she married, she published Although biographers are without specifi c her fi rst novel, Victoria. She quickly followed with details of Susanna’s life while her family lived in two additional books, The Inquisitor (which was a London, most believe that she became a govern- collection of tales) and Poems of Various Subjects. ess (Parker 10; Smiley v). Her father’s physical and Her knowledge of the theater was reproduced in a psychological deterioration during their time of poem entitled A Trip to Parnassus; or, the Judgment imprisonment rendered him unfi t to continue his of Apollo on Dramatic Authors and Performers. The position with the Royal Navy. With the birth of a following year, 1789, she anonymously published third son soon after the family settled in London, The Test of Honour. In 1791, she wrote Mentoria and it became readily apparent that Susanna, then 16, Charlotte; the latter made her famous. It became would need to seek employment, if not to support a best seller in America. All of these publications the family, then at least to lessen her burden on occurred at a time when she was working primarily them. In February 1786, William Haswell, along as an actress. with other immigrants who had suffered similar Although Charlotte was a success, Rowson did fates in America, was granted compensation for his not reap the benefi t of her pen. Because publishers fi nancial losses. He also was provided with a pen- did not pay women authors in accordance with the sion for his navy service, and this income enabled numbers of copies of their books sold, Rowson did him to support his family once again. not gain the large fi nancial reward best sellers pro- In that same year, 1786, Susanna met and mar- vide for contemporary authors. Joined by her sister- ried William Rowson, a hardware merchant who in-law, Charlotte, Susanna and her husband left for also occasionally played trumpet, sang, and acted Edinburgh. In 1793, having failed to make a success on stage. Parker seems to insinuate, through a on the English stage, the three eagerly signed on reading of some of Rowson’s writings, that her with Thomas Wignell and sailed on the George Bar- father forced the marriage and that it was loveless cley for Philadelphia. The outbreak of yellow fever in from the very beginning. Whatever the nature of Philadelphia, which the author CHARLES BROCKDEN their union, it is quite likely that her own work as a BROWN suffered from and wrote about in his novel lyricist for Vauxhall may have been the occasion for Arthur Mervyn, delayed the opening of Wignell’s their original meeting (Parker 10). Just as she had New Theater. After appearing in Hannah Cow- provided fi nancially for her family before marriage, ley’s Who’s the Dupe?, which opened in Annapolis, so she continued to provide for herself and her Susanna embarked on a grueling career in Ameri- husband for the duration of their less-than-perfect can theater, beginning in January 1794. Her biog- union. Rowson never had any children with her rapher Parker calculates that Rowson played 35 roles Susanna Haswell Rowson 299 in the fi rst four-month season of the New Theater published An Abridgment of Universal Geography, and 22 roles in the second (15). Wignell’s partner a textbook that perhaps refl ected her own fam- at the New Theater, Alexander Reinagle, was also ily’s engagement with the sea. While living at what a musician and a collaborator with Rowson, who would be her fi nal residence, the academy’s address composed lyrics to his songs. She also began writ- on Hollis Street in Boston, Rowson wrote and pub- ing her fi rst American plays: Slaves in Algiers (1794) lished most of her textbooks: A Present for Young and The Volunteers (1795). Despite her successful Ladies (1811), Exercises in History, Chronology, and work as a lyricist and supporting actress for the New Biography (1822), and Biblical Dialogues (1822). Theater, the Rowsons left Philadelphia for Boston Because of fi nancial problems, and the alcoholism in September 1796. William had been crossed off of her husband, Rowson’s fi nal years were not happy the list of actors and was quickly replaced when he ones. Her husband accrued a massive debt and took proved too inept to work as a prompter. out a mortgage on their Hollis Street home (the site When they arrived in Boston, Susanna was of her academy and her residence). Parker reports reunited with her two half brothers. Through their that he was prone to humiliate her publicly, in front correspondence, Susanna learned that both brothers of her pupils and colleagues (23). Her worry over had pursued careers at sea. She also gained infor- money may have been the reason why, despite a lin- mation about and employment from the Boston gering illness, she continued to teach at the academy Federal Street Theatre, managed by John William- and publish works of fi ction and instruction. She son. Susanna continued writing songs, acting, and died on March 2, 1824, and was buried in the vault producing. Her next dramatic production was called of her close friend, Gotlieb Graupner, in St. Mat- Americans in England. The publication of her next thew’s Church in Boston. A mere fi ve months after book, Reuben and Rachel, would determine her next her death, William Rowson married a woman from career move as the head of a boarding school. Pennsylvania named Hannah Smith. The fi nancial and political diffi culties of the The Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Jane Smi- Federal Street Theater caused the manager, John ley, in her introduction to the 2004 reprinting of Williamson, to leave for North Carolina, and Charlotte Temple, situates Rowson’s most infl uen- Rowson, at the age of 35, to leave the stage and tial work within an 18th-century literary conven- embark on a new career. In November 1797, she tion that contemporary critics dismissively cast as opened Mrs. Rowson’s Young Ladies’ Academy “melodramas of beset manhood” (xiii). Smiley on the same street as the Theater, Federal Street. notes how the subject of female vulnerability and The school would have several locations during her exploitation was taken up by most of England’s 25 years as headmistress. In 1800, she moved the respected and renowned novelists, including Lau- academy to Medford, a town northwest of Boston rence Sterne, author of Tristram Shandy, and Dan- that provided a community of moneyed residents iel Defoe, author of Robinson Crusoe. These authors whose daughters became pupils at Rowson’s school. tackled subjects like rape, incest, illegitimacy, false Among her students were the daughters of Gover- marriage, seduction, and child abandonment; nor Claiborne of South Carolina and the daugh- Rowson’s “tale of truth,” by focusing on the ruin ters of New England’s fi nest families (Parker 20, of its titular character, was very much in keeping 21). Before returning to Boston, Rowson located with the literary trend of the time. her academy for four years (1803–07) in New- ton, where she solicited the aid of her sister-in-law, Mary Cordis Haswell. When Mary learned that her (1791) husband, Susanna’s brother Robert, had been lost Charlotte Temple: A Tale of Truth at sea, she and her two baby girls took up perma- First published in England in 1791 and later in nent residence with Susanna. During that time, she America in 1794, Charlotte (subsequently entitled 300 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

Charlotte Temple) became a best seller and over- Lewis’s connection between money and corruption shadowed the publication of the rest of Rowson’s as the source of the family’s demise. works. Because of the novel’s subtitle, A Tale of Unlike the chaste and pure Lucy, whose virtue Truth, readers from the 18th century to the pres- is rewarded by a loving and respectful marriage to ent have been searching for the historical identity Temple, Temple’s own sisters and his stepmother of its main characters: Charlotte Temple and John readily sacrifi ce their honor on the altar of class Montraville. Rowson’s own reference to her text by position. Rowson describes the unseemly mar- its subtitle and not by its genre, a novel, may have riages of Temple’s sisters in the following manner: helped to foster this interpretation of the work as “[They] legally prostituted to old, decrepit men, based on the real-life account of a young woman’s whose titles gave them consequence in the eyes seduction and betrayal. of the world, and whose affl uence rendered them Charlotte Temple begins with a brief encoun- splendidly miserable” (40). Rowson describes the ter between the novel’s two main characters and sisters as having forfeited happiness and love for the future lovers: Charlotte Temple and John Montra- empty and unfulfi lling allure of money and status. ville. Although no words are exchanged between Temple himself will not prove immune to a mar- the two, a future meeting seems inevitable as Mon- riage prospect that would increase his pocket but traville presses a love letter for Charlotte into the empty his heart. In the fi gure of Miss Weatherby, hands of her corrupted and corrupting French Temple encounters the moral and social equivalent teacher, Mademoiselle La Rue. Interestingly, Mon- of “the old decrepit men” who married his sisters. traville also makes a present of fi ve guineas to Although blessed with beauty and fortune, Miss Charlotte’s companion, “who promised she would Weatherby has a defi cient moral character that is endeavour to bring her young charge into the fi eld outlined by Rowson with the following judgment: again the next evening” (39). Thus, at the close “her form lovely as nature could make it, but her of the fi rst chapter, Rowson creates a correlation mind uncultivated, her heart unfeeling, her pas- between money and corruption. sions impetuous, and her brain almost turned with This connection will carry into the rest of the fl attery, dissipation, and pleasure” (53). It is worth novel and appears immediately in the following noting that Miss Weatherby’s abundant beauty and chapter, which reviews the past history of Char- wealth seem to be the corrupting agents behind lotte’s mother and her family. When Lucy, Char- her insensible heart. Thus, it seems in keeping with lotte’s mother, was younger, she was sought out as her nature that she would prevail upon her father payment or compensation for the debt her father to make an alliance with Mr. Temple and would be incurred with his son’s dear friend, Mr. Lewis. incapable of “imagining he could refuse a girl of When Mr. Lewis professes his love for her, Lucy, as her beauty and fortune” (53). Indeed, Miss Weath- a dutiful daughter, immediately reports the news to erby seems to be usurping the traditionally mascu- her parents and “cheerfully submit[s] [herself] to line role of wooer and pursuer on the basis of her [their] direction” (45). Lucy’s father, Mr. Eldridge, wealth. soon discovers that Lewis does not have honorable Mr. Temple learns of her desire to marry him intentions toward Lucy but intends to abuse her from his own father, the earl, who encourages his as recompense for the money lent to her father. In son to unite with Miss Weatherby and marry for rapid succession, Lewis has the father removed to money and quit his association with Lucy Eldridge, debtor’s prison; mortally wounds the son, his sup- whom he wishes to marry for love (52). To ensure posed friend; and indirectly causes the mother’s that his son will make the correct choice in a future death by sending her into a spiral of despair and bride, the earl suggests that his son’s newfound mourning over her lost son. Reading this chain of wealth would enable him to “be more liberally a events backward, the reader can easily identify Mr. friend of Lucy Eldridge” (52). The language is pur- Susanna Haswell Rowson 301 posefully vague and thus could refer to Mr. Temple’s Charitable feelings are drawn out along class position as a patron of Lucy’s budding art career or lines, however. Although Mr. Temple does not to her position as his paramour. Ever mindful that marry Miss Weatherby and thus increase his stand- “the most affl uent fortune could bring no increase ing, his position as the son of an earl clearly places of happiness,” Mr. Temple rightly chooses to marry him in the realm of British aristocracy. Similarly, Lucy (54). To prevent losing Miss Weatherby’s for- Mrs. Beauchamp, who kindly befriends Charlotte tune entirely, given his son’s refusal to wed her, the and alleviates some of her despair and solitude earl courts her and proposes, thus exposing how while she lives outside New York, is the “univer- valuing money over love can severely corrupt the sally beloved and admired” daughter of an offi - most intimate of family relations. The earl “expati- cer of “large unencumbered fortune and elevated ated on the many benefi ts arising from an elevated rank” (94, 95). title, painted in glowing colours the surprise and As further proof that charity only resides in vexation of [his son] Temple when he should see those enjoying wealth and rank, Rowson depicts her fi guring as a countess and his [stepmother]” her antagonists, Mademoiselle La Rue and Mon- (54–55). By casting Temple’s would-be bride as his traville, as morally corrupt by way of their schemes stepmother, Rowson implores readers to recognize to marry into money. While at sea and on their the corrupting power of money, which motivates way to New York, La Rue, who initiated the chain the earl’s proposal, and pride, which fuels Miss of events leading to Charlotte’s ruin by accepting Weatherby’s desire to accept the proposal to avenge Montraville’s fi ve guineas, endeavors to increase her her bruised ego. own fi nancial standing by pursuing Colonel Cray- In contrast to this union of revenge and greed, ton. “La Rue easily saw his character; her sole aim Rowson paints the idyllic picture of connubial bliss was to awaken a passion in his bosom that might in the fi gures of Charlotte’s parents. As models for turn out to her advantage” (95). Sure enough, once their daughter’s future marriage and sympathetic they disembark, Crayton announces their engage- mourners to her tragic fall, the Temples present ment and invites the gentlemen who were fellow readers with a moral gauge by which to assess all passengers to witness their marriage. When she has other unions, as well as other characters’ responses successfully entered society as Mrs. Crayton, she is to Charlotte’s fallen state. envied and copied by other women for her fashion One of the moral tenets forwarded in this novel sense. is charity. Charlotte’s father fi rst distinguishes him- But even at this time of social triumph, when self as morally sound by Rowson’s description of readers would imagine that La Rue has fulfi lled his capacity to care for others: “He had a heart her class-climbing desires, she turns a poor, desti- open to every generous feeling of humanity, and a tute, and supplicating Charlotte out of her home hand ready to dispense to those who wanted part of and into the bitter cold. Rowson offers La Rue’s the blessings he enjoyed himself” (40). His reputa- motivation for “remain[ing] infl exible” before tion for benevolence is what sends him to the aid the “kneeling fi gure of Charlotte”: “She could of his future father-in-law and to his fi rst glimpse not think of having her reputation endangered by of and meeting with his future wife. Because he encouraging a woman of that kind in her house, eschews living above his means or casting his heart besides she did not know what trouble and expense aside for the sake of his bank account, he is justly she might bring upon her husband by giving shelter rewarded with a rich and fulfi lling marriage. And, to a woman in her situation” (150). Both excuses as a character sympathetic to the needs of others, offered to explain why Mrs. Crayton (formerly La he is the most fi tting person to reconcile Charlotte Rue) refused charity to Charlotte refer to the idea to the readers and to her family after the birth of of cost, either the fi gurative loss of social position her illegitimate child. or the literal loss of domestic income. Thus, it is 302 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers only fi tting that one of La Rue’s servants, a mem- prosperity, conscience stings the guilty” (reported ber of the lower class and a character who operates in Kirk and Kirk in Rowson 18). outside the market economy, extends a charitable The biographer Patricia Parker supports the hand to the fallen Charlotte. Kirks’ assumption that the novel was based on Similarly to La Rue, who consistently aban- real events by pointing out that Rowson had never dons Charlotte in pursuit of class-climbing oppor- before insisted upon the truthfulness of her fi ction tunities, Charlotte’s seducer, John Montraville, (50). Further, she delineates the exact nature of the absolves himself of his responsibility to her and family connection between Montrésor and Row- their unborn child so that he may woo and win the son: “Lt. John Montrésor was the son of Susanna hand of a wealthy young woman, Julia Fairchild. Rowson’s father’s sister, Mary Haswell, who mar- Montraville’s position in the army places him in an ried John Gabriel Montrésor” (Parker 51). Absent ambiguous social standing as clothing was gener- from her account of the family tie, however, is ally a marker for class status and the uniform of an any mention or support for Kirk and Kirk’s claim offi cer could easily elevate a person with no social that Montrésor was indeed Montraville or that history or family roots. Rowson expressly warns her he had participated in an illicit affair. Parker also young female readers not to be duped by the fl at- fails to support the Kirks’ claim, and the popular tering detailed embellishments of army uniforms. belief, that Charlotte Stanley served as the histori- Clara M. Kirk and Rudolf Kirk, editors of the cal model for Rowson’s tragic heroine. Charlotte 1964 Modern Reader edition of Charlotte Temple, Stanley, Parker points out, was the daughter of the subscribe fully to the belief that Rowson mod- 11th earl of Derby, who eloped with John Bur- eled her novel on the real-life tragedy that befell goyne (51). Father and daughter later reconciled, Charlotte Stanley, the daughter of an English as indicated by her substantial inheritance upon his clergyman and the disinherited son of the earl death (51). Whether the novel derives from reality of Derby, and John Montrésor, an offi cer of the or not, it has certainly retained its standing in the British army (15–16). Kirk and Kirk insist that United States, where it appeared as the fi rst best “Mrs. Rowson heard the story more than a dozen seller, to be followed by Harriet Beecher Stowe’s years after Charlotte’s death, when the British Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Army had returned to England” (16). Because Blythe Forcey notes Rowson’s deliberate break- they “were actual people of such distinction . . . ing of the traditional epistolary form in her telling their identities were not revealed” (16). Moreover, of seduction and betrayal. Unlike HANNAH FOS- the Kirks identify Montrésor as Susanna’s cousin, TER WEBSTER in The Coquette or the second half noting that her younger half brother is his name- of The Boarding School, both of which contain sake (16). As additional proof that the character letters, Rowson departs from this conventional of John Montraville had its basis in reality, the form of narration through epistles made popular Kirks offer a quotation from Rowson’s 1795 auto- by Richardson’s Pamela. Forcey argues that the biographical text, The Trials of the Human Heart, tumultuous nature of post-1776 America made this published the same year as the American edition narrative shift a necessity as one could no longer of Charlotte Temple. Rowson avers, “I was myself rely on a homogeneous reading public conversant personally acquainted with Montraville and from in the same idiom and literature in the same cul- the most authentic sources could now trace his ture (226). Indeed, Forcey goes so far as to see history from the period of his marriage to within Charlotte Temple as “a parable of this very struggle, a very few late years of his death—a history which as it is a tale of crossing that tears Charlotte Temple would tend to prove that retribution treads upon from her ‘mother country’ and brings her to a new the heels of vice, and that, though not always world where homelessness and foreignness defi ne apparent, yet even in the midst of splendor and the conditions of her life” (227). Susanna Haswell Rowson 303

To combat against the 18th-century readers’ into the bed where her seducer, the dashing Lieu- sense of dislocation and homelessness, following in tenant Montraville, already sleeps; and she takes an the wake of the Revolutionary War and its heteroge- afternoon nap that allows his even less scrupulous neity in terms of nationalities, idioms, and cultures, ‘brother offi cer’ in the British army, Belcour, to Forcey believes that Rowson adopts a “motherly position himself beside her in time for her beloved character [for her] narrative voice” (228). Not only to discover them together.” “Given Charlotte’s does a maternal narrator soothe the frightening propensity for putting her feet up, it is no wonder new political and cultural landscape, but it also that critics have taken the book bearing her name mitigates against the potential for misreadings. In as an exemplar of the novel of seduction, a genre epistolary writing, the reader is forced to take a wherein the reader ‘is asked to deplore the very acts more active role rather than rely on the guidance or which provide his enjoyment’ ” (Rust 99). judgment of an outside narrative voice. “Writers of epistolary novels trust that they know their readers For Discussion or Writing and that their readers know them; for the form to 1. Compare Rowson’s Charlotte Temple with Fos- work properly, they must correspond.” Forcey con- ter’s The Coquette. What difference does form tinues, “Knowing that they were writing in a time make? Consider how the epistolary form of Fos- of rapid transition . . . they could no longer trust ter’s novel contrasts with the narrative form of readers to interpret on their own” (229). Rowson’s. Not only does Rowson provide a “warm, moth- 2. Rowson believed in retribution for her char- erly presence” with her narrator, who frequently acters. Compare the fates of Montraville and employs direct authorial address to her imagined LaRue, the two fi gures central to Charlotte’s readers (young women and their mothers), she also seduction and fall. What conclusions might you does away with the content of the letters that her draw from their fi nal outcomes that refl ect their characters write to each other, with the exception guilt in Charlotte’s ruin? of the morally sound notes, such as one Charlotte’s mother sends to her requesting her presence at home to celebrate her 16th birthday. As Forcely observes, “These more forceful interventions usually occur FURTHER QUESTIONS ON when a potentially damaging letter has been deliv- ROWSON AND HER WORK ered. Rowson replaces the text of the letter with 1. Rowson lived during the volatile period of an interpretive passage that neutralizes its poten- the American Revolution and its uncertain- tially negative effect” (231). In other words, rather ties regarding allegiances and codes of belief. than subject the reader to the same trap of seduc- How might you read politics into the seduction tion ensnaring Charlotte (such as Montraville’s fi rst novel? Does Rowson promote American values letter to Charlotte), Rowson summarizes the let- or beliefs? ter’s content and thus shields her readers. Rowson 2. Rowson’s novel delves into the history of tragic writes rather matter-of-factly, “Any reader who has Charlotte’s parents and their love affair ending the least knowledge of the world can easily imagine in marriage. Are they culpable for the seduc- the letter was made up of encomiums on her beauty tion and fall of their daughter? Is Montraville and vows of everlasting love and constancy” (Row- or LaRue more guilty of causing Charlotte’s son 58). Forcely believes “Rowson thus re-aligns demise? the reader’s potential identifi cation with Charlotte through a distancing ironic stance—reducing a pas- WORKS CITED AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES sionate letter . . . to an almost ironic cliché” (232). Fergenson, Laraine. Susanna Haswell Rowson (1762– “She faints into a chaise in Chichester; she crawls 1824). Available online. URL: http://www9. 304 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

georgetown.edu/faculty/bassr/heath/syllabuild/ Richards, Jeffrey H. Drama, Theatre, and Identity iguide/rowson.html. Accessed April 23, 2009. in the American New Republic. Cambridge: Cam- Fichtelberg, Joseph J. “Uncivil Tongues: Slander and bridge University Press, 2005. Honour in Susanna Rowson’s Trials of the Human Rowson, Susanna. Charlotte Temple: A Tale of Truth. Heart.” Eighteenth-Century Fiction 18 (2006): Edited by Clara M. Kirk and Rudolf Kirk. New 425–451. Haven, Conn.: College and University Press, 1964. Forcey, Blythe. “Charlotte Temple and Epistolarity.” Rust, Marion. “What’s Wrong with Charlotte Temple?” American Literature 63, no. 2 (1991): 225–241. William and Mary Quarterly 60, no. 1 (January Henderson, Desirée. “The Imperfect Dead: Mourning 2003): 99–118. Women in Eighteenth-Century Oratory and Fic- Smiley, Jane. Introduction to Charlotte Temple. New tion.” Early American Literature 39, no. 3 (2004) York: Modern Library, 2004. 487–509. Tennenhouse, Leonard. “The Americanization of Cla- Parker, Patricia L. Susanna Rowson. Boston: Twayne, rissa.” Yale Journal of Criticism 11, no. 1 (1998): 1986. 177–196. Catharine Maria Sedgwick (1789 –1867)

Talent and worth are the only eternal grounds of distinction.

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atharine Maria Sedgwick was born in Stock- From her father and her brothers, Catharine Cbridge, Massachusetts, on December 28, 1789. “imbibed a kindred taste” for “their daily habits She was the third of six children born to Theo- and pursuits and pleasures [which] were intellec- dore Sedgwick and Pamela Dwight Sedgwick, who tual.” Her father’s Federalism initially infl uenced descended from a prominent family of the Connecti- Catharine, who shared her father’s views that the cut River valley. Theodore gained national promi- masses were not to be trusted with the nation’s nence as a member of the Senate and the House of future, but rather the landed elite should exercise Representatives, where he distinguished himself by sway over the newly formed republic (Kelley xv). In serving as Speaker. Catharine wrote of her father’s “A Reminiscence of Federalism,” Sedgwick works political career, “The Federal Party loved their coun- out her own former prejudices against the Dem- try and were devoted to it as virtuous parents are to ocrats. Her father also instilled a love of reading their children.” Such a glowing sentiment about her in her and her siblings. Sedgwick recalls hearing own father would surely infl uence her sense of the portions of Cervantes and Shakespeare read aloud connection between politics and the family, which to her by her father when she was eight years old would appear most prominently in her historical nov- (Kelley xvii). Her father advised her to incorporate els, Hope Leslie and The Linwoods. Her relationship reading into her daily routine: “I hope my love you to her mother, who critics conjecture suffered from will fi nd it in your power to devote your morn- mental illness, which Catharine referred to as “calam- ings to reading—there are few who can make such itous sickness,” was markedly different. The mother’s improvements by it and it would be lamented if this bouts with deep depression would prove hereditary, precious time should be lost.” as Catharine herself would look to her own writing As for the character Fanny Atwood in “A Remi- as a means of alleviating her depressive moods. As the niscence of Federalism,” who is the product of her renowned critic of American women’s writing Nina father’s second marriage, Sedgwick was the daugh- Baym describes her, Catharine Maria Sedgwick dis- ter of Theodore Sedgwick’s second wife. Unlike tinguished herself as an early 19th-century author by in her fi ctional account of Atwood’s younger wife, writing for emotional rather than fi nancial reasons. critics comment on the emotional distance between Through writing, Baym claims, Sedgwick could mother and daughter. In 1807, when young Cath- “alleviate boredom and severe depressions” (54). Her arine was 18 years old, her mother passed away. fi nal novel, Married or Single?, was written to com- The following year, Sedgwick’s father married for fort her after the death of her surviving brother. a third time. Baym provides no more detail other

305 306 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers than to say that this third wife was “uncongenial” nection with Cooper was so great that during his to Catharine (54). tour of Europe, Cooper was surprised to learn that Catharine spent her adult life moving between people assumed him to be the author of Sedgwick’s the households of her four beloved brothers, whose Redwood. children all adored her as their favorite aunt and Nina Baym best expresses the enduring and surrogate mother. Her decision to remain single endearing aspect of Sedgwick’s body of work. In was quite unusual for the 19th century, when his- Sedgwick’s historical romance, she “establishes the torians remark that nine out of 10 women were tradition whereby, in the more fanciful setting of wed. In her letters and journals, Sedgwick hints a remote time, women are endowed with heroic that the central reason for her resisting marriage capacities unrestrained by probabilities” (53). The resulted from observing the unhappiness of her characters who are given life on the pages of her married family members, especially her sisters. novels with contemporary settings, on the other Her sister Eliza “had, I think, a rather hard life hand, “display heroic traits within the limits of of it—indifferent health and the painful drudgery nineteenth-century social possibility” (53). Con- of bearing and nurturing twelve children.” Sedg- temporary feminist critics applaud strong and inde- wick wrote of her sister Frances’s heroic endur- pendent female characters like Magawisca and the ance of an uncongenial marriage. On the subject titular character Hope Leslie. In her lifetime, she of marriage, Sedgwick told a favorite niece, “So was a best-selling author of several novels, short many that I have loved have made shipwreck of stories, and essays. Her third novel, The Linwoods, happiness in marriage or have found it a dreary was published in 1835, and her fi nal novel, Mar- joyless condition.” ried or Single? appeared in 1857. Sedgwick’s fi rst novel was A New England Tale. Published in 1822, the novel grew out of a religious tract penned on her conversion from Calvinism to Unitarianism. With her brother Henry Dwight’s Hope Leslie, or Early Times suggestion that she turn it into a novel, she cre- in the Massachusetts (1827) ated a tale that presented in fi ctional form the chal- Sedgwick’s tale, although published in 1827, is lenges posed by Calvinist doctrine. Throughout very much a product of 17th-century New Eng- her literary career, Sedgwick was greatly encour- land life and history as the novelist delves into aged by her brothers, Henry, Robert, and Charles, “the character of the times” (5). By revisiting who also, as lawyers, acted on her behalf in negoti- the events of the Pequod War, Sedgwick devises ating contracts with publishing houses. The novel a portal for entry into founding history: “Are would soon be followed by Redwood in 1824 and so far from being intended as a substitute for Hope Leslie in 1827. With each successive novel, genuine history . . . but might stimulate [young Sedgwick proved herself to be a literary fi gure countrymen] to investigate the early history of whose presence, a critic from American Ladies their native land” (6). By titling her novel after its Magazine projected, would succeed her into the central heroine and focusing on the domestic lives next century: “A hundred years hence, when other of her and her circle of friends and family mem- and gifted competitors have crowded into the fi eld, bers, Sedgwick squarely places the family and its our country will still be proud of her name” (repro- pivotal fi gure, the true woman, within the scope duced in Kelley x). Indeed, the successful publica- of national history. Not only are “some liberties” tion of Hope Leslie initiated a trend among critics, taken in her recounting of the “chronology of the who began to rank Sedgwick with its central male Pequod war,” but Sedgwick also redefi nes what authors: WASHINGTON IRVING, JAMES FENIMORE passes as history, and who should receive attention COOPER, and WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT. Her con- as a historical agent (5). Catharine Maria Sedgwick 307

The tale of “early times in Massachusetts” During the same raid, their brother Samoset was begins with the emigration of its patriarch, in this also killed. As the domestic captives of the Fletch- novel a character named William Fletcher. His ers, Magawisca and Oneco soon form strong bonds fi ery affection for his cousin Alice, which should with Everell, the Fletcher’s son, and Faith, respec- have led to a happy marriage and years of conjugal tively. These bonds prove their strength when the bliss, is cruelly extinguished by his uncle, Alice’s Mohawk chief and father, Mononoto, leads a retal- father, when Fletcher refuses to abjure “the fanati- iatory attack on Bethel. Mrs. Fletcher and her new- cal notions of liberty and religion with which [he] born baby are killed, while Faith, Everell, Oneco, had been infected” (10). Despite Alice’s attempts to and Magawisca are carried off into the forest. elope with him on a ship bound for Massachusetts, The fi gure most confl icted by these sudden Sir William arrives with armed men to capture her turns of events is Magawisca, who has begun to and, in “less than a fortnight,” marry her to Charles love Everell and to crave the maternal affections Leslie (13). Disconsolate, Fletcher agrees to marry of Mrs. Fletcher, a surrogate for her own departed a ward of Mr. Winthrop and set sail on the famous mother. Magawisca’s fi rst signs of discomfort 1630 voyage aboard the Arbella (14). Indeed, it is caused by confl icting loyalties are refl ected in aboard this very vessel that JOHN WINTHROP deliv- her dejected and sorrowful countenance and her ered the speech that became A Modell of Christian lament “I do not like to see any thing so beauti- Charity. In tying this moment in colonial history to ful, pass so quickly away” (63). She also provides the tragic tale of forbidden love between Alice and both Everell and the reader with a retelling of William Fletcher, Sedgwick provides readers with the night the English attacked as a forewarning: a scaled-down version of the impact of religious “When the hour of vengeance comes, if it should intolerance. Had his uncle practiced the model of come, remember it was provoked” (47). Such a Christian charity as detailed by Winthrop, the voy- statement not only gives readers a glimpse into the age to New England might have been more joy- motivation for Mononoto’s raid, but constitutes ously attended by a couple very much in love rather a means by which Sedgwick honors her initial than one thrown together by social convention. As “design” by providing readers with “the character it is, the prohibited union of the two presages the of the times” (5). The very term Sedgwick uses, future tales of forbidden or unrequited love and character, is telling as one must gather and sift presents a literary model in which what appears on through opinions of various people and eyewit- the national scale is replicated, in miniature, in the nesses in order to arrive at the character of a per- lives of the novel’s characters. son or event. And this embrace of a multiplicity of The fi gures of Alice and William Fletcher are viewpoints seems to be precisely what Sedgwick reunited, albeit indirectly, after the deaths of both had in mind when providing alternate histories or Alice and her husband as William becomes guard- “characters,” if you will, of the Pequod War. As ian of their two daughters, Hope and Faith (21). Everell and Magawisca converse before her father’s The extended Fletcher household also embraces the vengeful attack on Bethel, Sedgwick writes: “He young wards’ tutor, Cradock; an aunt, Miss Bertha had heard [the details of the Pequod War] in the Grafton, and “two Indian servants,” Magawisca language of the enemies and conquerors of the and Oneco (21). The reader quickly learns of the Pequods; and from Magawisca’s lips they took a parallel tragedy suffered by the Leslies and the new form and hue . . . the new version of an old Mohawk siblings: Both sets of siblings have arrived story” (53). Everell’s willingness to listen to and at the Fletcher household, called Bethel, after the honor a “new version of an old story” manifests deaths of their mothers. The unnamed mother of itself in his ability to read and discern symbols and Magawisca and Oneco died in captivity resulting conversations of the Mohawk. He correctly identi- from an English raid on their Mohawk village. fi es the eagle feather “as a badge of her tribe” and 308 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers the specifi c symbol of her father, their chief, in the national duty of inculcating their children with the token passed from the elderly woman, Nelema, to set of morals and values held dear by the state, then Magawisca (46). During his captivity, “though their signifi cance and infl uence are immeasurable. [Magawisca’s] words were uttered in her own They are charged with the responsibility of creat- tongue,” Everell understood that she was inter- ing a domestic environment for their children that ceding on his behalf (75). Despite her love for him will enable them to become forthright and worthy and his confession to Digby that he “might have citizens of the nation. Conversely, if the mothers loved her—might have forgotten that nature had neglect their duties as outlined in the cult of true put barriers between us,” the couple remain one womanhood, the characters of their children will of several doomed relationships presaged in the negatively refl ect their formative years spent in a sad tale of Alice and William Fletcher (214). harmful environment. The novel does not altogether shun interracial By reintroducing readers, and Hope Leslie her- couples, however, as Hope learns from Magawisca self, to an entirely transformed Faith, Sedgwick that her sister is Oneco’s “white bird” and that the assiduously applies this same theory regarding char- two are blissfully married (194). Against Everell’s acter and environment to the book’s larger claims language of “natural barriers” separating races, about race. In Magawisca’s preemptive speech to Magawisca describes the harmonious union of Hope in which she attempts to prepare the latter Faith and Oneco: “She and my brother are as if one for the dramatic change in Faith in her years with life-chord bound them together” (191). Sedgwick the Mohawk, she employs a simile taken from natu- sanctifi es the true romantic tenor of their mar- ral observations: “Some [people] are like water, that riage by contrasting it to the tragic and unsexing retains no mark; and others, like the fl inty rock, seduction of Rosa by Sir Philip Gardiner and the that never loses a mark” (192). Because Faith has hopelessly one-sided relationship between Esther been “so far removed by habit and education,” she Downing, niece to Governor Winthrop, and Ever- is unable to speak to her sister (having forgotten ell Fletcher. English) and does not exhibit the same emotional To address the race question raised by the union response Hope does at their reunion. Thus, it of Oneco and Faith, Sedgwick literally removes would seem that Magawisca’s simile of the relation- Faith’s mantle of whiteness. She prepares the reader ship between environment and character applies for such a moment when she states quite plainly in to Faith’s two cultural environments: She is “like the preface, “The difference of character among water” and without any marks of her former life the various races of the earth, arises manly from among the English, and she is “like rock” in that difference of condition” (6). This very argument she “never loses a mark” of her current life among for the infl uence of environment on the forma- the Mohawk. Tellingly, Hope attempts to use some tion of a person’s character was a central tenet of of the material markers of English domesticity— the cult of true womanhood. The deep and abid- clothing and jewelry—as well as the language of ing connection between family and nation, which domesticity, promising to care for her as mother sees the inner workings of the domestic writ large and sister “in sickness and health” (229). Hope’s on the canvas of the nation, and vice versa, is a very language resembles that of a marriage vow, model that Sedgwick employs and promotes in and in overstepping the natural bonds between sis- her novel. It is also a cultural and political struc- ters, Sedgwick is perhaps arguing against the dan- ture that provides women in their roles as wives gers of true womanhood, that it can unnaturally and mothers with considerable power and infl u- extend beyond its scope or its sphere of infl uence. ence. To follow the reasoning behind this theory Filial rather than conjugal love defi nes the current of family and nation as mutually informing institu- of feeling between Magawisca and Everell (330). In tions, if women are entrusted with the sacred and Oneceo, and in the Mohawk, Faith has created a Catharine Maria Sedgwick 309 new domestic; it does not recognize or desire to be Hope scout future locations for their village (100). replaced by a former domestic scene that “retains When all restrictions on the marriage of Everell no mark” for her. and Hope are removed, including Esther Dowl- Not only does Faith adhere to new and more ing’s convenient voyage to England and release of natural bonds (those between partners naturally Everell’s proposal, the novel concludes with them supersede those between siblings and parents), she as the central domestic sphere in New England, retains the marks of her life as a member of the with all others as satellites. Mohawk tribe. Hope’s vain attempts to restore her English dress, for which Faith expresses dis- For Discussion or Writing dain, lead to the removal of her mantle and the 1. Compare Sedgwick’s fi ctional accounts of cap- appearance of the true extent of the infl uence of tivity with MARY WHITE ROWLANDSON’s and her environment on her character: “Mary threw ÁLVAR NÚÑEZ CABEZA DE VACA’s. How do they [the mantle] aside and disclosed her person, light depict cultural difference? How do they recog- and agile as a fawn’s, clothed with skins, neatly nize cultural similarities? fi tted to her waist and arms, and ambitiously 2. Sedgwick’s novel is singular for the time in its embellished with bead work. The removal of the sanctioning of an interracial marriage. Conjec- mantle, instead of the effect designed, only served ture why Everell and Magawisca’s union must to make more striking the aboriginal peculiari- be spoiled while that between Faith and Oneco ties” (228). Just as Faith’s declaration, “No speak is celebrated. Yengees,” reveals the extent of her environmen- 3. Sedgwick writes in the 19th century about tal infl uence on her identity, so, too, does the the 17th century. Nathaniel Hawthorne also removal of the mantle reveal the internalization employed this historical glance backward. What of her life with Oneco and Magawisca. If an Eng- allure do the Puritans have for 19th-century lish girl can become totally transformed and lin- writers? guistically and culturally removed from her very own sister, then surely one’s environment mat- ters. And, to take Sedgwick’s point a step further, (1830) if Faith can be so transformed by environment, “Cacoethes Scribendi” then the reverse—the acculturation of American Sedgwick opens her tale by setting the scene—a Indians into English society—must also be pos- “little secluded and quiet village of H”—that dis- sible. Finally, if both types of transformation are tinguishes itself because of the lack of male resi- possible, then the only “barrier” separating the dents. As the critic Judith Fetterley imagines, the races is environment. town is precisely the female version of JAMES FEN- Environment’s signifi cance also plays into the IMORE COOPER’s towns, abandoned by all men, novel’s themes of captivity and release, which not who are off on adventures or living out extended only gloss the actual captivity of Magawisca and boyhoods in the forest as does his titular charac- Oneco after the raid on their village, and the sub- ter, Natty Bumppo (42–43). Further, Fetterley sequent capture of Everell and Faith, but also apply links the all-female population of the fi ctional to the oppressive social circumstances that char- village of H. to Sedgwick’s own real-life social acters endure such as forced marriages, education circles, which were often devoid of male compan- in tyrannical households, imprisonment, trials by ionship. In a letter written by Frederika Bremer, religiously intolerant judges, and social conventions after her visit to the Sedgwick home during sum- that would clip Hope’s wings. It also relates to the mer 1851, she writes: “I spent four-and-twenty dwindling wilderness inhabited by the American hours with the excellent and amiable Catharine Indians. Early in the novel, William Fletcher and Sedgwick and her family, enjoying her company 310 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers and that of several agreeable ladies. There were no mythology will recall that Pandora’s box contains gentlemen—gentlemen, indeed, seemed to be rare all of the evils that Zeus wishes to visit on man- in social circles of this neighborhood. But they kind in punishment for Prometheus’s overreaching were less missed here than is generally the case of mortal powers as exemplifi ed by the theft of fi re in society, because the women of this little circle from the gods. When Pandora’s box was opened, are possessed of unusual intellectual cultivation— greed, envy, vanity, and slander were unleashed several of them endowed with genius and talents upon humans. In terms of “Cacoethes Scribendi,” of a high order. . . . The scenery is beautiful; these these very characteristics, which were almost ladies enjoy it and each other’s society, and life miraculously absent from the society, are suddenly lacks nothing to the greater number” (reported unleashed after the publication of articles not only in Foster 36). Similarly, the all-female village by Mrs. Courland, but by her three single sisters does not experience many of the characteristic as well. emotions governing women who fi nd themselves In describing the literary talent of Mrs. Cour- as romantic rivals for the same man: “There was land, Sedgwick likens the budding author’s views no mincing—no affectation—no hope of passing of the town of H. and its inhabitants to well- for what they were not—no envy of the pretty known fi gures from stories and poems: “A tall and fortunate—no insolent triumph over the wrinkled bony old woman,” for example, reminds plain and demure and neglected” (50). To readers her of the title character from John Keats’s poem familiar with Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s “Meg Merrilies.” In the poem, Keats details the Own, the argument is strikingly similar—in the life of an old Gypsy woman who lives as one with absence of men who would pit women against nature, calling the “craggy hills” her brothers and one another, there are female companionship and the “larchen trees” her sisters. The town’s school- friendship uncompromised by emotional barbs. master turns into a fi gure like Ichabod Crane in In such an ideal setting as H. Sedgwick can WASHINGTON IRVING’s “The Legend of Sleepy pursue the development of women as writers out- Hollow.” However, her use of daily events in the side the concerns of the marriage market. It is not, village of H. becomes unseemly when she delights however, that the women of H. will remain single at the misfortunes of others because they afford forever and thus escape the marriage trap; rather, her material for her writing: “that a sudden calam- “most of the young men who had abandoned their ity, a death, a funeral, were fortunate events for native soil, as soon as they found themselves getting her. To do her justice she felt them in a two-fold along, loyally returned to lay their fortunes at the capacity. She wept as a woman, and exulted as an feet of the companions of their childhood” (50). author” (55). The mother’s divided sense of self— The certainty of future marriage, coupled with the her role as writer and her role as mother—are absence of the social events structured by the mar- fi nally reunited when her nephew Ralph writes a riage market, provided the female inhabitants of H. one-sentence marriage proposal to her daughter the opportunity to form true and lasting friend- Alice. As Sedgwick writes, “She forgot her literary ships, as well as the freedom of time and thought aspirations for Ralph and Alice—forgot she was to pursue their own interests. Mrs. Courland, the herself an author—forgot everything but [being] mother of four sons and one daughter, discovers the mother” (59). her passion for writing when she browses through an annual that her nephew Ralph Hepburn gives For Discussion or Writing the family as a present from his recent visit to Bos- 1. Compare Sedgwick’s all-female setting with the ton. To give the infl uence of this single gesture all-male settings of Cooper’s novels. Evaluate epic proportions, Sedgwick likens the annual to a the degree to which the absence of the other sex “Pandora’s box” (52). Readers familiar with Greek is essential to characters or their development. Catharine Maria Sedgwick 311

2. Sedgwick’s setting is central to her story, for it description for Fanny, the youngest member of is only in the absence of men that Mrs. Cour- the family and the narrator’s “little friend.” In a land and her three sisters are able to pursue their moment of narrative rupture, Sedgwick second- passion for writing. Washington Irving, a con- guesses her decision in making Fanny Atwood temporary of Sedgwick’s, was thought to be the the story’s heroine, but it seems that the lack of author of some of her works, perhaps because of artifi ce or pretense in this “little rustic favorite” her attentiveness to setting. Compare the role accounts for her being cast into such a central and setting plays in “The Legend of Sleepy Hol- critical role in the tale. After all, if chance or time low” with the role of village H. in “Cacoethes will be the agent that undoes the agony and strife Scribendi.” brought on by hostile partisanship, a fi gure who stands in for consideration and who refreshingly lacks the self-aggrandizing personality would be the ideal character to “let nature take its course” (1834) “A Reminiscence of Federalism” and not attempt to interfere with or control the Sedgwick opens this short story with a backward confl ict’s outcome. glance at a human frailty “that should be met As the character who embodies the antith- with a smile . . . rather than with harsher feeling”: esis of Fanny, Sedgwick’s Squire Hayford pos- the divisive nature of political partisanship. Such sesses and is possessed by “the most unfounded contentious issues, whether a presidential election and absurd vanity.” His sense of self-importance or “the position of a capital city,” tend to follow is so great that he imagines himself “the sun of the “common course of human passions”: “A snag his system.” This sense of grandeur applies to all interposes, and the waters divide, and fret, and aspects of Squire Hayford’s life and informs not foam around it till chance or time sweep it away, only whom he befriends or despises according to when they again commingle, and fl ow on in their his own political beliefs, but also how the treats natural unruffl ed union.” In using this meta- his only child when she marries a southerner phor of a stream, Sedgwick presupposes that the named Mr. Gordon. Because Squire Hayford natural order is peaceful and free of discord. The expressly refused to consent to such a union, the snag, a symbol of tension and anxiety, might cause marriage was deemed an “unpardonable sin” in “fret and foam,” but such reactions are temporary. the squire’s eyes, and he punished her accordingly Sedgwick’s imagery omits human agency from by “permit[ting] his only child to encounter the the important task of eliminating the source of severest evils, and languish through protracted confl ict as she assigns “chance or time” to fulfi ll sufferings, before he manifested the slightest this duty. Examined in light of her metaphor, the relenting.” After her husband’s death, and that of political strife between the Federalist and Demo- all but one of their children, Mrs. Gordon returns cratic Parties seems reminiscent of the famous to the village of Carrington, but because of her Shakespearean line from Macbeth “full of sound father’s unreasonable partisanship, he refuses and fury signifying nothing.” to speak to either his daughter or his grandson, With this moral lesson fi rmly planted in her Randolph, until his daughter is pleading with him reader’s mind, Sedgwick begins with her tale on her deathbed to take care of her beloved son. of her personal acquaintance with the village Squire Hayford, in a motion to reverse his daugh- of Carrington and its inhabitants. As “a very ter’s marriage to Mr. Gordon, agrees to care for young child,” Sedgwick was sent to Dr. Atwood’s Randolph on condition that “Randolph must give house to receive a proper education. She provides up the name of Gordon for that of Hayford.” An thumbnail sketches of the various occupants of anxious and grieving Randolph acquiesces to his the Atwood household, reserving her detailed mother’s fi nal request to agree to his grandfather’s 312 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers proposal. Soon after her demise, Squire Hayford crats. How might you interpret her solution to makes a second attempt to gain complete control partisanship? over another family member, this time Randolph, 2. How does the story replicate the structure of by forbidding his grandson’s marriage to his the family as a microcosm for the nation that beloved Fanny because her father and her family appears in Hope Leslie? are Federalists. 3. Compare Sedgwick’s tale of family melodrama Squire Hayford’s desire to keep the Democratic brought on by political differences with the Party in power overrides his absolute control over characters representing the Tories and the Randolph, however, when he discovers that his Whigs in “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” What grandson has been writing the newspaper pieces does it mean to play out these political scenarios whose eloquent prose and tempered reasoning are within domestic plots of love? publicly lauded, and Hayford concludes that he can entrust Randolph with the power of casting the village’s deciding vote in the next day’s election. If Randolph agrees to vote for the Democrats, Hay- FURTHER QUESTIONS ON ford promises to give his consent to Randolph’s SEDGWICK AND HER WORK marriage to Fanny as well as to provide him the 1. In Hope Leslie, Sedgwick writes of the love of monies necessary for the establishment of his own Magawisca and Everell prohibited by the racial law practice. Naturally, the young lover agonizes divide. In “A Reminiscence of Federalism,” over his decision with his fi ancée, Fanny, and it Alice and Randolph must overcome political is she who recognizes their powerlessness in the partisanship. Compare these two tales of forbid- situation. Randolph vows that he cannot “sacri- den love, and consider why Sedgwick sanctions fi ce the principles that [he] laid down to govern one but denies the other. [his] conduct.” Fanny shares Randolph’s regard 2. Everell Fletcher expresses a willingness to hear for the democratic process and further postpones “a new version of an old story.” Consider how their wedding in the belief that “providence will he might represent the ideal reader or the ideal open a way for us.” Randolph returns to town just citizen. Offer a reading of him as one or the in time to cast his vote, which he does without other, providing textual support from Hope Les- consideration for his grandfather’s bribe. Despite lie in your response. Randolph’s vote, the Democrats prevail at the polls, and Squire Hayford is swept up in the cel- WORKS CITED AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES ebration. Just as he toasts the Democrats and Baym, Nina. Women’s Fiction: A Guide to Novels by condemns the Federalists, he suffers a stroke and and about Women in America, 1820–1870. Urbana: dies within the next few hours. Providence has, University of Illinois Press, 1993. as Fanny predicted, prevailed in removing the one Catharine Maria Sedgwick. Available online. URL: obstacle standing between her and her true love, http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/sedg- Randolph. He immediately proposes and changes wick.htm. Accessed April 23, 2009. his name back to Gordon to refl ect his patrimony Damon-Bach, Lucinda L., and Victoria Clements, eds. rightfully. Catharine Maria Sedgwick: Critical Perspectives. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2002. For Discussion or Writing Fetterley, Judith. Provisions: A Reader from 19th- 1. Sedgwick casts time or chance with the weighty Century American Women. Bloomington: Indiana business of removing the causes of political University Press, 1985. strife and turmoil, such as exist in the coun- Foster, Edward H. Catharine Maria Sedgwick. New try between the Federalists and the Demo- York: Twayne, 1974. Catharine Maria Sedgwick 313

Gould, Philip. Covenant and Republic: Historical Maria Sedgwick. Edited by Mary Kelly. Boston: Romance and the Politics of Puritanism. New York: Massachusetts Historical Society; distributed by Cambridge University Press, 1996. Northeastern University Press, 1993. Kelley, Mary. “Introduction.” In Hope Leslie. New Sedgwick Society. Available online. URL: http:// Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1993. www.salemstate.edu/imc/sedgwick/. Accessed Sedgwick, Catharine Maria. The Power of Her Sympa- April 23, 2009. thy: The Autobiography and Journal of Catharine John Smith (1580 –1631)

Here every man may be master and owner of his owne labour and land. . . . If he have nothing but his hands, he may . . . by industrie quickly grow rich.

(The Advantages of New England with Historical Refl ections)

iterary and historical critics have commented to occupy his own farm, in addition to owning two Lon the fantastical nature of the life and adven- signifi cant pieces of land. Emerson believes that tures of Captain John Smith. The biographer Smith’s predisposition to be “class-conscious and Everett Emerson admits that “from his own time ambitious” derived in large part from his father’s at least until 1953, when Bradford Smith’s biogra- status. Although his father could have claimed the phy appeared, Smith was usually seen as a liar and position of a yeoman, by virtue of his ownership a braggart” (ix). Even beginning with tales of his of the farm and lands, Smith referred to himself as early childhood, and his attempts to sell his school- “a poor tenant of Lord Willoughby, the lord of the books and equipment in order to apprentice at sea, manor” (24). Smith looms larger than life on the page. We must Although Smith’s father permitted him to consider him as a man who cultivated an image leave school at the age of 15, a common practice, of himself, and though he may have exaggerated he did not allow Smith to seek his fortunes on at times, historians have discovered corroborating the high seas. Instead, Smith was apprenticed to evidence to support many of his claims. In True Thomas Sendall, a merchant living 35 miles from Travels, Smith narrates the tale of his own life in Willoughby, where Smith was baptized, in King’s third person, and it is primarily from this source Lynn. Smith was not satisfi ed with the potential that biographers have pulled together the details of for future journeys at sea but wanted them in the this extremely adventuresome man. present moment. Thus, when his father died, Smith As Smith recounts, his desire for adventure broke his apprenticeship and sought out the means on the open sea began at a young age, culminat- to learn his trade at sea. He initiated his career as ing in his extensive journeys through Europe and a soldier with his fi rst voyage to the Netherlands, parts of Africa by the time that he was 20 years where he remained from 1596 until 1599. old (35). The deaths of his parents, coupled with When he returned to England in 1599, he was the appointment of guardians of the estate “more able to gain passage on a ship bound for France regarding it than him,” provided Smith with the as the servant of Lord Willoughby’s younger son, liberty necessary to allow him literally to set the Master Perigrine Barty, who intended to tour the course for his own life at such a young age (35). nation. While there, Smith met the Scotsman David Smith’s father, who passed away when Smith was Hume, and in exchange for some money, Hume 15, was, according to an inventory of his house, wrote Smith letters of introduction to King James “gentry in all but title.” He had risen in social class of Scotland, but he was unable to capitalize on the

314 John Smith 315 letters and returned to England. He seems to have In December 1606, Smith paid a nine-pound fi rst practiced the art of cultivating a public per- subscription to the Virginia Company of London sona when he returned from England. Smith writes and boarded one of three ships along with 105 col- of himself in the third person: “He retired himself onists bound for what would become Jamestown. into a little woody pasture, a good way from town Although Smith was made prisoner by the lead- . . . his study was Machiavelli’s The Art of War, and ers, presumably because of some disagreement, he Marcus Aurelius, his exercise a good horse, with arrived in America in April 1607 as one of seven his lance and ring” (36). Although Smith pro- members of a ruling body. He proved himself by tests that he selected this secluded spot because of undertaking explorations of the James River, in “being glutted with too much company,” his care- accordance with strict instructions presented to ful detailing of the events that made up his daily the colonists by the Virginia Company of London. activities, down to the food he consumed, makes it After Ratcliffe’s brief stint as president, during diffi cult to take his notions of seclusion as genuine. which Smith served as a supply offi cer, Smith him- Instead, this scene works to craft a sense of Smith self was elected president. It was during his time as that will prevail throughout all of his writings: a president that Jamestown suffered some of its most man who operates under his own principles, who trying events. The additional colonists who were to vocally shuns the very notoriety and fame that he have arrived from England, including women and most assiduously seeks, and who images himself to children, were shipwrecked in the Bermudas and be singular, unlike any other. therefore arrived in the colony more as a burden Having acquired equestrian skills and a knowl- and less as a source of assistance. Because the stored edge of arms, Smith desires “to see more of the grain had been eaten by rats and had rotted, Smith world” and decides to “try his fortune against the was in charge of overcoming what would surely be Turks” (36). Accordingly, he gains passage on a ship a food shortage come winter. As Smith relates in but is soon thrown overboard once the Catholics Proceedings, “sleeping in his boat . . . one acciden- sailing the vessel learn that Smith is a Protestant tally fi red his powder bag, which tore his fl esh from (38). Luckily, he survives by reaching a small island, his body and thighs nine or ten inches square, in a where he is soon rescued and placed upon a ship most pitiful manner, but to quench the torment- engaged in fi ghting the Holy Roman Empire against ing fi re, frying him in his clothes, he leaped over the Ottoman Empire. For four years, as relayed in his board into the deep river, where ere they could res- autobiographical True Travels, Smith toured France, cue him, he was near drowned. In this estate, with- Italy, Greece, the Balkans, Austria, Poland, and Ger- out either chirurgeon or chirurgery, he was to go many. He served in Hungary and Transylvania (41). one hundred miles to Jamestown.” The gunpowder It was in Transylvania that he earned a coat of arms, accident incapacitated him, and he was forced to gruesomely decorated with the heads of the three return to England in October 1609. Turkish soldiers whom he defeated in individual Not much is known about Smith’s time in Eng- challenges, a feat he details in True Travels. He also land after his return except that he prepared and proves himself a worthy gentleman soldier by devis- published A Map of Virginia in 1612 and a narra- ing a plan to create “false fi res” that would draw the tive of his times in Virginia from 1607 to 1610. He Turks’ attention, make them believe that they were also became extremely frustrated and unlucky in his outnumbered, and thus cause them to retreat. His attempts to return to America. When the Virginia plan succeeds, and Smith is named captain of 250 colony suffered, as it did immediately after Smith’s horsemen under the command of Colonel Voldo departure, Smith became interested instead in the (42). His journey ends with a yearly pension, along Maine coast. In 1614, Smith was given command with the coat of arms, as just rewards for his services over two ships bound for Maine, a journey that he rendered to Sigismundus, king of Hungary. chronicled in A Description of New England, which 316 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers was published in 1616. Surprisingly, Smith penned catalogs of fl ora and fauna and proposed two pos- this 79-page book while held captive aboard a sible means for colonization: one involving the use French ship during summer and fall 1615. He of poor people, including children, as laborers in alluded to his diffi cult condition in the text: “To the colony; the other as colony built by soldiers and keep my perplexed thoughts from too much medi- workmen. His lasting contribution is refl ected in tation of my miserable estate, I writ this discourse.” the naming of the region as New England, because Smith details the means by which he effected his it had previously been called Norumbega and the own escape, after the men he had traveled with had northern part of Virginia. He is also to be credited abandoned him in the French pirate ship: with naming Massachusetts, having taken the name from the American Indian tribe of that region. In the end of such a storm that beat them all His attempt to return to America in 1617 was under hatches, I watched my opportunity to frustrated by strong winds that kept the ships wait- get ashore in their boat, whereinto, in the dark ing for three months in Plymouth harbor. When night, I secretly got, and with a half pike that the winds died down, as Smith explains, “the sea- lay by me, put adrift for Rat Isle, but the current son being past, the ships went for Newfoundland, was so strong and the sea so great, I went adrift whereby my design was frustrate, which was to me to sea, till it pleased God the wind so turned and my friends no small loss.” In the following with the tide that although I was, all this fear- years, Smith sought fi nancial support for a colony ful night of guests and rain, in the sea the space in America, including an appeal to Francis Bacon. of twelve hours, when many ships were driven According to his biographer Everett Emerson, ashore and divers split . . . at last I arrived in Smith published two pleas for support, in 1620 and an oozy isle by Charowne [the Clarente River], again in 1622 (31). where certain fowlers found me near drowned That same year, 1622, Smith published his Gen- and half dead with water, cold, and hunger. erall Historie. Aside from this publication date, and those of his Sea Grammar (1627) and Advertise- The detailed description Smith offers, of a hostile ments (1631), little is known of Smith’s life in the environment that he must navigate alone, even years leading up to his death. On June 21, 1631, as other ships are forced to shore, is very much Captain John Smith died. His epitaph, which is in keeping with the nature of Smith: As in his quite fi tting for such a man, opens, “Here lies one escape from enslavement by the Tatars, he seizes conquered that hath conquered kings, / Subdu’d an opportunity and uses his skills to the best of large territories, and done things / Which to the his ability. world impossible would seem / But that the truth Of the value of A Description of New England, is held in more esteem.” Henry F. Howe believes “neither Pilgrims nor Puri- tans would have reached Massachusetts when they did had it not been for Smith and [his book]. His (1608) was indeed the signal individual achievement in the A True Relation of Virginia founding of Massachusetts” (271). Philip Barbour The publication of John Smith’s A True Relation contends that with this pamphlet, Smith “found of Virginia deserves some comment as it appears to his true métier [as] this work is in a sense Smith’s have been signifi cantly altered by a London press, fi rst solid opus—the fi rst book in which we see his which hastened to print it. Because it “was the fi rst character as explorer, narrator, and ethnographer account of the Jamestown colony’s fi rst year to merged with his vision, his propagandist bent, and reach London,” readers were eager for information his retrospective self-discovery” (295). Smith pro- and investors and potential investors were hopeful vided detailed maps of the coastline and exhaustive that this account from “one of the Counsell there John Smith 317 in Virginia” would dispel some of the dishearten- mulberries, bread, fi sh, and other of their country ing rumors surrounding the colony (5, 24). Chief provisions whereof we had plenty” (29). He does among those rumors were tales of colonists’ split- not consider the natives’ motivations to provide ting from the local government, including the them with food, such as attempts to appease them execution of a colonist for treason; some suffering and broker peace rather than render them bitter near-starvation; and John Smith himself being enemies. What follow are accounts of their surveys savagely attacked by Powhatan (Barbour 5). The of the land and river, with guides provided by Pow- press’s level of haste to see Smith’s letter in print hatan. The peace is quickly broken again, however, quickly (Barbour reports it appeared six week after when their guide, “King of Arseteck,” “altered its arrival in London) led to a confusion over the his resolution in going to our Fort,” leaving the very identity of the Relation’s author as well as colonists with concern about “some mischief at the selected omission of material. As the editor I. the fort” (31). Sure enough, the men return to the H. writes in the foreword, “Somewhat more was fort only to learn that it had been attacked the day by him written, which being as I thought (fi t to before by a large number of American Indians (31). be private) I would not adventure to make it pub- Although Smith reports the number as 400, Bar- licke” (24). The editor of Smith’s account, who bour believes that Smith was not present during the appears only as I. H. in the preface, is thought to attack and notes that another account, written by be John Healey, and in his foreword he notes that Gabriel Archer, places the count closer to 200 (99). the printer initially believed the account to have Smith attributes the colonists’ ability to fend for been written by Thomas Watson, whom the scholar themselves and cause the American Indian attack- Philip Barbour identifi es as the recipient of Smith’s ers to retreat to their employment of their ships’ letter (5). ammunition as a sign of divine intervention (31). The full title of Smith’s account is A True Rela- Shortly after this attack, Captain Newport tion of Such Occurrences and Accidents of Note, as returns to England, “leaving provisions for thirteen Hath Happened in Virginia, Since the First Plan- or fourteen weeks” (33). Barbour notes that in Per- ning of That Colony, Which Is Now Resident in the cy’s account, Newport departed with the promise South Part Thereof, Till the Last Return. Within the of supplies but abandoned the remaining colonists fi rst paragraph, Barbour notes several cuts made by with “verie bare and scantie of victuals, further Healey related to suspicion of Smith’s attempts at more in warres [among themselves] and in danger mutiny aboard the HMS Bounty, and his exclusion of the Savages” (99). Barbour attributes the amend- from the council (98). Smith was interrogated to ment to Smith’s account to the editors, who were determine his part in the mutiny led by Fletcher loyal to Newport and wished to cast aspersions on Christian against Captain Bligh and found inno- Smith (99–100). These provisions, however, soon cent. It is quite likely, and understandable, that the became a bone of contention among the Jamestown editors would wish to scrub this particular inci- colonists, who were angered that they were only fed dent from Smith’s account as it detracted from his sturgeon while the president of the colony and “his authority, character, and trustworthiness. few associates” received “the sack, aquavitae, and Immediately after their landing in Chesapeake other preservations for our health” (33). With the Bay, Smith reports of their “assault with certaine death of the president, Captain Ratcliffe is elected Indians” (27). This attack, even before “the Coun- (35). The gift of corn from the Indians “brought sell for Virginia was nominated,” forebodes future us great store,” yet rather than express gratitude to violence with the native population (27). Smith the native inhabitants for saving them from starva- seems to temper this initial scene of violence with tion, Smith states, “It pleased God (in our extrem- tales of “the people in all places kindly entreating ity) to move the Indians to bring us corn” (35). us, daunsing and feasting us with strawberries, Although these additional provisions improved in 318 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers the health of many of the ailing men, Smith reports a barge and a company of eight men to travel up that because of the continued sicknesses of Captain the Chickahominy River. They exchange copper and Martin and the colony’s president, he was assigned hatchets for corn as they proceed on their way, but the duty of “Cape Marchant,” meaning that he was Smith notes that he continued upriver rather than responsible for setting terms and bartering with the persist in bartering for fear “they should perceive my native population (35). This was the beginning of too great want” (39). He fears that he will jeopardize Smith’s entry into a leadership role with the colony, the terms of his exchange if the natives discover how and it would prove essential to its survival. desperate the colonists are for food and thus termi- He distinguishes himself in his position of cape nates his trade rather than give them insight into the merchant by actively participating in the preser- dire circumstances animating his travels. His further vation of the colony, unlike “most of our chiefest travels prove fruitful, not only for his geographical men [who were] either sick or discontented, the rest understanding of the surrounding area, but also for being in such despair, as they would rather starve his acquaintance with additional tribes, who treat and rot with idleness than be persuaded to do any- them very kindly. As a result, Smith reappears at the thing for their own relief without constraint” (35). fort with “seven hogsheads of corn” to add to their Smith both paints a picture of the discontent cir- store (41). His return to the Mamanahunt, whom culating in the colony as well as separates himself he had described as the most kind and generous from these idle men, who would rather starve than of the tribes he encountered, becomes yet another labor for the good of themselves and the colony. instance of the natives’ demonstrating a real curios- Smith details his bartering with the native pop- ity about the colonists’ fi rearms. Smith relates their ulation and his philosophy of ensuring the colony’s desire to “hear our pieces, being in the midst of the survival through his brokering of peace through river, which in regard of the echo seemed a peal of trade rather than through engaging in open war- ordinance” (41). fare (37–39). One example of this method involves Despite Smith’s return to the fort with another Smith’s treatment of indigenous children: “But the “seven or eight hogsheads” worth of corn, the dis- children, or any that showed extraordinary kind- content among the colonists had congealed into ness, I liberally contented with free gift, such trifl es plans for mutiny. When the smith verbally abused as well contented them” (35). He comports himself the president and threatened physical harm, he was to match the reception he receives; if the Indians sentenced to be hanged and only in the moments are kind, he “entertained their kindness and in like when he was climbing the ladder to his death scorn offered them like commodities” (35). Thus, it revealed a plot to overthrow the president (41). appears that Smith has taken the metaphor of trade The leader of the conspiracy, Captain Kendall, was and applied it not only to the literal exchange of likewise condemned by a jury and ordered to be goods, but also to his demeanor toward the tribal shot (41). Smith offers no comment on this con- members. He mentions a change in terms between spiracy plot but proceeds with his third voyage up him and the Paspahegh, on whose hunting ground the river, where he discovers additional tribes and the colony had unwittingly settled, which threatens a signifi cantly depleted amount of corn. Neverthe- Smith’s system of trade as the Paspahegh attempt to less, Smith returns again to the fort, “our store wrestle the weapons away from Smith and his fel- being now indifferently well provided with corn” low traders (39). The scene presages his later meet- (43). When plans for Captain Martin’s return to ings with Powhatan, which speak more deeply to England are reintroduced, Smith joins as a voice the mutual distrust of colonists and native peoples. of dissent against such a voyage (43). With dissent- After drawning lots over who should voyage to ing voices ruling, Martin remains with the colony, Powhatan and engage in trade, Smith writes that and Smith makes his most famous voyage upriver “the chance was mine,” and he is soon fi tted with and fi nally meets with Powhatan. He admits that John Smith 319 he had postponed his visit in order to ensure that astrology to create interest, even awe, in the chief. the fort’s provisions were adequate. By engaging in “I presented him with a compass dial, described his duty as cape merchant on the heels of Captain by my best means the use thereof, whereat he so Martin’s frustrated attempt to return to England, amazedly admired, as he suffered me to proceed Smith indirectly situates himself as the more duti- in a discourse on the roundness of the earth, the ful member of the colony. course of the sun, moon, stars, and planets” (47). In an uncharacteristic move, Smith directly Barbour attributes Smith’s scheme to his famil- addresses the reader’s or another person’s criti- iarity with Thomas Harriot, who reported in his cism of his behavior when he orders members of narrative of items used to mystify the American his party to remain with the barge and not return Indians (102). Smith utilizes another bit of strategy to Jamestown without him as he hires a canoe and when requested to discharge his pistol and fi re at two Indians to guide him farther up the river, a target placed “at six score.” He “broke [the pis- whose shallowness makes the barge’s further prog- tol’s] cock, whereat they were much discontented ress impossible. Smith explains: though a chance supposed” (51). Smith pretends to have disabled the gun accidentally while Barbour Though some wise men may condemn this too interprets this scene as a further example of the bold attempt of too much indiscretion, yet if captive’s attempts to use his wiles and technology they will consider the friendship of the Indi- to his advantage. If he were to shoot the pistol as ans in conducting me, the desolateness of the requested, Barbour argues, Smith would have dem- country, the probability of some lake, and the onstrated the weapon’s limitations since pistols at malicious judges of my actions at home, as also the time were capable of hitting a target only at to have some matters of worth to encourage our short range (103). adventures in England, might well have caused The spectacle of Powhatan and his entourage, any honest mind to have done the like, as well elaborately dressed, garners awe from Smith, who for his own discharge. (45) details the costuming of the chief and his high- ranking kinsmen and remarks that “such a grave Barbour interprets Smith’s belabored language as and majestic countenance drove me to admira- his attempt to justify his actions in light of the tion to see such a state in a naked savage” (53). In deaths of three in his party (101). Shortly after Smith’s description, perhaps, we see the notions this explanation, Smith, hearing “a loud cry, and a of the noble savage at work, for his admiration is howling of Indians, but no warning [shot],” as he lessened, if not reversed, by his labeling of Powha- had instructed his seven comrades to fi re in case of tan as a “a naked savage.” What is striking, then, danger, grabs the guide with him and holds him is not Powhatan himself but a non-Englishman as he fi res with his French pistol (45). Although so bedecked and garnering so much respect from wounded in the thigh, Smith suffers no further those around. Further, to Smith Powhatan’s majes- injury from the 200 men accompanying Opeckan- tic affect seems at odds with the chief’s racial iden- kenough, second in line of succession after Powha- tity. Such a moment reveals to readers the extent of tan (47, 102). When they discover that Smith is a Smith’s culture shock as well as his uneasiness at captain, his life is spared, for the tribe had a law of being powerless in relation to such a fi gure. Con- not executing a captain, tribal chief, or werowance, spicuously absent from Smith’s tale of his four-day a chief who owed allegiance to Powhatan (102). captivity by Powhatan and his adoption into their Smith’s fi rst encounter with Powhatan occurs tribe is the famous rescue effected by Pocahontas. with his men dead, himself wounded in the thigh Because this tale appears in Smith’s Generall Histo- and without any weapons, and yet he appears to rie and not in A True Relation of Virginia, histori- use his remaining technology and knowledge of ans and critics alike have cast doubt on the veracity 320 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers of Smith’s tale of deliverance at the hands of Pow- become Virginia is broken when members of a few hatan’s young daughter. tribes, the Paspahegh, Chickahamanian, Youghta- In its place, Smith offers a brief ethnographic num, Pamunka, Mattapanient, and Kiskiack, ambush account of the beliefs and customs of Powhatan and the fort (91). Smith had previously mentioned enmity his people. This account involves Smith’s recollection among the Paspahegh and Kiskiack but had had of a ceremony in which at 10 o’clock in the morn- favorable trading relations with many of the other ing, three of four individuals began singing around tribes. He eventually releases the prisoners captured a fi re, each with a rattle in his hand. They laid down during the failed ambush, but not before Powhatan grains of wheat in three concentric circles around the sends his daughter Pocahontas to plead for their free- fi re. “One disguised with a great skin, his head hung dom (93). In Smith’s only reference to the famous round with little skins of weasels and other vermine chief’s daughter, he describes her in terms that mark with a crown of feathers on his head, painted as ugly her as exceptional: “a child of ten years old, which as the devil, at the end of each song will make many not only for feature, countenance, and proportion, signs and demonstrations with strange and vehement much exceedeth any of the rest of his people, but for actions; great cakes of deer suet, dear, and tobacco he wit, spirit, the only nonpareil of his country” (93). cast in the fi re” (59). Critics conjecture that Smith He treats her kindly, stating that he showered her was relating the ceremony of his own adoption into with the gifts she deemed worthy and returned her Powhatan’s tribe. He provides further accounts of to her father, along with the captives. consulting a council about the following day’s deer Smith concludes the narrative in a rather abrupt hunt, and the means by which they heal their sick manner, but he seems to have considered the tri- and mourn their dead (59). umph of the colonists over this attempted ambush His next meeting with Powhatan affords Smith as a sign of their perseverance and a means of ensur- the honor of being a werowance of him, “and that ing future peaceful relations with the land’s natives. all his subjects should so esteem us, and no man Smith writes assuringly, “We now remaining being account us strangers nor Paspaheghans but Pow- in good health, all our men well contented, free hatans, and that the corn, women, and country from mutinies, in love one with another, and as we should be to us as to his own people” (67). Note hope in a continual peace with the Indians” (97). that the items listed as gifts or as Smith’s entitled resources as werowance include land, food, and For Discussion or Writing women. Smith does not comment on the offer of 1. How does Smith’s position as cape merchant in women, however, but alerts readers to the cultural charge of trading compare with ÁLVAR NÚÑEZ signifi cance of food: “Victuals you must know is all CABEZA DE VACA’s assumption of the same role? their wealth, and the greatest kindness they would How do they imagine themselves and those show us” (67). Smith reports the generosity of Pow- with whom they trade? hatan when he fi rst meets Smith’s “father,” Captain 2. How does Smith’s use of technology compare Newport, and prepares for them a feast consisting with OLAUDAH EQUIANO’s narrative of wonder of bread and venison. In exchange for these signs of and awe in his autobiography? In what ways do friendship, the most crucial of them Smith’s nam- the American Indians awe or inspire Smith? ing as Powhatan’s werowance, Powhatan rightly inquires twice why Smith, Newport, and their fel- low colonists appear at each meeting fully armed. In response, a rather cunning Smith refers to their Generall Historie of Virginia, arms as “the custom of our country” (69). New-England, and the Summer Isles (1623) A sense of tentative trust between the Jamestown Smith’s “most important friend,” Samuel Purchas, colonists and the native inhabitants of what would enabled Smith to publish his Generall Historie, John Smith 321 even allowing him access to material that was to ing what was originally a rather peaceful account appear in Purchas’s Pilgrimes (Emerson 20). The of gaining corn from the American Indians to feed critic Everett Emerson believes that Purchas’s text, the colonists in his care to a gun-fi lled battle in along with Richard Hakluyt’s Hakluyt’s Posthu- which they were either felled by bullets or else fl ed mus, served as models for Smith’s Generall Historie into the woods (cited in Emerson 71–72). (20). Despite Smith’s ability to use these two texts What follows next in book 3 is perhaps the most as models, Emerson notes that “little is new” in the anthologized portion of any of Smith’s works: his Generall Historie: Book 1 is a collection of travel capture by Powhatan and rescue, supposedly at accounts edited by Smith, book 2 borrows from the hands of Pocahontas. Smith details the pag- A Map of Virginia, book 5 relies heavily on both eantry attending Powhatan: “He sat covered with A Description of New England and New England a great robe, made of Raccoon skinnes, and all the Trials, and book 3, “the most famous portion of tayles hanging by. On either hand did sit a young the Generall Historie,” “is a revision of the account wench of 16 or 18 yeares, and along on each side published in The Proceedings” (Emerson 21). An the house, two rowes of men, and behind them as even more interesting fact distinguishes these two many as women, with all their heads and shoul- texts. Although A True Relation was specifi cally ders painted red: many of their heads bedecked about Virginia and his experiences there, Smith with the white downe of Birds, but every one with does not draw upon it for his Generall Historie. something, and a great chain of white beads about Emerson Everett traces the history of the publi- their necks.” The purpose of Smith’s detailing the cation, stating that it originated in April 1621 when costumes of his captors is to help offset his own a man from Gloucestershire who had invested in the position as captive. After all, he describes a signifi - Virginia Company of London requested a “fair and cant number of people attending Powhatan. After perspicuous history, compiled of that country, from Powhatan’s “feast . . . in their best barbarous man- her discovery to this day” (cited in Emerson 55). ner they could,” the decision seems to be made to Although all who attended the meeting approved brain Smith with “two great stones.” of John Smith’s request, no action occurred until Pocahontas, “the King’s dearest daughter,” March of the following year, 1622, when Ameri- intercedes on Smith’s behalf. Having exhausted all can Indians killed roughly 400 colonists. Smith’s entreaties, “She got his head in her armes, and laid hopes to be sent with soldiers and reinforcements her own upon his to save him.” Emerson notes how was denied, but his interest in the cause of Ameri- Smith’s description of Pocahontas “has an amus- can colonization probably prompted him to take ing touch, an anticlimax that distracts the reader’s up pen and begin writing book 1 of his Generall attention from Pocahontas” (73). What is inter- Historie, which he completed by the end of 1623 esting is that Smith does not really comment on (Emerson 56). what occurs after his rescue: “The Emperor was The massacre of 400 colonists was clearly still contented he should live to make him hatchets, on Smith’s mind when he compiled the histories and her bells, beads, and copper.” Scholars famil- necessary for the Generall Historie, in part because iar with captivity narrative recognize that quite he felt assured of his own abilities to deal with the often, captives were adopted into the families who American Indians, and in part because he deeply had initially captured them. The exchange of items desired to return to New England. For this rea- Powhatan imagines, “hatchets, bells, beads, and son, perhaps, his account of American Indians is copper,” seems to point to Powhatan’s decision to signifi cantly heightened in this book over his fi rst adopt Smith into his tribe. What is entirely absent account, A True Relation of Virginia. He revised from Smith’s account is the romance between his own version of an encounter with American Pocahontas and Smith that has become the stuff Indians that he reported in The Proceedings, turn- of legend. 322 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

In the legend of Pocahontas, her actions become 3. Consider how the gender dynamics of Pocahon- a heroic, romantic rescue, and the landscape is tas are replicated in other early colonial texts anthropomorphized into a highly sexualized, silent such as THOMAS MORTON’s “Rise of Oedipus” American Indian female. Her act of interposing in New English Canaan. her head for Smith’s is supposedly animated by her young, impulsive love for him. However, Smith makes no claims about a relationship between the two. Indeed, Pocahontas married John Rolfe and The True Travels, Adventures, and traveled with him to England. The pervasive myth Observations of Captaine John Smith (1630) that she rescued Smith as an act of unrequited love Fully titled The True Travels, Adventures, and prevails, despite its historical inaccuracy, because, Observations of Captaine John Smith, in Europe, as critics such as Annette Kolodny note, it perpetu- Asia, Africa, and America: Beginning in the Year ates the gender dynamics of colonization in which 1593 and Continued to This Present 1629, Smith’s the American landscape is feminized and symbol- autobiographical text offers a sweeping sense of ized by American Indian females while the British his life as an adventurous explorer. It is there- colonist is characterized as a virile male. fore no surprise that his fi rst chapter only briefl y Subsequent interactions between Powhatan and details the death of his parents when he was 13, Smith, who has been adopted and renamed Nan- followed immediately by his earliest yearnings for taquoud, reveal how politically expedient Powha- life on the open sea. As the editor Philip Barbour tan considered this intertribal embrace of Smith terms it, True Travels is Smith’s “only outright to be. By drawing Smith into his tribe, Powhatan autobiographical work,” but it is also his most clearly anticipated that he would improve trade “controversial” because of its similarity to the tall exchanges with the British colonists. Smith recog- tale (125). The odd mixture of truth and fi ction nizes how clever Powhatan is in the terms he sets is not extraordinary for Smith, however, because for exchanges (such as demanding that Smith and of his public persona and his desire to cultivate an his men not go armed to their meetings since doing image of himself that was hyperbolically heroic. so symbolizes intent to invade and conquer). Smith Barbour, however, does not agree with those read- recognizes Powhatan as a “subtill Savage.” Despite ers who would dismiss the text whole cloth as a this backhanded compliment, Smith maintains his “sheer prevarication”; instead, he points to the fact same thematic argument throughout the text—he that many of the claims Smith makes regarding his is well versed in the ways of the American Indians, appearance and actions at various locations such and were he to return to America, he could prevent as Venice, Vienna, and Budapest have never been future events like the massacre of 400 settlers that investigated. transpired in his absence. In chapter 2, Smith recalls how four “French Gallants” “well attended, feigning to him the one For Discussion or Writing to be a great Lord, the rest his gentlemen” robbed 1. Smith’s description of Pocahontas’s deliverance him, leaving him aboard without enough money appears in Generall Historie, but not A True to pay for his own passage (he had to sell his coat) Relation of Virginia. Consider why this most (157). He soon revenges himself on one of them, famous passage might appear in one version of Curzianvere, defeating him in a swordfi ght and his time in the Virginia colony and not in the forcing him to confess that they had stolen from other. him (158). He immediately follows the earl of 2. How does Smith’s account of his captivity and Ployer, who was going to war in France, where he release compare with those depicted in the works fi nally embarks for Italy, only to be thrown over- of Cabeza de Vaca and Mary Rowlandson? board by a “rabble of pilgrims of diverse nations John Smith 323 going to Rome” who take him as a “Huguenot” bearing his lance.” Against this opulent image and believe “they never should have fair weather so of his opponent, Smith appears “with a noise of long as he was aboard [with] them” (159). Captain trumpets, [and] only a page bearing his lance” La Roche, also loyal to the earl of Ployer, rescues (172). Almost immediately after the “sound of the Smith and sails with him to Egypt, where they charge,” Smith attacks the Turk through his bea- deliver their freight, and then on to the Adriatic ver, the face guard of his helmet, and then swiftly Sea, where they encounter a sea fi ght against an decapitates the fallen soldier (172). Smith’s victory argosy from Venice. Captain La Roche’s superior riles a “vowed friend” of the dead captain, and he artillery prevails, and they take aboard as spoils of also challenges Smith to the same form of duel. the fi ght various silver and gold coins along with This second Turkish soldier is wounded in the left expensive materials (silk, velvet, and gold cloth) arm and thus unable to “rule his horse”; as he falls (161). When La Roche allows Smith to disembark to the ground and is instantly killed, Smith decapi- in Italy, he provides him with ample funds, and tates him as well and sends his body, “and his rich Smith travels to Rome, where he briefl y spies Pope apparel,” back to the town (173). The following Clement VIII ascending a fl ight of stairs, and then day, Smith dispatches yet a third Turk, this time on to Naples and other cities along the coast. stabbing him between the plates protecting his back Smith tells of the brilliant military strategy he and loins (174). Interestingly, Smith attributes his employed in Olumpagh, which Philip Barbour has victory in this last challenge to “God’s assistance,” confi rmed to be Lower Limbach in present-day a religious reference that had not appeared in his Yugoslavia (130–131). As a result of his craftiness, descriptions of the fi rst two battles but would have which included not only developing a coded system seemed quite natural since the battles were tradi- for communication, but also deceiving the Turkish tionally described along religious lines. As a result soldiers into believing they had an enormous army, of Smith’s successive triumphs over his Turkish Smith was named captain and given an army of adversaries, he is made sergeant major and rewarded 250 horsemen to command under Colonel Voldo with a scimitar and a belt “worth three hundred (165). Another victorious battle for the Christians ducats” (174). At the victorious termination of the is also attributed to Smith’s skilled use of explo- battles against the Turks, the duke of Transylvania, sives, this time “fi reworks” composed of loose Sigismundus Bathor, learns of Smith’s accomplish- powder, turpentine, and other fl ammable materi- ments and rewards him with “three Turks’ heads als set into earthen pots and fi red onto the Turks’ in a shield for his arms, by patent, under his hand encampments (166). The tale of future battles and and seal, with an oath ever to wear them in his col- a long, brutal winter in which thousands of soldiers ors, his picture in gold, and three hundred ducats perished in the cold seems to deviate from Smith’s yearly for a pension” (175). own personal tale, as he does not fi gure as an active Sigismundus’s victory is short lived, however, as agent in any of the events. Barbour and other his- Transylvania is soon recaptured by the Turks in a torians believe that Smith’s narrative at this point series of bloody battles that leave Smith wounded drew heavily on the text of Ferneza (172). and a prisoner of war. During their retreat, Smith is In chapter 7, however, Smith does return as the captured by the Tatars. He attributes his own sur- hero and protagonist and recalls his three deadly vival to his “armor and habit,” which his captors challenges against Turkish soldiers. Smith provides believed were indicators that Smith would fetch wonderful detail: His opponent “entered the fi eld a high ransom (186). Shackled with another 19 well mounted and armed; on his shoulders were prisoners, with chains around their necks, Smith fi xed a pair of great wings, compacted of eagle was forced to march to Constantinople, where he feathers with a ridge of silver, richly garnished with would become the servant of the young Charatza gold and precious stones, a janissary before him, Tragabigzanda (186). When she sends him to her 324 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers brother, a timariot in Tartaria, Smith is stripped, for his monument, and vowed virginity all her life” shaved, shackled about his neck, and dressed only (204). He also includes tales of the previous king of in the wool of a big-horned sheep (189). His time Barbary (North Africa from Morocco to the Egyp- among the Tatars is recounted in much the manner tian border), Mulai Ahmed IV, whose admiration of an ethnographer, detailing such aspects of their for tradesmen and artisans resulted in the presence culture as their diet, clothing, and religious prac- of a multitude of English skilled workman, includ- tices (189–195). As Barbour notes, Smith’s chapters ing a watchmaker named Master Henry Archer noting the cultural practices, living conditions, and (205–206). beliefs among the residents of Tartaria borrowed It is the tale of Master Archer, and the subse- from Broniovius’s “Description of Tartaria” as well quent tale of the lion, that contribute to historians’ as Friar William de Rubruquis’s Itinerarium (191). dismissing the accuracy of Smith’s True Trav- In chapter 17, Smith fi nally escapes captivity. els. Archer’s craftsmanship is so revered by Mulai Although he had strategized with other Christians Ahmed IV that, when Archer mistakenly boxes the who were also held as captive slaves, “they could ear of a respected Moslem monk, a crime punish- not fi nd how to make an escape, by any reason able by the removal of his hand and his tongue, or possibility” (200). One day, when the bashaw the king intercedes on his behalf and has his guard arrived to visit the granges at which Smith was of 300 men break Archer out of prison (206). employed as a thresher, Smith “took occasion so to Smith concludes his tales of northern Africa by beat, spurn, and revile him, that forgetting all rea- recommending “many large histories of [Africa] in son, he beat of the tymor’s brains with his thresh- diverse languages, especially that writ by that most ing bat . . . clothed himself in his clothes, hid his excellent statesmen, John de Leo” (207). Barbour body under the straw, fi lled his knapsack with corn, believes that Smith relied so heavily on John de shut the doors, mounted his horse, and ran into the Leo’s account of Morocco in order to pad this sec- desert at all adventure” (200). Luckily, Smith is not tion of the text. “The account in the True Travels apprehended along his journey, as he encounters no may consequently be assumed to have been based one who would recognize the iron about his neck on Smith’s presence in some parts of Morocco at as a clear sign of his enslavement (201). Finally, he the time. Yet the truth would seem to be that Smith reaches what Barbour believes to have been Valuiki, found no opportunity there to enlist as a merce- where the governor takes pity upon him, removes nary and thus fi lled up his narrative with more or his irons, and gives him money and food necessary less idle tales gathered on the spot, rounding it all to continue his journey through Russia. When he off with an account of a ‘piratical’ skirmish” (134). fi nally reaches his goal, reuniting with Sigismundus Indeed, the theory that material was used as to ensure that his honors are received and that he fi ller or padding for Smith’s True Travels seems to be given 1,500 ducats to compensate for his losses, explain the abrupt shift that occurs immediately Smith leaves for Spain and then for Morocco. after his participation in a sea battle with Cap- Just as Smith has drawn on the published tain Merham against two Spanish men-of-war. accounts of others when in new lands, so, too Smith’s next few chapters are borrowed from his does he weave in John de Leo’s Geographical His- own Generall Historie of Virginia (214–220). What tory of Africa to augment his details of his travels holds these several chapters together, Barbour sug- there (204). Among the marvels he includes in gests, besides their reliance on Smith’s own former his account are the three golden balls of Africa, work, is their subject matter: British colonization. which were erected by the daughter of the king Although Smith was older, he was still interested in of Ethiopia, who was engaged to marry the prince the enterprise of colonization and may have been of Morocco, who suddenly died before their wed- attempting to gain some position in a different ding. As a memorial to him, the Ethiopian prin- locale by writing of British colonization efforts and cess “caused those three golden balls to be set up thus demonstrating his knowledge of them. John Smith 325

True Travels ends on a rather odd note—the fi nal contains some passages that reveal his literary pol- chapter addresses, as its title suggests, “the bad life, ish, and it is without the braggadocio that obscures qualities and conditions of pirates, and how they many of his earlier works. Smith dedicates his taught the Turks and Moors to become men of war” fi nal book to George Abbot and Samuel Hars- (238). Smith attributes the increase in the number nett, two archbishops, on the basis of the text’s of pirates to the shift in England’s ruler, from Queen subject matter: “the Plantation of New England, Elizabeth to King James. Because James had grown for the increase of God’s Church, converting Sav- up in peaceful times, Smith notes, there was no ages, and enlarging the King’s Dominions.” In his need for the men-of-war who were so well employed address to the reader, Smith introduces the idea of under Queen Elizabeth. As a result, the men turned extrapolation: “Apelles by the proportion of a foot, to piracy for a host of reasons: poverty, jealousy of could make the whole proportion of a man.” The those sailors who were wealthy, revenge, covetous- notion behind this conceit is that one can deduce a ness, vanity, or general ill will (239). The conclu- wider view or scope of vision about America based sion, however, makes clear why Smith included this upon Smith’s descriptions of the New England account of pirates in his True Travels. It serves as a Plantation. Thus, Smith not only advertises for warning for those who do not well reward sailors the colonization of America in general, but also and seamen with ample pay and thus serves indi- squarely places this colony as emblematic of what rectly to request just reward for Smith’s incredible future inhabitants might fashion themselves after feats as a soldier and a seaman, as cataloged in the in later years. fi rst two thirds of True Travels (240–241). Chapter 1 addresses the specter of dissenters, or members of various religious organizations at For Discussion or Writing odds with the Church of England: Anabaptists, 1. Compare Smith’s captivity among the Tatars separatists, papists, Brownists, and Puritans. Smith with his captivity by Powhatan. What details attempts to defuse the scandal and “rumor” associ- does he give of his captors in each account? How ated with these settlers by comparing their dissent does he imagine himself as captive? to the presence of a traitor among Jesus’ 12 apos- 2. Food is often an index of culture. How does tles. If there was one traitor among the 12 devout Smith’s detailing of the Tatars’ diet compare followers of Jesus Christ, Smith seems to argue, with MARY WHITE ROWLANDSON’s account of then “it is more than a wonder” that such dissem- the diet consumed by the American Indians blers might exist among the plantation settlers. He who captured her? warns against painting all of the settlers with the 3. Smith incorporates tales of various lands that same broad brush, stating that they alone suffer derive from other sources, and yet these histo- from their own wrongdoing while the king and his ries are woven into what critics recognize as his kingdom are glorifi ed in their triumphs (270). “most autobiographical” of all works. Consider In terms of his own experience in Virginia, Smith other autobiographical works, such as THOMAS sarcastically contrasts the luxuries enjoyed by the JEFFERSON’s or BENJAMIN FRANKLIN’s. How do members of the company still residing in England these modes of self-writing refl ect a larger sense with the inadequate or scarce materials shipped to of the individual? his company in Virginia. Smith chastises his suc- cessors, who are living off the fruits of his arduous labors. Chapter 1 concludes with Smith’s return- ing to the familiar subject of the inexperienced Advertisements for the Unexperienced tradesmen who formed the majority of the original Planters of New England, or Any Where (1631) party of settlers. Clearly, Smith argues, the occu- Smith’s last publication is, according to the critic pations of the settlers made the company’s single Everett Emerson, his most attractive work as it aim “nothing but present profi t” (272). A desire for 326 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

fi nancial gain not only distracts the colonists from colonies against one another rather than recognize laboring for survival, but it also endangers the Vir- their ability to aid and support one another. Smith ginia Colony’s future by diverting attention from further broadens the scope of England’s colonial what is best for their present and future. Indeed, enterprise by noting, “There is vast land enough Smith vows that “all the world could not have for all the people in England, Scotland, and Ire- devised better courses to bring us to ruin” than the land” (275). Because the landscape is so vast, Smith excessive “doting [over] mines of gold and [routes envisions it as large enough to accommodate all of to] the seven seas” (272). the king’s subjects. Further support of this vision Chapter 2 continues Smith’s defense of his ini- of America is found in the series of three plagues in tial venture in Virginia by characterizing the class three years that have all but destroyed some native factions inherent to English society as the culprit tribes. For details, Smith relies on Governor WIL- for their failure. “Most of them,” Smith declares, LIAM BRADFORD, thus absolving himself of any “would rather starve than work” (273). If the set- discrepancies between Bradford’s account of native tlers were willing to endure starvation, Smith had inhabitants who survived and the tallies of native no incentive to induce them to labor for their own survivors gathered by others (276). well-being, much less for the health and welfare of Chapter 4 covers the “great question” of many the colony. For those colonists like Smith who were good and religiously devout men: whether they willing to work, their lack of skills in catching fi sh may “possess those countries, which are none of or hunting game resulted in their subsisting for theirs, but the poor savages” (276). By referenc- a time on corn. Those not killed by lack of food ing God’s will, Smith’s response to this question might have been among the “three hundred forty anticipates manifest destiny and its justifi cation of seven” slain by the massacre of March 22, 1622 western expansion in the mid-19th century. He (274). The disgruntled colonists, who returned to assumes a priori that “God . . . made the world England after exhausting the colony’s stock, “per- to be inhabited with mankind.” The colonization suaded King James to call in [their charter]” (274). process enables the conversion of millions to Chris- Smith mentions that these early steps in dissolving tianity. However, Smith does not immediately pur- the colony transpired “without our knowledge or sue the religious implications of colonialism but consent” (274). instead dwells on the availability of uninhabited Chapter 3 opens with a brief catalog of the land that will prove productive if “manured and abundance of livestock and food sources available used accordingly” (276). For those people in Eng- in Virginia “since they have been left in a manner, land who endure “such great rents and rates” for as it were, to themselves” (274). A reversal of the land, the promise of fertile soil, purchased for “a previous conditions that brought about the starva- copper kettle and a few toys,” becomes, as Smith tion or near-starvation of some settlers unwilling imagines, “a reason suffi cient to such tender con- to work has resulted in suffi cient food resources. sciences” (276). Smith expresses his hope that they will balance Smith imagines colonization as a great tradition their cash crop, tobacco, with their staple crops initiated by Adam and Eve, who cultivated the earth needed to sustain life, lest, he seems to imply, they to provide for their posterity. Ancient civilizations return to their previous circumstances. His desire such as the Hebrews, Lacedemonians, Greeks, and for the prosperity of England’s colonial enterprises Romans, in their struggles to enlarge their territo- in America is not narrowed to the Virginia Colony, ries and convert all the savages, followed the same but extended to its supposed rival colony, New Eng- pattern established by the fi rst man and woman land, and beyond. Smith wishes to arrest the growth (277). Thus, Smith proposes that England imitate of “the seed of envy and the rust of covetousness the virtues of its predecessors. Otherwise, they will [that] doth grow too fast,” causing some to pit the not be worthy successors. John Smith 327

In his description of his fi rst voyage to New Eng- tending onely religion their governour,” who have land, Smith basks in the abundance of fi sh and fur “most vanished to nothing,” industrious colonists pelts he and his men were able to acquire with seem- like him seem to prevail because God’s “omnipo- ingly little effort. “With fi fteene or eighteene men tent power only delivered him” (286, 285). at most,” they caught “more than 60,000 in lesse Just as Smith contrasts his industriousness and than a moneth” (278). The number of furs taken success with the lack of success of the Brownists, from beaver, otter, and martin, which amounted to he also pits his set of values that would guaran- 1,500 pounds, would have been greater had they tee a laborer rights to land he has improved over not had to “content [with] patents and commis- a nobleman who merely draws lots to determine sions, with such fearfull incredulity that more daz- which of 20 plots of land should be his possession. zled our eyes than opened them” (278). In other On the basis of his own maps of the area, Smith words, British bureaucracy stymied the efforts to mentions how unfair this system of dividing up acquire the raw goods that were available. Smith the land is because it leaves him with the uninhab- does, however, applaud one gesture made possible itable island now called the Isles of Shoals, while by bureaucracy, and that is the naming of the land. nobles who have never left England’s shores, nor Smith had written it on maps and in other docu- risked their lives to fi gure the lay of the land, are ments as New England, but the “malicious minds given patents outright. His unsolicited advice is to among sailors and others, drowned that name with encourage servants who leave England for America the echo of Nusconcus, Canaday, and Penaquid” to “have as much freedome in reason as may be” until King Charles “was pleased to confi rme it by (287). Specifi cally, Smith proposes that the patent that title” (278). holders provide 20 to a 100 acres of land after the Chapters 5, 6, and 8 are largely reworked from passage of fi ve or six years in which the laborer Smith’s Generall Historie, and he acknowledges has proved that he “extraordinarily deserved” it this debt to his previous work by referring readers (287). to his “generall history” (278). In chapter 7, revised When Smith details how the open land in New from New England Trials, Smith details some of England might be used, either for farming or for the bounteous amount of fi sh caught by two ships planting trees, it is always with a mind toward util- from London that sailed to New Plymouth and ity, further trade, and exploration. He describes relied upon “that poore company they found, that how the trees in New England are “commonly had lived two yeares by their naked industry, and lower, but much thicker and fi rmer wood, and what the country naturally afforded” (282). This more proper for shipping” (289). He proceeds to “wonderfull industry” that Smith celebrates in offer the services of his own book, a Sea Grammar, enterprising colonists pales in comparison to his lit- which he deems “most necessary for those planta- any of sufferings and depredations he has endured tions” because it details to “an unskillful carpenter in his “neere 37 yeares” (285). In a passage that or sailer [how] to build boats and barks suffi cient the critic Everett Emerson calls a “vigorous expres- to sail those coasts and rivers” (289). He likens the sion” of Smith’s viewpoint in 1631, he provides a instructions in his book to the detailed account spirited recitation of his various adventures and God gave to Noah in the construction of the ark near-death experiences. It is quite unusual for (290). Subsequent chapters also offer practical Smith to indulge in retelling “how many strange advice on how to build houses (detailing the kinds accidents have befallen . . . [him],” but his point of stones and other raw materials readily available), in this chapter seems to be the contrast between how to preserve the grasses as hay for the cattle his own trials and “the fruits [his] labours thus during winter months, and how to plant corn as well begin to prosper” (285). Unlike the settlers the American Indians do between trees so that they he terms the Brownists, who he believes are “pre- will act as barricades against the wind (290–291). 328 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

Smith addresses the trials befalling JOHN WIN- 2. How does Smith’s treatment of Puritans, whom THROP and his colonists, arguing that the people he terms Brownists, compare with Thomas were prone to complaining about the smallest Morton’s treatment of the separatists in his New inconvenience rather than working to improve English Canaan? their situation (such as set aside enough provisions of Indian corn to keep them fed during the winter months). On a practical level, Smith disapproves of their abuses of American Indians, comparing FURTHER QUESTIONS the slaughter of the native population in the West ON SMITH AND HIS WORK Indies by Spaniards, who were then forced to seek 1. Unlike other early colonists such as Winthrop slave labor in Africa, to the mistreatment of Ameri- and Bradford, Smith arrives in North America can Indians by Winthrop and his followers. Smith with a decidedly secular agenda—to gain fi nan- suggests they take the same tact he took in Vir- cial profi t and fame. And yet, when one reads ginia and befriend the American Indians (294). At through his works, one is perhaps surprised to the very least, if the colonists will not heed Smith’s note the numerous mentions Smith makes of advice, he hopes that of all “their mischances, mis- God, Christianity, and the Bible. Does Smith prisions, or what accidents may befall them . . . reconcile the secular with the sacred in his none is so malicious as attribute the fault to the writings? Select one of his books and make an country nor mee” (294). argument, making sure to employ specifi c quo- Smith concludes his Advertisements by return- tations in support of your view. ing to “Turks, Heathens, and Infi dels” (299). As 2. Smith was in England when he wrote several of they are subjects of the British Empire, he imagines his books about America. Is his view of it real- that all eyes are on the colonists and the manner in istic or idealistic because of his physical remove which they treat their neighbors. In a passage that from Virginia? Select one of his later works and clearly expresses Smith’s own values and principles, base your response on the specifi c language of he writes, “Truly there is no pleasure comparable the text. to a generous spirit; as good employment in noble actions, especially among [heathens] to see daily WORKS CITED AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES new countries, people, fashions, governments, Barbour, Philip L. The Complete Works of Captain John stratagems, relieve the oppressed, comfort his Smith. Vol. 1. Chapel Hill: University of North friends, pass miseries, subdue enemies, adventure Carolina Press, 1986. upon any feasible danger for God and his country; ———. The Complete Works of Captain John Smith. it is true, it is a happy thing to be born to strength, Vol. 3. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina wealth, and honor, but that which is got by prowess Press, 1986. and magnanimity is the truest luster” (299). Emerson, Everett. Captain John Smith. New York: Twayne, 1993. For Discussion or Writing Hayes, Kevin J. Captain John Smith: A Reference 1. Compare the advice that Smith offers for future Guide. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1991. colonists in New England with the advice Howe, Henry F. Prologue to New England. Port Wash- Cabeza de Vaca promotes in his Relación. Are ington, N.Y.: Kennikat Press, 1969. the explorers imagining the transplantation of John Smith. Available online. URL: http://www.wsu. their colonial ways of life into new climes, or are edu/~campbelld/amlit/smith.htm. Accessed April they projecting utopic civilizations? 23, 2009. John Smith 329

Kupperman, Karen Ordahl, ed. Captain John Smith: A Price, David. Love and Hate in Jamestown: John Smith, Select Edition of His Writings. Chapel Hill: Univer- Pocahontas, and the Heart of a New Nation. New sity of North Carolina Press, 1988. York: Knopf, 2003. Lemay, J. A. Leo. The American Dream of Captain Rozwenc, Edwin C. “Captain John Smith’s Image of John Smith. Charlottesville: University Press of America.” William and Mary Quarterly 16, no. 1 Virginia, 1991. (January 1959): 27–36. Montgomery, Dennis. Captain John Smith. Available Thompson, John M. The Journals of Captain John online. URL: http://www.history.org/Foundation/ Smith: A Jamestown Biography. Washington, D.C.: journal/smith.cfm. Accessed April 23, 2009. National Geographic Society, 2007. Morse, Jarvis M. “John Smith and His Critics: A Vaughan, Alden T. American Genesis: Captain John Chapter in Colonial Historiography.” Journal of Smith and the Founding of Virginia. Boston: Little, Southern History 1, no. 2 (May 1935): 123–137. Brown, 1975. Edward Taylor (ca. 1642–1729)

I am this crumb of dust which is designed To make my pen unto Thy praise alone.

(“Prologue”)

n 1937 a scholar working in the Yale University Until 1937, Edward Taylor was viewed as a ILibrary made a monumental discovery that would minor fi gure in Puritan theological studies. He was forever alter our understanding of Puritan literature: notable for his connections to other key Massachu- a 400+-page bound manuscript book of poems setts fi gures, the Mather family and Samuel Sewell, by the Puritan minister Edward Taylor. Professor for example, and for his long service (1671–1729) Thomas Johnson published a few of these previously as a frontier minister in Westfi eld, Massachusetts, unknown poems in an issue of the New England who dared to attack Solomon Stoddard (1643– Quarterly that same year and edited the fi rst collec- 1729) for lowering communion requirements. But tion of Taylor’s verse in 1939. Eventually, scholars in studies of the Mathers, Sewell, or Stoddard, Tay- found over 40,000 lines of original verse, a total lor was a footnote fi gure. The discovery of his man- of 3,100 manuscript pages. Before the revelation of uscript poems had people questioning, “Who was Taylor’s poetry, even the most enthusiastic of literary Edward Taylor? And, why didn’t he publish these critics were inclined to dismiss this era’s literature. poems during his life?” They could argue that ANNE BRADSTREET’s The Edward Taylor was born in England, in Sketch- Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America (1650) and ley in Leicestershire in 1642, 1643, or 1644 to a Michael Wigglesworth’s The Day of Doom (1662) family of fi ve sons and one daughter. The fi rst date were atypical of the Puritan mind. Until 1937, the is generally assigned by critics, but no documenta- common consensus among professors of American tion has yet been found. His parents were strictly literature was that we should value the Puritans for nonconformist, and perhaps emotionally distant. their extensive theological and historical writings, There are few references to either in his collected but that they had little interest or talent in poetry. writings. His mother (Margaret) died in 1657, and Yet suddenly there appeared in pre–World War II his father (William) followed her in 1658. Donald America a body of several hundred poems, rich in E. Stanford’s research uncovered the fact that Tay- imagery and full of spiritual passion, that forced lor received £40 from his father’s estate on his 21st Americans to question their easy dismissal of Puri- birthday. Taylor acquired a solid education and tan poetry. The sheer number and range of Edward may have even studied at Cambridge for a time. We Taylor’s poems and the mystery surrounding their know that by 1662 Taylor was teaching at a school 20th-century discovery revitalized studies in early in Bagworth, Leicestershire. In that year Charles American literature and demanded a reevaluation of II’s Act of Uniformity was enacted, and Taylor was the literary canon. dismissed from his position for refusing to sub-

330 Edward Taylor 331 scribe to dictates antithetical to his nonconform- 58 years. Eventually, Taylor gathered a personal ist beliefs. We do not know how Taylor supported library of 220 books plus hundreds of handwrit- himself over the next six years; our next confi rmed ten copies of other texts. But Westfi eld remained a sighting of the future preacher-poet occurs on rural farming community with few educated citi- April 26, 1668, when he left England for the colo- zens throughout Taylor’s life. This sense of exile is nies, never to return. Taylor’s destination was Mas- evident in the fi rst sermon Taylor preached in the sachusetts, site of the great Puritan experiment in town on December 3, 1671, when he draws paral- the New World. It had been only 48 years since lels between himself and John the Baptist calling the foundation of the Puritan settlement at Plym- out in the wilderness (Patterson 5). This isolation outh Plantation, but since then, the communities from other educated men may be partially respon- of Salem (1626), Boston (1630), Sudbury (1638), sible for Taylor’s renewed poetic dedication. Taylor Framingham (1650), and Lancaster (1653), among had been a “versifi er” from an early age. Five poems others, had been established. from his youth in England survive, as well as fi ve Taylor apparently had some infl uential connec- from his time at Harvard. Among these works is a tions in England, for when he landed on July 5, verse declamation delivered on May 5, 1671, “My 1668, he had letters of introduction to key citizens Last Declamation in the Colledge Hall.” J. Daniel of Boston, including Increase Mather, the father of Patterson calls this work “a vigorous and complex COTTON MATHER, and John Hull, a wealthy mer- defense of the English language as well as an early chant. These men provided him an introduction and modest critique of his poetic abilities” (3). But to Charles Chauncey, president of Harvard Col- it is not until the late 1670s that we have any evi- lege (founded 1636). Taylor was admitted to the dence of Taylor’s crafting the poems upon which school on July 23, 1668, and awarded the position his contemporary reputation rests. of college butler. Over the next three years, Tay- Taylor’s fi rst years in Westfi eld were a struggle. lor studied Latin, Greek, Hebrew, logic, rhetoric, The town was small and consistently threatened. and ethics. During these years, he met the prolifi c The Massachusetts winters were harsh, diseases diarist, Salem witch trial judge and apologist, and were virulent, and the Native Americans were abolitionist Samuel Sewell. These two men roomed unwilling to relinquish their rights to the territory together for two years and remained correspondents of central and western Massachusetts. After a series throughout their long lives. (Simon Bradstreet, the of confrontations, the members of the Wampanoag poet’s son, was another of Taylor’s classmates.) In tribe and their allies declared war on the settlers fall 1671, Taylor had committed himself to remain (King Philip’s War, 1675–76). According to Jill at the college as a scholar when a leading citizen of Lepore, “By August 1676 . . . twenty-fi ve English Westfi eld, Massachusetts, Thomas Dewey, appealed towns, more than half of all the colonists’ settle- to Increase Mather to recommend a minister for the ments in New England, had been ruined” (xii). new town. Mather directed him to Taylor. While Yet despite its isolated location, the community of Taylor was tempted to decline the call, his mentor Westfi eld was never attacked, and Taylor’s leader- was in favor of his protégé’s leaving the confi nes ship during the stressful time ensured his tenure of academia and entering the mission fi eld. So, in as the town’s minister. Taylor resigned himself to November 1671 Taylor left Harvard and the intel- the daily life of a frontier minister, writing, “But lectual stimulation of eastern Massachusetts for the at length my thoughts being more settled, I deter- frontier farming and trapping town of Westfi eld, mined within [myself that] in case things could go founded in 1667. comfortably on, to Settle with them” (cited in Pat- Westfi eld, about 100 miles from Boston, was terson 7). Therefore on August 27, 1679, Taylor’s truly an outpost in the early 1670s. Given the dis- church at Westfi eld was offi cially organized, and he tance, Taylor returned infrequently over the next was ordained as its fi rst minister. 332 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

Edward Taylor’s personal situation brightened Hours (1689). Its topic is sadly obvious. From 1675 considerably with his November 5, 1674, mar- to 1688, Elizabeth and Edward Taylor had eight riage to Elizabeth (called Elisa) Fitch of Norwich, children (Samuel, b. August 27, 1675; Elizabeth, b. Connecticut. The daughter of the Reverend James December 27, 1676; James, b. October 12, 1678; Fitch, Elizabeth appears to have been the object Abigail, b. August 6, 1681; Bathshuah, b. January of Taylor’s deep devotion. In fact, their love may 17, 1684; Elizabeth, b. February 5, 1685; Mary, well rival the other famous Puritan attachment b. July 3, 1686; and Hezekiah, b. February 10 or between Anne and Simon Bradstreet immortal- 18, 1688). All of the daughters, except Bathshuah, ized in poems such as “To My Dear and Loving died in infancy. In “Upon Wedlock” (1682) Tay- Husband” and “A Letter to Her Husband, Absent lor celebrates their earthly beauty but protests their upon Public Employment.” Taylor’s love for Eliza- painful deaths. Yet the preacher-poet speaker ends beth specifi cally prompted two poems. The fi rst, the poem with cheerful resignation: “Grief o’er a courtship poem in an elaborate alphabet acros- doth fl ow: and nature fault would fi nd, / Were not tic form, was titled “This Dove & Olive Branch to thy will my spell, charm, joy, and gem, / That as I You.” The intensity of their affection can be seen said, I say, take, Lord, they’re thine.” in his wrenching elegy after her death on July 7, Other occasional poems dated to this era include 1689, at age 39. This poem, one of a series of ele- “Upon a Spider Catching a Fly,” “Upon the Sweep- gies Taylor composed, holds the distinction with ing Flood,” and “Huswifery.” “Huswifery,” one of his elegy for Samuel Hooker (d. 1697) of being Taylor’s most frequently anthologized poems, is Taylor’s most mature and well-crafted examples organized around a unifying conceit of the spin- of the genre. Elizabeth’s elegy, “Funerall Poem ning wheel and weaving. His familiarity with this upon the Death of My Ever Endeared, and Tender craft may be the result of working in this trade Wife,” imagines the dead Puritan wife and mother before leaving England. In the poem Taylor paral- scolding her husband for excessive mourning: “My lels the parts of a 17th-century spinning wheel with dear, dear love, refl ect thou no such thing, / will the physical and spiritual components of a man. grief permit you not my grave to sing?” By the end The persona pleads with God, “Make me, O Lord, of this three-part elegy; the poet’s grief has been Thy spinning wheel complete.” The simple, earthy tempered by his gratitude for her memory and his imagery of these occasional poems may indicate conviction of her salvation. that Taylor read all or parts of these works to his In addition to his elegies, representative of congregation, incorporating them into his sermons 17th-century elegies and comparable to those by to these rural farmers. Anne Bradstreet, Michael Wigglesworth, John Taylor’s occasional poems, including the much Danforth, and Thomas Shepard, Taylor began to later “A Fig for Thee Oh! Death” (ca. 1721), raise write a series of paraphrases of the Hebrew Psalms an interesting question of infl uence. The scholars in 1674. This project was instigated by his practi- who fi rst had the task of integrating Taylor into cal need to convey complex theological doctrine to existing conceptions of Puritan literature most his largely uneducated congregation as well as an frequently referred to him as the last metaphysical admiration of the biblical poet David. This same or baroque poet. There are connections between motive may have instigated a series of occasional Taylor’s verse—his extended metaphors and allu- poems in the early 1680s. One of these poems, sions to the emblem tradition—and the poetry of “Upon Wedlock, and Death of Children,” was such British poets as John Donne, George Herbert, one of only two poems published in his lifetime; Richard Crashaw, Henry Vaughan, and Thomas the other was the 1712 elegy for David Dewey of Traherne. For example, Taylor’s “A Fig for Thee Westfi eld. Two stanzas of “Upon Wedlock” were Oh! Death” might be read alongside Donne’s included in Cotton Mather’s Right Thoughts in Sad “Death, Be Not Proud.” Death, the apostrophe of Edward Taylor 333 both poems, is disparaged; neither poet quakes in ity play, or meditation,” but he concludes that it fear as he addresses death and instead glories that “is fi nally an extended, ambitious literary work, death’s approach will mean entry to heaven’s joys. bringing together in one artistic effort all of Tay- Many of the metaphysical writers also felt dual call- lor’s techniques and concerns” (107). Taylor dem- ings as ministers and poets, but despite Taylor’s onstrates his virtuosity in 11 different verse forms, surface level affi nities to the group, he should not which often use the rhetorical technique of rhym- be classifi ed exclusively with these poets. He was ing dialogue. Some of the better-known poems undoubtedly infl uenced by their poetic techniques from this project are “The Preface,” “A Dialogue and their model of the preacher-poet, but he must between Justice and Mercy,” “The Soul’s Groan be read within the emerging Puritan tradition. to Christ for Succor,” and “Christ’s Reply.” In the Taylor’s work is imbued with an intense spirituality opinion of Thomas Davis, “God’s Determinations and a devotion to the New World project that place is an uneven poem. The generally high quality of him fi rmly in the late 17th- and early 18th-century the verse and techniques is often undercut by quite American literary tradition. Robert Hass, former pedestrian lines that are fl at and dull and by a shaky U.S. poet laureate, reinforces this opinion. To him development of individual sections of the poem” Taylor “seems—as Anne Bradstreet does in her pri- (32). Yet Taylor’s success in constructing a long vate and unpublished poems—an early instance of verse project of multiple parts appears to have given the solitariness, self-suffi ciency, and peculiarity of him the confi dence he needed to conceive and the American imagination” (46). write one of the most complex and extensive works As we have seen, before the early 1680s, Taylor’s in early American literature, Preparatory Medita- writing falls into four categories: elegies, occasional tions before My Approach to the Lord’s Supper. poems of increasing spirituality, psalm paraphrases, In May 1682, a few months before the death of and sermons. His elegies, with two notable excep- his daughter Abigail, Taylor began the ambitious tions, are typical of his age and largely forgettable. poetic project that would later astound readers in His occasional verses show the infl uence the Brit- the 20th century. From 1682 to 1725, he crafted a ish metaphysical poets probably had on his poetic series of 219 meditations, divided into two series, development. Additionally, their simple language that can be dated with reasonable certainty. Tay- and earthy imagery permit us to hypothesize that lor’s stanzas generally fall into six lines with an he may have incorporated their lines, as well as ababcc rhyme scheme. They were prompted by the those from his paraphrases, in the estimated 3,000 particular biblical verse Taylor took as the subject sermons he wrote over his ministerial career. (Of of the corresponding sermon delivered before the these, fewer than 100 have been recovered and administration of the Lord’s Supper. The medi- published.) tative tradition, with its tripartite structure, was The year 1680 was a turning point for Tay- strong in the colonies; Increase Mather had recently lor’s poetry; as Patterson explains, before this published Practical Truths Tending to Promote God- date, Taylor’s poetry is often light and playful, but liness (1682), a work that may have inspired Taylor afterward, he demonstrates a “delight in complex to begin his own meditative series. poetic elements, such as the pun, the acrostic, and The shorter fi rst series coincidentally ends the extended conceit” (25). During 1680–81 he in 1692, the year of his remarriage at the age of completed a project of passionate spirituality that 50 to Ruth Wyllys of Hartford. Taylor left little comprised 35 poems titled God’s Determinations information about this marriage; there are neither Touching His Elect. Categorizing this project has courtship poems nor love letters in existence. Pre- presented a problem for critics. As Norman Grabo, sumably, the single father of three children remar- Taylor’s biographer, summarizes, it has been ried for expediency rather than love. Davis explains referred to as “a song cycle, chamber opera, moral- that the marriage to Ruth included a dowry of 334 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers money and property that greatly enhanced Tay- of the Preparatory Meditations, Taylor somehow lor’s fi nances (135). Both of Ruth’s grandfathers found time to commence an ambitious historical had been governors of Connecticut; Karl Keller work. We believe that from approximately 1690 describes the Wyllys family as “for over 140 years to 1705 Taylor wrote the 20,000-line A Metri- the most prominent family in Connecticut govern- cal History of Christianity. Comparable to Cotton ment and one of the wealthiest” (47). Ruth and Mather’s Magnalia Christi Americana (1698), the Edward eventually had fi ve daughters and one son Metrical History represents Taylor’s only serious (Ruth, b. April 16, 1693; Naomi, b. March 1695; attempt to enter the spiritual and poetical debates Anna, b. July 7, 1696; Mehetable, b. August 13, of the early 18th century. Jane Donahue Eberwein 1699; Kezia, b. March or April 1702; and Eldad, b. hypothesizes that this work was circulated in man- April 1708), all of whom survived childhood. uscript form among contemporary ministers; such Before he began the second series in 1693, Tay- transmission might explain the missing fi rst and lor carefully transcribed and bound clean copies of last pages (350). Perhaps Taylor, now in his seven- the completed meditations. He may not have been ties, wished to be regarded as a guiding force in interested in publication, but he clearly wished to Puritan theology and poetics, but unfortunately, preserve the poems. The persona of Taylor’s medi- this work did not receive acclaim. It was eventually tations from both series maintains a consistent stored and rediscovered by 20th-century scholars. lowly position. Grabo provides a succinct list of Around the turn of the 18th century, Taylor the poet’s identities: “He calls himself a dirt ball, rather stridently challenged the church policies of a muddy sewer, a tumbrel of dung, a dung-hill, a the more famous Solomon Stoddard (grandfather dot of dung, a varnished pot of putrid excrements, of JONATHAN E DWARDS) of Northampton. Stoddard drops in a closestool pan, guts, garbage, and rot- believed the Halfway Covenant was not enough tenness” (30). The second series, written from of a concession to the new generation of Puritan 1693 to October 1725, is unifi ed by an interest worshippers and began to permit people who had in Old Testament typology, or the belief that the not offered a public confession of sins and faith to events and fi gures in the Old Testament are types receive the Lord’s Supper. Taylor was incensed at that prefi gure New Testament events and people. what he saw as apostasy. In 1694 Taylor preached The images and symbols are intentionally unvar- a series of eight sermons, later collected as A Trea- ied. A close reading of the series reveals the follow- tise Concerning the Lord’s Supper (1965), attacking ing groups: images of writing, warfare, metallurgy, Stoddard specifi cally and the degeneration of Puri- treasures, gardens, feasts, and needlework (Grabo tan practices generally. It is interesting to speculate 93–98). Taylor was not interested in startlingly as to Taylor’s reaction to the 1692 Salem witch trails original imagery; he was concerned with exploring given his strictly conservative brand of Puritanism and maintaining a meditative state that would draw and his connection to Samuel Sewell, a judge at the him closer to God. However, Karen Rowe credits trials. It may be that only family and church com- Taylor with the development of a poetic innovation, mitments prevented him from journeying to Salem the typological conceit that “unites theology with to participate in this famous inquisition. poetics, making spiritual meditation coterminous Within the town of Westfi eld there were other with poetry” (140). His choice of biblical texts also challenges. Some of the small problems with which narrowed markedly; 50 of his last 54 meditations Taylor contended over these years were salary dis- evolve from passages from the Canticles (or the putes, challenges to ministerial discipline, expan- Song of Solomon). sion of the meetinghouse, arguments over roads In addition to raising a growing second fam- and rights-of-way, the hiring of a schoolmaster, and ily, quelling factional disputes in the church, writ- so on (Davis 169–170). At the onset of King Wil- ing weekly sermons, and crafting the second series liam’s War (1690–97) a smallpox epidemic killed Edward Taylor 335

10 parishioners (Patterson 29); another smallpox would have been sacrilegious. Conversely, Taylor outbreak in 1721 killed several more townspeople may simply have been “indifferen[t]” to publication (Davis 171). British troops stationed in the town (Eberwein 350). Finally, it may just be that Karl during Queen Anne’s War (1701–13) introduced Keller’s explanation, that Taylor “simply seems to the infl uenza virus, and another 10 citizens died, have lacked the vanity of desiring fame” (83), must including both of Westfi eld’s deacons (Davis suffi ce. We may never know why Taylor rejected 171). During these outbreaks Taylor was often publishing his 40,000 lines of poetry, but we can called upon to doctor his congregation, putting be grateful that he carefully transcribed most of to good use the 500-page Dispensatory, a hand- these works into bound manuscripts and that his written description of the medicinal uses of herbs descendants donated the collection to the Yale and plants he compiled while at college. But this Library in 1883. medical knowledge could not save his second son. Karen Keck In 1701 Taylor received word that James, a strug- gling merchant, had died of a fever in Barbados, a death Taylor refers to in Meditation 40 of the sec- ond series: “Under thy Rod, my God, thy Smarting God’s Determinations Rod: / That hath off broke my James, that Prim- Touching His Elect (1680) rose, Why?” Taylor’s text, most probably written in 1680 after After he received an honorary master’s degree his Westfi eld church was established, is a “series from Harvard in 1720, the last decade of Taylor’s of poems, written in various lengths, meters, and life was fraught with illness. He suffered serious voices, that depicts the gradual progress of several declines in both 1720 and 1721, writing “A Fig groups of elect souls through conversion and into for Thee Oh! Death” and “A Valediction to All church fellowship” (Morris 157). The 400-page the World Preparatory for Death.” He apparently book contains a number of poems that have been began experiencing symptoms of a disease like famous in their own right: “The Preface,” “The Alzheimer’s over his last four years. The congre- Soul’s Groan to Christ for Succor,” “Christ’s gation eventually called another minister, Nehe- Reply,” and “The Joy of Church Fellowship Rightly miah Bull, and installed him on October 26, 1726. Attended.” The pair of poems “The Soul’s Groan” Edward Taylor died on June 24, 1729. His most and “Christ’s Reply” are considered together as distinguished descendant, his grandson Erza Stiles, one of several dialogues that appear within the in 1778 became president of Yale University, the site volume. Another, “A Dialogue between Justice of the now-famous discovery of Taylor’s poetry. and Mercy,” contains the dialogue form within The question all scholars must ask is why Taylor one poem, rather than spread out over two. Tay- did not publish his poetry. We can speculate that lor’s unifying theme for these various poems was the distance from Boston and its presses made the “prioritiz[ing] spiritual fi delity and identify[ing] organization of such a project too arduous. Perhaps this with the structures and teaching of New Eng- Taylor, the frontier minister, felt insecure about land Congregationalism” (Morris 157). Morris publishing his poems; he was no longer associated argues readers must recognize the historical con- with intellectual circles. He may have assumed that text that animated Taylor’s text, the debate raging the elite of eastern Massachusetts would mock his between Increase Mather and Solomon Stoddard literary efforts. Perhaps, as Davis suggests, Taylor regarding the conditions for admission into the valued his poetry more as “process than product” church covenant (158). Stoddard argued that a per- (105). Or, as Grabo contends, “The writing of sonal encounter with the Holy Spirit could render poetry was to Taylor a religious act” (56) and to one speechless, incapable of discourse, and thus profi t fi nancially or personally from its publication that parishioners should not be impelled to provide 336 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers a recitation of their spiritual experience. Taylor’s that science has had on religion, in the form of the God’s Determinations, Morris believes, was written discovery of atoms. In the fi rst line, Taylor won- in direct contradiction to Stoddard’s view (187). ders, “Should all the world so wide to atoms fall.” As one reads through the various poems, most In his characteristic fashion, Taylor employs a pun particularly the two that directly address this in his use of atom, a symbol of science, and the issue of church membership, “The Soul Seeking fi r s t m a n , Adam, whose Fall affects all of man- Church-Fellowship” and “The Soul Admiring the kind. The pairing of science with the Fall of man- Grace of the Church Enters into Church-Fellow- kind, detailed in the book of Genesis, seems to ship,” one discovers illustrations of Taylor’s belief indicate Taylor’s own sense of science, as perhaps in the importance of the individual’s verbal profes- a forbidden source of knowledge, like the reputed sion of faith and conversion. In “The Soul Seeking apple from the Tree of Knowledge, that does not Church-Fellowship,” Taylor follows the covenant confer true knowledge but instead keeps humans order of the church: removed, cast out from their connection to God. The second line, “Should th’Aire be shred to Whereby Corruptions are kept out, whereby motes,” continues the idea proposed in the fi rst Corrupters also get not in, that humans gain nothing from the microscope Unless the Lyons Carkass Secretly and its new way of seeing except to destroy, or Lies lapt up in a Lamblike Skin “shred,” the very air. Which Holy seems yet’s full of Sin. Taylor then compares the number of atoms that For on the Towers of these Walls there Stand make up each man to the number of pious men Just Watchmen Watching day and night, who exist in the world. Rather than the number- And Porters at each Gate, who have Command less motes, Taylor wishes for numberless tongues To open onely to the right. in the mouths of pious men who might sing songs And all within may have a sight. of God’s praise. This multiplication would not end with the tongues but would include a host of num- According to the church records for Taylor’s berless tunes “most sweet” and “unparalleled.” church in Westfi eld, candidates seeking member- Taylor describes the results of such multiplication ship had their names read aloud, and, if there were as “Our Musick would the world of worlds out no objections, they were asked to provide their ring.” accounts of conversion, either orally (if men) or in In the penultimate stanza, Taylor returns to written form to be read aloud by someone else (if the pun from the fi rst line and describes the lowly women) (Morris 188–189). Taylor’s poem adheres status mankind holds by virtue of the doctrine of to this very procedure to ensure that “corruptions original sin: “Thou didst us mould, and us new are kept out” and “corrupters also get not in.” The mould when wee / Were worse than mould we other parishioners, who are called upon to object tread upon” (37–38). Again, Taylor turns to puns, should they fi nd justifi ed means, function as the this time mould as a verb meaning to “create” or “just watchmen.” Only those seeking membership “structure” and as a noun, referring to an insignifi - who are admitted into the church and testify of cant and odious form of life, a bacterium. Although their own conversions are the “right” who shall man has discovered the smaller particles out of gain church fellowship. which objects in the material world are molded, Other works of poetry contained in God’s Taylor defers to God as the ultimate creator of these Determinations include “Our Insuffi ciency to very beings, motes, atoms, and molds. God’s for- Praise God Suitably, for His Mercy,” a 48-line giveness for humans is characterized in the poem as poem, written in iambic pentameter with a rhyme the removal of the stings from humans, described scheme of ababcc. The poem considers the impact as the “nettles made by sin.” Edward Taylor 337

For Discussion or Writing Taylor’s playfulness is expressed primarily through 1. Compare the poems contained in this book with wordplay, such as when he repeats the same word those from the Preparatory Meditations. in different forms so as to exploit both its sound 2. How does Taylor’s treatment of science in and multiple meanings; however, he also uses “Our Insuffi ciency to Praise God” compare metaphors that humorously defl ate the grandeur with COTTON MATHER’s in the Wonders of the inherent in the act of creating the world. Besides Invisible World? What relationship do the two likening rivers and oceans to handicrafts, the poet authors imagine existing between faith and asks, “Who in this Bowling Alley bowled the Sun?” science? (l. 14). The power of “Might Almighty” (l. 27) is 3. Critics repeatedly comment on the various styles thus made less terrifying. The poem ends by con- Taylor employs in his volume. Examine two trasting how “Nothing man” has power to “Glo- poems that employ different poetic forms and rify” God (l. 38), but instead “Nothing man did consider why Taylor might use various styles to throw down all by Sin” (l. 41). Man defaces the convey his meaning. “Brightest Diamond” (l. 43) within himself and Rachelle Friedman is left with the darkness of a “Coalpit Stone” (l. 42). This darkness symbolizes a return to the nul- lity out of which Creation began and suggests that humanity’s reduction through sin to nothing will “The Preface” to God’s Determinations be redeemed by the same process of creative play Touching His Elect (1680) and domestic familiarity. Taylor begins his cycle of poems about the true Christian’s journey of salvation by invoking the For Discussion or Writing creation of the world. The 44-line poem is written 1. Taylor uses the word nothing eight times in lines in iambic pentameter, and its couplets frequently 35–41. What are the different meanings used diverge from standard prosody by employing in these lines? Apart from individual uses of the slant and eye rhymes. The nothingness of the word, what message is conveyed through the world before God’s creative word is metaphori- rapid repetition of the nothing? How does this cally linked to the genesis of the soul, and this in repetition illuminate the point from which Tay- turn serves as a justifi cation for the poet to begin lor intends to begin his cycle of poems? his creative work from the “Nothing” of his own 2. Compare this poem by Taylor with “The Pro- imagination. Taylor uses the word nothing 12 logue” by ANNE BRADSTREET. How do these times throughout the poem, and its repetition in two Puritan poets face the challenge of explain- different semantic contexts playfully demonstrates ing their qualifi cations for undertaking the work the range of meaning that this word of absence of poetic creation? What role does humility play can contain: “Which All from Nothing felt, from in their self-understanding? Nothing, All: / Hath All on Nothing set, lets 3. Taylor’s mix of stern theology and linguistic Nothing fall” (ll. 35–36). The fi rst 20 lines of playfulness can make reading his poems a dis- the poem contain numerous rhetorical questions junctive experience as the reader’s mind attunes regarding the identity of the world’s Creator. Cre- itself fi rst to one aspect and then to the other. ation is described through a series of similes that How does this experience affect your view of liken the earth to a majestic home furnished with Puritans? Which aspect of the poem seems more “Pillars” (l. 8), “Curtains” (l. 13), and a “Tapes- signifi cant to you: the image of God as home try” (l. 17). By this means, Taylor emphasizes the decorator or that of sinful humans as a lump of domestic concern of the Creator as he constructs coal? a home for humanity. Liam Corley 338 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

“The Soul’s Groan to for instance, that the speaker’s fear “makes him Christ for Succor” (1680) ready leave Thy grace and run” (l. 17). One way of mitigating this confusion might be to recall This poem concerns central themes of Taylor’s the conventional Calvinist perspective that under- collection God’s Determinations: the Christian’s stands all goodness to be the province of God psychological struggles on the path to salvation while humans are solely responsible for sin and and the personal experience of a relationship with inherently corrupt (Maddux 16). God. Moreover, Taylor’s deft wordplay refl ects his By the fi nal stanza, however, the speaker recog- adoption of some of the techniques of metaphysical nizes God from a conventionally Puritan perspec- poetry. In the opening line, the speaker calls upon tive, as absolutely sovereign. He submits to a Christ God to defend him from a “dreadful enemy” (l. 1) whom he sees in biblical terms as the shepherd of that is at once Satan and the speaker’s own fallible lost souls. The speaker understands himself as a soul (“I confess my heart to sin inclined” [l. 12]). sheep in “Thy pasture” while Satan is “Thy cur,” The speaker is thus the “Poor Doubting Soul,” a Christ’s dog, who “barks” (l. 21) at the sheeps’ common fi gure in religious literature of the period heels to frighten them into remaining with the (Haims 89). Satan encourages the Christian to herd. Satan is not an agent independent of God but doubt God’s grace, and the rift in the speaker’s entirely within the Lord’s power. This fi nal meta- soul between the inherently corrupt humanity phor also demonstrates Taylor’s deft use of literary so often emphasized in Puritan theology and the art to communicate theology; the pun that refers human’s genuine desire for redemption results in to Satan as a “cur that is so cursed” establishes an a tormented response: “In my soul, my soul fi nds imaginative connection between the earthly (the many faults” (l. 4). “And though I justify myself,” lowly herding dog) and the spiritual (the theologi- Taylor writes, “I do condemn myself” (l. 5), pun- cal condition of damnation), reminding readers of ning on the two poles of the Puritan spiritual cos- the perpetual interaction of the visible and invisible mos: justifi cation (or God’s salvation of the sinner) worlds in Puritanism. and condemnation (damnation). As this division of the “I” versus the “I” also illustrates, Taylor repre- For Discussion or Writing sents the speaker’s painful confusion in repetitions 1. According to Taylor, what specifi c threats are of crucial terms, which often change their mean- made to the speaker’s confi dence in God’s ing; thus, the speaker refers to Satan’s prompting mercy? Then, compare Taylor’s discussion of to dismiss “Thy grace” and thus “maketh grace no the human soul’s torment and fear with that of grace but cruelty” (ll. 13, 15). JONATHAN EDWARDS’s “Sinners in the Hands of Taylor also employs pastoral metaphors (under- an Angry God.” standable, given his church was located in rural 2. Edward Taylor’s poetry is often compared to Massachusetts), as well as conventional biblical that of his Puritan contemporary ANNE BRAD- images for God’s mercy. The speaker questions, STREET. Read Bradstreet’s poem “The Flesh and “Is graces’s honeycomb a comb of stings?” (l. 16) the Spirit” and compare its portrait of a divided as he experiences the fear generated by a mistaken self with the one depicted in Taylor’s “The perception of God as merely cruel. Scholars, how- Soul’s Groan to Christ for Succor.” ever, have disagreed about the extent of Taylor’s 3. Create an analysis of this poem in which you agreement with orthodox Puritan beliefs. In this argue that the speaker either has or does not have poem, the individual “Soul’s” control over his the power to choose to accept God’s “grace.” choice to “accept” salvation in contrast to the Which stanza of the poem do you believe is “grace” imparted by God in a predeterministic most important for advancing your argument? manner are not clearly delineated; Taylor tells us, William Etter Edward Taylor 339

Christ’s Reply” (1680) challenged to “defy the Tempter, and his Mock” (l. 124). The poem thus enacts the manner in which a The pretext for the 21 stanzas of “Christ’s Reply” is Puritan believer could justify moving from depravity given in an earlier poem entitled “The Soul’s Groan and depression to energetic devotion. to Christ for Succor.” In this poem, a human soul is trembling before the accusations of Satan, who For Discussion or Writing is fi gured in the poem as a barking dog. The dog’s 1. In the eighth stanza of the poem, Taylor uses attack implants two fears: First, the Soul has sinned the metaphor of a “Beagle” (l. 44) engaged in more than God is willing to forgive, and second, hunting “games” (l. 45) to describe how the those actions of the Soul that appear like graces are senses can draw the Soul to sin. This use of a also spoiled by sin. It is to these doubts that Christ traditional English pastime to illustrate the pro- responds in “Christ’s Reply.” In the poem, Taylor cess of sin and temptation is part of a pattern adopts the voice of Christ, who speaks tender words in Taylor’s verse in which the social contexts of of comfort to the downcast Soul, addressing him as his imagery are invested with theological sig- “my Honey” (l. 1), “My Little Darling” (l. 2), “my nifi cance. Are there other metaphors or com- Pretty Heart” (l. 15), and in numerous other terms parisons in the poem in which you can see an of endearment. The use of terms like “my Dove” implied social critique stemming from Puritan (l. 4) and “my Chick” (l. 21) raises the question of political or sumptuary ideals? whether Taylor is representing Christ as a mother or 2. When describing the various temptations the husband to the imperiled Soul. Both relationships Soul faces, Taylor mentions “a wandering mind” are commonly used in the biblical tradition as meta- (l. 98) during prayer and “Spirits dull” (l. 99) phors of a Jewish or Christian adherent’s connection during sermons. These and other descriptions to God, though Puritan discourse more frequently in the poem of spiritual laxity call to mind the treats God as an all-powerful father fi gure. In either many perplexities and doubts regarding her faith case, the tone of the poem’s fi rst 13 stanzas is pri- that Anne Bradstreet describes in her letter “To marily reassuring. My Dear Children.” Why are Puritans so explicit Christ reframes the “Yelper fi erce” (l. 8) of “The about the ups and downs of their faith life? What Soul’s Groan to Christ for Succor” as a “broken- is the psychological effect of their frank engage- toothed, and muzzled” (l. 14) sheepdog who serves ment with seasons of apathy and doubt? to “make thee Cling / Close underneath the Sav- 3. In this poem, Taylor imbues Christ with an ior’s Wing” (ll. 16–17). Christ proclaims that the emotional intensity and language that allow him Soul’s sins are not too many for his grace; nor does to speak directly to the fears and experiences the Soul’s predilection toward sin mean that he is of parishioners in Taylor’s Westfi eld congrega- sundered from a merciful God. In the 14th stanza, tion. How do you think it would have affected Christ’s tone becomes more triumphant as he begins a discouraged Puritan who heard Taylor read to press the Soul toward greater endurance in the the poem from the pulpit? How do you think it struggle against sin. Christ boasts that nowhere in affected Taylor to adopt the voice of his God? the world is there “a God like Me, to anger slow” Liam Corley (l. 80) who “frowns with a Smiling Face” (l. 84). The mingled elements of severity and mercy build in the latter portions of the poem as Christ exhorts the now-comforted Soul to “repent” (l. 88), “decline” (l. “The Joy of Church Fellowship 104) to sin, and eventually “fi ght” (l. 121) Christ’s Rightly Attended” (1680) battles. The Soul who at the beginning of the poem The concluding piece of Taylor’s collection God’s was bidden to “wipe thine eye” (l. 2) of tears is now Determinations, this poem is a joyful celebration 340 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers of Christ’s salvation of human sinners. Standard “In all their acts, public, and private, nay / And interpretations of this poem envision the speaker secret, too, they praise impart” (ll. 19–20). Such in heaven watching new souls approaching. An a deep and earnest faith was not always so confi - alternative reading might see the poem as depict- dently assumed in Puritan culture of early Amer- ing a speaker in heaven looking down to a concrete ica. Many of Taylor’s fellow Puritan writers and congregation in one of the Puritan churches in ministers worried about hypocritical Christians Massachusetts; indeed, the repetition of the fi nal and sought ways of using external behavior, such two lines of each stanza acts as a refrain, giving as the sacraments, to determine whether or not the poem a hymnlike quality, as though the con- a church member was truly in a covenant with gregation were actively engaged in Sunday wor- God, while recognizing that absolute assurance ship. Regardless, the poem is directed toward the of an individual’s internal spiritual condition was hope of future redemption, expressed by a speaker impossible for anyone other than God (Maddux whose enthusiasm is barely contained in the fre- 13). Taylor’s poem is therefore an ideal vision of quent exclamations of the poem’s fi rst two stanzas: pure and sincere faith. “Oh! joyous hearts! enfi red with holy fl ame!” (l. 7). The dominant image of the rushing “coach” For Discussion or Writing implies progression toward the divine after release 1. Look up the words melody and melodious in the from the threat of perpetual damnation. At the dictionary. Why might Taylor have chosen to same time, this image is yet another example of use this musical terminology to describe souls Taylor’s preference for using commonplace objects being led to heaven by Christ? as metaphors for complex spiritual concepts; to 2. In the second stanza Taylor refers to “speech the New England Puritan, even the commonplace thus tasseled with praise.” Consider how we could be a refl ection of God’s work upon the world might see Taylor’s own poetry as using literary (Murphy 11). art to glorify God. Of particular interest is the reference to humans’ 3. Write an essay in which you analyze the title of continued proclivity to sin, depicted so creatively this poem. Who is “rightly consider[ing]” church in the third stanza, “And if a string do slip, by fellowship? What does it mean to understand this chance, they soon / Do screw it up again” to pro- fellowship “rightly”? You may wish to read JOHN duce “a diviner harmony” (ll. 13–14, 16). (It is WINTHROP’s sermon A Model of Christian Char- also worth noting that in his prose work Treatise ity when formulating your response. Concerning the Lord’s Supper, Taylor refers to the William Etter soul as a “glorious Musicall Instrument” played by God when he exercises saving grace upon it.) Though redeemed by God’s grace, these individu- als retain their inherent human corruption; how- Preparatory Meditations before My ever, unlike the speaker of “The Soul’s Groan to Approach to the Lord’s Supper (1682–1725) Christ for Succor,” whose sins cause him to fear Taylor wrote these meditations over a series of God, the celebrants of this later poem rejoice in years, from 1682 to 1725, whenever he minis- their confi dence that God will continue to help tered the Eucharist to his congregation. Given them remain on “the road that gives them right” the sporadic nature of the publication dates, it (ll. 28). is certain that Taylor performed this sacrament Assurance of salvation is also a signifi cant at irregular intervals. He used his own rumina- theme of the fourth stanza, where Taylor notably tions on the Lord’s Supper to create sermon series imagines these heaven-bound church members and poems to accompany them. In the prologue, as entirely sincere in their religious convictions: Taylor refers to himself humbly as “a crumb of Edward Taylor 341 dust,” who implores God to inspire him, guide God’s majesty proves too much for the poet, whose his pen, in his attempts “to prove thou art, and mind is stunned, tongue cramped and tied. His that thou art the best” (27–28). Taylor envisions very means of communication, his pen, his tongue, himself as “designed / To make my pen unto thy and this “speeche’s organs,” are all rendered inad- Praise alone” (13–14). Indeed, Taylor locates his equate to the task of singing and praising God’s very being in his ability to praise God in poetic glory. Similarly, Taylor laments, “My tongue wants verse: “Inspire this Crumb of Dust till it display words to tell my thoughts, my Minde / wants / Thy Glory through’t, and then thy dust shall thoughts to Comprehend thy Worth, alas!” As a live” (21–22). result of these failings, Taylor fears “little praise is Lest readers mistake this gesture of humility brought.” in his prologue as a symptom of self-deprecation, The source for a perfect language is found in the critic Parker Johnson reminds us that Taylor the biblical verses that are the occasions for each of did not suffer from doubt about his own election. the poems. The critic William Scheick argues quite Instead, Johnson reads these moments that recur directly, “Taylor found in Scriptures the art he in Meditations as “a rhetorical strategy empha- sought to imitate” (106). Johnson views the lan- sizing a fact of Calvinist theology, that humans guage of the Bible as a bridge for the two extreme are sinful and unworthy. That Taylor doubted his movements that mark all of Taylor’s meditations: spiritual condition and expressed this doubt in They all begin with a lament about the limitations his poems contradicts certain tenets of covenant of language to praise God truly but conclude with theology” (85). As proof of Taylor’s recognition visions of heavenly praise. Taylor employs bibli- of his own certainty regarding the fate of his soul, cal language, Johnson argues, to move the poem Johnson notes that Taylor’s God’s Determinations “from the depravity of human rhetoric to a vision Touching His Elect goes to great lengths to argue of the perfected, transfi gured rhetoric of heavenly against needless doubt and fear regarding elec- praise” (89). Whenever a biblical passage offers a tion (85). metaphor, such as “If any man sins, we have an The source of Taylor’s notions of inadequacy Advocate,” Taylor examines the various implica- in the Meditations is language itself. The critic tions of this comparison by considering attorneys, Ursula Brumm agrees with Johnson, noting, “His and others whose roles are central to a judicial frequent arguments about language, his despair, system. repeated in almost every meditation, at the inad- Another pattern that develops in Taylor’s medi- equacy of human language, springs from his con- tations on biblical verse is the use of typology, viction in an ideal correspondence between the which is a theological practice dating back to medi- name and the thing. That sinful man is unable to eval times in which aspects of the Old Testament achieve this correspondence in regard to God is were viewed as prefi guring aspects of the New the crucial point in every meditation” (201). The Testament. One classic example of typology is the following opening stanza from Meditation 43 is a belief that the four main prophets of the Old Testa- good example of the argument made by Brumm ment, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel prefi g- and Johnson: ure the four main prophets of the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The doctrine of When, Lord, I seeke to shew thy praises, then typology is said to have originated in Paul’s letter Thy shining Majesty doth stund my minde, in the Book of Colossians: “These are a shadow of Encramps my tongue and tongue ties fast my Pen, things that were to come; the reality, however, is That all my doings, do not what’s designd. found in Christ.” Taylor compares King Solomon, My Speeche’s Organs are so trancifi de who appears in the Old Testament, with Christ, in My words stand startld, can’t thy praises stride. the New Testament: 342â Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

Did He Gods Temple Build, in glory shown? It’s Churches banquet, Spirituall Bread and Wine. â Thou buildst Gods House, more gloriously It is the Signet of the Kings right hande, â bright. Seale to the Covenant of Grace Gods bande. Did he sit on a golden ivery Throne (2.108.34–36) â With Lions fenc’d? Thy Throne is far more â White In this stanza from Meditation 108, second series, â And glorious: garded with Angells strong. Taylor describes the Eucharist in metaphorical â A streame of fire doth with the Verdict terms, as “the signet of the King’s right hand.” A â come. signet is a ring worn by a king bearing his royal Did he his Spouse, a glorious Palace build? seal. On royal documents or decrees, the signet â The Heavens are they Palace for thy Spouse. would be impressed into hot wax, where it would Gods house was by his pray’re with Glory filld. cool and become a permanent marker of the king’s â God will for thine his Church in Glory house. voice. In this line, the Eucharist is likened unto â Did Sheba’s Queen faint viewing of his glory? another symbol, one that creates binding laws. â Bright Angells stand amazed at thy Story. Thus, Taylor views the Eucharist as a metaphor of (2.13, 5–6) the bond or covenant between humans and God, “God’s band.” The formula that Taylor follows is like a question Another recurring metaphor in Taylor’s medita- and answer, where he asks a question of Solomon tions derives from the Books of Genesis and Rev- only to answer it with a surpassing quality held by elation and involves the Tree of Life. The critic Christ. In this example, Solomon is the type, and Cecelia Halbert argues that Taylor’s use of the tree Christ is the antitype. Every quality that Taylor in Meditation 29 from the first series stems not addresses in Solomon (such as the details of his only from his use of biblical text, but also from throne) is paralleled to similar qualities in Christ, his knowledge of the works of the British poet and Solomon (the type) is used to contrast the George Herbert. The critic Samuel Eliot Morison glory of Christ, which is far superior. agrees with Halbert, arguing that Taylor’s Medita- The critic Michael North sees in Taylor’s medi- tions “owe their style as well as their conception tations a metaphorical expression of the Lord’s to George Herbert” (cited in Halbert 24). It is not Supper, which Taylor describes as “a seal of the cov- surprising that Taylor would be familiar with Her- enant of grace.” North contends, “This language of bert’s poetry since his school curriculum in Leic- signs and seals is the answer to the covenant theol- estershire included the famed poet. It is Herbert’s ogy to the doctrines of transubstantiation and con- use of knots in “The Flower” that appears as a substantiation” (2). Transubstantiation, which is a recurring image and metaphor for the tree of life in doctrine promoted by the Roman Catholic Church, Taylor’s Preparatory Meditations (Halbert 23). views the bread and wine of Communion as the lit- Taylor’s own signature use of the tree of life eral Body and Blood of Christ. After the Protestant image, however, also stems from what the critic Reformation, the doctrine of consubstantiation, Roy Harvey Pearce refers to as Ramist influence: that Christ is present during the Eucharist but is “Ramist logic with its stress upon correlating the not the wine and bread, originated. Thus, North is facts of day-to-day reality with the facts of Revela- arguing that a central question of theology—how tion was consciously practiced by Puritan writers. to interpret the wine and bread of the Lord’s Sup- This Ramist-Puritan method of discovering, or lay- per—is also a central question of Taylor’s poetry, ing open to view (through meditation), fostered a which takes the Eucharist as its occasion and sub- tightly woven and logically ordered literature, be ject. For Taylor, the spiritual meal acts as a bind- it sermon or poetry” (Halbert 25). One of these ing promise between man and God. It is the visible earlyday images was that of a tree. Around this sign of this promise of God’s grace: image, Taylor created “clusters,” which would Edward Taylor 343 contain more than one referent or meaning and in the person. . . . O! what then should our endea- thus render the image complex and more adept vours be that we may obtain an Implantation into at addressing the complexity of God. In Medita- Christ Jesus that this may be ours?” (reported in tion 29, the only poem in which Taylor’s image of Halbert 30). the tree is complete, he likens God unto a “golden tree” and places “saints and angels bright” along its For Discussion or Writing “branches strong.” Lower on the divine hierarchy, 1. Recalling the defi nition of typology provided, Taylor locates himself as a “withered twig, dri’de search through your book’s selections of Tay- fi t to bee / A Chat Cast in thy fi re, Writh off by lor’s Meditations and discover another instance Vice.” He imagines himself as cast off, the most of this theological doctrine, identify the two menial part of the tree, which is only fi t as kindling types, and explain the nature of the correspon- for a fi re. This image of his own lowly state has dence between their parallel features. been addressed earlier in the entry, and it antici- 2. Consider the Ramist infl uence in Taylor’s poetry pates God’s deliverance, which appears in subse- compared with that of other Puritan poets quent stanzas. Taylor pleads with God to “graft such as Anne Bradstreet. Compare the every- mee in this golden stock, thou’lt make mee.” The day images that Taylor employs in his Prepara- hope expressed with the metaphor of grafting is an tory Meditations with the images that appear in incorporation of the lowly twig with the divine and Bradstreet’s poetry. golden tree: 3. Write your own version of a meditation based on a passage from a religious text in the style I being graft in thee am grafted here of Taylor, remembering to consider the various Into thy family, and kindred Claim possible interpretations of the metaphor pre- To all in Heaven, God, Saints, and Angells there. sented in the religious text and to develop them I thy Relations my Relations name. to their fullest extent. Thy Father’s mine, thy God my God, and I With Saints, and Angells draw affi nity. (ca. 1695) This union with God disrupts the hierarchy men- A Metrical History of Christianity tioned in prior stanzas and recognizes how God’s The 19,890 lines of this poem, untitled in the man- grace creates a seamless union between humans uscript version, constitute nearly half of Edward and God, a common theme of God’s covenant Taylor’s 40,000 lines of poetry, and the religious with humans, which pervades Taylor’s sense of the subject and themes of this verse narrative are con- Lord’s Supper. As in all of his meditative poems, sistent with Puritan thought. The poem, probably Taylor concludes Meditation 29 with the union written in the late 17th century, relates Christian of God and man producing the poet, who is then history from the persecutions and martyrdoms in dedicated to singing God’s praise in his poetry: the fi rst century through the internal and external “Make mee thy graft, by thou my Golden Stock. / troubles Christians faced and God endured in Thy Glory then I’le make my fruits and Crop.” succeeding centuries; church history before the Taylor’s sermon associated with the implanta- Protestant Reformation ends at the 12th century. tion image appears in Christographia, where he The poem also recounts the persecutions and complements his poem by stating, “Let then the martyrdoms of Protestants from 1555 to 1558. Its awful Consideration that you are in by nature language, structure, and theology follow closely stir you up to endeavor after an implantation into similar elements in Taylor’s sources, Ecclesiastica Christ. . . . Christ himself passeth over all unto all Historia Integrum Ecclesiae (The ecclesiastical that are implanted into Christ. The upshot all life history of the whole church; literally, The Magde- lieth in the United Essentiall harmony of the Same burg Centuries, familiarly) by Matthias Flacius 344 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers associates and Actes and Monuments by John Foxe. the second and third are iambic tetrameter. A sixth Taylor’s history in verse was not published in his verse form is simply fi ve lines of iambic pentameter lifetime, and his descendants preserved the care- with a rhyme pattern of ababb. Finally, A Metrical fully corrected manuscript until the 20th century, History includes stanzas of six iambic pentameter when they donated it to the Redwood Library and lines rhymed ababcc. Stanford suggests that the use Athenaeum in Newport, Rhode Island. Donald E. of several forms shows his interest in exploring new Stanford transcribed the manuscript in 1953 for his possibilities in stanzaic formulas and is consistent doctoral dissertation and in 1962 made other cop- with versifi cation in Taylor’s other longer works. ies of A Metrical History of Christianity available The primary structure of A Metrical History is because its subject and length seemed to preclude not metrical but narrative. After six lines in praise publication as a book. He gave the composition its of Christ’s victorious and salvifi c death, the poem current title. describes the martyrdom of Stephen and proceeds Although the poem is consistent in its themes, it to retell the fate of Jesus’ disciples; the poem also features nine types of versifi cation. The most used includes accounts of natural wonders and disasters, is the heroic couplet: This form seems to suggest such as the eruption of Vesuvius, with commentary the grandeur of his subject, the history of Chris- that shows how God has worked through them. tendom, and the range of his narrative, which is The history of the Christian world before the not limited to the Christian Church in Europe but advent of Protestantism is organized by centuries, includes the history of the church in Asia and in as is The Magdeburg Centuries, and the stories pro- Africa. The main narrative sections of the book- ceed chronologically. The narration covers not only length poem are in heroic couplets. Other forms European history and fi gures but also those of the are generally used in the transitional stanzas, such Middle East and northern Africa; the British Isles as those praising churchmen such as Augustine and sometimes receive separate treatment and some- others who have done or written great things. The times are included as a part of Europe. Within the ballad stanza also occurs in Taylor’s poem; both the tales of martyrdom, heresies, evangelism, and papal epic and the ballad are narrative forms that relate malfeasance are comments on the way that God’s extraordinary events. Seven other unnamed verse mercy and justice shine through the events. The types are present in the poem. One of them fea- history of the church before the Reformation ends tures two sets of quatrains in which the fi rst three abruptly with the 11th century (possibly because lines have an iambic tetrameter with a fi nal line of Taylor owned only six volumes of the Centuries, iambic dimeter; the rhyme scheme for the octave is whose Latin he paraphrases in verse), and a short aaab cccb. A second is also eight lines long, divided section about the reign of Mary Tudor introduces a into two stanzas of four lines, and the fi rst three shorter history of Protestant martyrs, whose stories lines of each quatrain are iambic pentameter with a are presented in as much detail as were tales of early last line of iambic dimeter. Its rhyme scheme is the martyrs. The break in the narrative may be an arti- same as that of the previous form. A third is a vari- fact of the manuscript, from which pages are miss- ant of the ballad stanza with the fi rst and third lines ing, or may suggest that Taylor was writing two of the four-line stanza in iambic pentameter, while poems with parallel subjects and structures. the second and fourth are in iambic tetrameter. A Taylor’s sources include material that is now dis- fourth is a fi ve-line verse with a rhyme scheme of missed as legend, most notably the story of Pope ababb; the fi rst and third lines are iambic pentam- Joan (ll. 13343–13388), which Taylor reports with eter with the remaining lines in iambic tetrameter. Puritan invective and a sort of metaphysical word- A fi fth type of versifi cation is almost identical to play. The illegitimate offspring of an English priest, the previous form: The difference is that the fi rst, Joan is renamed Gilbert and sent to Fulda, where fourth, and fi nal lines are iambic pentameter, while another monk notices that she is female. Sent to Edward Taylor 345

Athens, the woman gains fame as a teacher and a ways, although he does occasionally send an earth- disputant; no one uncovers her secret. She then quake or a comet as an expression of justice. goes to Rome, where, not surprisingly, she is unan- An additional Puritan theme in A Metrical His- imously elected pope. She fulfi lls the duties of the tory is that of degeneracy and regeneration. The papal offi ce and receives the honor due her offi ce: martyrs of the early church follow Christ’s example Even the English king kisses her foot. Near a statue and willingly give their lives during the 11 persecu- Nero erected, she delivers her “Egg and Spawn.” tions narrated in the poem. Pope Fabian, who was Such diction in A Metrical History is a sign that chosen pope because a dove landed on him as he the event is contrary to nature, and passages about was handling a dung cart, was a martyr and so is negative developments often say ideas or actions are an example of a good pope. John Chrysostom is hatched from evil eggs or the eggs of pride. The praised for his bravery in condemning the morals section about the female pope begins, “Good mor- of Eudoxia, but he is a rare example of an upright row, Madam! thou art found at last” and ends with patriarch of Constantinople. (The poem details the narrator’s wondering whether one should call fewer stories of their wickedness, but they usually Pope Joan “dad or Mam.” Taylor uses similar pun- come off little better than their Roman counter- ning in the poem when the speaker relates the story parts.) Methodius and Cyril, the ninth-century of Hildebrand (Gregory VII), who is fi gured as missionaries to the Slavs, are praised for having cre- Hellbrand who fl ees to his homeland, hell, a place ated the Cyrillic alphabet and for translating the the pope’s keys will unlock. gospel into a language that people could under- Papal lust and corruption are standard themes in stand. They seem to be proto-Protestants. The Protestant literature, and Taylor’s poem is replete poem also commends the monks of Lindisfarne, with stories of the evils of the Roman Church. Tay- although it usually condemns monks, for standing lor and his sources condemn the materialism of the up for the practices of the Celtic Church, which Roman Catholic Church, not only because they see Scots Calvinists saw as similar to the practices of it in the greed of bishops and popes but also because the Protestants, against the encroachments of the it puts too high a value on the physical. Deusdedit, Roman Church. Aidan of Lindisfarne is singled out for example, adorns wooden dishes (plain, natu- as a man who preaches the gospel in a language ral, and good) with gold (ornate, unnatural, and common men can understand and who cares for worldly) and encourages people to put holy water the poor. The Roman Church punishes Cyril and on objects as charms against storms. Later popes Methodius and triumphs in the British Isles. Even- promulgated similar errors, and men who are sup- tually, however, the blood of the Protestant martyrs posed to show the truth are practicing deceit and and the reforms of Protestant theologians restore promoting superstition instead of faith. The poem the church to its original fervor and purity. also indicts Roman Catholics for expressing their Scholars fi nd in the poem a typical Puritan fas- materialistic desires in adorning churches and cination with the negative and an excess of gory using expensive chalices. The Roman Church pro- detail in the descriptions of martyrdom. The poem, motes the worship of statues, not the veneration of nevertheless, follows the example of much hagi- saints, and the superstition of intercessory prayer. ography, in which the detailed images of physical The poem further condemns the Roman Catholic suffering emphasize the extent and intensity of the insistence on clerical celibacy and the forbidding martyrs’ love for Christ. They follow his example of marriage during Lent as acts that oppose mar- in suffering in the fl esh, in spite of the fact that riage. In spite of these negative departures from the their sacrifi ce can never equal his, and thus become truth of Christianity, the narrator is able to see in examples of faith for others to follow. Their endur- them God’s patience and mercy evident in this life ance further underlines the lack of value Christians because God permits these men to persist in their are supposed to place on the impermanent fl esh 346 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers and the value that Christians are supposed to place 3. In line 671 the poem refers to evil birds hatched on the permanent soul since martyrs lose life in the from the eggs of Simon Magus. In ll. 7135– body and gain the eternal life of the soul. A less 7136, monasteries are hatched in several coun- edifying reason for including such horrors is that tries; the poem describes Adrian III as having hagiography was the popular, violent literature of been hatched (1. 13501). Bruno hatched the its time. Carthusians (l. 17320), and Maurice hatched While Taylor’s desire to keep his poetry out of intercessory prayer (l. 7645). What connection(s) print may seem to belie these as reasons for the brutal does the use of this word imply? imagery in A Metrical History, the poem may have 4. Taylor is often criticized for his negativity. Look circulated in manuscript. Scholars of Renaissance at a description of a martyrdom or a passage culture have studied the continuation of manuscript about God’s patience. What is positive in it? culture into the 17th century and have suggested 5. How does Taylor’s recitation of church his- that poets such as John Donne and Katherine Philips tory compare with COTTON MATHER’s sweep- controlled access to their works through manuscript ing history of New England, Magnalia Christi circulation and that the colonists maintained the Americana? practices of English culture longer than the English Karen Keck did. Taylor would fi t that profi le. Eberwein suggests that the narrator’s apologies for weak versifi cation indicate Taylor thought he had an audience beyond himself and God, as did his careful binding and cor- FURTHER QUESTIONS ON recting of the poem’s text to preserve it for future TAYLOR AND HIS WORK generations of his family. 1. Taylor’s A Metrical History of Christianity offers However impressive the scope of Taylor’s narra- readers an impressive catalog of early Church tive poem is, its poetic value is doubtful; the poem history. How does Taylor’s text of the past imag- lacks the metaphysical conceits and lyric intensity ine a specifi c kind of future for America? of his shorter works. Its language and imagery, 2. Throughout his extensive collection of poetry, the epic form notwithstanding, seem uninspired Edward Taylor uses terms that carry multiple to people not interested in its reworking of church meanings. Examine two of his poems and argue history. Some suggest its value lies in its expression for his use of such selected language. How do of Puritan thought or in its being a key to greater the poems hold more than one defi nition for understanding of Taylor as a religious thinker. Even certain words? so, the poem is an interesting example of cultural translation, the creation of an epic of Christendom, WORKS CITED AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES and of the translation of Latin prose into English Brumm, Ursula. “The Poetic Use of Religious Imag- poetry. The text, as do many Protestant poems, ery.” In Typology and Early American Literature, shows both continuity with and departure from edited by Sacvan Bercovitch. Amherst: University Christian tradition. of Massachusetts Press, 1972. Davis, Thomas M. A Reading of Edward Taylor. New- For Discussion or Writing ark: University of Delaware Press, 1992. 1. Taylor’s poem is characterized as Puri- Eberwein, Jane Donahue. “His Was Disgrac’d Are tan invective. How does his diction suggest Grac’d: Edward Taylor’s Metrical History of Chris- denunciation? tianity as Puritan Narrative.” Early American Lit- 2. Compare and contrast the descriptions of the erature 38 (2003): 339–364. eruptions of Vesuvius in 81 (ll. 296–311) and Grabo, Norman S. Edward Taylor. Boston: Twayne, 513 (ll. 8829–8833). 1988. Edward Taylor 347

Guruswamy, Rosemary Fithian. The Poems of Edward North, Michael. “Edward Taylor’s Metaphors of Taylor: A Reference Guide. Westport, Conn.: Green- Promise.” American Literature 51, no. 1 (1979): wood Press, 2003. 1–16. Haims, Lynn. “The Face of God: Puritan Iconog- Patterson, J. Daniel. “Introduction.” In Edward Tay- raphy in Early American Poetry, Sermons, and lor’s Gods Determinations and Preparatory Medi- Tombstone Carving” Early American Literature tations. Edited by Daniel Patterson. Kent, Ohio: 14 (1979): 15–33. Kent State University Press, 2003 Halbert, Cecelia L. “Tree of Life Imagery in the Pearce, Roy Harvey. Continuity of American Poetry. Poetry of Edward Taylor.” American Literature Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1961. 38, no. 1 (1966): 22–34. Poems of Edward Taylor. Available online. URL: Hammond, Jeffrey A. Edward Taylor: Fifty Years of http://www.puritansermons.com/poetry/taylor. Scholarship and Criticism. Columbia, S.C.: Cam- htm. Accessed April 23, 2009. den House, 1993. Reuben, Paul P. “Edward Taylor.” Perspectives in Hass, Robert. “Edward Taylor: What Was He Up American Literature. Available online. URL: To?” American Poetry Review 31, no. 2 (March/ http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/ April 2002): 43–55. chap1/taylor.html. Accessed April 23, 2009. Johnson, Parker H. “Poetry and Praise in Edward Rowe, Karen E. Saint and Singer: Edward Taylor’s Taylor’s Preparatory Meditations.” American Lit- Typology and the Poetics of Meditation. Cambridge: erature 52, no. 1 (1980): 84–96. Cambridge University Press, 1986. Johnson, Thomas H. “Edward Taylor: A Puritan Scheick, William. Design in Puritan Literature. Lex- ‘Sacred Poet.’ ” New England Quarterly 10 (1937): ington: University of Kentucky Press, 1992. 290–322. Schuldiner, Michael, ed. The Tayloring Shop: Essays on Keller, Karl. The Example of Edward Taylor. Amherst: the Poetry of Edward Taylor in Honor of Thomas University of Massachusetts Press, 1975. M. and Virginia L. Davis. Newark: University of Lepore, Jill. The Name of War: King Philip’s War and Delaware Press, 1997. the Origins of American Identity. New York: Vin- Stanford, Donald E. Edward Taylor. Minneapolis: tage Books, 1999. University of Minnesota Press, 1965. Maddux, Harry Clark. “Ruling Passion: Consent ———. “Edward Taylor’s Metrical History of Christi- and Covenant Theology in Westfi eld, Massachu- anity.” American Literature 33 (1961): 279–295. setts, August 1679” Early American Literature 38 ———. “The Parentage of Edward Taylor.” American (2003): 9–29. Literature 33 (1961): 215–221. Morris, Amy M. E. Popular Measures: Poetry and ———. A Transcript of Edward Taylor’s Metrical His- Church Orders in Seventeenth-Century Massachu- tory of Christianity. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University setts. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 2005. Microfi lms International, 1962. Murphy, Francis, ed. Diary of Edward Taylor. Spring- Taylor, Edward. A Metrical History of Christianity. fi eld, Mass.: Connecticut Valley Historical Museum, 1962. Reprint, Alexandria, Va.: Chadwyck-Healey, 1964. 1996. Phillis Wheatley (1753 –1784)

In every human breast, God has implanted a principle, which we call love of freedom; it is impatient of oppression and pants for deliverance.

(letter to Samson Occom, 1774)

t the age of seven or eight (her exact birth date of all who heard her. As to her Writing, her own Ais unknown), a young girl arrived in Boston Curiousity led her to it; and this she learnt in so harbor on July 11, 1761. Her age was determined short a time, that in the year 1765, she wrote a “from the circumstance of shedding her front letter to the Reverend Mr. Occom, the Indian teeth” (17). She traveled aboard the Phillis, a Minister, while in England. She has a great schooner that had sailed to Senegal, Sierra Leone, Inclination to learn the Latin tongue, and has and off the coast of Guinea to pick up slaves and made some progress in it. This Relation is given deliver them to the colonies along the eastern by her Master who bought her, and with whom seaboard. The young girl would soon take on the she now lives. (reported in Gates 19–20) name of the very slave ship that transported her to Massachusetts. Her surname would also be deter- The critic Terence Collins remarks on John mined on the same day as Mrs. Susanna Wheatley, Wheatley’s statement, “The tone of this letter as the wife of a wealthy merchant named John Wheat- well as the indication that she was admitted to the ley, purchased her “for a trifl e” and took her home inner circle of family education and religion sug- to become a house servant. Susanna and John’s gest that hers was not a life typical of American daughter, Mary, began educating the young slave slavery” (148). Wheatley’s experience as a slave was in reading, writing, Latin, and the Bible. hardly typical, and this fact alone seems to have In 1772, Wheatley’s master wrote to testify contributed to the negative criticism regarding her of Phillis’s intellect and to support her during an literary representation of a black experience in early inquiry into her capacity to author poems: America. The abolitionist biographer Matilda Odell wrote that Wheatley was “not allowed to associate Phillis was brought from Africa to America in with other domestics of the family, who were of her the year 1761, between seven and eight years own color and condition, but was kept constantly of age. Without any assistance from school about the person of her mistress” (reported in Col- education, and by only what she was taught in lins 148). the family, she, in sixteen months time from In 1765, four years after her arrival in America her arrival, attained the English language, to and her introduction to the English language, which she was an utter stranger before, to such Phillis Wheatley had written her fi rst poem. Her a degree, as to read any, most diffi cult Parts of most anthologized and popular poem, “On Being the Sacred Writings to the great Astonishment Brought from Africa to America,” was penned

348 Phillis Wheatley 349 when Phillis was only 14 years of age. Two years sciences. Hume directly addressed the question of later, in 1767, she published a poem in the Newport African slaves in the British colonies and those in Mercury (20). With the publication of her elegy to other parts of the Western Hemisphere: “There are the Reverend George Whitefi eld, who was a popu- Negro slaves dispersed all over Europe, of which lar evangelical preacher who died while on a speak- none ever discovered any symptoms of ingenuity” ing tour, Phillis Wheatley gained fame, both in the (reported in Gates 24). Wheatley’s poetry directly colonies as well as in the motherland of England. challenged these theories on Africans and their Henry Louis Gates, Jr., writes, “Wheatley shrewdly incapacity to produce “anything great in art or sci- apostrophized the Countess (Selina Hastings) in ence of any other praiseworthy quality,” as Kant the Whitefi eld elegy, and sent a letter of condolence wrote in 1763. with the poem enclosed” (22). Wheatley’s familiar- Although there are no records of the proceed- ity with the countess of Huntingdon deepened the ings or the actual questions put to Wheatley dur- following year, when Wheatley traveled to England ing that October meeting in 1772, we do know for to attend to the publication of her fi rst book of certain that she emerged from the inquiry trium- poetry, a collection of 28 poems. Gates attributes phant. The various members of Bostonian society the publication of Wheatley’s book of poetry in were satisfi ed that Wheatley had indeed penned England rather than America to the former coun- the poems whose authorship she claimed, and they try’s more receptive climate toward black authors. would be published the following year in England. The publication of “one of the earliest slave narra- The fi nal formal conclusion of the inquiry took the tives by James Gronniosaw” in England with the form of an attestation: aid of the countess of Huntingdon had already paved the way for Wheatley’s book (30). As a result We whose Names are under-written, do assure of the efforts of the countess and Susanna Wheat- the World, that the Poems specifi ed in the fol- ley, Phillis Wheatley’s book, Poems on Various lowing Page, were (as we verily believe) written Subjects, Religious and Moral, appeared in print, by Phillis, a young Negro Girl, who was but a making Wheatley the fi rst author of African descent few Years since brought an uncultivated Bar- to publish a book in the English language. barian from Africa, and has ever since been, and When attempting to solicit an American pub- now is, under the Disadvantage of serving as a lisher for her book of 28, poems, Wheatley faced Slave in a Family in this Town. She has been skeptics in America who convened in autumn 1772 examined by some of the best Judges, and is to interrogate her and determine whether she had thought qualifi ed to write them. indeed authored the poems. Eighteen gentlemen, who identifi ed themselves only as “most respectable Note that the attestation, which was deemed criti- characters in Boston,” met with Wheatley and over cal and essential to Wheatley’s fi nding a publisher the course of their questions put not only Wheat- for her poetry book in America, was not suffi cient ley on trial, but the whole African race. As Henry to fulfi ll her wish. The prevailing notion of Afri- Louis Gates, Jr., argues in The Trials of Phillis cans as uncivilized barbarians was too pervasive Wheatley, American views of Africans were greatly to be overcome by the signed statement of 18 of infl uenced by the philosophies of David Hume Boston’s greatest minds. and Immanuel Kant (23). These two philoso- While in England, Wheatley met several key fi g- phers, among others, published works investigating ures, whose opinions of her were all positive, even if the true nature of Africans. Hume wrote in 1753 they revealed the predisposition of some people to that he believed Africans to be another “species of discount the young poetess as an erudite, educated men.” He deemed them incapable of producing any black woman. As mentioned previously, Wheat- of the markers of civilization such as the arts or the ley gained an acquaintance with the countess of 350 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

Huntingdon, who was instrumental in the publi- understandably delayed by the events of the Revo- cation of her book of poetry in 1773. She also was lutionary War that had begun six months prior to introduced to the earl of Dartmouth, who gave her her correspondence. In his response, Washington a tour of the Tower of London as well as money to “apologize[d] for the delay” and expressed sincere purchase the works of Alexander Pope, whose lit- gratitude for “the elegant lines.” He praised her erary infl uence has been commented on by several “poetical talents,” citing “the [poem’s] style and critics in both positive and negative ways. Wheat- manner” (reported in Gates 37–38). Washington ley’s poem “To the Right Honorable William, Earl attributes the absence of the poem from newspa- of Dartmouth” was written in October 1772 upon pers to his own humility, writing, “had I not been her return to Boston and her learning that Wil- apprehensive, that, while I only meant to give the liam Legge had been appointed as secretary for the world this new instance of your genius, I might North American colonies. Thomas Wooldridge, have incurred the imputation of vanity. This, and an emissary who met and interviewed Wheatley, nothing else, determined me not to give it place delivered her poem and brief introductory letter to in the public prints” (38). Washington ends his the earl of Dartmouth. In his letter to the earl, epistle by inviting Wheatley to Cambridge, add- Wooldridge reveals a predisposition to the theo- ing graciously, “I shall be happy to see a person ries of Hume and Kant, for he interrogated her to so favored by the Muses, and to whom nature determine that “she was no imposter.” Wooldridge has been so liberal and benefi cent in her dispen- describes how he “was present when she wrote [a sations” (38). The biographer Benson J. Lossing rough copy of the poem and letter addressed to the reports that the meeting of George Washington earl] and can attest that it is her own production” and Phillis Wheatley did take place in Cambridge (reported in Gates 28; Robinson 20–21). Wool- just days before the evacuation of Boston. In dridge expresses his own “astonish[ment]” on dis- March 1776, Washington had Wheatley’s panegy- covering Wheatley’s natural, seemingly effortless, ric poem published in the Virginia Gazette. talent and in so doing places himself squarely with Some critical fi gures who formed opinions on the group of 18 who interrogated before she set Wheatley, however, were not so impressed. The sail for England. central critic, whose opinions on the young poetess Among those key American fi gures whom continue to appear in criticism but who never met Wheatley met were BENJAMIN FRANKLIN and her, was none other than THOMAS JEFFERSON. Gates George Washington. In a letter to his nephew, believes that Francois, the marquis de Barbé-Mar- Jonathan Williams, Franklin includes a brief bois, occasioned Jefferson’s criticism of Wheatley’s account of his visit with Wheatley: “Upon your poetry when he requested statistical information Recommendation I went to see the black Poetess on the various states in the republic, which became and offer’d her any Services I could do her. And Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia (40). Mar- I have heard nothing since of her” (reported in bois read Wheatley’s book of poetry in 1779 and Gates 34). Although she did not write a laudatory wrote in his journal about “read[ing] [her poems] poem in praise of Franklin, Wheatley’s advertise- with some surprise.” In her writing, Marbois dis- ments in 1779 for a second volume of poetry all covered “imagination, poetry, and zeal” (reported included the fact that she intended to dedicate the in Gates 42). Jefferson vehemently disagreed with volume to Franklin. Wheatley did meet and write Marbois’s praise, stating, “The compositions pub- about General George Washington, however. On lished under her name are below the dignity of October 26, 1775, she sent a letter as well as a criticism.” In his response, Jefferson alludes to poem written in honor of Washington to his head- the commonly held belief made popular by Hume quarters in Cambridge. He responded on Febru- and Kant that Africans were incapable of produc- ary 28 of the following year, 1776, having been ing the cultivated arts. His response even calls into Phillis Wheatley 351 question Wheatley’s authorship by referring to her in the letter, Wheatley relied upon the sale of her poetry as “published under her name” rather than book to make a living, and she feared that reprints “published by her.” of the English edition, for which she would receive Jefferson does seem to concede her authorship, no payment, might ruin her fi nancially. however, when he writes more specifi cally of her lack Shortly after the death of Susanna Wheatley in of love, which kindles the imagination rather than spring 1774, and the British occupation of Boston merely the senses. In his most famous and often in anticipation of the Revolutionary War, Phillis cited critique of Wheatley, Jefferson avers, “Reli- moved to Providence, where Mary, the Wheatley gion, indeed, has produced a Phillis Whatley [sic]; daughter who provided Phillis with an education, but it could not produce a poet.” The argument was living with her husband, the Reverend John Jefferson makes is that Africans like Wheatley have Lathrop, who was known as “the Revolution- souls and are capable of being converted to Chris- ary Preacher” and the pastor of the Old North tianity, but their imbibing of biblical verse results Church, a position that both Increase and COTTON in merely imitative and wooden poetry rather than MATHER had previously held. The outbreak of the verse capable of inspiring higher thought or fi ner Revolutionary War in April 1775 diverted people’s feeling in her reader. attentions from the African prodigy, and her pros- Upon her return to America, the Wheatleys pects seemed rather bleak. Phillis returned to Bos- manumitted Phillis Wheatley. Critics attribute the ton in late 1776, and it was there, two years later, Wheatleys’ granting of her freedom to both her that she met and married her husband, a free black time in England and the passage of an English law named John Peters. Not much is known of Peters, in 1772 that made it illegal for slaves to be forcibly but we do know from records of his petition to sell returned to the colonies after their stay, however spirits in his store that he was a grocer and some- brief, in England. It would be a wonderful ending times functioned as a lawyer, an indication that he to her life to say that Wheatley’s freedom improved was well educated. The couple had three children, her daily living, but the truth is sadly different. all of whom died in infancy. During her pregnancy When she returned to America, she was faced with with her third child, Peters abandoned Phillis. She the daunting task of having to make a living. As died alone at the young age of 30 with her fatally ill an indication of the tenuous fi nancial position she child lying next to her. Her third child passed away held as a freed slave in Boston, critics point to her a day after Phillis’s death. letter written in mid-October 1773 to the customs Her literary legacy has been somewhat uncertain collector in New Haven, David Wooster. In her let- as she was treated unkindly or forgotten by black ter, Wheatley poignantly refers to her dependence nationalists as early as the 19th century. Cultural upon book sales to put food on her table: “Use critics of her work point to her use of neoclassi- your interest with Gentlemen and Ladies of your cal style, the absence of rage or protest against the acquaintance to subscribe also, for the more sub- institution of slavery in her prose, and her poor imi- scribers there are, the more it will be for my advan- tation of the style of the British poet and essayist tage as I am to have half the Sale of Books. This I Alexander Pope. Gates sees the criticism launched am the more solicitous for, as I am not upon my against Wheatley from the late 19th century to the own footing and whatever I get by this is entirely present as a continuation of the trial Phillis Wheat- mine, and it is the Chief I have to depend upon. I ley endured in 1772 when 18 preeminent men of must also request you would desire the Printers in Boston interrogated her to determine whether New Haven, not to reprint that Book, as it will be she was capable of writing poetry. He also sees a great hurt to me, preventing any further Benefi t the reemergence of Thomas Jefferson’s demean- that I might receive from the Sale of my Copies from ing statements against Wheatley “recuperated and England” (reprinted in Gates 35–36). As indicated recycled by successive generations of black writers 352 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers and critics. Too black to be taken seriously by white be harnessed by Wheatley in the latter half of the critics of the eighteenth century, Wheatley was now poem to lobby on behalf of the equality of Afri- considered too white to interest black critics in the cans. This message of freedom for all, spoken as twentieth” (Gates 82). Terence Collins believes if from beyond the grave by a popular and widely that Wheatley’s diffi cult status of living in between respected man of the cloth, gains even further cul- races was refl ected in her life. “She was not in any tural authority with Wheatley’s hyperbolic repre- real way a part of the dominant culture: although sentation of his religious and psychological effect she mixed with white society, it was always as an on all who hear him speak. exception, as a guest, as a showpiece novelty. As The democratic sweep of Wheatley’s hyper- a result, one must guess that she lived in a neu- bole appears again in the pivotal second stanza, tral zone, neither black nor white—and her poems in which she casts Whitefi eld as an advocate of stand as a record of this ambivalence, as an indica- the belief in an “impartial Saviour” (35). Wheat- tion that the slave mentality went deeper than the ley sets up a parallelism: Just as Jesus reaches surface of her life” (149). out to save all humans regardless of race, so too did Whitefi eld himself reach out to save all his parishioners. “Wash’d in the fountain of redeem- ing blood,” Africans gain not only equality with “On the Death of Reverend Anglo Americans, but also the ability to achieve Mr. George Whitefi eld, 1770” (1773) positions of equal and greater social status than This poem, widely reprinted in Boston, Newport, currently available (36). Wheatley declares, “You New York, and Philadelphia in 1770, also appeared shall be son, and kings, and priests to God” (37). in newspapers in London and provided Wheatley Because Wheatley has employed the rhetorical international recognition. The critic Carla Willard strategy of apostrophe, she can boldly make state- believes “the elegy was perhaps the most widely ments for the emancipation of Africans that she circulated of the poet’s newspaper poems” (244). can only hint at in more subtle ways when writing Within the poem, Wheatley’s elegy of this popu- in her own voice. The irony of having Whitefi eld as lar evangelist serves two purposes: It re-creates, a strong voice for the emancipation of slaves most through use of apostrophe, the strong, heroic undoubtedly was a shock to Wheatley as well as to fi gure and fashions him into the ideal speaker for supporters of Whitefi eld, who learned by reading the abolition of slavery on the basis of the savior’s the newspaper that owned 50 slaves at the time of impartiality as well as egalitarianism purchased his death whom he did not free but willed to the through the sacrament of baptism. countess of Huntingdon. In Wheatley’s poem, Whitefi eld appears as a “happy saint” whose “music of thy tongue” For Discussion or Writing produced powerful effects on his audiences by 1. Compare Wheatley’s praise of Mr. Whitefi eld “infl am[ing] the heart, and captivat[ing] the mind” and her poem dedicated to George Washington. (8). His eloquence and oratory skills were capable What qualities does she revere in these two fi g- of enrapturing the confi rmed deist Benjamin ures? On the basis of these qualities, what larger Franklin, who recalls his own experience of attend- issues does she address in their poems? ing one of Whitefi eld’s sermons and fi nding himself 2. Consider Wheatley’s treatment of the liberating entranced by the evangelist (reported in Willard effects of baptism on Africans and the legal sta- 244–245). The persuasive and penetrating reach of tus that baptized persons held, as evidenced in Whitefi eld’s sermons that appear here, hyperboli- OLAUDAH EQUIANO’s autobiography. Explore cally represented as “in unequal’d accents” capable how this sacrament might aid abolitionists in of making “ev’ry bosom with devotion glow,” will their call for the end of slavery. Phillis Wheatley 353

“To the Right Honorable William, can society and culture, becomes the very means by Earl of Dartmouth” (1772) which she gains an authority to speak out on behalf of the need for freedom in America. Who would During her trip to England, Wheatley was intro- love freedom and pine for it more than a slave who duced to William Legge, the earl of Dartmouth, has been denied it? who was to assume a position in America as sec- retary for the North American colonies. Legge’s The critic Carla Willard argues, “Wheatley’s emissary, Thomas Wooldridge, personally inter- praise, which takes the names of the most powerful viewed Wheatley, who composed both an intro- political and religious fi gures of her age, does not ductory letter as well as this laudatory poem in attempt to give a ‘true’ picture of the hero at all” October 1772. In her letter, Wheatley identifi es (239). Instead of imagining the earl of Dartmouth herself as “an African,” signaling a racial self- as a lifelike fi gure with foibles and fl aws, she creates consciousness that was common in her writing in a hyperbolic version of him that makes him more general. Wheatley does not see her status as “Afri- heroic and calls upon him to live up to the praise can” as being mutually exclusive with her identity immortalized in her verse. as an American, however, as she writes collectively of the “(now) happy America, [that] exults with For Discussion or Writing equal transport in the view of one of its greatest 1. Compare the other poems Wheatley dedicates advocates.” to living persons such as George Washington. In the opening stanza of the poem, Wheatley Does she see similar traits in these fi gures? Is imagines a personifi ed Freedom, a goddess who her language of praise similar? accompanies the earl of Dartmouth on his much- 2. How does Wheatley’s description of her own anticipated arrival in America. His appearance is kidnapping and enslavement register in a poem transformative: “Each soul expands, each grateful of praise to the earl of Dartmouth? Does it bosom burns” (6). These references to fi ner feel- change the poem’s tone? How does it compare ings are due to the earl’s proclivity to rule in Amer- with her poem “On Being Brought from Africa ica with “silken reins” (8). In other words, because to America”? he will be a kind secretary of state, Americans will respond positively to his rule. The “silken reins” are contrasted two stanzas later when Wheatley writes (1773) of the “iron chain” of former rulers. “To Maecenas” The connection between America and Wheatley Wheatley dedicates her poem to the dear friend and is deepened in the fourth stanza when the poem’s patron of Horace, author of famous odes, and Vir- focus shifts to her personal story of kidnapping and gil, author of the Aeneid, and in doing so creates enslavement. “I, young in life, by seeming cruel a poetic occasion on which she can both display fate / Was snatch’d from Afric’s fancy’d happy seat” her extensive knowledge of classical literature and (24–25). America does not appear in this particular mythology and carve out a tradition for her own line as a site of freedom but rather as a kidnapper voice. who snatches children from a happy life. As this She opens the poem with praise for the strength has been her own experience, which she recites for of poets and shepherds, whose lines generate a sym- both the earl of Dartmouth and all other readers, pathetic response in their readers. Homer’s epic tale she poses the rhetorical question “And can I then of the Trojan War, its tragic characters such as Patro- but pray / Others may never feel tyrannic sway?” clus and Pelides, and even its descriptions of natural (30–31). The inherent argument laid out in this phenomena like thunder and lightning all refl ect a stanza is that Wheatley’s status as a slave, precisely direct connection between the poet’s lines and the the condition that would place her outside Ameri- emotional realities experienced by his readers. They 354 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers are moved to tears “when great Patroclus courts the attempts at classical form die on her tongue, Achilles’ aid” and “feel the pangs of love” when or it may be that the larger forces, such as slavery Achilles mourns the death of Pelides, a great man and racism, that prey upon her cause the music, or and warrior. Even phenomena as banal as lightning inspiration, to falter. and thunder, which served as signs or messages from Wheatley concludes the poem by noting the the Greek gods but seem less emblematic in Wheat- immortality of Maecenas and requesting that such ley’s day, produce a “deep felt horror . . . through all a worthy reader, who recognized and was moved [her] veins” (14). by the greatness of Horace and Virgil, will “hear And yet, even within this second stanza that [her] propitious, and defend [her] lays.” turns its grateful eye in adoration of Homer, Wheatley provides readers with an introduction For Discussion or Writing to her own poetic talent. In the rhyming couplet 1. Wheatley references Terence in her poem, pro- “When gentler strains demand thy graceful song viding her contemporary readers with a note / The length’ning line moves languishing along,” that he was an African by birth. Consider his Wheatley reveals her ability to produce the very placement in a poem that praises Greek and pacing she praises in another. The word languish- Roman poets. How does he stand in for Wheat- ing draws out the line and slows the reader’s pace. ley herself? Not surprisingly, Wheatley turns in the following 2. The poets praised are all male. In what man- stanza to the subject of her own poetry and its place ner does gender make a difference in Wheatley’s in this classical tradition: “O could I rival thine and ability to enter into this genre of poetry? Virgil’s page” (23). The grand hope expressed in this line seems, at the stanza’s close, to be sadly in vain: “But here I sit, and mourn a grov’ling mind / That fain would mount and ride upon the wind” “On Being Brought from (29–30). The syntax of the fi rst line renders the Africa to America” (1773) “grov’ling mind” an obstacle to the poet’s wishes Perhaps the most anthologized and reprinted of but does not clearly identify the person possessing all of Wheatley’s poetry, “On Being Brought from this mind. It seems, on a metatextual level, to be Africa to America” turns Christians’ view of Afri- a veiled complaint against those who prevent her cans and biblical sanctioning of the institution of from attaining the poetic and actual freedom akin slavery on their heads in very subtle and indirect, to riding on the wind. but nevertheless powerful ways. Wheatley was 14 Similarly, the fi nal two lines of the subsequent years old when she wrote it. stanza contain a double meaning: “But I less happy, The notion expressed in the fi rst line, “ ’Twas cannot raise the song, / The fault’ring music dies mercy brought me from my pagan land,” contains upon my tongue” (35–36). The rhetorical ambigu- the two strands of meaning that are interwoven ity of the phrase “but I less happy” lends itself to throughout the poem. When one considers the two different but not incompatible interpretations: circumstances of Wheatley’s kidnapping and sale that the poet’s unhappiness can be attributed to into slavery that characterize her movement from her failure at meeting the task or that the poet’s “pagan land” to America, it is diffi cult not to read unhappiness, which stems from an unknown but her use of mercy with a bitter irony. Her reference easily guessed cause, prevents her from raising her to Africa as a “pagan land,” however, tempers this song. The second interpretation is in keeping with tone of bitterness as she contrasts the land of her that provided in “grov’ling mind.” The second line birth with the predominant Christian belief lauded of this couplet likewise provides for more than one in America. America is personifi ed in the second meaning. It may be that Wheatley’s tongue is bet- stanza as an able religious guide who “taught ter suited for another genre of poetry, and thus [her] benighted soul to understand” (2). Wheat- Phillis Wheatley 355 ley’s choice of the adjective benighted is especially 2. Consider the role that religion plays in Wheat- apt as this term maintains the double movements ley’s poem and compare it to JUPITER HAM- of praise and critique introduced in the preced- MON’s. Is it the same? Are there differences in ing line. Wheatley expresses appreciation for this their treatment of the institutions of Christian- knowledge of God and Christ, yet her use of the ity and slavery? word benighted to defi ne herself belies Anglo Americans’ racially charged notion of Christianity. The term means “characterized by night,” but an alternate defi nition is “lack of enlightenment.” In “To the University of Cambridge this single word, then, Wheatley encapsulates the in New England” (1773) racist thought of some Christians in America: that Wheatley opens her poem by expressing an “intrin- blackness equates with ignorance or, in the context sic ardor to write,” but she does not immediately of the poem, paganism. identify either the source of her desire or the direct Wheatley directly addresses this topic of rac- recipient of the message she wishes to convey. ist Christians, which has appeared in indirect and Rather, by describing the ardor as “intrinsic,” subtle form in the fi rst four lines, in the fi fth line Wheatley allows herself a bit of an indulgence not of the poem: “Some view our sable race with scorn- common in her poetry. The fi rst stanza ends with ful eye.” Wheatley’s use of the fi rst-person plural the conventional reminder present in most of her pronoun our might seem insignifi cant, but it cre- verse that she is African: “I left my native shore / ates a weighted version of the binary between races The land of errors, and Egyptian gloom” (3–4). that favors Africans over Anglo Americans. Those Africa appears disparagingly as a “land of errors,” a who view “with a scornful eye” effectively become continent that Wheatley was delivered from by the “them,” a group whose members include neither “Father of mercy,” and in this version of her jour- Wheatley nor her readers. This distancing of reader ney to America, she deals only with her conversion and narrator from the white Christians who hold to Christianity and not with her enslavement (4–5). racist views is made even more evident in the fol- In defi ning herself in such a manner, Wheatley lowing line, “Their colour is a diabolic die” (6). is able to be both an African and a poet. And in Wheatley employs quotation marks effectively to crafting herself as a muse-aided poet, Wheatley set off this other belief in a visible manner, which creates a position of authority from which she can is itself ironic since this prejudice is based on a launch her real purpose—to chastise the privileged skewed reading or interpretation of skin color, or students of Harvard College for not capitalizing on what is visible. Wheatley indirectly alludes to the their opportunities. mark of Cain, a passage from the Book of Genesis Because the fi rst stanza ends with God’s deliver- in which God places a visible mark on the sibling ance of Wheatley from “those dark abodes,” the who murdered his own brother and punishes his responsibilities and types of knowledge available sin of fratricide by condemning his progeny to serve to Harvard students can refer to astronomy and a those of his slain brother. Slave-owning Christians reckoning of the celestial bodies but can also per- frequently referred to this biblical passage as sanc- tain to a higher calling of religious study. Students tioning the institution of slavery. are given the ability to “scan the heights / above, Wheatley concludes this short but compelling to traverse the ethereal space / and mark the sys- poem with a fi rm tone and a direct address to her tems of revolving worlds” (7–9). The outer reaches readers that seems to be a reminder and a rebuff. of space are available for study and mastery by Har- vard students. The transcendent nature of academic For Discussion or Writing investigation is not only the purview of these stu- 1. How does Wheatley’s tale of arriving in America dents, however, as Wheatley has already established compare with Olaudah Equiano’s? herself in the fi rst stanza as a poet, a voice inspired 356 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers and supported by a muse. Her conversion to Chris- cal disposition, which are never fully expressed in tianity, afforded by her transplantation from Africa the poem. Instead, Wheatley connects her hope for to America, provides her with the opportunity to renewed health to classical Greek notions of dawn, explore ethereal spaces in her verse and with addi- referring to health itself as a “Celestial maid of rosy tional authority by which to offer advice to the hue” (9). The “rosy hue” describes the ruddy com- Harvard students. plexion often refl ected on the face of a healthy and Her fi nal stanza is written in the tone of a Chris- natural fi gure. Wheatley opines that she may “feel tian woman offering the sage advice of an elder to thy reign” (10). The language of being ruled by a the young. She commends them to perform good monarch or a goddess, someone who can “reign,” acts, to rebuke sin, and to remain on their guard is particularly telling as the despotic rule of either against temptations and possible moral fall. When is usually the cause for Americans to cry out for Wheatley writes, “Suppress the deadly serpent in their freedom. In the context of Wheatley’s journey its egg,” she acknowledges that humans have sin from America to Britain, the return to a monarch’s or evil within them that needs to be suppressed; reign, in this case, that of George III, seems coun- this theory of man’s fallen state equalizes all the terintuitive, a movement not toward liberty but to fi gures who appear in the poem, most especially the very chains that imprisoned America. Because those from Africa’s “land of errors” and those with Lord Mansfi eld had recently provided asylum for the “privileges” of a Harvard education. all Africans forced to leave England, Wheatley’s phrase “feel thy reign” might easily apply to her For Discussion or Writing desire to enjoy the privileges of freedom afforded 1. Wheatley equates Christianity with academic under England’s recent law. Mansfi eld was involved endeavors. How does her notion of a moral edu- in passing such a proposal only months prior to cation relate to COTTON MATHER’s defi nitions Wheatley’s journey. of education expressed in The Christian Philoso- The next two stanzas are dedicated to the emo- pher and Bonifacius? tional turmoil created by Wheatley’s departure 2. Compare Wheatley’s concept of an education from her mistress, Susanna Wheatley, who pur- with that of HANNAH FOSTER WEBSTER in The chased her in Boston when she was roughly seven Boarding School. What impact does gender have years old and released her from the bonds of slav- in each writer’s defi nition of a commendable ery upon her return from England in late 1773. education? Wheatley does not dwell lightly on the feelings of mourning that pervade her mistress’s frame on her departure. It is in these two stanzas, in which she not only remarks upon her mistress’s grief and (1773) “A Farewell to America” mourning at her departure from New England but Wheatley’s poem is occasioned by both her per- also expresses hope that Susanna Wheatley “let sonal retreat to England for health reasons and the no sight, nor groan for me / Steal from her pen- more politically charged reason why a journey to sive breast,” that Wheatley’s confl icted emotional England might allow her to escape from the bonds response to her journey rests and her references of slavery. in the fi nal two stanzas to temptation make sense The poem begins with the dissonance between (19–20). the new life of spring in America and Wheatley’s London itself constitutes a temptation for own lack of health. America is fi lled with “smiling Wheatley for the reason that her time there might meads” and “fl ow’ry plain,” whose charms appear afford her rights and privileges denied her in Amer- in vain for Wheatley. Although she records these ica. And yet one would imagine the prospect of signs of new life in New England, they remain freedom to be less a temptation than a promise, in contrast to the poet’s own feelings and physi- a reward for years of toil and loyal service to the Phillis Wheatley 357

Wheatleys. Her confl icting response to the journey the poet’s own emancipatory cause” (Willard 240). to London is indicative of the paradoxical feelings Only those familiar with Wheatley would recog- held by many slaves who grew up in conditions that nize the paradox presented in the poem’s fi nal line: made family of slave masters. “A monarch’s smile can set his subjects free!” (15). Wheatley celebrates a freedom that she herself does For Discussion or Writing not enjoy. 1. How does Wheatley’s depiction of America com- Rather than provide portraiture of King George pare to that in her poem “On Being Brought or follow the Puritan genre of “occasional” poetry, from Africa to America”? the critic Carla Willard believes, Wheatley “avoided 2. The classical references to Aurora, Apollo, and the perspective that would frame the king in the Hebe appear early in the poem when Wheatley material world” (240). King George appears as an refers only to the restoration of her health. By amalgam of parts: crown, brows, arm, smile, and the poem’s end, when she indirectly explores head. They do not compose the whole of him; nor the possibility of freedom, all classical refer- are they specifi c to him alone. In this manner, Wil- ences disappear. How might you account for the lard believes that Wheatley maintains the pattern absence of classical references? of her celebratory poetry and constructs an ideal and abstract image of a leader such as George III so that readers and the subject of the poem him- self will be forced to compare the stark contrast “To the King’s between the ideal fi gure of the poem and the fallen Most Excellent Majesty” (1773) fi gure of real life. Wheatley altered the title of this poem, “To the In her appeal to God to “direct and guard him King’s Most Excellent Majesty, On His Repeal of from on high / And from his head let ev’ry evil fl y,” the Stamp Act,” for English audiences, making Wheatley undermines both her praise of George the reference to the Stamp Act a mere footnote III as well as his authority. “On high” might refer rather than the occasion for the poem (Willard to either God’s position of authority over George 239). Created in 1765 to raise money for England III as well as the king’s throne. The benediction in by taxing all printed paper in the colonies, the line 13 both blesses him with a head without evil Stamp Act appeared to the colonists the fi rst in a thought and assumes that the king is prone to such series of actions in which they were taxed without thoughts and may only be rid of them by God’s their consent or legislative consultation. Without a divine intervention. direct reference to the act’s repeal in 1768, Wheat- ley’s poem seems to call indirectly for the king’s For Discussion or Writing compassionate rule. The only reference to the act’s 1. Compare the two panegyrics for George III and repeal in her poem is in line 8, when she writes, George Washington. How does Wheatley subtly “thy favours past.” distinguish between the two leaders? As in her panegyric to George Washington, 2. How does Wheatley balance the two types Wheatley’s poem in praise of King George III of power at work in her poem: monarchy and makes no reference to the poet’s African iden- God? tity. She appears instead to be one of the name- less “subjects” of the king; and in so identifying herself with American colonists in general, Wheat- ley creates a chorus of people pleading in the most “Thoughts on the gentle of terms for their own emancipation (1). Works of Providence” (1773) “It is through her celebration as a ‘common’ sub- In this devotional poem, Wheatley compares God ject that the speaker . . . gathers an audience to to the Sun, for its dazzling radiance, its ability to 358 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers control the weather and the tides, its enormous earthly rather than heavenly love, it is relegated to presence in the sky, and its position as the celestial “Fancy.” body that centers and orders the planetary sys- To train the mind to contemplate the religious tem. The 18th-century sublime poet John Dennis sublime, Wheatley recommends that upon waking employs the same metaphor of the Sun and God: from Fancy’s “giddy triumph,” one should “let thy “The Sun occurring to us in meditation gives fi rst thoughts be praises to the skies” (98). This the idea of a vast and glorious body . . . and the act of devotion might lead one to a more profound brightest material image of the divinity” (reported contemplation of God. Shields compares Wheat- in Shields 193). To compare the “solar rays” with ley’s use of the sublime to Immanuel Kant’s, stat- God’s love and benevolence, Wheatley imagines the ing, “Both in Kant and in Wheatley, the inexorable effect of their absence: “Without them, destitute of attempt of the human mind to grasp totalities and heat and light, / This world would be the reign of the equally inexorable failure to do so incites the endless night” (33–34). “Endless night” refers not feeling of the sublime” (197). only to the literal consequence of the Sun’s absence but also to a metaphorical result, a state of spiritual For Discussion or Writing depravity. In the absence of God and the Sun, 1. Wheatley writes “Ador’d for ever be the God Wheatley considers cataclysmic results: “What pes- unseen” in the fi rst stanza of her devotional tilential vapours, frought with death / Would rise, poem. Consider why an unseen God contributes and overspread the lands beneath?” (39–40). The to the poem’s sublime quality. “limitless vision” of Wheatley’s extended metaphor 2. How does the absence of any self-identifying parallels Joseph Addison’s defi nition of grandeur line or phrase in the poem contribute to or expressed in the Spectator: “Our imagination loves impede the poem’s sublimity? to be fi lled with an object, or to grasp at any thing 3. Compare Wheatley’s devotional poem to those that is too big for its capacity” (reported in Shields of ANNE BRADSTREET, who likewise professes 190). her religious faith in her poetry. The critic John C. Shields believes that “Thoughts on the Works of Providence” partici- pates in the 18th-century notion of the religious sublime, “the expression of the enthusiastic pas- “To S. M., a Young African Painter, sions in predominately Christian language and on Seeing His Works” (1773) images” (189). The means to attempt an under- Critics and historians alike have identifi ed the standing or knowledge of God occurs in the poem subject of this occasional poem, S. M., as Scipio through the power of reason: “As reason’s pow’rs Moorhead, the slave of the Reverend John Moor- by day our God disclose” (83). “As she construes head. Moorhead, who was pastor of the Church of them, the faculties of imagination and reason are the Presbyterian Strangers, was one of the repu- virtually synonymous” (Shields 196–197). It is table men of Boston who held the investigation Wheatley’s defi nition of imagination that provides of Wheatley that ended in an attestation of her her with the faculty of perceiving the sublime, in authorship of the poems that were subsequently this case, the overwhelming power and presence published in England. Encouraged by his mistress, of God. Shields makes careful note of Wheatley’s Sarah Moorhead, who taught art and drawing, separation of “imagination” from “fancy,” which Scipio Moorhead pursued art and was commis- appears in the poem in the speaker’s dream state sioned to draw the likeness of Phillis Wheatley that “when action ceases and ideas range / licentious appears on the frontispiece of her book of poetry. and unbounded o’er the plains” (86–87). Because This poem appears in Wheatley’s 1773 publication the stuff of dreams is mundane and taken up with Poems on Various Subjects. Phillis Wheatley 359

What differentiates this occasional and celebra- race or ethnic identity. How might you locate tory poem from others that Wheatley penned is its other images or references to race in the poem? subject, a fellow African. As Carla Willard has deftly 2. Wheatley ends the poem with a hope for “purer argued, Wheatley employs praise in a paradoxical language.” How might one interpret this desire? manner when her subject is an Anglo-European or Does it have political implications? Does it have Anglo-American fi gure of authority such as George artistic implications? III or the earl of Dartmouth. How does one con- 3. Compare Wheatley’s poem to a painter with sider a poem written to a fellow African in light WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT’s praise of another of Mary McAleer Balkun’s theory that Wheatley artist in “To Cole, the Painter, Departing for was keenly aware of her reading audience and had Europe.” How do the two poets imagine the “designed [rhetoric] to manipulate this audience in duty of painters? Are their expectations for very specifi c ways”? (122). One can either imagine painters patriotic or religious? that this structure breaks down once she creates the specter of an African audience (presumably Scripio Moorhead would read the poem written to him, or (1774) else would hear it from his master or mistress) or “Letter to Samson Occom” that it adheres, and the intended white audience is, Phillis Wheatley’s 1774 letter to her longtime friend perhaps for the fi rst time, excluded from the poem’s the Reverend SAMSON OCCOM, a Mohegan who collective pronoun, we. converted to Christianity and became a minister, Wheatley praises Moorhead for creating life with fi rst appeared in the Connecticut Gazette on March paint and pencil and generating an emotional stir 11, one month after it was initially sent. Its historic in those like Wheatley whose “soul[s] delight” on signifi cance might be demonstrated by its republica- viewing his “new creation” (3, 2, 5, 6). She seems tion in nearly a dozen newspapers in New England. to suggest that if Moorhead maintain an “ardent Critics familiar with Wheatley’s body of literature view” on “deathless glories,” he will continue to recognize its literary signifi cance as the source of receive inspiration, or “fi re” for his artistic endeav- her “most scathing criticism” (Williard 236). Within ors, both as a painter and as a poet (8–10). In the the brief but nevertheless powerful epistle, Wheatley poem’s f usi ng of a r t s, poet r y a nd pa i nt i ng, W heat ley argues for the “natural rights” of “negroes,” employ- creates a conspiracy of “we,” who will join together ing a language rife with revolutionary portent, as in heaven, “landscapes in the realms above,” and the Whigs would argue for their separation and throw off classical references to Aurora and Damon independence from Britain in terms of the very same for “nobler themes” (26, 31). As Wheatley’s own principle. poetry is heavy with classical allusions, especially Indeed, the pleas of Wheatley and others for poems like “To Maecenas,” it is tempting to read deliverance from the oppression of slavery, which a complaint about the constraints placed upon her they meant quite distinctly to refer to the enslave- own artistic expression. The joining of the two art- ment of Africans, were coopted by revolutionary ists in heaven supports this reading, as Wheatley thinkers and editors as an apt metaphor for their own imagines them for most of the poem. She imagines experiences under George III’s despotic rule. The Moorhead’s receiving “immortal fame” that he can critic Carla Willard reminds readers, “Phillis Wheat- enjoy in “that splendid city” of heaven (12, 16). ley lived in a time when the most fervent advocates of individual freedom—as well as many of the Royalists For Discussion or Writing lambasting the ‘tyranny’ and ‘slavery’ of the Con- 1. Although Wheatley identifi es Scipio Moorhead tinental Congress—were slave owners themselves” as an African painter in the title of the poem, (236). The paradox of freedom-seeking slave own- nowhere in the poem itself does she mention ers was not lost on Wheatley, who closes her letter 360 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers with the following: “How well the cry of liberty, and tionary War, is prefaced with a conventional note the reverse disposition for the exercise of oppressive expressing the poet’s humility and her sincere hope power over others agree—I humbly think it does not that the subject and intended reader of her poem, require the penetration of a philosopher to deter- George Washington himself, would forgive her for mine.” Within her statement she notes ironically how “tak[ing] the freedom to address your Excellency” these two incongruous beliefs appear in Whigs advo- and for producing “inaccuracies” in the poem, cating political separation from Britain and Tories which can be accounted for by the sensations gener- complaining of the undue power exercised by the ated by Washington’s own accomplishments. While Continental Congress, because both parties, despite it is true that Wheatley’s prefatory note follows liter- political differences, maintain their “rights” to own ary convention, her employment of the term freedom slaves. Indicative of the pervasive practice of slave certainly carries a double meaning that presages the owners’ employing metaphors of enslavement in ref- poet’s more earnest aim—to turn the very symbol erence to their own political positions, Wheatley’s let- of America’s romantic and worthy fi ght for freedom ter “elicited enthusiastic applause, not denunciation, into a fi gure who might also champion the cause from both sides of the revolution” (Willard 236). of emancipating the slaves of this land. Wheatley’s The letter also draws upon the biblical tale of slav- employment of revolutionary rhetoric of freedom ery in Exodus in which the Israelites were released places her in the paradoxical position that W. E. B. from bonds held by the Egyptians. To make this bib- DuBois stated was that of all African Americans: to lical reference pertinent to her day, Wheatley labels be in but not of American ideology. contemporary slave owners as “our modern Egyp- As a nod to the neoclassical convention of the tians.” Biblical precedent for the abolition of slav- time, Wheatley invokes the muse’s assistance in ery aside, Wheatley invokes God, proclaiming that describing the epic battles between armies. Within “in every human breast God has implanted a prin- this stanza, she offers two metaphors for the armies: ciple, which we call love of freedom.” In her use of “refl uent surges [that] beat against the shore / Or Christianity, readers familiar with Wheatley’s poetry thick as leaves in Autumn’s golden reign” (18–9). would recognize the voice that spoke less directly Both images naturalize the bodies of soldiers, yet but no less fervently for the end of slavery. neither bears an emotional charge. It is striking to note that it is not until line 23 that Washing- For Discussion or Writing ton himself appears as the singular subject set into 1. Wheatley’s bitingly ironic statement appears in relief against the waves of armies clashing on the a letter to Samson Occom, a friend. How does battlefi eld. Tellingly, at this moment of his mag- this form infl uence the letter’s content? nifi cent arrival in the poem, with an ample mili- 2. Compare Wheatley’s argument of the para- tary backdrop already detailed, Wheatley hesitates doxical use of slavery metaphors by slave own- and wonders, “Shall I to Washington their praise ers with the appearance of this trope in PHILIP recite?” (23). The question is, naturally, rhetorical, MORIN FRENEAU’s political poems such as “On as Wheatley proceeds to praise his “valour, for thy the Causes of Political Degeneracy” and his virtues more” (27). And yet, the moment’s hesita- antislavery poem “To Sir Toby.” tion might make readers take pause in considering what on the surface appears to be a rather conven- tional poem in honor of Washington. The critic Carla Willard argues that Wheatley’s “To His Excellency use of the convention of praise in her poetry has General Washington” (1775, 1776) traditionally been misunderstood as “a blundering Wheatley’s celebratory poem to General Washing- choice of heroes: colonial men praised for heroic acts ton, written in 1776 at the height of the Revolu- instead of blamed for ominous or ridiculous ones” Phillis Wheatley 361

(234). On the contrary, Wheatley creates ideal images selves in the soulful pleas for freedom that echoed of the subjects of her poetry and, as her preface to from the pages of her verse. Washington’s poem suggests, “does not attempt In the poem, Wheatley makes no reference to her- to give a ‘true’ picture of the hero at all” (Willard self or to her former status as a slave (she had been 239). Thus, the Washington of the poem is not a manumitted in 1773). Critics like Angelene Jamison refl ection of the real man, but rather the image of a who are prone to see Wheatley as “an eighteenth “great chief” deserving of “a crown, a mansion, and century poet who supported, praised, and imitated a throne that shine / With gold unfading” (41–42). those who enslaved her and her people” examine The hyperbolic nature of the gifts that should be this particular poem and take note of the absence bestowed on Washington, such as a throne with of slavery or the plight of slaves in its celebration of unfading gold, gives credence to Willard’s interpre- America’s independence. Jamison writes, “Phillis tation of the nature of Wheatley’s praise. Further, saw the very country which enslaved her and other the items all represent the very symbols of British Blacks as one deserving some heavenly protection. imperialism that America is fi ghting. How could she be so removed from the plight of her people and the attitude towards her people as to For Discussion or Writing glorify those who were responsible for that wretched Compare Wheatley’s idea of rewarding Washing- condition of slavery?” (133). The critic Carla Willard ton’s efforts in the Revolution with a crown and a sees the omission of Wheatley’s own racial identity throne with Philip Morin Freneau’s interpretation as well as any direct reference to slavery as another of these symbols in his poetry, most especially “On indication of the poet’s subtlety. “There is no ref- the Causes of Political Degeneracy.” erence to the speaker’s African identity; it must be drawn from outside the poem” (239). Within the poem, Wheatley and Columbia mourn the “mutual deaths” of Americans and (1784) “Liberty and Peace” Frenchmen who fought “on hostile fi elds” (40, 39). In contrast to her other poems, even those writ- She compares the peace resounding in the land to ten in praise of living and dead fi gures, Wheatley’s the rising sun, “as from the East th’illustrious King “Liberty and Peace” distinguishes itself by appear- of Day / With rising Radiance drives the Shades ing after the Revolutionary War and thus addressing away” (53–54). Shades is an interesting term as it the achievement of the freedom that the republic implies both those who have died during the war longed for in her prior poems. Written in 1784, this and the absence of light, or the darkness that existed poem celebrates the achievements of the Revolution- during and before the war. The poem concludes tri- ary War and praises France for assisting America in umphantly with “Heavenly Freedom spread[ing] her its struggle to overcome “the Tyrant’s Law” (38). golden Ray” (64). Perhaps this fi nal line is, as some In prior poems, Wheatley was able to draw upon critics have suggested, a capitulation to America the double sense of freedom that referred both to after Wheatley gained own freedom, or perhaps it her personal desire for freedom from the bonds of is, as others have argued, a ray of hope for the slaves slavery and to America’s desire for political freedom who yearned for their freedom after the war. from British rule. After 1776, however, this double sense of freedom no longer registered in her poetry. For Discussion or Writing Many critics attribute the lack of interest in a second 1. How does Wheatley’s depiction of the Revolu- volume of her poetry, which would have included tionary War compare with that offered by Philip “Liberty and Peace,” to the triumphant termination Morin Freneau? How do the two poets envi- of the war. No longer clamorous for liberty from sion a future for America? How do they imagine England, American readers did not envision them- Britain? 362 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

2. As Wheatley’s fi nal published poem before her edited by William H. Robinson, 147–158. Boston: death, “Liberty and Peace” might demonstrate G. K. Hall, 1982. either a growth or a shift in her poetic voice. Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. The Trials of Phillis Wheatley: Compare the poem with one of her earliest America’s First Black Poet and Her Encounters and make an argument for either the change or with the Founding Fathers. New York: Basic Civitas growth you recognize in Wheatley. Books, 2003. Gould, Philip. Genius in Bondage: Literature of the Early Black Atlantic. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2001. FURTHER QUESTIONS ON Isani, Mukhtar Ali. “The Contemporaneous Recep- WHEATLEY AND HER WORK tion of Phillis Wheatley: Newspaper and Magazine 1. One of the distinguishing factors of several of Notices during the Years of Fame, 1765–1774.” Wheatley’s poems is their panegyric quality, or Journal of Negro History 85, no. 4 (2000): their high praise of someone. Select two such 260–273. poems from Wheatley’s body of work and make ———. “Phillis Wheatley and the Elegiac Mode.” In an argument both for the kind of person she Critical Essays on Phillis Wheatley, edited by William deems worthy of praise and for the way those H. Robinson, 208–214. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1982. qualities have further implications that might be Jamison, Angelene. “Analysis of Selected Poetry of political, moral, or both. Phillis Wheatley.” In Critical Essays on Phillis 2. Unlike other early writers of color, Wheatley Wheatley, edited by William H. Robinson, 128– received the freedom she so desperately sought. 135. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1982. She was manumitted in 1773, just years before McAleer Balkun, Mary. “Phillis Wheatley’s Construc- the rebellious colonies that would form the tion of Otherness and the Rhetoric of Performed United States won their war against Britain. To Ideology.” African American Review 36, no. 1 what extent is Wheatley’s poetry revolutionary or (2002): 121–135. democratic? How might you argue that Wheat- Poems: Phillis Wheatley. Available online. URL: ley, rather than Freneau, is the poet of the Ameri- http://www.uoregon.edu/~rbear/wheatley.html. can Revolution? Accessed April 23, 2009. 3. Compare Wheatley’s treatment of Christianity Robinson, William H. Critical Essays on Phillis Wheat- and slavery with those offered by Jupiter Ham- ley. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1982. mon, Olaudah Equiano, and Harriet Jacobs. Shields, John C. “Phillis Wheatley and the Sublime.” In 4. Thomas Jefferson wrote, “Religion, indeed, has Critical Essays on Phillis Wheatley, edited by William produced a Phillis Whatley [sic]; but it could not H. Robinson, 189–205. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1982. produce a poet.” Consider Jefferson’s criticism “Phillis Wheatley.” VG: Voices from the Gaps. Avail- of Wheatley in light of her use of Christianity to able online. URL: http://voices.cla.umn.edu/vg/ argue for the emancipation of slaves. Bios/entries/wheatley_phillis.html. Accessed April 23, 2009. WORKS CITED AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Willard, Carla. “Wheatley’s Turn of Praise: Heroic Collins, Terence. “Phillis Wheatley: The Dark Side of Entrapment and the Paradox of Revolution.” the Poetry.” In Critical Essays on Phillis Wheatley, American Literature 67, no. 2 (1995): 233–256. John Winthrop (1588 –1649)

. . . men shall say of succeeding plantations “the lord make it like that of New England.” For wee must consider that wee shall be as a City upon a Hill.

(A Modell of Christian Charity)

n January 22, 1588, John Winthrop was In 1605, when he was merely 17 years old, Win- Oborn. The year that witnessed his birth was throp married Mary Forth in a union arranged by also the year in which England defeated the great- his father and hers, John Forth (3). As the only heir est naval power in Europe, Spain, clearing the way to the Forth estate in Great Stambridge, Mary, who for England to begin colonizing the New World, was four years older than her husband, guaranteed Winthrop’s future home. This was just after the the future prosperity of their family. Through time in England when the shift from Catholicism Mary, Winthrop met the Puritan minister Eze- to Protestantism, occasioned by Henry VIII, cre- kiel Culverwell and forged a lifelong devotion to ated a new class of landowners, who purchased the religion that would shape his sense of the New estates that were formerly the property of Catholic World and his role as governor of the Massachu- monasteries. John Winthrop’s paternal grandfather setts Bay Colony. During their 10-year marriage, purchased the manor of Groton, formerly the Abby Mary bore six children, four of whom survived past of Bury St. Edmunds, and his father, Adam Win- infancy. She died in June 1615 at the age of 31. throp, added to the family’s landholdings so that Six months later, in December, Winthrop married by the time of young John’s infancy, the Winthrops his second wife, Thomasine Clopton, who died in occupied a position among the elite. childbirth after only one year of marriage. Their He entered Trinity College at Cambridge when infant girl, who was Winthrop’s seventh child, per- he was 15, having been trained for the previous four ished two days later. In April 1618, Winthrop wed years by John Chaplyn. He seems to have ostra- his third wife, Margaret Tyndal, who would follow cized himself from his fellow classmates, however, him to the New World. because of his religious devotion, which caused Unlike the separatists whom WILLIAM BRADFORD him to draw attention to the mundane sins of his followed, Puritans like Winthrop did not seek to classmates such as cursing. In his papers, Winthrop leave England or its church, but rather to effect its fi rst mentions his “notions of God” when he was reform. In his daily dealings in London as a lawyer, 10 years old. Such devotion was uncommon at such Winthrop wrote to his brother-in-law of his repulsion a young age, and it is quite likely that Winthrop’s at the moral corruption he witnessed there, refer- conscientiousness was rather off-putting to young ring to it as “this sinful lande” (6). He expressed his students more interested in pranks and nightly vis- desire for national and religious reform in 1624 when its from a prostitute. Two years after his entrance at he drew up a list of “Common Grievances Groanings Cambridge, Winthrop returned home to Groton. for Reformation” (7). From January 1627 to June

363 364 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

1629, Winthrop worked as an attorney at the Court colony in October 1635. He also faced political of Wards and Liveries. At that time, Winthrop wrote threats to his authority as governor from the young to his wife, “My offi ce is gone.” Critics do not know colonist Thomas Dudley, father of ANNE BRAD- whether he resigned his position as a lawyer or he STREET, who would challenge Winthrop during the was forced to leave because of his religious beliefs. It election in 1634 and defeat his bid for governor. is clear, however, that he had been considering emi- From 1634 to 1637, Winthrop remained outside gration to New England at the time, for he wrote to the political sphere in the Massachusetts Bay Col- his wife, “The Lorde hath admonished, threatened, ony, but he was soon back in the thick of it after the corrected, and astonished us, yet we grow worse and next election. worse. . . . He hath smitten all the other Churches Dudley served as deputy governor during the before our eyes. . . . I am very persuaded, God will fi rst years of settlement, and it is quite likely that bring some heavye Affl iction upon this land, and Winthrop’s decision in locating the colony might that speedylye” (2:91–92). have initially sparked friction between the two. Soon afterward, the Massachusetts Bay Colony Dudley built his home in Newtown (present-day was formed, and in October of the same year, Win- Cambridge) with the impression that it would be throp was elected as their governor. He wrote of the center of the colony. However, he was alarmed his own responsibility in this role: “The welfare to discover that Winthrop chose to settle on the of the plantation depends upon my assistance: for peninsula, on the other side of the Charles River, in the maine pillars of it beinge gentlemen of highe Shawmut (present-day Boston). The river became qualitye, and eminent partes, bothe for wisdome both a physical and a symbolic barrier between the and godlinesse, are deteremined to sitt still, if I two. As the historian Edmund Morgan suggests, deserte them” (reported in Schweninger 8). Win- “Dudley, as deputy governor, was close enough to throp, accompanied by his son Henry, set sail for the throne and piqued at not occupying it” (104). the New World in spring 1630 aboard the Arbella. Dudley’s ire over the governor’s powers was made Because his wife, Margaret, was far along in her public in a series of complaints lodged against Win- pregnancy, she remained temporarily behind to see throp for overstepping his bounds. In addition to to the sale of the estate at Groton and to deliver an incident with the fi shing weir, Dudley accused her child before sailing with Winthrop’s eldest son, Winthrop of assuming too much authority in John, Jr., who also remained behind (9). erecting a fort, sending gunpowder to Plymouth, As detailed in his journal, Winthrop’s 19 years and not forcing two banished men from the com- in New England, ending in his death in 1649, were munity (73). challenging, physically, fi scally, and spiritually. The Winthrop’s second term as governor saw him severity of New England weather, coupled with the facing his greatest threat—Anne Hutchinson. Sup- need for good, wholesome food, were early threats ported by John Wheelwright, a radical minister, and to the colony, but these were followed by theologi- Henry Vane, Hutchinson was an outspoken pro- cal divisions that threatened to tear the young col- ponent of antinomianism, which challenged Win- ony apart. The separatist Roger Williams, who did throp’s political and theological authority. Although not believe in Winthrop’s notion of reform within she emerged as a threat prior to his return to the the Church of England but, as did Bradford, lob- governorship, Hutchinson was supported by the bied for the Colony’s separation from the nation then-governor, Henry Vane, and was only banished and its corrupt church, was the fi rst outspoken once Winthrop took offi ce again and had the author- fi gure to threaten the colony’s peace. His call for ity to remove her and Wheelwright (12). Winthrop the colony to break from the Church of England, described Hutchinson as having “ready wit and bold following the need to replace Pastor Wilson at Bos- spirit,” claims that indicate, albeit in a negative light, ton’s church, caused him to be banished from the her articulateness and intelligence (11). John Winthrop 365

Personally, Winthrop’s devotion to matters of throp. Robert C. Winthrop, Jr., readily admits that the colony took his attention away from the affairs he purposefully deleted a list of sins that Winthrop of his own household. And 10 years after settling included in his journal, stating that they were writ- in New England, Winthrop learned that Thomas ten in cipher, were abbreviated, and were thus Luxford, whom he had hired to manage his prop- “quite unintelligible to any eye but his own” (1:16). erty and business, had run the governor into such A common theme that emerges from the journal is debt that he was forced to sell off much of his land the author’s worldliness: “Worldly cares thought and live in a more modest home. The critic Lee not in any grosse manner outwardly, yet seacretly, Schweninger considers the amount of time it took together with a seacret desire after pleasures and Winthrop to become apprised of the dire state of itching after libertie and unlawful delights, had his fi nances under Luxford’s mismanagement as brought me to waxe wearie of good duties and so indicative both of the governor’s devotion to colo- to forsake my fi rst love, whence came muche troble nial affairs and of his naive trust in Luxford (12). and danger” (1:161–162). In addressing his fi rst In addition to Thomas Dudley, Winthrop faced love, Winthrop is referring to his love of Christ and other fi gures and charges that undermined his confessing to the various desires he has for things authority as governor. His fi rst term as governor of the world that prevent him from attaining a true ended in part because of an event like that which covenant with God. occurred in 1632. When fi shermen appealed to the Winthrop wrote of the dangers inherent in being governor for the construction of a fi shing weir, Win- too much of this world, “The love of the worlde throp decided to act, instead of defer, as he should even in a small measure, will coole, if not kill, the legally have done, to the decision of the General life of sinceritye in Religion, and will abolishe the Court. He defended his overstepping of the court’s verye memorye of heavenly affections” (1:212). As authority by arguing that since they only met once an indication of Winthrop’s sense of his own sins, a quarter, and the fi shermen needed permission to he includes such activities as using tobacco, hunt- construct the weir in a timely fashion, he decided ing, sitting up late, eating for pleasure rather than for their benefi t. Similar charges of the governor’s sustenance, and being impatient (17). He resolved exceeding his authority would emerge again when in his spiritual journal to give up the sport of hunt- he attempted to exercise a veto in the case of own- ing, having offered up a list of various reasons ership of a sow. Winthrop, who detested the notion why it was sinful and a practice not to be pursued of democracy, believed that the deputies might (17–18). He further worried over his own propen- exercise their authority together and overthrow sity to overeat and to be lazy or indolent (18). To the governor, whom he believed most qualifi ed to assist him in ridding himself of these sins, Win- govern. throp forms a covenant with God, which includes Winthrop’s beliefs regarding rule and obeisance a list of resolutions on his part (18). Schweninger were fundamentally shaped by his Puritan faith. considers the personal covenants Winthrop forges Once elected to the position of governor, Win- with God in his spiritual journal to adumbrate his throp believed that whoever occupied the position call for a covenant with the members of the Massa- was operating with an authority from God. Prior to chusetts Bay Colony, which bound them to a moral the birth of his fi rst son, Winthrop began keeping code (19). a journal to record his religious experiences, as was Originating as a fi shing and trading company, customary for Puritans such as COTTON MATHER the Massachusetts Bay Colony, organized in 1623, and Anne Bradstreet. The original document was had become defunct. When the company’s gov- destroyed by his ancestor, Robert C. Winthrop, Jr., ernor, John Endicott, petitioned the Crown for a who recorded sections of the spiritual diary and new royal charter, King Charles I responded with published them as The Life and Letters of John Win- a document that created the Massachusetts Bay 366 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

Colony, which, like its predecessor, was intended to by God. In response to his own friend, Robert be a trading company (31). Winthrop believes that Ryece, who argues that the nation needs Puritans the omission of England or London as the place for to remain in England and effect positive reform the company to hold its quarterly meetings, which within the nation, Winthrop anticipates his own made the charter unique, allowed them to erect famous sermon preached aboard the Arbella, that their entire government in New England and thus the colony would be a model for others to turn afforded the colonists unbounded freedom (31). away from their wickedness (38). In justifi cation for his membership in the colony Winthrop’s own justifi cations for emigration and his departure from England, Winthrop began were also enhanced by other documents and ser- writing and editing “Arguments for the Planta- mons that commended the colonists to God and tion of New England.” The document, which had acknowledged their risks in leaving the motherland fi ve sections, opens with religion as the fi rst reason for New England. One of these documents was the for emigration: “propagacion of the gospel to the “Agreement at Cambridge,” which was drafted in Indians.” Thus, Winthrop foregrounds his Calvin- summer 1629 and signed by all those who boarded ist faith, and his national desire for the colony, as the 12 ships headed for Massachusetts. This docu- subject to the British Crown, to rival Spain’s spread ment afforded the colony its economic indepen- of Catholicism (33). Winthrop follows the Eliza- dence by turning over the stock to 10 underwriters, bethan promotional tracts in the second section, with Winthrop as one (39). He reiterates his belief where he lists the abundance of fl ora and fauna to that the colony will serve as an example for other be found in the New World as reason for their emi- Christian societies to follow: “Consider your repu- gration to New England (33). Schweninger believes tation, the eyes of all the godly are upon you, what Winthrop availed himself of Captain JOHN SMITH’s can you do more honorable for this Citye, and the Description of New England in writing the text’s Gospell which you profess.” second section (33). He calls for skilled crafts- The biographer Lee Schweninger believes that men to emigrate, as well as saints, as the Puritans Winthrop best expressed his views on government in referred to themselves, believing that they could his “Little Speech on Liberty,” a response to accusa- not accomplish their goal of religious conversion of tions by the people of Hingham that he had once New England’s native population without “persons again exceeded his authority by appointing a military meete for such a worke” (2:133). captain unpopular with the people (113). Despite Winthrop also addresses possible criticisms of Winthrop’s initial position of humility, confessing his emigration, chief among them the encroach- that he is a person and therefore subject to making ment on natives’ land, the need for such stellar indi- mistakes as all people are, he goes on to justify his viduals to remain in England during its theological authority as proceeding from God himself. In Win- crisis, and the tangible rewards being forfeited for throp’s reasoning, since the people are Christians the unknown climes of the New World. Refl ecting and they elected him to the position of governor, the feeling of the times, Winthrop believes that the then his authority is from God: “It is yourselves who natives, who do not have a crop-based living, are have called us to this offi ce, and being called by you, not using land that would be made more profi table we have our authority from God.” Further, in regard in the hands of the colonists. Further, he argues to their accusations against him, Winthrop seems to that the colonists’ presence as Christians who can evoke the well-known biblical passage from John, convert the heathens also justifi es their occupa- “Let he who is without sin cast the fi rst stone” (John tion of native lands. Finally, Winthrop mentions 8:7). Winthrop states that any “infi rmity” they wit- the plagues that have recently killed a signifi cant ness in him should occasion their own refl ection on number of natives, reading such a disaster as a sign their frailties. Thus, Winthrop argues, the colonists from God that American Indians are not favored will be less likely to complain about their leaders John Winthrop 367 when they recognize that they, too, commit similar for the Massachusetts Bay Colony. It opens with errors (113–114). a justifi cation of the class structure inherited from On the issue of liberty, Winthrop distinguishes England: “Some must be rich some poore, some between natural liberty and civil or federal liberty. highe and eminent in power and dignitie, others The fi rst category he likens unto beasts: “By this, means and in subjeccion.” These apparent differ- man, as he stands in relation to man simply, hath ences in class and character were ordered by God liberty to do what he lists; it is a liberty to evil as and are thus inherent. Because these differences well as to good. This liberty is incompatible and are organic and sanctioned by God, Winthrop inconsistent with authority, and cannot endure the argues, it is necessary for those in power to practice least restraint of the most just authority” (2:238). “love, mercy, gentleness, and temperance” while Thus, the notion of democracy, in which the peo- those of the “poore and inferiour sorte” should be ple decide by a majority, would fall under the cat- ruled by “faithe, patience, and obedience.” Win- egory of natural liberty for Winthrop as it stands in throp concludes that divine providence has ranked direct opposition to authority. The notion of civil humans in these two categories so that they might or federal liberty, however, is morally sound as it knit together as a colony in their mutual need and refers to “the covenant between God and man.” affection for one another. In other words, rather Civil liberty is exercised in complete subjection to than that these divisions in wealth create divisive- authority. He ends his speech by summarizing the ness among the settlers, Winthrop considers the essential difference between the two concepts of hierarchy to unite them as “every man afford his liberty: “If you stand for your natural corrupt lib- help to another in every want or distress.” The erties, and will do what is good in your own eyes, concept seems similar to noblesse oblige, whereby you will not endure the least weight of authority, the wealthy members of the aristocracy are morally but will murmur, and oppose, and be always striv- bound to aid those who are less fortunate than ing to shake off that yoke; but if you will be satis- they in rank and material possessions. Winthrop’s fi ed to enjoy such civil and lawful liberties, such as family status as landed gentry would certainly have Christ allows you, then will you quietly and cheer- predisposed him to maintain the social ranking fully submit unto that authority which is set over system inherited from England when traveling to you” (2:238–239). the New World. Schweninger disagrees with the These concepts of authority and civil liberty view that Winthrop perpetuates England’s hier- were key elements in Winthrop’s own life, as well archical social structure, believing instead that he as his reign as governor of the Massachusetts Bay “was willing to circumvent the conventional class Colony. They were leading principles of the Puri- structure insofar as the success of the plantation tan faith that so guided and directed his life and his depends on all men and women working together, decisions, such as abandoning his wealth and posi- rich and poor alike” (42). tion in London to set out for the New World and Winthrop advocates the golden rule in guid- the creation of a colony that would be a beacon for ing the encounters among colonists, quoting from England and other societies worldwide. Winthrop Matthew: “Whatsoever ye would that men should died in his colony on March 26, 1649. do to you” (5:43). Although on the surface, this concept appears to advocate a democratic blurring of class lines with all treating each other as equals, Winthrop has already dispelled the accuracy of (1630) A Modell of Christian Charity such an interpretation from the opening lines of Winthrop’s lay sermon, which contains the most the sermon in which he deems these class differ- famous of all lines, “a city on a hill,” was deliv- ences to be innate and ordained by God. Later, ered aboard the Arbella and outlines his hopes when he likens the colony unto a body with its 368 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers various parts, he maintains the concept of differ- love of mankind in its fallen state. The love of self ence, for each part has its own labor to perform and a pursuit of self-interest defi ned humans in the for the good of the whole. For Winthrop, differ- postlapsarian world until the coming of Christ. For ence should be accepted among the colonists and Winthrop, Christ’s works were in taking possession instead of attempting to surmount it, the settlers of the soul and infusing it with love of God and love should unite as Christians against nonbelievers. of one’s fellow human being. The love between and Yet even this difference does not endure, for Win- among Christians is continually supplied by Christ. throp’s sermon, which is on the topic of charity, Thus, for Winthrop, acts of charity that exhibit calls for the Christians to give food to the enemies love, mercy, and kindness toward another human who hunger and love to the enemies who hate. being are made possible through the death and res- Withholding charity, even under trying times, is urrection of Christ and are thus reaffi rmations of not excusable, Winthrop argues, because it might the bond that humans have with Christ. In Calvin- “tempt God, in putting him upon help by miracu- ist thinking, acts of charity do not guarantee one’s lous or extraordinary meanes.” redemption after death, but they are nevertheless The “bond” or “ligament” holding the various visible signs of one’s faith and devotion. parts together and knitting them into a function- In further exploration of the dynamics of love ing whole is, Winthrop believes, love. By way of as a uniting principle drawing Christians together defi ning the binding characteristic of this love, he through Christ, Winthrop considers the importance references the love of Christ for mankind and the of sameness or recognized similarity. He likens the one body formed by all Christians and the church. love that a mother has for her child “because shee He then moves from the scriptural references to thoroughly conceives a resemblance of herselfe in the body to project the dynamic that he hopes will it” to God’s love for those privileged few who are prevail among the colonists. “All the parts of this members of the elect. Winthrop returns again to body being thus united are made soe continguous the prelapsarian scene of Adam and Eve to reiterate in a speciall relacion as they must needes partake his point that a sense of similarity fosters love, and of each others strength and infi rmity, joy, and sor- a desire to aid and care for “fl esh of my fl esh and rowe, weale and woe.” Again, Winthrop cites a bone of my bone.” scriptural passage, from Corinthians, echoing the Readers might glimpse Winthrop’s own ide- same sentiment. The relationship of the part to alized sense of a Puritan wife in his portrayal of the whole follows a pattern established by Christ Eve’s demonstrations of love for Adam: desiring and his disciples where those called “servants of to be near him, confessing the “inmost closet of the Churche” performed their labor out of love. her heart,” sighing and moaning in sympathy, and Winthrop next addresses the source of this love, rejoicing in his happiness. Further, to reiterate to stating that Adam “in his fi rst estate was a perfect readers the selfl ess nature of the love motivating model of mankinde . . . and in him this love was these actions and emotional responses, Winthrop perfected in regard of the habit.” Thus, Winthrop states, “She fi nds recompence enoughe in the exer- traces the history of love within humans back to cise of her love towards it.” Other biblical examples the original human described in the Book of Gen- of people’s hazarding their own lives to remain esis. Adam’s fall from grace does not only occasion with those whom they love include David and his expulsion from the Garden of Eden, but, more Jonathan, and Ruth and Naomi. Winthrop has- to Winthrop’s purpose, creates in him, and thus in tens to clarify lest this form of love be mistaken for all subsequent generations, a desire “to love and unrequited love. He returns to his prevailing meta- seeke himselfe onely.” In other words, the uniting phor of a body and its various parts and focuses and selfl ess love that defi ned mankind in its perfect specifi cally on the mouth. Although the mouth and innocent state turns to the dividing and selfi sh is taxed with receiving and mincing the food that John Winthrop 369 will provide nourishment for the entire body, Win- cal matters as well. The greater good is the ultimate throp argues, “it hath no cause to complaine” and goal of the colony, and thus every member is called presents two reasons: The mouth enjoys the plea- to sacrifi ce private gain willingly for public good. sure, and contentment of performing this function In his third point, he continues his argument for exceeds the pains of labor. He seems quickly to acting in concert. If the colonists “doe more service abandon this metaphor to return to the scenario to the Lord [to] the comforte and encrease of the of Christians’ loving fellow Christians. The mere body of Christ,” then they will not only improve discovery of an object of affection “that which it their lives but also provide for their posterity a soci- may love fervently” is in itself a source of “pleasure ety that has preserved itself from the corruptions of and content.” The mutual aspect of love, of loving the evil world. Further, they will have increased the and being loved, is deemed “a soul’s paradice both body of Christ through their efforts in converting heare and in heaven.” American Indians. Having secured the specifi c principles and defi - Charged as the colonists are, Winthrop believes, nitions of this form of love, Winthrop proposes to they must devote themselves to their task not apply “this discourse by the present designe which “with usuall ordinary meanes,” but with “familiar gave the occasion of writeing of it.” He begins by and constant practise” and “without dissimula- defi ning the people who compose the Massachu- tion.” The tension Winthrop creates here is plainly setts Bay Colony through their mutually shared between England and the New World, between identities as Christians and advocates following the “theire Churches” and “ourselves.” Although he model of an early French reformer, Peter Valdes, in does not necessarily denigrate the Church of Eng- loving one another as Christians even before they land, and unlike separatists like Bradford he does have become acquainted with one another. It is not openly express a desire to leave the church, telling that Winthrop would look to Peter Valdes Winthrop nevertheless makes clear his position on as a fi gure worthy of emulation since this wealthy the superiority of the religious beliefs and practices man dedicated his life and his material possessions of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Indeed, Win- to denouncing the Catholic Church. In the 12th throp lists three principles explaining why the pres- century, Valdes founded the Society of the Poor sure for the colony to keep their covenant with God Men of Lyons and the followers, whom Winthrop is more intense than for those in England, “among refers to as “Waldenses.” A wealthy man, Peter whome wee have lived.” Valdes gave away his riches to the poor, dedicated The fi rst reason he offers is a parallel of the himself to the Gospels, and generated a group of special dynamic the colonists have with God and proselytes to travel the world and denounce the the biblical example of God’s targeting the Israel- Catholic Church. This sense of Christian love, ites especially for punishment because they are the then, unites the disparate members of the colony, only people he has known “of all the families of for as Winthrop writes, they have lived and worked the Earthe.” The second reason, similar to the fi rst, apart from each other prior to their membership in is to distance themselves from others who “cor- the colony. rupted the service of the Lord” by using incense Building on this foundation, Winthrop stresses and offering a “strange fi re.” Winthrop offers the that “for the worke wee have in hand,” it is essential tale of Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, who, for the colonists to seek out a settlement where they as depicted in Leviticus, made such offerings to may all live under a government that is “both civill God and were devoured (Leviticus 10:1–2). The and ecclesiasticall.” In other words, their religious principle behind these two biblical references seems identities, and their religious goals, necessitate that to be the same: Chosen people suffer a greater pun- the government formed by the Massachusetts Bay ishment from God for fl outing his principles or Colony address not only civil policy, but ecclesiasti- their covenant with him. Third, Winthrop recites 370 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers the tale of Saul, whom God charged with the task for wee must consider that wee shall be as a Citty of destroying the Amalekites. Saul disobeyed God upon a Hill.” Thus, Winthrop concludes his ser- by sparing the sheep and oxen, and for this reason, mon with the most famous and enduring image of he was not made king (1 Samuel 15:1–34). As Win- Puritan colonialism: the notion that the colony will throp advises, “When God gives a speciall commis- endure in people’s minds as a shining example of sion he lookes to have it stricktly observed in every God’s elect. The Massachusetts Bay Colony is des- Article.” Thus, the colonists will need to be mind- tined for greatness, to be “made a story and a by- ful of every aspect of their covenant with God and word through the world.” Others are thus expected ensure that they are obeying them. to look to the plantation as a model to follow. Win- Winthrop applies the promises or contracts throp warns that all of this glory and praise can just existing between God and the various fi gures cited as easily be undone if the members do not obey and from the Bible to himself and his fellow colonists. are seduced by the pursuit of earthly pleasures and Similarly to these other people, Winthrop writes, profi t. the members of the Massachusetts Bay Colony “are entered into Covenant with him,” and in exchange For Discussion or Writing for God’s “favour and blessing,” they must strictly 1. Keeping in mind that Winthrop delivered this adhere to the articles that they themselves com- sermon sometime aboard the Arbella before posed. What is worthy of comment is that Win- they reached New England, consider how it throp gives himself and the colonists the power to gives insight into Winthrop’s vision for the Mas- negotiate their own behavior in the form of their sachusetts Bay Colony. Why begin with a dis- own articles. Following the “Counsell of Micah,” cussion of class structures? Winthrop proposes a strict adherence to this bibli- 2. Winthrop’s phrase “We shall be as a city upon a cal passage: to act justly, love mercy, and walk hum- hill” created an enduring image in American lit- bly with God (Micah 6:8). Humility is a central erature and culture. Consider other authors and principle that Winthrop stresses, and it introduces images that are similar to Winthrop’s. a point of tension because at the same time that the colonists wish to receive God’s special blessing and favor, they must also be mindful not to seek out (1630–1645) greatness for themselves or their posterity. In other The Journal of John Winthrop words, although Winthrop and his colonists enter With his fi rst entry dated Easter Monday 1630, into a covenant with God in the hope of differenti- John Winthrop began his journal while aboard ating themselves from others, they must not gloat the Arbella, making its way to New England. about their privileged state. What would follow, in his 19 years of faithful and The articles Winthrop proposes also include sporadic entries on the events concerning the Mas- many of the central themes of his lay sermon: to sachusetts Bay Colony, would become invaluable care for the good of the whole and sacrifi ce per- primary material for historians and subsequent sonal gain for the community, to act together in colonists in North America. Cotton Mather, Wil- concert, and to share in suffering, labor, mourning, liam Hubbard, Thomas Prince, Ezra Stiles, Jona- and rejoicing. The Lord will be among them, and than Trumbull, and Jeremy Belknap all had access they will “see much more of his wisdome, power, to Winthrop’s three-volume journal, courtesy of and goodness, and truthe then formerly wee have the Winthrop family. Currently, the fi rst and third beene acquainted with.” Fortifi ed with God’s favor, volumes of the original journal are housed in the Winthrop writes of how the colony will be viewed Massachusetts historical society, but the second, in in the future: “Men shall say of succeeding planta- its original form, is lost forever, having been con- tions: the Lord make it like that of New England: sumed in a fi re at James Savage’s offi ce while the John Winthrop 371 librarian of the historical society was reading and relative safety of the ocean voyage. In this respect, transcribing it. For all of the fi gures who recog- one might see the early sections of the journal nized the importance of Winthrop’s journal as an performing a similar function to Captain JOHN early account of colonial life in North America, it is SMITH’s promotional tracts. It is a public document surprising that it was not published until 150 years that is made by a private man who assumes a public after Winthrop’s death (Dunn 186). The critic persona, as evidenced by his use of the third person Richard Dunn remarks that the journal takes on pronoun we and his limited reference to himself in different levels of detail and subject matter depend- the fi rst person. In fact, he refers to himself in the ing upon a variety of factors including whether third person as “the governor.” Winthrop was in a position of power. When he was The tension between the intended public nature functioning as governor, the entries are tempered, of the journal and the private man who was writing so that controversies are easily remedied, and evi- its entries becomes most apparent in years of strife dence of dissent is silenced. Gathering materials and controversy. After the return of more than 80 from other documents and comparing them to settlers to England, Winthrop developed a strat- Winthrop’s journal, Dunn notes that the governor egy to treat all instances of colonists’ departing does not mention the 200 people who died within from Massachusetts or quarreling with the gov- the fi rst year, or the additional 200 who departed ernment as people destined to suffer God’s wrath from the colony and returned to England (194). for their wickedness and their departure from the Further, when Winthrop remarks on the joyous covenant outlined in A Modell of Christian Char- return of the Lyon carrying much-needed food ity (Dunn 195). Such a strategy proves key to the and other supplies to the settlers, he omits that sentencing and banishment of Anne Hutchinson the ship returned to England carrying more than and the removal of THOMAS MORTON, two of 80 unhappy colonists (195). Dunn attributes these Winthrop’s most threatening neighbors. As justi- calculated omissions or silences to Winthrop’s fi cation for his actions, Winthrop draws upon the sense of the journal as a “semipublic statement Old Testament tales of fi gures who incur God’s by the leader of the colony” (194). Editors of the wrath for their wicked acts. He does not hesitate journals also participated in the removal or silenc- throughout the journal’s three volumes to docu- ing of certain topics addressed by Winthrop such as ment tales of hardship and death visited upon the tale of Anne Hutchinson’s monstrous birth or those who defy the Massachusetts church-state the charges of bestiality fi led against the colonist system, such as Anne Hutchinson, John Humfrey, William Hatchet (Dunn 187). and Dr. Child. Winthrop seems to have looked to William Beginning in late October 1636, Winthrop Bradford’s Of Plymouth Plantation and the Old makes his fi rst entry on the fi gure whom Richard Testament tales of backsliding and divine punish- Dunn believes to have been “an even more danger- ment as models for his journal (Dunn 196). Fur- ous adversary than the Pequots” (201). Winthrop ther, Dunn believes that the early entries detailing calls Hutchinson a “woman of ready wit and bold specifi c nautical information were modeled after spirit” and thus in his own indirect manner recog- Francis Higginson, who penned a sea journal when nizes the attributes that might call others to listen he crossed the Atlantic for the Massachusetts Bay to her speak, as many did. Hutchinson, Winthrop Colony. Winthrop sent for Higginson’s journal reports, “brought over with her two dangerous and requested that his son Forth make copies of errors: 1. That the person of the Holy Ghost dwells certain passages, which would then be distributed in a justifi ed person. 2. That no sanctifi cation can to neighbors interested in emigration to the New help to evidence to us our justifi cation.” Such theo- World (191–192). Thus, Winthrop’s journal pro- ries are radically dangerous because they challenge vides future colonists with assurances about the the foundations of Winthrop’s own religious beliefs 372 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers and, in doing so, threaten his authority over the as has William Bradford, of signs that he witnesses colony and his vision for its destiny. In the fi rst that demonstrate God’s favor on the colonists. Sim- statement, Hutchinson sees the elect as having the ilarly, the two early settlers recite numerous tales in spirit of God within them. This anticipates Quaker which their enemies’ hardships or deaths are con- belief regarding an “inner light” that allows every sidered to be signs of God’s harsh judgment. When person the ability to communicate with God, with- John Humfrey deserted the Massachusetts Bay out the intervention of priests or ministers. Thus, Colony for the West Indies, Winthrop considers it rids the colony of its central structure, the Cal- the fi re that burned his barn and its contents, hay vinist church. It differs from Calvinist thinking, in and corn, as just punishment for breaking the cove- which the elect commune with the Holy Spirit only nant with God. Similarly, when Hutchinson suffers after their death, when they alone are given entry a miscarriage, what Winthrop describes in his jour- into heaven while all others suffer eternal damna- nal as “a monstrous birth,” he writes of it as a sign tion in hell. Taken to its extreme, Hutchinson’s of “her error in denying inherent righteousness.” fi rst theory of the divine’s existing within humans Thus, ironically, he views her miscarriage as God’s would, naturally, lead to the conclusion that the punishment specifi cally for her second theory that Holy Spirit dwells within everyone, and thus all are the elect cannot look to the world for evidence of destined for heaven. This belief confronts the Cal- their election, or “justifi cation.” vinist concept of predestination, in which a select Given Winthrop’s predisposition to abide by few are among the elect, or “justifi ed,” people. God’s laws and to read the tragedies or triumphs Winthrop’s vision for the colony as a “city upon a of others in terms of God’s judgment, it is under- hill” is based on the Calvinist doctrine of predes- standable that he would engage in a 20-year debate tination by asserting that the colonists are God’s with the deputies over the creation of judicial power chosen people. Hutchinson’s statement leads to in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and a code that an egalitarianism that is spiritually and politically would prescribe specifi c punishments for a variety offensive to Winthrop. of crimes. Key to the freemen’s attempts to create Further, Hutchinson’s beliefs might have led a set of laws was the fear that magistrates held too Puritans to dispense with the Bible and other much power and could use it at their own discre- tools of learning about God since they were fi lled tion to create harsh and uneven punishments for with the Holy Spirit and were thus endowed with individuals who committed the same crimes but enlightened minds. Hutchinson herself proclaimed who were held in strong contempt by the magis- that she had received a message from God telling trates on a personal level. To Winthrop, “God have her the veracity of her theories, and, most impor- provided all the rules that were needed to govern” tant, that she was destined for heaven. The Puri- (Cahn 108). Further still, the Charter of the Mas- tan culture revolved around ministers and other sachusetts Bay Company provided magistrates with offi cials interpreting signs from the Bible and from legislative and judicial functions to “make laws and events in everyday life as divine revelations. To have ordinances for the good and welfare of the said a layperson, and a woman at that, declare her own company” (reported in Cahn 112). In his journal salvation as assured through a direct message from in 1639, Winthrop wrote, “The people had long God dismantled the patriarchal order of the church desired a body of laws, and thought their condition and challenged the central tenet of the religion. very unsafe, while so much power rested in the dis- Hutchinson’s second point is that “no sanctifi - cretion of the magistrates.” His fear was that this cation can help to evidence to us our justifi cation.” “body of laws” would become a public declaration This concept also directly challenges Calvinist by the members of the Massachusetts Bay Colony thought regarding the signs God provides in the that they were not, as he had so powerfully pro- world of his favor or disfavor. Winthrop has written, jected en route to the colony, a “city upon a hill.” John Winthrop 373

When Winthrop was on trial for overstepping Winthrop weaves these two threads together in his rightful powers in 1645 by intervening in a comparison with William Bradford. Are there militia election held in Hingham, his defense, moments when, even if they are discussing his- recorded in his journal, provides insight into his torical events, it is possible to learn something view of Puritan political philosophy (Schaar 495). personal about the authors? Winthrop wrote of the reciprocal nature of mag- 3. How does Winthrop, as do Thomas Morton istrates: “I entreat you to consider that when you and John Smith, create a promotional tract in choose magistrates, you take them from among his writing, with the aim of enticing others to yourselves, men subject to like passion as you make the diffi cult and dangerous journey to the are. Therefore, when you see infi rmities in us you colonies? should refl ect upon your own and not be severe censurers of the failings of your magistrates when you have continual experience of the like infi rmi- ties in yourselves and others.” In his statement, FURTHER QUESTIONS ON Winthrop reminds his critics that he not only is WINTHROP AND HIS WORK one of them, in that both are human and thus 1. In his journal, Winthrop devises a list of resolu- subject to failings, but also that he was chosen tions by which he will seek to improve himself. from among them to represent them. A magistrate His list, however, is imagined to be a covenant is thus a refl ection of his constituency, and any with God. Consider how Winthrop’s notions failure perceived in the magistrate should be bal- of self-improvement compare and contrast with anced with self-examination on the colonists’ own BENJAMIN FRANKLIN’s, as famously outlined in part. his autobiography. In 1645, Winthrop imagined the purpose and 2. Look through Winthrop’s writings for other function he intended his journal to have: “It may similes besides the “city upon a hill” and devise be of use to leave a memorial of some of the most an argument in which you uncover the central material, that our posterity and others may behold ideals Winthrop wished to expound in the New the workings of Satan to ruin the colonies and World. Do these values still hold currency in the churches of Christ in New England, and into what United States today? Do you see them refl ected distempers a wise and godly people may fall in times in other authors after Winthrop? of temptation; and when such have entertained some false and plausible principles, what deformed WORKS CITED AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES superstructures they will raise thereupon, and with Bremer, Francis J. John Winthrop: America’s Forgotten what unreasonable obstinacy they will maintain Founding Father. New York: Oxford University them” (2:240). Press, 2003. ———, and L. A. Botelho, eds. The World of John For Discussion or Writing Winthrop: Essays on England and New England, 1. Winthrop’s journals have been the primary 1588–1649. Boston: Massachusetts Historical Soci- source for early histories of colonial life in New ety, 2005. England. Consider Winthrop’s parable of the Cahn, Mark D. “Punishment, Discretion, and the mouse killing the snake, which is an instance Codifi cation of Prescribed Penalties in Colonial in nature of God’s prevailing over Satan. How Massachusetts.” American Journal of Legal History does this religious image of struggle contribute 33, no. 2 (April 1989): 107–136. to early American history? Dunn, Richard S. “John Winthrop Writes His Jour- 2. Other authors besides Winthrop have mixed nal.” William and Mary Quarterly 41 (1984): the personal with the public. Consider how 185–212. 374 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

Morgan, Edmund S. The Puritan Dilemma: The Story Winthrop, John. A Modell of Christian Charity. Avail- of John Winthrop. Boston: Little, Brown, 1958. able online. URL: http://history.hanover.edu/ Reuben, Paul P. “John Winthrop.” Perspectives texts/winthmod.html. Accessed April 23, 2009. in American Literature. Available online. URL: Winthrop, Robert C. Life and Letters of John Winthrop, http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/ second edition. 2 vols. Boston: Little, Brown, 1869. chap1/winthrop.html. Accessed April 23, 2009. Winthrop Papers: A Project of the Massachusetts Schaar, John H. “Liberty/Authority/Community in Historical Society. Available online. URL: http:// the Political Thought of John Winthrop.” Political www.millersville.edu/~winthrop/. Accessed April Theory 19, no. 4 (1991): 493–518. 23, 2009. Schweninger, Lee. John Winthrop. Boston: Twayne, Winthrop Papers. 5 vols. Boston: Massachusetts His- 1990. torical Society, 1929–47.

Appendix I Alphabetical List of Writers Included in All Volumes of the Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

Adams, Henry 1838–1918 Volume 2 Collins, Billy 1941– Volume 5 Adams, John, and 1735–1826 Volume 1 Columbus, Christopher 1451–1506 Volume 1 Abigail Adams 1744–1818 Cooper, James Fenimore 1789–1851 Volume 1 Albee, Edward 1928– Volume 4 Crane, Hart 1899–1932 Volume 3 Alcott, Louisa May 1832–1888 Volume 2 Crane, Stephen 1871–1900 Volume 2 Alvarez, Julia 1950– Volume 5 Crèvecoeur, J. Hector 1735–1813 Volume 1 Anaya, Rudolfo 1937– Volume 5 St. John de Anderson, Sherwood 1876–1942 Volume 3 Cullen, Countee 1903–1946 Volume 3 Angelou, Maya 1928– Volume 5 Cummings, E. E. 1894–1962 Volume 3 Baca, Jimmy Santiago 1952– Volume 5 Davis, Rebecca Harding 1831–1910 Volume 2 Baldwin, James 1924–1987 Volume 4 Dickinson, Emily 1830–1886 Volume 2 Bambara, Toni Cade 1939– Volume 5 Dos Passos, John 1896–1970 Volume 3 Baraka, Amiri 1934– Volume 5 Douglass, Frederick 1818–1895 Volume 2 (Leroi Jones) Dove, Rita 1952– Volume 5 Bellow, Saul 1915–2005 Volume 4 Dreiser, Theodore 1871–1945 Volume 3 Bierce, Ambrose 1842–1914? Volume 2 DuBois, W. E. B. 1868–1963 Volume 3 Bishop, Elizabeth 1911–1979 Volume 4 Dunbar, Paul Laurence 1872–1906 Volume 2 Bonnin, Gertrude 1876–1938 Volume 3 Edwards, Jonathan 1703–1758 Volume 1 Simmons (Zitkala-Ša) Eliot, T. S. 1888–1965 Volume 3 Bradbury, Ray 1920– Volume 4 Ellison, Ralph 1914–1994 Volume 4 Bradford, William 1590–1657 Volume 1 Emerson, Ralph Waldo 1803–1882 Volume 2 Bradstreet, Anne 1612–1672 Volume 1 Equiano, Olaudah 1745–1797 Volume 1 Brooks, Gwendolyn 1917–2000 Volume 4 Erdrich, Louise 1954– Volume 5 Brown, Charles Brockden 1771–1810 Volume 1 Faulkner, William 1897–1962 Volume 3 Bryant, William Cullen 1794–1878 Volume 1 Ferlinghetti, Lawrence 1920– Volume 4 Cabeza de Vaca, 1490–1556 Volume 1 Fern, Fanny (Sara Willis 1811–1872 Volume 2 Álvar Núñez Parton) Capote, Truman 1924–1984 Volume 4 Fitzgerald, F. Scott 1896–1940 Volume 3 Carver, Raymond 1938–1988 Volume 5 Forché, Carolyn 1950– Volume 5 Cather, Willa 1873–1947 Volume 3 Foster, Hannah Webster 1758–1840 Volume 1 Champlain, Samuel de 1570–1635 Volume 1 Franklin, Benjamin 1706–1790 Volume 1 Cheever, John 1912–1982 Volume 4 Freeman, Mary Eleanor 1852–1930 Volume 2 Chesnutt, Charles 1858–1932 Volume 2 Wilkins Child, Lydia Maria 1802–1880 Volume 2 Freneau, Philip Morin 1752–1832 Volume 1 Chopin, Kate 1850–1904 Volume 2 Frost, Robert 1874–1963 Volume 3 Cisneros, Sandra 1954– Volume 5 Fuller, Margaret 1810–1850 Volume 2 Cofer, Judith Ortiz 1952– Volume 5 Gilman, Charlotte Perkins 1860–1935 Volume 2

375 376 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

Ginsberg, Allen 1926–1997 Volume 4 McCarthy, Cormac 1933– Volume 5 Giovanni, Nikki 1943– Volume 5 McKay, Claude 1890–1948 Volume 3 H. D. (Hilda Doolittle) 1886–1961 Volume 3 McMurtry, Larry 1936– Volume 5 Haley, Alex 1921–1992 Volume 4 Melville, Herman 1819–1891 Volume 2 Hammon, Jupiter 1711–1806 Volume 1 Millay, Edna St. Vincent 1892–1950 Volume 3 Handsome Lake 1735–1815 Volume 1 Miller, Arthur 1915–2005 Volume 4 Hansberry, Lorraine 1930–1965 Volume 4 Momaday, N. Scott 1934– Volume 4 Harjo, Joy 1951– Volume 5 Moore, Marianne 1887–1972 Volume 3 Harper, Frances Ellen 1825–1911 Volume 2 Mora, Pat 1942– Volume 5 Watkins Morrison, Toni 1931– Volume 5 Harris, Joel Chandler 1848–1908 Volume 2 Morton, Thomas 1579–1647 Volume 1 Harte, Bret 1836–1902 Volume 2 Murray, Judith Sargent 1751–1820 Volume 1 Hawthorne, Nathaniel 1804–1864 Volume 2 Oates, Joyce Carol 1938– Volume 5 Hayden, Robert 1913–1980 Volume 4 O’Brien, Tim 1946– Volume 5 Heller, Joseph 1923–1999 Volume 4 Occom, Samson 1723–1792 Volume 1 Hemingway, Ernest 1899–1961 Volume 3 O’Connor, Flannery 1925–1964 Volume 4 Howells, William Dean 1837–1920 Volume 2 Oliver, Mary 1935– Volume 5 Hughes, Langston 1871–1967 Volume 3 O’Neill, Eugene 1888–1953 Volume 3 Hurston, Zora Neale 1891–1960 Volume 3 Ortiz, Simon J. 1941– Volume 5 Irving, Washington 1783–1859 Volume 1 Paine, Thomas 1737–1809 Volume 1 Jackson, Shirley 1919–1965 Volume 4 Piatt, Sarah M. B. 1836–1919 Volume 2 Jacobs, Harriet 1813–1897 Volume 2 Pinsky, Robert 1940– Volume 5 James, Henry 1843–1916 Volume 2 Plath, Sylvia 1932–1963 Volume 4 Jarrell, Randall 1914–1965 Volume 4 Poe, Edgar Allan 1809–1849 Volume 2 Jefferson, Thomas 1743–1826 Volume 1 Porter, Katherine Anne 1890–1980 Volume 3 Jewett, Sarah Orne 1849–1909 Volume 2 Potok, Chaim 1929–2002 Volume 4 Kerouac, Jack 1922–1969 Volume 4 Pound, Ezra 1885–1972 Volume 3 Kesey, Ken 1935–2001 Volume 4 Rand, Ayn 1905–1982 Volume 4 King, Martin Luther, Jr. 1929–1968 Volume 4 Reed, Ishmael 1938– Volume 5 Kingsolver, Barbara 1955– Volume 5 Rich, Adrienne 1929– Volume 5 Kingston, Maxine Hong 1940– Volume 5 Robinson, 1869–1935 Volume 3 Knowles, John 1926–2001 Volume 4 Edwin Arlington Komunyakaa, Yusef 1947– Volume 5 Roethke, Theodore 1908–1963 Volume 4 Larsen, Nella 1891–1964 Volume 3 Roth, Philip 1933– Volume 4 Lee, Chang-rae 1965– Volume 5 Rowson, 1762–1824 Volume 1 Lee, Harper 1926– Volume 4 Susanna Haswell Levertov, Denise 1923–1997 Volume 4 Salinger, J. D. 1919–2010 Volume 4 London, Jack 1876–1916 Volume 3 Sandburg, Carl 1878–1967 Volume 3 Longfellow, 1807–1882 Volume 2 Sedgwick, 1789–1867 Volume 1 Henry Wadsworth Catharine Maria Lowell, Robert 1917–1977 Volume 4 Sexton, Anne 1928–1974 Volume 4 Malamud, Bernard 1914–1986 Volume 4 Silko, Leslie Marmon 1948– Volume 5 Malcolm X 1925–1965 Volume 4 Smith, John 1580–1631 Volume 1 Marshall, Paule 1929– Volume 4 Snyder, Gary 1930– Volume 5 Mather, Cotton 1663–1728 Volume 1 Soto, Gary 1952– Volume 5 Appendix I 377

Stein, Gertrude 1874–1946 Volume 3 Walker, Alice 1944– Volume 5 Steinbeck, John 1902–1968 Volume 3 Warren, Robert Penn 1905–1989 Volume 4 Stevens, Wallace 1879–1955 Volume 3 Washington, Booker T. 1856–1915 Volume 3 Stowe, Harriet Beecher 1811–1896 Volume 2 Welty, Eudora 1909–2001 Volume 4 Sui Sin Far 1865–1914 Volume 3 Wharton, Edith 1862–1937 Volume 3 (Edith Maude Eaton) Wheatley, Phillis 1753–1784 Volume 1 Swenson, May 1913–1989 Volume 4 Whitman, Walt 1819–1892 Volume 2 Tan, Amy 1952– Volume 5 Wilbur, Richard 1921– Volume 4 Taylor, Edward ca. 1642–1729 Volume 1 Wilder, Thornton 1897–1975 Volume 3 Thoreau, Henry David 1817–1862 Volume 2 Williams, Tennessee 1911–1983 Volume 4 Toomer, Jean 1894–1967 Volume 3 Williams, William Carlos 1883–1961 Volume 3 Twain, Mark (Samuel 1835–1910 Volume 2 Wilson, August 1945–2005 Volume 5 Langhorne Clemens) Wilson, Harriet E. 1825–1900 Volume 2 Updike, John 1932–2009 Volume 4 Winthrop, John 1588–1649 Volume 1 Viramontes, Helena María 1954– Volume 5 Wright, Richard 1908–1960 Volume 3 Vonnegut, Kurt, Jr. 1922–2007 Volume 4 Appendix II Chronological List of Writers Included in All Volumes of the Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers, by Birth Date

Note that authors are placed in the volume that covers the period during which they published their most important works. Some authors published their works relatively early or relatively late in their lives. This explains why, for example, certain authors placed in volume 3 were actually born before certain authors placed in volume 2.

Christopher Columbus 1451–1506 Volume 1 William Cullen Bryant 1794–1878 Volume 1 Álvar Núñez 1490–1556 Volume 1 Lydia Maria Child 1802–1880 Volume 2 Cabeza de Vaca Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803–1882 Volume 2 Samuel de Champlain 1570–1635 Volume 1 Nathaniel Hawthorne 1804–1864 Volume 2 Thomas Morton 1579–1647 Volume 1 Henry Wadsworth 1807–1882 Volume 2 John Smith 1580–1631 Volume 1 Longfellow John Winthrop 1588–1649 Volume 1 Edgar Allan Poe 1809–1849 Volume 2 William Bradford 1590–1657 Volume 1 Margaret Fuller 1810–1850 Volume 2 Anne Bradstreet 1612–1672 Volume 1 Fanny Fern 1811–1872 Volume 2 Edward Taylor ca. 1642–1729 Volume 1 (Sara Willis Parton) Cotton Mather 1663–1728 Volume 1 Harriet Beecher Stowe 1811–1896 Volume 2 Jonathan Edwards 1703–1758 Volume 1 Harriet Jacobs 1813–1897 Volume 2 Benjamin Franklin 1706–1790 Volume 1 Henry David Thoreau 1817–1862 Volume 2 Jupiter Hammon 1711–1806 Volume 1 Frederick Douglass 1818–1895 Volume 2 Samson Occom 1723–1792 Volume 1 Herman Melville 1819–1891 Volume 2 J. Hector St. John 1735–1813 Volume 1 Walt Whitman 1819–1892 Volume 2 de Crèvecoeur Frances Ellen 1825–1911 Volume 2 Handsome Lake 1735–1815 Volume 1 Watkins Harper John Adams 1735–1826 Volume 1 Harriet E. Wilson 1825–1900 Volume 2 Thomas Paine 1737–1809 Volume 1 Emily Dickinson 1830–1886 Volume 2 Thomas Jefferson 1743–1826 Volume 1 Rebecca Harding Davis 1831–1910 Volume 2 Abigail Adams 1744–1818 Volume 1 Louisa May Alcott 1832–1888 Volume 2 Olaudah Equiano 1745–1797 Volume 1 Mark Twain (Samuel 1835–1910 Volume 2 Judith Sargent Murray 1751–1820 Volume 1 Langhorne Clemens) Philip Morin Freneau 1752–1832 Volume 1 Bret Harte 1836–1902 Volume 2 Phillis Wheatley 1753–1784 Volume 1 Sarah M. B. Piatt 1836–1919 Volume 2 Hannah Webster Foster 1758–1840 Volume 1 William Dean Howells 1837–1920 Volume 2 Susanna Haswell Rowson 1762–1824 Volume 1 Henry Adams 1838–1918 Volume 2 Charles Brockden Brown 1771–1810 Volume 1 Ambrose Bierce 1842–1914? Volume 2 Washington Irving 1783–1859 Volume 1 Henry James 1843–1916 Volume 2 James Fenimore Cooper 1789–1851 Volume 1 Joel Chandler Harris 1848–1908 Volume 2 Catharine Maria Sedgwick 1789–1867 Volume 1 Sarah Orne Jewett 1849–1909 Volume 2

378 Appendix II 379

Kate Chopin 1850–1904 Volume 2 Countee Cullen 1903–1946 Volume 3 Mary Eleanor 1852–1930 Volume 2 Ayn Rand 1905–1982 Volume 4 Wilkins Freeman Robert Penn Warren 1905–1989 Volume 4 Booker T. Washington 1856–1915 Volume 3 Richard Wright 1908–1960 Volume 3 Charles Chesnutt 1858–1932 Volume 2 Theodore Roethke 1908–1963 Volume 4 Charlotte Perkins Gilman 1860–1935 Volume 2 Eudora Welty 1909–2001 Volume 4 Edith Wharton 1862–1937 Volume 3 Elizabeth Bishop 1911–1979 Volume 4 Sui Sin Far 1865–1914 Volume 3 Tennessee Williams 1911–1983 Volume 4 (Edith Maude Eaton) John Cheever 1912–1982 Volume 4 W. E. B. DuBois 1868–1963 Volume 3 Robert Hayden 1913–1980 Volume 4 Edwin Arlington 1869–1935 Volume 3 May Swenson 1913–1989 Volume 4 Robinson Randall Jarrell 1914–1965 Volume 4 Stephen Crane 1871–1900 Volume 2 Bernard Malamud 1914–1986 Volume 4 Theodore Dreiser 1871–1945 Volume 3 Ralph Ellison 1914–1994 Volume 4 Langston Hughes 1871–1967 Volume 3 Saul Bellow 1915–2005 Volume 4 Paul Laurence Dunbar 1872–1906 Volume 2 Arthur Miller 1915–2005 Volume 4 Willa Cather 1873–1947 Volume 3 Robert Lowell 1917–1977 Volume 4 Gertrude Stein 1874–1946 Volume 3 Gwendolyn Brooks 1917–2000 Volume 4 Robert Frost 1874–1963 Volume 3 Shirley Jackson 1919–1965 Volume 4 Jack London 1876–1916 Volume 3 J. D. Salinger 1919–2010 Volume 4 Gertrude Simmons 1876–1938 Volume 3 Ray Bradbury 1920– Volume 4 Bonnin (Zitkala-Ša) Lawrence Ferlinghetti 1920– Volume 4 Sherwood Anderson 1876–1942 Volume 3 Richard Wilbur 1921– Volume 4 Carl Sandburg 1878–1967 Volume 3 Alex Haley 1921–1992 Volume 4 Wallace Stevens 1879–1955 Volume 3 Jack Kerouac 1922–1969 Volume 4 William Carlos Williams 1883–1961 Volume 3 Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. 1922–2007 Volume 4 Ezra Pound 1885–1972 Volume 3 Denise Levertov 1923–1997 Volume 4 H. D. (Hilda Doolittle) 1886–1961 Volume 3 Joseph Heller 1923–1999 Volume 4 Marianne Moore 1887–1972 Volume 3 James Baldwin 1924–1987 Volume 4 Eugene O’Neill 1888–1953 Volume 3 Truman Capote 1924–1984 Volume 4 T. S. Eliot 1888–1965 Volume 3 Flannery O’Connor 1925–1964 Volume 4 Claude McKay 1890–1948 Volume 3 Malcolm X 1925–1965 Volume 4 Katherine Anne Porter 1890–1980 Volume 3 Harper Lee 1926– Volume 4 Zora Neale Hurston 1891–1960 Volume 3 Allen Ginsberg 1926–1997 Volume 4 Nella Larsen 1891–1964 Volume 3 John Knowles 1926–2001 Volume 4 Edna St. Vincent Millay 1892–1950 Volume 3 Edward Albee 1928– Volume 4 E. E. Cummings 1894–1962 Volume 3 Maya Angelou 1928– Volume 5 Jean Toomer 1894–1967 Volume 3 Anne Sexton 1928–1974 Volume 4 F. Scott Fitzgerald 1896–1940 Volume 3 Paule Marshall 1929– Volume 4 John Dos Passos 1896–1970 Volume 3 Adrienne Rich 1929– Volume 5 William Faulkner 1897–1962 Volume 3 Martin Luther King, Jr. 1929–1968 Volume 4 Thornton Wilder 1897–1975 Volume 3 Chaim Potok 1929–2002 Volume 4 Hart Crane 1899–1932 Volume 3 Gary Snyder 1930– Volume 5 Ernest Hemingway 1899–1961 Volume 3 Lorraine Hansberry 1930–1965 Volume 4 John Steinbeck 1902–1968 Volume 3 Toni Morrison 1931– Volume 5 380 Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers

Sylvia Plath 1932–1963 Volume 4 Alice Walker 1944– Volume 5 John Updike 1932–2009 Volume 4 August Wilson 1945–2005 Volume 5 Cormac McCarthy 1933– Volume 5 Tim O’Brien 1946– Volume 5 Philip Roth 1933– Volume 4 Yusef Komunyakaa 1947– Volume 5 N. Scott Momaday 1934– Volume 4 Leslie Marmon Silko 1948– Volume 5 Amiri Baraka (Leroi Jones) 1934– Volume 5 Julia Alvarez 1950– Volume 5 Mary Oliver 1935– Volume 5 Carolyn Forché 1950– Volume 5 Ken Kesey 1935–2001 Volume 4 Joy Harjo 1951– Volume 5 Larry McMurtry 1936– Volume 5 Jimmy Santiago Baca 1952– Volume 5 Rudolfo Anaya 1937– Volume 5 Judith Ortiz Cofer 1952– Volume 5 Joyce Carol Oates 1938– Volume 5 Rita Dove 1952– Volume 5 Ishmael Reed 1938– Volume 5 Gary Soto 1952– Volume 5 Raymond Carver 1938–1988 Volume 5 Amy Tan 1952– Volume 5 Toni Cade Bambara 1939– Volume 5 Sandra Cisneros 1954– Volume 5 Maxine Hong Kingston 1940– Volume 5 Louise Erdrich 1954– Volume 5 Robert Pinsky 1940– Volume 5 Helena María Viramontes 1954– Volume 5 Billy Collins 1941– Volume 5 Barbara Kingsolver 1955– Volume 5 Simon J. Ortiz 1941– Volume 5 Chang-rae Lee 1965– Volume 5 Pat Mora 1942– Volume 5 Nikki Giovanni 1943– Volume 5