The Spirit of Nationalism

Unit 4 THE SPIRIT OF NATIONALISM Declaring Independence, 1710–1850 Authors and Works Overview Questions Featured in the Video: I To whom was the ethos of individualism avail- Benjamin Franklin, “The Way to Wealth,” “Rules by able? How did this exclusivity change over time? Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a I What literary strategies did American writers Small One,” “Information to Those Who Would develop to distinguish themselves from British writ- Remove to America,” “Remarks Concerning the ers? How successful were they? Savages of North America” (essays); The Auto- I What virtues and values emerged as founda- biography (autobiography) tional to the American character? How did they Ralph Waldo Emerson, from Nature (philosophy); change over time? “The American Scholar,” “The Divinity School I Why did fictional genres such as the novel and Address,” “Last of the Anti-Slavery Lectures,” drama seem morally questionable to so many “Thoreau” (lectures and addresses); “Self- Americans? How did early national novels and plays Reliance,” “The Poet,” “Experience,” “Fate” (essays) attempt to make themselves seem wholesome and productive of national virtues? Discussed in This Unit: I How does “auto-American-biography” enable Jonathan Edwards, “Personal Narrative” (conver- writers to construct themselves as ideal American sion narrative); “A Divine and Supernatural citizens? Light,” “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” I What different spiritual beliefs influenced (sermons); “Letter to Rev. Dr. Benjamin Colman” eighteenth- and nineteenth-century American writ- (letter); from Images or Shadows of Divine Things ing? How did Americans’ spiritual beliefs change (notebook entries, philosophy) over time? J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur, from Letters from I What is Transcendentalism? Who took part in an American Farmer (letters composed in voice of the Transcendentalist movement and how did they fictional persona) influence later generations of writers and thinkers? Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence I What relationship to nature did the Transcen- (political document), from Notes on the State of dentalists promote? How did they see the landscape Virginia (natural history, study of political and as a resource for spiritual transformation? social structures) I Why and how did natural history come to be Phillis Wheatley, “To the University of Cambridge, linked to national identity? in New England,” “On the Death of the Rev. Mr. I How did the aesthetic of the “sublime” shape George Whitefield,” “To His Excellency General American representations of and relations to Washington” (poetry) nature? Royall Tyler, The Contrast (play) I What is neoclassicism? How did this aesthetic Susanna Rowson, Charlotte Temple: A Tale of Truth movement influence American art and literature? (novel) I What is Romantic Individualism? William Apess, “An Indian’s Looking-Glass for the I What did early national writers and artists White Man” (essay) mean when they conceived of America as a “new Margaret Fuller, “The Great Lawsuit” (essay), “Auto- Rome”? biographical Romance” (short autobiography) I What is the “self-made man”? Were opportuni- 2 UNIT 4, THE SPIRIT OF NATIONALISM ties for self-making open to all Americans equally? and who—is an American. The ambiguities and ten- How did the limits of self-making change over time? sions surrounding this question characterized much I Why did Americans represent their nation of the literature of the eighteenth and nineteenth through the allegorical figure of “Columbia”? What centuries. As the young nation struggled to define values and beliefs informed portraits of Columbia? its values and beliefs, debates raged about what America should stand for and what it should be. Unit 4, “The Spirit of Nationalism: Declaring Independence, 1710–1850,” examines the work of a Learning Objectives wide variety of writers who participated in these debates, including Jonathan Edwards, Benjamin After students have viewed the video, read the head- Franklin, J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur, Thomas notes and literary selections in The Norton An- Jefferson, Phillis Wheatley, Royall Tyler, Susanna thology of American Literature, and explored related Rowson, William Apess, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and archival materials on the American Passages Web Mar-garet Fuller. The unit provides contextual back- site, they should be able to ground and classroom materials designed to explore the role these texts have played in the formation of 1. explain the meaning of the term “individualism” American values and in the creation of enduring and discuss the way ideals of individualism myths about America. changed over the course of the eighteenth and The video for Unit 4 focuses on Benjamin nineteenth centuries; Franklin and Ralph Waldo Emerson, two influential 2. discuss the importance of race and gender in writers who articulated American ideals and cele- negotiations of American political and cultural brated the potential of the American individual. independence; Franklin helped shape the foundational myth of the 3. explain the relationship between eighteenth- “American dream” by narrating his own rise from century Enlightenment ideals and nineteenth- obscurity through hard work and virtue. His century Romanticism; Autobiography served as a model that inspired many 4. discuss transformations in American spiritual later Americans and helped define the autobio- beliefs between the eighteenth and nineteenth graphical genre. Forty years later, Emerson built on centuries, from the Great Awakening to Deism to Franklin’s practical ideas of self-improvement and more Romantic conceptions of divinity. made them more personal and spiritual. He encour- aged Americans to look inward, trust their intuition, and develop their own principles. His spiritual philosophy of the correspondence among nature, the Instructor Overview individual soul, and God was influential both in his own time and for subsequent generations. In his answer to the difficult question “What is an Emerson’s optimistic belief in the potential of all American?” Farmer James, the narrator of J. Hector individuals had far-reaching implications and reper- St. John de Crèvecoeur’s Letters from an American cussions. Although Emerson was not especially Farmer, claims that Americans are characterized by active in social reform movements, he articulated their lack of distinction between rich and poor, by a ideas that inspired individuals to make America a “pleasing uniformity of decent competence,” and by more inclusive and equal society. their respect for the “silken bands of mild govern- In its coverage of Franklin’s and Emerson’s devel- ment.” As his letters continue, however, James’s idyl- opment of American ideals, the video introduces lic picture of American life becomes increasingly students to the complexities and evolution of ideas troubled. A horrifying encounter with a tortured about individualism and the national character. African American slave in South Carolina, doubts What makes an American? To whom is the ethos of about the morality and civilization of Americans liv- individualism available? How did ideas about the ing in backwoods settlements, and intense distress rights and potential of the individual change over brought about by the violence of the Revolution time? How were American ideals influenced by peo- leave the narrator uncertain about exactly what— ple’s relationship to the natural world? How did UNIT 11, INSTRUCTORMODERNIST PORTRAITSOVERVIEW 3 changing spiritual beliefs shape national ideals? Student Overview Unit 4 helps to answer these questions by situating Franklin and Emerson within their cultural con- In his answer to the difficult question “What is an texts, as well as connecting them to other units in American?” Farmer James, the narrator of J. Hector the series and to other key writers of the era. The St. John de Crèvecoeur’s Letters from an American curriculum materials fill in the video’s introduction Farmer, claims that Americans are characterized by to the spirit of nationalism by exploring writers who their lack of distinction between rich and poor, by a represented other, diverse experiences, such as “pleasing uniformity of decent competence,” and by Phillis Wheatley (an African American slave who their respect for the “silken bands of mild govern- composed and published poetry), Susanna Rowson ment.” As his letters continue, however, James’s (an English-born novelist whose best-selling book idyllic picture of American life becomes increas- portrayed the social consequences of the sexual ingly troubled. A horrifying encounter with a tor- double standard), and William Apess (a Pequot tured African American slave in South Carolina, Indian who became a Methodist minister and doubts about the morality and civilization of Amer- champion of Native American rights). icans living in backwoods settlements, and in- The video, the archive, and the curriculum mate- tense distress brought about by the violence of the rials locate the writers featured in Unit 4 within Revolution leave the narrator uncertain about several of the historical contexts and artistic move- exactly what—and who—is American. The ambigui- ments that shaped their texts: (1) ideas about indi- ties and tensions surrounding this question charac- vidualism, from the Enlightenment through the terized much of the literature of the eighteenth and beginnings of Romantic Individualism; (2) the early nineteenth centuries. As the young nation struggled national interest in classical Greece and Rome

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