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American literature relates to written work or literary work created in the region of the U.S.A.

In its early years, America was a lot of British settlements on the eastern coast of the present-day United States. Hence, its literary beginnings begins as coupled to the encompassing tradition of English literature. However, unparalleled American qualities and the voluminosity of its output now make it a distinct course and tradition.

Early American Literature to 1700 and Puritanism

Two Crucial British Settlements:

The Plymouth Colony

Flagship Mayflower arrives in 1620
Leader - William Bradford
Settlers better-known as Separatists and Pilgrims
Mayflower Compact institutes social, religious, and economic freedom, at the same time still maintaining ties to Great Britain.

Massachusetts Colony

Flagship Arbella arrives in 1630
Leader - John Winthrop
Settlers are largely Puritans
The Arbella Covenant intelligibly institutes a religious and theocratic settlement, without ties to Great Britain.

Puritan Opinion

Degeneracy - because of the fall of Adam and Eve every man, woman, and child shall be marked as sinful - construct of Prototypical Sin.

Absolute Selection - The Lord saves those He trusts - only a few are picked for salvation - construct of predestination.

Restricted Atonement - Jesus died for the selected alone, not for all.

Supine Grace - The Lord's grace is given freely, it cannot be attained. Grace is explained as the saving and transfiguring power of The Lord.

Reversion - The opinion that delivered believers, those with seeable signs of grace, can falter into enticement and turn into sinners. To stop this from happening, followers were expected not to become smug, do steadfast self-evaluation, and constant prayer. Lucifer was very concerned in entrapping such church members.

The Function of Puritan Authors

To lift up The Lord.

To transform a mysterious Lord - mysterious because He is secernate from the world.

To have The Lord more pertinent to the world.

Puritan Writing Style

Puritan's writing mirrored the character and setting of the reading populace, which was literate and grounded in religion.

Protestant - against elaborateness; reverence of the Bible.

Famous Puritan Authors

William Bradford (March 19, 1590 – May 9, 1657) was the head man of the separatist colonists of the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts, and was picked 30 times to be the Governor. Bradford was the main architect of the Mayflower Compact. He is credited as the first to proclaim what current American society now deems the first Thanksgiving.

Anne Bradstreet (1612 – September 16, 1672) was the first female American author to have her works promulgated. Most of her poems are based on observation of the environment around her, focusing chiefly on home life and religious subjects. Long considered mainly of historical interest, she won critical acceptance in the 20th century as a writer of enduring poetry, specially for her series of religious poems called "Contemplations", which was not published until the mid-19th century and written for her family.

Captain John Smith (1580 – June 21, 1631), was an English sailor, soldier, and author. He is remembered for his part in building the first permanent English settlement in North America at Jamestown, Virginia, and his short-lived meeting with the Native American girl Pocahontas during an altercation with the Powhatan Confederacy and her father, Chief Powhatan. Smith's books are as significant as his deeds, for they encouraged more English men and women to come to America to colonize the New World. He gave the name New England to that region, and encouraged people with the words, "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." It was a mighty sentence, which pulled in millions of people to America over the next four centuries.

Samuel Sewall (March 28, 1652 - January 1, 1730), was a Massachusetts judge, ill-famed for his participation in the Salem Witch Trials, for which he later apologized, and his denouncement of slavery in "The Selling of Joseph".

Michael Wigglesworth (October 18, 1631 - June 10, 1705) was a Puritan minister and poet whose "The Day of Doom" was a best seller in early New England. Wigglesworth thought that he was essentially not holy enough to believe in The Lord as a result of merely being human. When he experienced a series of nocturnal emissions as a young man, he was thereafter convinced of his eternal damnation. Through his diaries, he reports his struggle to remain good and pure, despite continually reverting into what he perceived as man's natural depravity.

This report is an excerpt from ACE the CSET English study guide and online course. In the course, we analyze all 13 authors of the Puritan period and continue on through the late twentieth century postmodernism literary period. The CSET English course has interactive chronology, fill-in, and matching exercises that enable you to quickly memorize the information you need to pass the American literature section of the CSET English examination.

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