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Rise of American Literature in the 17th and 18th century
The American literature
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Introduction
Like any other of the national literatures, The American literature was molded by the history of the country itself. For approximately one hundred and fifty years, America was simply a cluster of colonies spread near the eastern seashore of the continent of North America (Paul 110). A number of colonies, which did not want to be part of the north decided to move towards the western side. After succeeding in rebelling against the motherland, the colonies came together to form the United States of America, an independent nation. The nation continued to expand even more, and by the end of the nineteenth century it had reached the Gulf of Mexico to the south, the 49th parallel to the north, and the pacific to the west (Paul 120). By the end of the same century it had found its place among the most powerful countries in the World. Its wealth attracted interest of other nations, and eventually it involved itself in both world wars. The emergence of science as well as industry, coupled with the change of people’s way of thinking and feelings all contributed to the development of the American Literature. The following is the history of literature in United States of America form the 17th century to the birth of a new nation (Paul 130).
Rise of American Literature in the 17th century
The American literature was initially a colonial literature, it was first written by men of, English origin. The person who initiated the American literature was a soldier, by the name of John Smith who wrote down his thoughts (Paul 160). His renowned books include, A True Relation of … Virginia … (1608). The general History of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles (1624) .Even though these earlier works were mostly on praise of the authors themselves, they were to help other Englishmen get more colonies (Paul 180). With each passing day, more works were authored, every work describing a certain colony. Such work included Daniel Denton’s work in 1670 where he described New York, William Penn’s work in 1682 description of Pennsylvania, and Thomas Ashe’s description of Carolina (Paul 200). These are a few, among many works, which were in praise of America. These authors swore allegiance to the British Government, even though others had a different opinion that motivated the colonists to relocate from their own motherland. More significant, is the issues raised by the writers, questioning the government involvement with the church. The position that most authors felt was no right, was the one taken by Nathaniel Ward in 1647, where he defended the colonists who had sponsored innovative ideas in Massachusetts, in the aftermath more authors published their satisfaction with the position taken by Nathaniel (Paul 230).
Some religious works that were also published include the work of William Bradford that described the history of the Plymouth Plantation, which showed the separation of the pilgrims Separatists from the Anglicans (Paul 250). Other religious work that was published includes Roger William’s work, which was more drastic as it called for the church and the state to go different ways. He also advocated for the church to be given powers and called upon religious tolerance (Paul 270). Some poetry work were published, in 1650 Anne Bradstreet published her work titled in The Tenth Muse. The work consisted mainly, of her feelings about the relationship between religion, and family. Another work was that of Edward Taylor whose work was a reflection of his happiness in the beliefs of Christianity and experience (Paul 300). All works from different authors that was done in the 17th century had the British influence.
The 18th centuryAt the beginning of this century, some writers that included Cotton Mather, continued with the work that had been left by the older generation of writers. Mather’s enormous history of the Puritan in New England, Edwards was another author who tried to continue with the works from the older generation his work, the Great Awakening, the two authors work was on defense of the prehistoric convictions of the puritan’s (Paul 280). Even so the authors were putting up a defense for a hopeless cause. Other writers like John Wise, a minister moved to another less strict belief. Samuel Sewall wrote down some other changes in his diary, despite the fact that he was genuinely religious(Paul 230).. His daily records portrayed how the secular life was taking over from the stiff Puritanism. The other work by Mme Sara Kemble which she describes her journeys to New York, her comments were from a view of an Orthodox believer. But her comments were not as rigid as the ones of the other Pilgrim founders. Down south William Byrd from Virginia differed harshly with the older generation. His major works include Restoration wit(Paul 240). The struggle of the revolution, in America enhanced the division between the political ideas of America, and the British.
The American Revolution struggle was inspired by some of the political writers, even though the colonizers knew that a revolution was on the offing they still proceeded with the war. Of all the political writers the ones that stand out are these two writers, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine. Franklin was born in 1706 started to publish his works on a newspaper which was owned by his brother. Franklins experience to write various articles, and reports helped in his compilation of the issues he wrote in connection to the difference of opinion with Britain. Thomas Paine relocated to Philadelphia from Britain he got a job as a editor, approximately 14 months later Paine became the most efficient propaganda peddler in aiding the colonialists. (Paul 300). His other work includes the pamphlet which motivated the colonialists to proclaim independence. The crisis paper of America motivated the Americans to fight through the most difficult years of the war.
The new Nation
After the war, some of the persuasive men were not able to bring people to listen. Both Paine and Samuel could not persuade the people who were interested in making up the new administration. Others succeeded, like Franklin who practiced tolerance in addressing the constitution. However a dissimilar faction of authors became leaders during the new period. Hamilton later became the federal party leader, after writing approximately 51 papers for the federals (Paul 350). In which he persuaded the bestowment of power to the national government as opposed to the state governments. Thomas Jefferson remained an influential writer, both during and after the war (Paul 370). His greatest work was the summary he did on the Declaration of independence. The most outstanding works of the period
During this period, the works that were now recognizable included poetry, which was used as a weapon during the revolution (Paul 390). The most outstanding poet in America during this period is Philip Freneau, whose poems revolved around satires; he later changed his poems to reflect on other areas of the American diverse culture like love, and in that he wrote some romantic poems (Paul 400). Such as on a honey Bee, and To a Caty-did. They formed the important part of poetry in 19th century.
Work Cited
Finkelman, Paul. Encyclopedia of African American history, 1896 to the present: from the age of segregation to the twenty-first century. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. Print.
The American Identity
The American Identity
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Introduction
The American nation was founded in the 18th century, and as it is called the United States of America, it is a union of different states to make one major country under one leadership. Since the foundation of the United States, Americans have continued to find what has been their identification as peoples of America. There have been varying ideas as to what is and what influences the American identity. Some of the Americans have defined their identity not by racial, ethnic, and religious identity but based on their values and beliefs in personal freedom (Smith, 1988). America has been one of the major countries across the globe that enjoys democracy and at the same time provides for the freedom of its citizens, as a result of these every person is entitled to freedom as guaranteed by the constitution of the United States. Therefore, this explains the reason why a person believes to be a New Yorker and not black, white or Hispanic as the American identity is based on values and beliefs and not on race and ethnicity.
America is a nation that has been made up of massive immigrants from various parts of the world. The initial inhabitants of the nation included the red Indians, but since the arrival of the white settlers in the United States, the identity of America began to change. The colonists referred to themselves as settlers and not immigrants, and it is upon them that the great nation of the United States was born. It is then from this point that the American identity can be traced back to in the 18th century. According to the statistics by the United States Census Bureau, by the year 2000, more than 35.9% of the people living in New York City were immigrants, and this is a clear indication that America is a country of immigrants (Lee et al., 2017). As a result of this, the people cannot identify themselves on the basis of race as there are many ethnic groups including whites, blacks, Indians, Hispanics and Latinos, only by looking at their values that a people in a country can trace their identity.
America got independence in 1776, and by 1782, barely six years after independence, America declared its nationhood Benjamin Franklin was one of the founding fathers of the United States. During this time, he offered certain information to those who would remove America. Benjamin Franklin was in many ways the most typically American among the constellation of the American founding fathers. The reason behind this is that all the other three were unapproachable in the sense of understanding Americans. According to Walter MacDougall, If Thomas Jefferson was bookish, George Washington was harsh and in-approachable august and John Adams dour. It was all left for Benjamin Franklin, who was an all-round person. Franklin was a resourceful business person, a practical innovator as well as an ever-busy civic catalyst. It is through his interactions with people that he best understood his fellow countrymen, as the nation of hustlers.
Based on this, Benjamin Franklin instructed the people concerning the immigrants that people do not inquire regarding a stranger of what they are but concerning what they can do. If they have any useful art, they should be embraced and be welcome to the country. Furthermore, if they exercise the art and goes on to behave well, they should be respected by all individuals who know them (Lambert et al., 2019). Based on this, we can identify the identity of Americans as nurturing talents. Any immigrants who visit the country and have skills in doing certain tasks are welcome to stay in America, and this has been the American trend since then. People are granted green cards to go and study in the United States, after which they can offer services to the nation in regard to their subject expertise. Similarly, America welcomes immigrants with already acquired skills and provides them with work visas which they use as they reside in America.
Benjamin Franklin’s remarks were grounded upon his observation in the early 1750s as the German immigrants outnumbered the English stock in Pennsylvania, his home colony. The immigrants were perceived as industrious and law-abiding people. Furthermore, they were skilled farmers, and thus, they helped improve the lands and as a result, helped in stimulating the economic growth of the United States. In 1790, when Congress set the first national standard for the naturalization of immigrants to become citizens. The standard required no religious or ethnic tests, no property requirement, and neither no literacy test, all that was needed was just two years of residence, good character as well as an oath to uphold the American Constitution (Bonomi, 2019). Based on this, the American identity as it was understood by Benjamin Franklin was grounded in actions and attitudes rather than on religious, racial or the ethnic identity of a person. It should be noted that American citizens differ from many other peoples across the globe based on how they define themselves and also in the kinds of lives they chose to live. According to Marc Pachter, membership to the national community demands only the individual’s decision to become American.
Pluralism and the Melting Pot
The American identity is communal and thus embraces pluralism that spans the religious, racial and ethnic divides (Tucker-Raymond & Rosario, 2017). Besides, the communal identity also includes a strong conviction on a civic commitment to personal freedom and to a representative government that is limited and has clearly defined powers that protects and respects the freedom of its people. The American self-image has all the time, harness an innovative tension between assimilation and pluralism. Immigrants, on one hand, have traditionally been expected to assimilate themselves in the American culture often described as emerging themselves into the ‘melting pot’. Based on the explanation of the melting pot, America is understood as God’s crucible, a great melting point where all races across the globe melt and reform.
All the European cultures Irishmen and Englishmen, Germans and Frenchmen as well as the Jews and Russians all fit in the crucible where God is making the American. Through this, America is seen as a country made of different cultures, and this is true as it is the interaction of all these cultures that the American identity is depicted. All these people intermarry and bring along a mixed breed that is neither European nor neither a descendant of a European, hence a strange mixture of blood that is difficult to find in other countries, hence, the melting pot.
Besides the melting pot, there have been other competing models in which each of the immigrants tends to retain a measure of their distinctiveness and enrich the entire American (Donitsa-Schmid, 2017). The immigrants did not get to America to be assimilated in the American melting pot but rather came into the United States to have the freedom to live as they wanted and make a fortune in their newfound land. And this explains why some of the immigrants were not melted down into some kinds of colorless and tasteless homogenous Americanism. Rather than getting assimilated, they added their distinct contributions to the greater whole. As a result of this, the balance between the American melting pot and the transnational ideals tend to vary with circumstances and time. However, none of the models has been able to dominate over the other completely.
Individualism and Tolerance as an American Identity
The American identity can also be termed as being tolerated in the sense that it embraces all kinds of people, affording them the vast menu of opportunities that are found in the United States. Through this, different people are able to make and remake themselves. The United States Constitution in Article I prohibits the government from granting any title of nobility and those who cultivate an air of supremacy upon their fellow Americans. The reason behind this is that America has a history of scorning efforts to trade on accidental births that include such cases of inherited wealth or social status. America is built on the foundation that every person has to work to attain their social class, and it is through hard work that a person can gain recognition for the government. As a result of this, the Americans do respect the self-made man or woman, especially if their journey to success has been filled with obstacles. The Americans believe a person can be regarded as noble is their journey to success can be described as from rags to riches. For example, the journey through which the shoeshine boys or any other street person would rise, by dint of their talent, fortitude and ambition to fame and wealth.
In America, individuals tend to craft their own definitions of success in which it may be a financial breakthrough. Many of Americans tend to define success in this way since society has defined success through material wealth. Based on this, many people have disregarded education, dropping out of school and not because they wanted, but because they lacked the tuition fees that could drive them through the education system. As a result of this, most of the college dropouts are working in their parent’s garages in the hope of getting a financial breakthrough. Others prize their joy in the sporting arena, art and music, or even raising a loving family back at home. Due to this, success has no specific definition and considering that the Americans spurn limits, the national identity cannot and can never be bounded by their skin color, religion or the percentage of wealth they have acquired.
We all exhibit varying political beliefs, embrace divergent lifestyles and at the same time, insist on broad personal freedoms. However, we do so with the remarkable degree of mutual tolerance. In regard to politics, every American is entitled to a fee choice of the political affiliations and ideologies which they may join (Janmaat, Vickers & Everett, 2018). An example of tolerance can be seen in the American representative form of government through which many Americans are represented by a single person in government. There is no citizen in the United States that conforms to every government’s decision, and there is a possibility that the government can reverse the policies made through the persuasion of the fellow Americans to vote for change at the next election. Through this, the American identity can be depicted by the Americans ability to influence the government based on their perceptions of what is right for them.
Another key identity of the Americans is the powerful guarantees that do protect the rights of the American people for the government overreaching (Kim, 2017). Upon the ratification of the constitution, the American citizens demanded and were given the Bill of Rights. There have been ten constitutional amendments that have been done to safeguard the basic rights of the American citizens. Every American is equal to the others, and this is by the fact the case in America that there is no typical American. From the powdered-wigged founding fathers of the American nation to the sports champions such as Tiger Woods and Kobe Bryant. All Americans do share a common identity that is grounded in the freedom, which is always consistent with the respect for others freedom, conforming and tolerating them, implying living as they live. It is through this that the Americans are able to intrigue, bemuse and also inspire each other.
In conclusion, the identity of the American people is not based on their religion, racial or ethnic definitions, but rather in their values and beliefs. All Americans believe in equality for all, and this is an aspect that is guaranteed in the constitution. There are many immigrants into the United States that have come to search for a better life, and this is in conformity with the American belief in the American Dream for the pursuit of happiness. Success is one of the values and to which is attained through hard work. All persons in the United believe in working hard through the legal means to achieve a financial breakthrough as it has been since the founding of the nation by the forefathers. America has been a great nation as it has a culture of embracing talents and skills, a cultural identity that has been persistent until now.
References
Bonomi, F. (2019). The United States immigration laws: history of a nation set up by migrants. Revista de Investigación de la Cátedra Internacional conjunta Inocencio III, 1(9), 253-277.
Donitsa-Schmidt, S. (2017). Social, educational, and linguistic models of immigrants’ integration into society. In Beyond Bystanders (pp. 157-167). Brill Sense.
Janmaat, J. G., Vickers, E., & Everett, H. (2018). Understanding Tolerance. In Faith Schools, Tolerance and Diversity (pp. 17-81). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Kim, J. (2017). Development of public health in America: ‘Guaranteed Issue’mandates. Journal of Public Health, 39(3), 433-439.
Lambert, J. R., Basuil, D. A., Bell, M. P., & Marquardt, D. J. (2019). Coming to America: work visas, international diversity, and organizational attractiveness among highly skilled Asian immigrants. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 30(15), 2293-2319.
Lee, J., Bean, F. D., Batalova, J., & Sandhu, S. (2017). Immigration and the Black-White color line in the United States. In The impact of immigration on African Americans (pp. 27-58). Routledge.
Smith, R. M. (1988). The” American Creed” and American identity: The limits of liberal citizenship in the United States. Western Political Quarterly, 41(2), 225-251.
Tucker-Raymond, E., & Rosario, M. L. (2017). Imagining identities: Young people constructing discourses of race, ethnicity, and community in a contentious context of rapid urban development. Urban Education, 52(1), 32-60.
The American Constitution
The American Constitution
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The United States initiated their administrative past as English colonies making them to actively participate in the creation of the English idea of “liberty” via the lawful differences. Civilian conflicts played an important part in determining the British constitution. It is important to take into account that most Americans, predominantly the Northern colonies, drew their origin to the ancient English Commonwealth. The Americans shared the English notion of “liberty,” with grander belief and peculiar guarantee than even the British people. It is undeniable that the development of American statutory ideas after the Upheaval shows a steady evolution from English thoughts. It is worth noting that the constitution is not perfect and therefore it includes a lot of concession amongst people. The constitution was not a complete achievement as it may be perceived due to the many defects associated with it.
Fascinatingly when the constitutional deal was reached there was nearly no American in the political scene that raised the issue about the significance of harmonizing the three divisions of government. None of the Americans defended liberty and fairness as applied in other constitutions such as in England and Rome. The people opposed to the constitution argued that perhaps the checks and balances were not adequate enough to protect the citizens of this great nation. It was evident that the chief issue was not concerned with the appeal or perhaps the correct organization of the republican liberty and the government. The main worrying matter was how to unify the many republics of U.S. Many people believed that power may remain within the states and that the Congress would not have much power. It was clear that if the U.S was to remain a united country where the Congress has actual power then republicans may want an entirely established body. Since the constitution is already in force and supports adoption of republican form of government by deriving their power on the approval and consensus of the citizens of America (Vile 2010, 25-38).
Republicanism has played a major part in the American constitution since its revolution by emphasizing on liberty and irrefutable rights as the key values. Republicanism considered only sovereignty of the people and the fact that the people of America should be independent in their duties. Republicanism recognized that people actually had rights that could not be done away with and the need to do away with some social crimes such as corruption and greed. The citizens were considered very important and therefore they required a high level of representation and these Republican values were regarded as useful in the constitution. The heroes argued that Republicanism was very vital as far as the liberty of the people was concerned and therefore it would really liberate the Americans. However there was no balance between republicanism principles and the democratic principles because republicanism insisted on liberty for all instead of addressing the issue of liberty to the majority people. Although the republicanism constitution successfully did away with the monarchy, there was no complete democracy for all (Bernstein 2009, 168-175).
Moreover, the very people who were said to be capable of voting were denied this important right especially the blacks, he illiterate group and the female adults. Citizens did not have the so called real property could not vote thus making the constitution very much undemocratic. The issue of unfairness in the constitution cannot be left untouched while looking at the incidents or the aftermath of approval of the Constitution. People were not permitted to make amendments of the constitution unswervingly unless through elected officials who did not have the people’s interest in their hearts (Vile 2010, 25-38).
Amendments to the Constitution can be done either by the national or state legislators and ratified by legislatures perhaps because it was made to protect the government. One of the main aims was to shield the government from the people who had very special interest in the document. While considering some of the drives of the constitution, there are many unanswered questions concerning the degree of democracy that this particular document address and convincingly deal with. It is agreeable that the constitution has several issues that diverge in many aspects particularly in both purpose and content from the word go. These challenges should be treated with a high level of concern being that this is a constitution but not any other declaration (Countryman 2003, 80-92).
There are elements which undeniably exposes the undemocratic nature of the constitution such as the election of the president which is Article II sections I empowering application of Electoral College. This system gives representation in Congress power to determine who the president is without using the popular vote instead of allocation of votes amongst the states. The other issue is the representation in the senate where every state is allowed two senators without taking into consideration the population of the states. The other undemocratic part of the constitution was the tolerance of slavery which was aimed at ensuring the unity in participation of the Southern states. However, we can smile since this part was scrapped off after the American civil war. Tolerance of slavery actually intensified racism and suffering of the marginalized communities and races. The constitution has given the judiciary a lot of powers to rule anything or law passed by the legislatures (Countryman 2003, 80-92).
Nevertheless, even as we consider the Constitution as partly undemocratic, it is important to consider the historic perception at that point when the constitution was being made. At that moment for sure, the level of democracy that can be compared with the current democracy did not exist. It may be agreeable that the United States of America made rather wonderful advancement in the creation and emphasized on democratic governance and principles. The American constitution has proved very useful in many countries as they adopt it and model the form and structure of government that is similar to the U.S one. The adaptation of the constitution by other governments shows the kind of effort and sacrifice that the American heroes made while making the constitution. It has had impactful influence on the advancement of countries such as France. Even the kind of governance where an individual is required to represent a huge The document should be judged on its achievement rather than blaming it for not living up to the current standard (Bernstein 2009, 168-175).number of populations as per the United States constitution is globally used. The constitution, although written over two centuries ago should not be blamed for not meeting the current standards because it accomplished many things.
The constitution insists on very crucial things regarding governance and even though it does not address all the issues should not make anyone condemn it. It establishes a reasonable neutral mechanism which empowers it to be relevant to almost every kind of a leader. Even if the constitution did not meet the expected democracy it is still good enough and very flexible such that it can be used to boost those issues untouched. The kind of issues that people constantly blame the government for is not supposed to be related to the government. Federal or the state governments and should be put a lot of pressure in orienting these matters to the government. People should strongly stop the idea of ever blaming the constitution especially by looking at the style of leadership in the government then relate it with the American politics. However, as the people whom the constitution was made for, we should ensure that it works best to us and constantly put the government on check (Countryman 2003, 80-92).
The American Constitution can perhaps be regarded as a representative democracy because people can exercise their rights of electing leaders such as the senators through popular votes. However the founders of the constitution made some elements a bit undemocratic since they knew that democracy would have weaken some of the government’s structures and paralyze its functions. As much as democracy was understood by the heroes, they intentionally ignored it through the powers vested in them at that moment such as disallowing women to vote. The heroes further restricted the age of voting yet most of these people below the voting age having their own rights and issues to be addressed. In a republic kind of governance which exists in the U.S, an individual may perform any act on his own particularly while solving an issue. This kind of governance needs the government to work for the citizens with an obligation to them. However, luckily there is democracy applied in election of representatives and passing new laws (Vile 2010, 168-175).
Republican form of Government to all the states and possibly the need for the Constitutional Republic was to keep off from the perilous extreme of domination which to some extend does not apply. The constitution has given the elected representatives powers to perform and make laws which are consistence with the constitution particularly the federal government. This form of governance clearly depicts constitutional republic unlike the states governments which includes the mixture of both constitutional republic and a democracy. However, it is important to note that the document is just on paper and in real sense there are mixture of things happening. A lot of things take place that are a mixture of governance practices and styles. For instance, if the Congress comes up with acts that are consistent with the constitution then it shows constitutional republic. When the Congress supersedes the constitutional requirements while making laws, it is considered an autocratic republic but any law made by the Supreme Court is an oligarchy.
Bibliographies
Bernstein, Richard B. The Founding Fathers reconsidered. Oxford: Oxford University Press,2009.
Countryman, Edward. The American Revolution. New York: Hill and Wang, 2003. 80-92
Vile, John R. A companion to the United States Constitution and its amendments. Santa Barbara, Calif: Praeger, 2010.