Timeline: American Literature Overview

Nov 10, 1637

To my dear and loving Husband

Anne Hutchinson, also known as Anne Bradstreet, was a Puritan poet who expressed her beliefs about her religion and the rights of women as wives being a part of that religion. She wrote 'To my dear and loving Husband' in November of 1637 and by 1650 she became the first Puritan settler (female) to have their own published poetry book.

Jul 4, 1741

Sinner in the Hands of an Angry God

When the pligrims came and settled in the northern area of the United States, they did so during the Puritan Revolution, Disapproving of the Catholic churches ways, Puritans sought to cleanse and spread christianity over the lands. They lived their lives with thought of only the good Lord and purifying the Church. Johnathan Edwards was a Puritan Missionary who wrote Sinner in the Hands of an Angry God to show and explain how corrupt then Church had become and what he believed was real faith.

Mar 23, 1775

Speech to the Virginia Congress

Patrick Henry, most famous for his statement, "Give me Liberty, or Give me Death!", spoke those very words at this congressional convention to persuade the members of congress to support his ideas of the revolution and to take action beside him.
Rationalism

Jul 4, 1776

The Declaration of Independence

Written by Thomas Jefferson, this document, signed on July 4th 1776 in Independence Hall by our founders, was a declaration that the colonies were no longer of England's control. They were now a fully independent county. The United States of America.

Dec 23, 1776

from the American Crisis

In 1776 Paine wrote Common Sense, a successful pamphlet arguing for Independence from England. He then wrote 'from the American Crisis' which is a collection of 16 pamphlets in all that outline the early beginnings of the revolution and his philosophies.
Rationalism
Rationalism

Sep 17, 1787

Speech in the Convention

On the last day of the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin delivered this speech. He said, "On the whole, Sir, I can not help expressing a wish that every member of the Convention who may still have objections to it, would with me, on this occasion doubt a little of his own infallibility, and to make manifest our unanimity, put his name to this instrument." This statement meant that even though everybody in that room had doubts, disagreements, and concerns, he would sign.
Rationalism

Jan 1, 1824

The Decil & Tom Walker

Writtten by Washington Irving, this novel demonstrated a new take on literature and controvercial subjects.
Romanticism

Sep 1, 1836

from Nature; Self-Reliance

Written by Ralph Waldo Emerson, the book outlined his ideas about the manifestation of the universal spirit in nature.
Romanticism

Jan 29, 1845

The Raven

Written by Edgar Allen Poe, this literary piece defines human emoitions and darkness with the light.
Romanticism

Jan 1, 1850

The Scarlet Letter

by: Nathaniel Hawthorne
Romanticism

Oct 18, 1851

Moby Dick

Written by Herman Melvin, th is a dark romance between a man and a whale which he hunts with burning passion which I personally found compulsivley obsessive and disturbing. Lmao.
Romanticism

Sep 30, 1854