american-Puritanism.doc

American LiteratureLecture Two: Puritanism and individualism:American Literature during the Colonial and revolutionary periodThe early settlement: the arrival of the Mayflower through the end of the 18th century: building the wilderness into a habitable place while struggling for literary expression.Puritanism and individualism:The Puritans were idealists who believed that the Church should be restored to the “purity” of the first-century Church as established by Jesus Christ Himself. Hence the word “Purify”They were a varied group of religious reformers who emerged within the Church of England during the middle of the sixteenth century. They shared a common Calvinist theology and common criticisms of the Anglican Church and English society and government. Their numbers and influence grew steadily, culminating in the English Civil War of the 1640s and the rule of Oliver Cromwell in the 1650s. With the restoration of the Stuart monarchy in 1660, Puritanism went into eclipse in England, largely because the movement was identified with the upheaval and radicalism of the Civil War and Cromwells tyrannical government, a virtual military dictatorship.But it persisted for much longer as a vital force in those parts of British North America colonized by two groups of Puritans who gradually cut their ties to the Church of England and formed separate denominations. One group, the Congregationalists, settled Plymouth in the 1620s and then Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut, and Rhode Island in the 1630s. Another group, the Presbyterians, who quickly came to dominate the religious life of Scotland and later migrated in large numbers to northern Ireland, also settled many communities in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania during the late seventeenth century and throughout the eighteenth century.Puritans in both Britain and British North America sought to cleanse the culture of what they regarded as corrupt, sinful practices. They believed that the civil government should strictly enforce public morality by prohibiting vices like drunkenness, gambling, ostentatious dress, swearing, and Sabbath-breaking. They also wished to purge churches of every vestige of Roman Catholic ritual and practicethe ruling hierarchies of bishops and cardinals, the elaborate ceremonies in which the clergy wore ornate vestments and repeated prayers from a prescribed liturgy. Accordingly, New Englands Congregational churches were self-governing bodies, answerable to no higher authority; mid-Atlantic Presbyterian churches enjoyed somewhat less autonomy because a hierarchy of presbyteries and synods made up of leading laymen and clergymen set policy for individual congregations. But both Congregationalist and Presbyterian worship services were simple, even austere, and dominated by long, learned sermons in which their clergy expounded passages from the Bible. Perhaps most important, membership in both churches was limited to the visibly godly, meaning those men and women who lead sober and upright lives. New England Congregationalists adopted even stricter standards for admission to their churchesthe requirement that each person applying for membership testify publicly to his or her experience of conversion. (Many Presbyterians also regarded conversion as central to being a Christian, but they did not restrict their membership to those who could profess such an experience.)I. Puritan Beliefs and ValuesA. Predestination-all events are foreknown and foreordained by God Original sinJohn Calvin(1509-1564), the great French Theologian who lived in Geneva, preached that held that human beings were innately sinfulutterly depraved by inheriting the original sin of Adam and Eve, the biblical parents of the human race. But Calvin also taught that God, in his infinite mercy, would spare a small number of elect individuals from the fate of eternal hellfire that all mankind, owing to their corrupt natures, justly deserved. That elect group of saints would be blessed, at some point in their lives, by a profound sense of inner assurance that they possessed Gods saving grace. This dawning of hope was the experience of conversion, which might come upon individuals suddenly or gradually, in their earliest youth or even in the moments before death.B. Total Depravity and limited atonement through a special infusion of grace from God (or the salvation of a selected few) Election-God chooses who is saved and who is damned. Nagging Puritan question: Am I saved? (“Who were His elect?” that is, who would be admitted to everlasting bliss in heaven-the most reliable evidence of His approval of any individual or group was His favoring their enterprises on earth, Therefore those who prospered on earth and succeeded in amassing worldly goods, especially if they used those goods to create and amass more, were probably the one destined for heaven. Strenuous competition is encouraged by limiting the number of rewards, the number of places in heaven. A good man should eschew all sensuous indulgence or vain display in order to make possible a continual increase in, and more profitable and productive use of, his worldly goods.Generally, Americans believed that they were Gods chosen people enjoying His blessings on this earth as in Heaven.C. Value of education 1. Publicly supported schools needed to oppose Satan (Old Deluder laws) 2. Harvard founded in 1636 to train ministers 3. Probably 70% of New England literate in 1770 D. Religious Intolerance and bigotry, austerity of taste and killjoy way of life -error must be opposed and driven out 1. Persecution and expulsion of Anne Hutchinson (1638) a) Criticized ministers for not preaching covenant of grace b) Held religious meetings in her home c) Challenged the political and religious leadership of Massachusetts Bay. 2. Roger Williams expelled for new and dangerous opinions (1638) a) Preached complete separation of church and state-the state should have no influence over a persons conscience b) Religious groups should be supported by voluntary tithes, not taxes c) Indians should be paid for lands. d) Settled Rhode Island and established complete freedom of religion (including Jews, Catholics, and Quakers) 3. Puritans persecuted and killed Quakers (such as Mary Dyer) for preaching inner light doctrines. II. Puritan Political LifeA. Voting restricted to church members B. Blurring of political and religious authority-theocracy, not democracy C. Halfway Covenant developed to allow unbaptized members (children of Puritans) to vote and thus preserve influence of Puritan authorities. III. Salem Witchcraft Crisis (1692)A. Group of girls accused fellow villagers of witchcraft B. Trials (featuring spectral evidence and body searches for birthmarks) resulted in convictions of many and executions of 20 people and 2 dogs. C. Reaction resulted in anti-Puritan sentiment, weakening of Puritan authority, and apologies from some religious leaders IV. Puritan ContributionsA. Self-government and community responsibility 1) Democracy in church rule led to democracy in town meeting 2) All community members responsible for conduct of citizens B. Education critical for individual and community success C. Hard work and thrift demanded of all D. High standards of moral excellence and conscience (John Winthrop-City Upon a Hill) The philosophy of individualism didnt originate in the United States, nor was it confined to that young nation. It is an intrinsic part of the 16th century bourgeois revolution of Elizabethan England.Unusual coincidence of Renaissance humanism and Protestant reformation gave it an extraordinary, many-sided character and enormous power, which fueled Shakespeares extraordinary genius and that of his gigantic contemporaries. But it developed far more rapidly and spread far more easily on the new settled American continent.The older Catholic religion: mans duty to fill well the position in which God had placed him, however humble it might be, trusting he would them be rewarded with an exalted station in Heaventhe stability of the feudal caste system. Anyone could expect happiness after death if he observed the rules of the church. In fact, the poorer a man was, the more likely he was to be compensated in the after life.” It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the gates of Heaven”The newer, early bourgeois Protestant religion encouraged the utmost use of energy, intelligence and ambition. Thus it is a philosophy which stressed competition as well as hard work. It emphasized mans duty to make the utmost practical use of the talents and opportunities with which his God had provided him. (Emphasis on the duty of ambition than on that of resignation, the importance of self-denying, even ascetic, hard work; Stress on the importance of the single man or woman rather than that of the community or class or even family) To a protestant or a puritan, life was seen as a race with the greatest prizes, not only on earth but also in Heaven, reserved for the few who won. This gave great urgency to each mans attempt to outstrip his fellows. It also made it more difficult for him to blame them if they defeated him by ruthless means or took unkind advantage of his failure. Resentment at the successful “elect” would, in effect, mean disrespect for the God who had chosen them and blessed their efforts. The failure had only him to blame and felt guilty rather than wronged. Mark Twain commented on this still pervasive American attitude a hundred years after the revolution, saying: “Everywhere in the world poverty is inconvenient, but only in the United States is it also a disgrace.”This attitude was re-enforced for a less religious age by wide-spread acceptance of the philosophy of “Social Darwinism” “the survival of the fittest”-the weak and unsuccessful deserved to starve while the strong and successful were entitled to all they could get.(ruthless individualism) “Individualism is a mature and calm feeling which disposes each member of the community to sever himself from the mass of fellow creaturesAristocracy has made a chain of all the members of a community, from the peasant to the king; democracy breaks that chain and severs every link of it.Thus not only does democracy make every man forget his ancestors, but it hides his descendents, and separates his contemporaries from him; it throws him back forever upon himself alone, and threatens in the end to confine him entirely within the solitude of his own heart.”-Alex de Tocqueville: Democracy in the United States, 1831“Another sign of the timesis the new importance given to the single person. Everything that tends to insulate the individual to surround him with barriers of natural respect, so that each man shall feel the world is his, and man shall treat with man as a sovereign state with a sovereign state- tends to true union as well as greatness.”-Ralph Waldo EmersonAmerican Puritanism is a two-faceted tradition of religious idealism and levelheaded common sense. The pre-revolutionary writings in the colonies are, therefore, essentially of two kinds:l Practical matter-of-fact account of farming, hunting, travel, etc. designed to inform people “at home” what life was like in the new world, and, often, to induce their immigration.l Highly theoretical generally polemical, discussions of religious questions.l The theological arguments were soon supplemented by political debates about the colonies relations with the mother country. i.e. Common Sense (Tom Paines revolutionary pamphlet ) Thomas Jeffersons draft of the Declaration of Independence Literature of the early settlers: l The development of North American Literature began with abstractions and proceeded from philosophy to fiction.l Optimistic Puritanism: Biblical myth of the Garden of Eden (optimism-Emerson: American: Adam in Eden, Thoreau: himself, Adam in Eden, Whiteman: American, children of Adam restored to their lost paradise.)Weal-woel Metaphorical mode of perception. Symbolism: Jonathan Edwards(1703-1758)Nature- radically figurative, Emerson( nature a continuous monologue, Hawthorne, Melville, Howells and many others, symbolism as a technique has become a common practice.l Style: simplicity: distaste for the arts and for any manifestation of sensuous beauty. Fresh, simple, and direct, the rhetoric is plain and honest, not without a touch of nobility often traceable to the direct influence of the Bible. All this has left an indelible imprint on American writing.Edward Taylor (1642-1729) a meditative poet. A puritan poet, Huswifery: indicates that he saw religious significance in a simple daily incident like a housewife spinning; the spinning wheel, the distaff, the flyers, the spool, the reel and the yarn have all acquired a metaphysical significance in the symbolic, Puritan eyes of Edward Taylor. Comparing his 18th-century