Encounters and Foundations to 1800
Elements of Literature, pp. 1-2, 6-8. and 11-14
Directions: Read the highlights of the early American period in history in the historical essay found in your literature book. Answer the questions below as you read. Use your own paper. Answer each question fully and in complete sentences.
1. Read the quote by John Winthrop, p. 1. What can you gather about the Puritans from Winthrop’s quotation? What danger is warning the new colonists about?
2. Using the time line on pp 2-3, what political/social event precedes Winthrop’s comment on p. 1?
3. Using the time line on pp. 2-3, identify three American authors and their works writing about events and ideas in America before 1700.
4. Read “Forming New Relationships,” p. 6. What did the English rely on the American Indians for?
5. What tragic effect did the European settlement have on American Indians (p. 8)?
6. Read the quote by Francis Jennings (bottom of p. 8). The word demoralization is a noun referring to a state of corruption. Based on his use of the word, what can you infer about Jennings’s attitude toward the American resettlement?
7. Read p. 11. Who were the Puritans?
8. Why did the Puritans flee their country (p. 12)?
9. What belief were the Puritans certain of?
10. What were the Puritans’ beliefs about human nature?
11. What “ideal qualities” did the American Puritan come to value? Why is this significant in terms of American history?
12. What was the Mayflower Compact (p. 13)?
13. Why were Puritans’ political views undemocratic (p. 13)?
14. Why did the Puritans think that diaries and histories were important (p. 14)?
15. Why did the Puritans view the Bible as an absolute necessity in their lives (p. 14)?
Mayflower Compact, 1620
We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, etc.
Having undertaken, for the Glory of God and advancement of the Christian Faith and Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the First Colony in the Northern Parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one of another, Covenant and Combine ourselves together into a Civil Body Politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute and frame such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the Colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape Cod, the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France and Ireland the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini 1620.
Read the Mayflower Compact and use the document to answer these questions.