The American Tradition in Literature Vol. 1 4th ed. By Bradley, Beatty, Long, Perkins, 1974.
VIRGINIA
The first permanent English settlement at Jamestown, (1607) as you know, was wrought with many problems but the colony increased and a colonial capital was established in 1693 at Williamsburg where William and Mary was founded as the 2nd college in N. America. During the 17th c. the south was not a land of large plantations, yet it fell victim to British mercantilism, an abusive system which compelled the colonists to sell to the mother country. The southern wealth grew and was composed of a few privileged aristocrats, thousands of slaves and a white middle class of frontiersmen and farmers. They added little to the creative literature of the colonies, but produced some great leaders and statesmen like Jefferson and Madison.
In the northern colonies, where natural conditions favored manufacturing and commerce, a considerable number of people were learned, especially the Puritan clergymen and governors. They produced a considerable body of writing; yet, they were not literary people. They were intent upon subduing a wilderness, making homes, and building a new civil society. The Massachusetts Bay colony under the leadership of John Winthrop, a strong Puritan, became a colony with limited, but then quite unprecedented, powers of self-government. They became the model of democracy.
No comments:
Post a Comment