Early America 1492 1750 Important Dates 1492 Christopher

Early America 1492 -1750

Important Dates • 1492 - Christopher Columbus lands in the Bahamas • 1513 - Ponce de Leon lands in America • 1515 - Balboa reaches the Pacific Ocean • 1565 - first permanent settlement in St. Augustine by Pedro Menendez • 1586 - Colony at Roanoke disappears • 1607 - First permanent English settlement at Jamestown, Va. • 1692 - Salem Witch Trials Tr

Christopher Columbus Voyage of Balboa Lost Colony of Roanoke St. Augustine James town Woman charged with witchcraft

The Native Americans • Native Americans have been here at least thirty times longer than Europeans! • There is no true record of what went on here before Europeans arrived • They taught the Europeans things about agriculture, woodcraft, maize, beans, squash, maple sugar, snowshoes, toboggans, and canoes

Pilgrims & Puritans • In 1620 a small group (pilgrims) sailed here on the Mayflower • They came for religious freedom from corruption in the church • They established Plymouth, Mass. • Puritans came to America soon after and created the Mass. Bay Colony. • Puritans came to America to work on the corruptions of the church

Puritan Beliefs • Humans exist only for the glory of God • Predestination (belief that God has already decided the chosen ones that will go to heaven) • Continual hard work • Self-discipline

Religious Change • The Plymouth colony was engulfed eventually by the Mass. Bay Colony • Their beliefs blended • By the 1700’s Puritanism was on the decline • In 1720 the Great Awakening occurred. • The Great Awakening was a movement of many religious revivals throughout churches which lead to many Protestant conversions

The Southern Planters • The Southern colonies differed from the colonies of New England • They lived on large plantations • Up to a thousand people might have lived and worked there (many of them enslaved) • First slaves were brought to Va. In 1619 • Note that slavery did exist in EVERY colony

Literature • Native American literature was oral, so there are no set versions of their work. It deals with the natural world and how it connects to spirituality • Explorer Accounts tell of their journeys to America and westward • Religious writings include journals, diaries, sermons, hymns, historical records • ***The Puritans felt that fiction and drama were both sinful.

What we will be reading • From the “Journal of the First Voyage to America” by Christopher Columbus • From “Of Plymouth Plantation” by William Bradford • Poetry by Anne Bradstreet, Edward Taylor • “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards