Creating an American Culture, 1775-1800 A Brief History with Documents

by Kornfeld, Eve

• ISBN13: 9780312190620
• ISBN10: 031219062X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-03-05
• Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's

Summary

Amid the battle for American independence and the struggle to invent a federal government, American Revolutionary leaders and intellectuals sought also to create an American culture that would unify a territory of immense regional, ethnic, and religious diversity. In a sophisticated, yet accessible, interpretive narrative, Eve Kornfeld examines the efforts of Noah Webster, Benjamin Rush, George Washington, Judith Sargent Murray, David Ramsay, Mercy Otis Warren, and others to invent a national literature, narrate a story of nationhood, and educate a diverse people for virtuous republican citizenship. Among the 31 documents following the narrative are early attempts at American epic poetry, excerpts from the first narrative histories of the United States, and commentaries on the place of women and Indians in national life. Headnotes to the documents, reproductions of early paintings and portraits, a chronology, questions for consideration, a bibliography, and an index are also included.

Author Biography

Eve Kornfeld (Ph.D., Harvard University) is professor of history at San Diego State University. A specialist in American cultural history, gender in American culture, and poststructuralist and feminist theory, she is the author of Margaret Fuller: A Brief Biography with Documents (Bedford Books, 1997) and has published numerous articles in journals such as the William and Mary Quarterly and the Journal of American Studies. One of the first fellows in the American Council of Learned Societies' Humanities Project, she is also active in the effort to bring interdisciplinary perspectives to the attention of K–12 teachers. In 1988, Kornfeld received the Timeos Award of the Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society for excellence in teaching.

Table of Contents

Foreword	v
Preface	vii
PART ONE Creating an American Culture	1	(80)
Introduction	3	(8)
Inventing an American Language and Literature	11	(16)
Educating American Citizens	27	(12)
Narrating Nationhood	39	(15)
Contesting Popular Culture	54	(12)
Encountering the Other	66	(11)
Conclusion	77	(4)
PART TWO The Documents	81	(187)
Inventing an American Language and Literature	83	(27)
A Poem on the Rising Glory of America, 1772	83	(5)
Philip Freneau
Hugh Henry Brackenridge
The Conquest of Canaan; A Poem, in Eleven Books, 1785	88	(5)
Timothy Dwight
The Vision of Columbus; A Poem in Nine Books, 1787	93	(6)
Joel Barlow
A Scheme for a New Alphabet and Reformed Mode of Spelling, 1768	99	(3)
Benjamin Franklin
Dissertations on the English Language; with Notes, Historical and Critical, 1789	102	(6)
Noah Webster
A Collection of Essays and Fugitiv Writings, 1790	108	(2)
Noah Webster
Educating American Citizens	110	(39)
Thoughts Upon the Mode of Education Proper in a Republic, 1786	110	(10)
Benjamin Rush
Plan of a Federal University, 1788	120	(4)
Benjamin Rush
Last Will and Testament, 1799	124	(3)
George Washington
On the Equality of the Sexes, 1790	127	(5)
Judith Sargent Murray
The Story of Margaretta, 1798	132	(6)
Judith Sargent Murray
The American Spelling Book, 1789	138	(11)
Noah Webster
Narrating Nationhood	149	(40)
The History of the American Revolution, 1789	149	(12)
David Ramsay
History of the Rise, Progress and Termination of the American Revolution, 1805	161	(12)
Mercy Otis Warren
The Life of George Washington; with Curious Anecdotes, Equally Honourable to Himself and Exemplary to his Young Countrymen, 1809	173	(12)
Mason Locke Weems
The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker's Hill, 1786	185	(1)
John Trumbull
The Declaration of Independence, Philadelphia, 4 July 1776, 1787	186	(1)
John Trumbull
George Washington at the Battle of Princeton, 1780-1781	187	(1)
Charles Willson Peale
George Washington, 1797	188	(1)
Gilbert Stuart
Contesting Popular Culture	189	(40)
Charlotte. A Tale of Truth, 1794	189	(17)
Susanna Haswell Rowson
Modern Chivalry: Containing the Adventures of Captain John Farrago, and Teague O'Regan, His Servant, 1792	206	(11)
Hugh Henry Brackenridge
The Contrast: A Comedy in Five Acts, 1787	217	(12)
Royall Tyler
Encountering the Other	229	(32)
Notes on the State of Virginia, 1787	229	(15)
Thomas Jefferson
Greenfield Hill: A Poem in Seven Parts, 1794	244	(5)
Timothy Dwight
The Death of Jane McCrea, 1804	249	(1)
John Vanderlyn
Travels through North & South Carolina, Georgia, East & West Florida, the Cherokee Country, the Extensive Territories of the Muscogulges or Creek Confederacy, and the Country of the Chactaws, 1791	250	(11)
William Bartram
APPENDIXES
A Selected Cultural Chronology of the United States of America (1771-1806)	261	(3)
Questions for Consideration	264	(1)
Selected Bibliography	265	(3)
Index	268