The Literatures of Colonial America An Anthology

by Castillo, Susan; Schweitzer, Ivy

• ISBN13: 9780631211259
• ISBN10: 063121125X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-02-22
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• More Book Details

Summary

Compiled in response to emerging transnational perspectives in American Studies, this comprehensive and imaginative anthology brings together a rich variety of works of colonial literature from across the Americas, covering the period from first contact, through to settlement and the emergence of national identities, with an emphasis on the American Revolutionary period.

Author Biography

Susan Castillo is Head of English Literature and Reader at Glasgow University. Her books include Notes from the Periphery: Marginality in North American Literature and Culture (1995), Engendering Identities (1996) and Native American Women in Literature and Culture (1997, with Victor Da Rosa).

Ivy Schweitzer is Associate Professor of English at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, and teaches in the Women's Studies, Comparative Literature and Jewish Studies Programs. She is the author of The Work of Self-Representation: Lyric Poetry in Colonial New England (1991).

Table of Contents

Preface	xvi
Acknowledgments	xix
Part One: Exploration and Contact to 1600	1	(102)
Introduction	3	(5)
Before Columbus: Native American Cultures	8	(15)
The Pre-Columbian World	8	(2)
The Origin Myth of Acoma...	10	(3)
The Winnebago Trickster Cycle	13	(3)
The Origin of Stories (Seneca)	16	(2)
Pre-Columbian Literatures of the Quiche	18	(1)
Anonymous Quiche author (sixteenth century): Popol Vuh	19	(1)
Excerpts from the Mayan Chilam Balam	20	(3)
New World Encounters	23	(80)
Christopher Columbus (1451--1506)	23	(4)
From The Letter of Columbus on the Discovery of America...	24	(3)
Bartolome de Las Casas (1474--1566)	27	(6)
The History of the Indies	28	(1)
From Book I, Chapter XXXVII: On the Natural Law of God in His World...	28	(2)
Book I, Chapter XL: Of the Island which Lay Before Them, and its People	30	(2)
From Book III, Chapter LXXVIII: Of the Labors of the Indians in Cuba	32	(1)
Pero Vaz de Caminha (1467?--1520?)	33	(1)
From The Letter of Pero Vaz de Caminha to King Manuel I, May 1, 1500	33	(1)
Giovanni da Verrazzano (1485--1528)	34	(2)
From The Voyage of Verrazzano, Florentine Noble in the Service of Francois I, King of France, 1524	35	(1)
Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca (1490?--1556?)	36	(4)
From Chapter 12: The Indians Bring us Food	37	(1)
From Chapter 15: What Befell us Among the People of Mahado	38	(1)
From Chapter 22: The Coming of Other Sick to us the Next Day	39	(1)
Bernal Diaz del Castillo (1492--1581)	40	(22)
History of the Conquest of New Spain	40	(1)
From Chapter 37: Of how Dona Marina was a great lady and daughter of great lords, and mistress over towns and vassals, and how she was brought to Tabasco	40	(2)
From Chapter 88: Of the great and solemn Montezuma's great and solemn reception of Cortes and of all of us on our entrance into Mexico	42	(2)
From Chapter 89: Of how Montezuma came to our quarters with many chieftains, and the conversation he had with our Captain	44	(1)
From Chapter 90: Of how soon thereafter our Captain went to see the great Montezuma, and of certain conversations they had	45	(1)
Chapter 91: Of the manner and appearance of Montezuma	46	(6)
From Chapter 93: Of how we made our Church and altar in our quarters, and a cross outside our quarters, and other events, and of how we found the antechamber and chamber where Montezuma's father's treasure is kept, and how it was agreed that Montezuma should be detained	52	(1)
From Chapter 95: Montezuma's arrest	53	(2)
From Chapter 97: Of how when Montezuma was held prisoner, Cortes and all our soldiers treated him with affection, and even allowed him to go to his temples	55	(1)
From Chapter 107: Of Cortes and Montezuma	56	(1)
From Chapter 150: The Siege of Mexico	57	(1)
From Chapter 152: Of how the Indians took seventy-two live prisoners to be sacrificed	58	(1)
From Chapter 156: Guatemoc's arrest	59	(3)
Native Views of the Conquest of Mexico	62	(9)
The Omens Described by Munoz Camargo (1520)	62	(2)
A Macehual Arrives from the Gulf Coast	64	(1)
The Story of the Conquest as Told by the Anonymous Authors of Tlatelolco	65	(1)
The Arrival of Cortes (1519--1521)	65	(1)
The Massacre in the Main Temple	66	(1)
The Night of Sorrows	66	(1)
The Spaniards Return	67	(1)
The Tlatelolcas Are Invited to Make a Treaty	67	(1)
The Fighting is Renewed	68	(1)
Epic Description of the Beseiged City	69	(1)
The Message from Cortes	69	(1)
The City Falls	70	(1)
The People Flee the City	70	(1)
The Fall of Tenochtitlan	70	(1)
Flowers and Songs of Sorrow	71	(1)
Diego de Landa (1524?--1579)	71	(2)
From Account of Things in Yucatan	72	(1)
XV: Cruelties of the Spaniards Toward the Indians	72	(1)
XLI: Cycle of the Mayas. Their Writing	72	(1)
LII: Conclusion	73	(1)
Hans Staden (fl. 1550s)	73	(8)
From The True History of His Captivity, 1557	74	(1)
From Part I: The True History and Description of a Country of Savages, a Naked and Terrible People, Eaters of Men's Flesh, Who Dwell in the New World Called America...	74	(1)
Chapter I	74	(1)
From Chapter XVIII	75	(1)
Chapter XXII	75	(1)
Chapter XXIII	76	(1)
Chapter XXIV	76	(1)
Chapter XXVII	77	(1)
From Chapter XLII	77	(1)
From Chapter XLIII	78	(1)
From Part II: A True and Brief Account of all that I Learnt Concerning the Trade and Manners of the Tuppin Inbas, whose Captive I Was	78	(1)
Chapter XXIII: How They Turn the Women into Soothsayers	78	(1)
From Chapter XXV: Why One Enemy Eats Another	78	(1)
Chapter XXVIII: Of Their Manner of Killing and Eating Their Enemies. Of the Instrument with which They Kill Them and the Rites which Follow	78	(2)
From The Concluding Address	80	(1)
Manuel da Nobrega (1517--1570)	81	(11)
Dialogue for the Conversion of the Indians	81	(11)
Thomas Harriot (1560--1621)	92	(7)
From A briefe and true report of the new found land of Virginia	93	(1)
From The first part of Merchantable Commodities	93	(1)
Of the Nature and Maners of the People	93	(6)
Samuel de Champlain (1570?--1635)	99	(4)
From Voyages of Samuel de Champlain, 1604--1618	100	(1)
The Voyages of 1604--7	100	(3)
Part Two: New World Identities: Exploration and Settlement to 1700	103	(254)
Introduction	105	(8)
New Spain	113	(65)
El Inca Garcilaso de la Vega (1539--1616)	113	(4)
From The Florida of the Inca	114	(1)
The Inca's Dedication	114	(1)
The Inca's Preface	114	(3)
Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala (1525?--1615?)	117	(15)
From Letter to a King (1613)	118	(1)
Royal Administrators	118	(3)
At Wayside Inns	121	(1)
Spaniards	122	(1)
Proprietors	123	(1)
The Fathers	124	(1)
Negroes	125	(1)
The King's Questions	126	(6)
Gaspar Perez de Villagra (1555--1620)	132	(6)
History of New Mexico, 1610	132	(1)
From Canto I: Which sets forth the outline of the history and the location of New Mexico, and the reports had of it in the traditions of the Indians, and of the true origin and descent of the Mexicans	132	(1)
Canto XXI: How Zutacapan called an assembly of the Acoma Indians and the discord there was among them, and of the treason they made	133	(3)
From Canto XXXIII: How Zutancalpo was found by his four sisters and of the end and death of Gicombo and Luzcoija	136	(2)
Francisco Nunez de Pineda y Bascunan (1607--1682)	138	(2)
The Happy Captivity...	138	(1)
From Book I, Chapter IX: The Beginning of the Captivity	138	(1)
Book III, Chapter XXXI: A Feast	139	(1)
Carlos de Siguenza y Gongora (1645--1700)	140	(6)
The Misadventures of Alonso Ramirez	140	(1)
From Chapter I: The Motives He Had for Leaving His Country. Work and Travel through New Spain; His Presence in Mexico until Leaving for the Philippines	140	(3)
From Chapter II: His Departure from Acapulco for the Philippines; the Route of this Voyage and How He Passed the Time until Captured by the English	143	(1)
From Chapter III: A Brief Summary of the Thievery and Cruelty of these Pirates on Land and Sea until Arriving in America	144	(2)
Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz (1648--1695)	146	(14)
Number 48: In Reply to a Gentleman from Peru, Who Sent Her Clay Vessels While Suggesting She Would Better Be a Man	146	(2)
Number 92: A Philosophical Satire	148	(2)
Number 94: Which Reveals the Honorable Ancestry of a High-Born Drunkard	150	(1)
Number 145: She Attempts to Minimize the Praise Occasioned by a Portrait of Herself Inscribed by Truth - Which She Calls Ardor	150	(1)
Number 146: She Laments Her Fortune, She Hints of Her Aversion to All Vice, and Justifies her Diversion with the Muses	150	(1)
Number 317: Villancico VI, from ``Santa Catarina,'' 1691	150	(1)
Number 367: Loa for the Auto sacramental The Divine Narcissus through Allegories	151	(9)
The Miraculous Apparition of the Beloved Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Guadalupe, at Tepeyacac, near Mexico City (1649)	160	(6)
History of the Miraculous Apparition	160	(6)
A Nahuatl Song to Holy Mary	166	(1)
Records of the Spanish Inquisition, New Mexico, 1664	166	(4)
Excerpts From the Trial of Bernardo de Mendizabal	167	(3)
Don Antonio de Otermin (fl. 1680)	170	(8)
Letter on the Pueblo Revolt of 1680	171	(7)
New France	178	(19)
Jerome Lalemant (1593--1673)	178	(3)
The Earthquake	178	(3)
Louis Hennepin (1626--after 1701)	181	(13)
From Description of Louisiana, Recently Discovered Southwest of New France, by order of His Majesty (1683)	182	(1)
Letter to King Louis XIV	182	(6)
From The Manners of the Indians	188	(1)
On the Fertility of the Indian Country	188	(1)
Origins of the Indians	188	(1)
Physical Condition of the Indians	189	(2)
Marriages of the Indians	191	(2)
The Obstacles to the Conversion of the Indians	193	(1)
Indifference of the Indians	193	(1)
Chretian Le Clercq (fl. 1641--1695)	194	(3)
From New Relation of Gaspesia	194	(1)
The Sun Wept in Grief	194	(1)
``I am astonished that the French have so little wit''	195	(2)
Middle Atlantic: The Chesapeake and the Indies	197	(39)
John Smith (1580--1631)	197	(8)
The Generall Historie of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles	198	(1)
From The Third Book, The Proceedings and Accidents of the English Colony in Virginia	198	(5)
From A Description of New England	203	(2)
Richard Ligon (1585?--1662)	205	(8)
From A True and Exact History of the Islands of Barbadoes	205	(8)
George Alsop (1636?--1673?)	213	(9)
From A Character of the Province of Mary-land (1666)	214	(4)
From ``A Relation of the Customs, Manners, Absurdities, and Religion of the Susquehanock Indians in and near Mary-Land''	218	(4)
John Lederer (1644--after 1672)	222	(3)
Instructions to Such as Shall March upon Discoveries into the North American Continent (1672)	223	(1)
Touching Trade with Indians	224	(1)
Nathaniel Bacon (1647--1676)	225	(5)
Manifesto Concerning the Present Troubles in Virginia	226	(2)
The Declaration of the People	228	(2)
James Revel (after 1640s--?)	230	(6)
``The Poor Unhappy Transported Felon's Sorrowful Account of His Fourteen Years of Transportation at Virginia in America''	231	(5)
New England	236	(102)
Thomas Morton (1579?--1647?)	236	(7)
New English Canaan	237	(1)
From Book I: Containing the originall of the Natives, their manners & Customes, with their tractable nature and love towards the English	237	(1)
Chapter VII: Of their Child-bearing, and delivery, and what manner of persons they are	237	(1)
Chapter XVI: Of their acknowledgment of the Creation, and immortality of the Soule	238	(1)
Chapter XX: That the Salvages live a contented life	238	(2)
From Book II: A Description of the Beauty of the Country	240	(1)
Chapter I: The General Survey of the Country	240	(1)
From Book III: Containing a description of the People that are planted there, what remarkable Accidents have happened there since they were setled, what Tenents they hould, together with the practice of their Church.	240	(1)
Chapter XIV: Of the Revells of New Canaan.	240	(2)
Chapter XVI: How the 9 worthies put mine Host of Ma-re Mount in to the inchaunted Castle at Plimmouth, and terrified him with the Monster Briareus	242	(1)
John Winthrop (1588--1649)	243	(13)
From ``A Modell of Christian Charity''	244	(6)
From Winthrop's Journal: History of New England, 1630--1649	250	(6)
William Bradford (1590--1657)	256	(11)
Of Plymouth Plantation: 1620--1647	257	(1)
From Book I, Chapter IX: Of their Voyage, and how they Passed the Sea; and of their Safe Arrival at Cape Cod	257	(2)
From Book I, Chapter X: Showing How they Sought out a place of Habitation; and What Befell them Thereabout	259	(1)
From Book II, Chapter XI: The Remainder of Anno 1620	260	(1)
[The Mayflower Compact]	260	(1)
[The Starving Time]	261	(1)
[Indian Relations]	262	(1)
From Book II, Chapter XIV: Anno Domini 1623	263	(1)
[End of the ``Common Course and Condition'']	263	(1)
From Book II, Chapter XXVIII: Anno Domini 1637	264	(1)
[The Pequot War]	264	(1)
From Book II, Chapter XXXII: Anno Domini 1642	265	(1)
[A Horrible Case of Bestiality]	265	(2)
Roger Williams (1603?--1683)	267	(10)
A Key into the Language of America	268	(2)
Directions for the Use of the Language	270	(1)
From Chapter I: Of Salutation	271	(2)
From Chapter VIII: Of Discourse and Newes [Canonicus' speech]	273	(1)
From Chapter XI: Of Travel	273	(3)
Letter: To the Town of Providence	276	(1)
Thomas Shepard (1605--1649)	277	(4)
From The Autobiography of Thomas Shepard	278	(3)
Anne Bradstreet (1612?--1672)	281	(12)
From Several Poems	283	(1)
``The Prologue''	283	(1)
``In Honour of...Queen Elizabeth...''	284	(3)
``The Author to her Book''	287	(1)
``The Flesh and the Spirit''	287	(2)
``To My Dear and Loving Husband''	289	(1)
``In Memory of My Dear Grandchild Elizabeth Bradstreet, Who Deceased August, 1665, Being a Year and a Half Old''	289	(1)
``Upon the Burning of Our House, July 10th, 1666''	290	(1)
To My Dear Children	290	(3)
The New England Primer (1683?)	293	(6)
Benjamin Church (1639--1717)	299	(9)
From Entertaining Passages Relating to Philip's War	301	(1)
The Great Swamp Fight	301	(1)
Reunion with Awashonks	302	(1)
Tactics of Indian Warfare	303	(1)
Philip's Forces Routed Near Bridgewater	303	(1)
Philip Killed	304	(2)
The Capture of Annawon	306	(1)
Philip's Regalia	307	(1)
Edward Taylor (1642?--1729)	308	(13)
From Gods Determinations	310	(1)
The Preface	310	(1)
The Souls Groan to Christ for Succour	311	(1)
The Joy of Church Fellowship rightly attended	312	(1)
From ``Poetical Works''	313	(1)
4. Huswifery	313	(1)
6. Upon Wedlock and Death of Children	314	(1)
From Preparatory Meditations	315	(1)
Prologue	315	(1)
First Series	315	(1)
Meditation 8: John 6.51. I Am the Living Bread	316	(1)
Meditation 40: I John 2.2. He is a Propitiation for our Sin	317	(2)
Second Series	319	(1)
Meditation 43: Rom. 9.5. God blessed forever	319	(2)
Samuel Sewell (1652--1730)	321	(6)
Phœnomena quœdam Apocalyptica [Phenomena concerning the Apocalypse] (1697)	323	(1)
The Selling of Joseph, A Memorial	323	(4)
Cotton Mather (1663--1728)	327	(11)
From Decennium Luctuosum [The Captivity of Hannah Dustan]	329	(3)
From Magnalia Christi Americana	332	(1)
From The Negro Christianized	333	(5)
Middle Atlantic: New Netherland	338	(6)
Jacob Steendam (1616--?)	338	(2)
``The Complaint of New Amsterdam''	338	(2)
Henricus Selyns (1636--1701)	340	(4)
``Bridal Torch''	340	(4)
Middle Atlantic: Pennsylvania	344	(4)
Francis Daniel Pastorius (1651--1720?)	344	(4)
From ``Positive Information from America, Concerning the Country of Pennsylvania...''	344	(2)
Letter to Tobias Schumbergius, 1693	346	(2)
Native American Views	348	(9)
Powhatan's Speech to Captain John Smith, 1609	349	(1)
Narragansett Indians, ``Act of Submission,'' 1644	350	(1)
Mittark, Agreement of Gay Head Indians Not to Sell Land to the English, 1681	351	(1)
Garangula, Speech to New France's Governor La Barre, 1685	352	(1)
The Coming of the Spanish and the Pueblo Revolt: A Hopi Perspective	353	(4)
Part Three: The Eighteenth Century	357	(239)
Introduction	359	(5)
Later Colonial Writers of the Americas	364	(101)
Sarah Kemble Knight (1666--1727)	364	(9)
From The Journal of Madame Knight	365	(8)
Louis Armand de Lom d'Arce, Baron de Lahontan (1666--1715)	373	(10)
New Voyages to North America...	375	(1)
From Volume I	375	(1)
From Preface	375	(1)
From Letter I: Description of the Passage from France to Canada	376	(1)
Letter II: Description of the Plantations of Canada	377	(2)
From Volume II	379	(1)
A Discourse of the Habit, Houses, Complexion and Temperament of the Savages of North America	379	(2)
From A Short View of the Humors and Customs of the Savages	381	(1)
From An Account of the Amours and Marriages of the Savages	382	(1)
William Byrd II (1674--1744)	383	(9)
From The Secret History of the Line	385	(3)
From The History of the Dividing Line	388	(4)
Pierre Francois-Xavier de Charlevoix (1682--1761)	392	(7)
Journal of a Voyage to North America, undertaken by the Order of the French King	392	(1)
From Letter III: Description of Quebec; character of its inhabitants, and the manner of living in the French Colony	392	(3)
From Letter XXX: Voyage from the Akansas to the Natchez. Description of the country. Of the river of the Yasous. Of the customs, manners and religion of the Natchez	395	(2)
From Letter XXXI: Description of the Capital of Louisiana	397	(1)
From Letter XXXII: Reflections on the Grants	398	(1)
Marie-Andree Duplessis de Sainte-Helene (1687--1760)	399	(1)
From The Annals of the Hotel-Dieu, Quebec	399	(1)
The Image of Hell	399	(1)
Elisabeth Begon (1696--1755)	400	(3)
From The Correspondence of Madame Begon, 1748--1753	401	(2)
Richard Lewis (1700?--1734)	403	(8)
A Journey from Patapsko to Annapolis, April 4, 1730	404	(7)
Jonathan Edwards (1703--1758)	411	(10)
From Images of Divine Things	412	(1)
``Apostrophe to Sarah Pierpont''	413	(1)
Personal Narrative	414	(7)
Elizabeth Ashbridge (1713--1755)	421	(10)
From Some Account of the Fore Part of the Life of Elizabeth Ashbridge...	422	(9)
Alonso Carrio de la Vandera (1715?--?)	431	(12)
El Lazarillo: A Guide for Inexperienced Travelers between Buenos Aires and Lima (c. 1775)	432	(1)
Prologue and Dedication to those treated herein	432	(2)
From Chapter XVIII: The indolence of the Indians. The Opinion of the Author. The Name Concolorcorvo	434	(1)
From Chapter XXVI: A Brief Comparison of the Cities of Lima and Cuzco. Characteristic Aspects. The Residents of Lima and Mexico. The Dress of the Lima Women. Reasons for their vitality. Singular Features, Wedding Beds, Cradles, and Household Furnishings	435	(8)
John Woolman (1720--1772)	443	(9)
From The Journal of John Woolman	445	(7)
Jean-Bernard Bossu (1720--1792)	452	(2)
Travels in the Interior of North America, 1751--1762	452	(1)
From Letter II	452	(1)
From Letter XVII	453	(1)
Louis Antoine de Bougainville (1729--1811)	454	(4)
From Adventure in the Wilderness	454	(4)
Rafael Landivar (1731--1793)	458	(7)
Rusticatio Mexicana	459	(1)
From The Lakes of Mexico	459	(2)
From Processing of Silver and Gold	461	(2)
From Birds	463	(1)
From Sports	463	(2)
Contested Visions: Revolution and Nation	465	(131)
Benjamin Franklin (1706--1790)	465	(13)
Epitaph	468	(1)
From The Autobiography [Part 2]	468	(10)
Samson Occom (1727--1792)	478	(6)
A Short Narrative of My Life	479	(5)
Lucy Terry (Prince) (1730--1821)	484	(1)
``Bars Fight''	484	(1)
Abigail Smith Adams (1744--1818) John Adams (1735--1826)	485	(12)
From Letters of Abigail and John Adams	486	(6)
From The Adams-Jefferson Letters	492	(5)
J. Hector St John de Crevecoeur (1735--1813)	497	(11)
Letters from an American Farmer	498	(1)
From Letter III: What is an American?	498	(5)
From Letter IX: Description of Charles Town; Thoughts on Slavery; On Physical Evil; A Melancholy Scene	503	(4)
From Letter XII: Distresses of a Frontier Man	507	(1)
Prince Hall (1735?--1807)	508	(7)
A Charge, Delivered to the African Lodge, June 24, 1797, at Menotomy	509	(6)
Thomas Paine (1737--1809)	515	(8)
From Common Sense	516	(1)
Introduction	516	(1)
From III: Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs	517	(6)
Thomas Jefferson (1743--1826)	523	(14)
From Autobiography [Declaration of Independence]	524	(6)
Notes on the State of Virginia	530	(1)
From Query VI: Productions mineral, vegetable and animal	530	(1)
From Query XIV: Laws	531	(5)
From Query XVIII: Manners	536	(1)
Toussaint L'Ouverture (1744?--1803)	537	(9)
Proclamations and Letters	538	(8)
Olaudah Equiano (1745--1797)	546	(8)
From The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, Written by Himself	547	(7)
Judith Sargent Murray (1751--1820)	554	(4)
``Desultory Thoughts upon the Utility of Encouraging a Degree of Self-Complacency, Especially in Female Bosoms''	555	(3)
Philip Freneau (1752--1832)	558	(14)
``The Rising Glory of America''	559	(9)
``A Political Litany''	568	(1)
``George the Third's Soliloquy''	569	(1)
``To Sir Toby''	570	(2)
Lemuel Haynes (1753--1833)	572	(9)
``Liberty Further Extended: Or Free Thoughts on the Illegality of Slave-Keeping''	573	(8)
Phillis Wheatley (1753--1784)	581	(10)
From Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral	583	(1)
``To Mæcenas''	583	(1)
``To the University of Cambridge, in New England''	584	(1)
``On Being Brought from Africa to America''	585	(1)
``On the Death of the Rev. Mr George Whitefield''	586	(1)
``To the Right Honourable William, Earl of Dartmouth, His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for North America, &c.''	587	(1)
``A Farewell to America. To Mrs S.W.''	588	(1)
Letter to Samson Occom	589	(1)
Extant poem not included in Poems, 1773	590	(1)
``America''	590	(1)
Charles Brockden Brown (1771--1810)	591	(5)
From Alcuin Part I	592	(4)
Bibliography	596	(2)
Index	598