English 342: Colonial and Revolutionary American Literature

Fall 2004 / TR 9:25-10:40

Prof. Scott Peeples
Office: 22B Glebe St., Rm. 201
Web page: http://www.cofc.edu/~peeples/
E-mail: peepless@cofc.edu
Office Hours: MWF 10-11, TR 1:30-2:30 and by appointment

Links: Reserve List, PAL Research & Reference Guide, SAC American Lit Index,

Heath Anthology Vol. I Resources , 17th C. Colonial New England, Salem Witchcraft Papers,

Virtual Library: Colonial America, VL: Revolutionary America, VL: Constitutional America

SYLLABUS

COURSE OBJECTIVES
This course is designed to help students better understand a representative selection of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century American writings, and to form independent conclusions about the relationships among fictional works and more overtly political documents of the period. This course aims to develop students' close reading and critical thinking skills and to improve students' ability to express themselves through speaking and writing.

TEXTS
The Heath Anthology of American Literature, 4th ed.
Thomas Paine, Common Sense (Dover)

REQUIREMENTS and POLICIES

1. Graded work and due dates (dates subject to change):

Daily in-class writing -- approx. 50 pts.
4B5 pp. essay -- 50 pts.
Mid-term exam -- 50 pts.
Proposal for researched essay -- 10 pts.
Researched essay (8-10 pp.) -- 100 pts.
Final exam -- 70 pts.

Total -- approx. 330 pts.

2. Attendance and participation are requirements of this course. If you miss more than three classes, I will deduct two points from your final grade for each additional class you miss. (For example, if you miss six classes and your numerical grade for the course is an 81, it would turn into a 75.) You should save the three absences you're allowed for illnesses and emergencies, because I do not distinguish between excused and unexcused absences when I calculate grades.

3. In-class writing: Each day, I will give a brief writing assignment to the class, the main purpose of which is to allow you to write without the pressure of a substantial grade, in order to generate ideas for discussion or for your essays. If you demonstrate adequate familiarity with the text and a sincere effort to develop an idea through your writing, I will give you full credit (2 pts.). For writing that shows little effort or little familiarity with the text, I will assign 1 point. No significant effort/familiarity, no credit. No make-ups.

4. Out-of-class writing: The short essay should begin with a question, which the essay is an attempt to answer. Make the question the title of your essay. You are not required to use additional sources, but you may. I will schedule these essays on the second day of class. Your subject will be one or more of the readings for a specific class meeting, and your essay will be due at the beginning of the following class. For instance, if you are scheduled to write on Anne Bradstreet, whom we discuss on 9/14, your essay will be due on 9/16. This gives you a chance to benefit from class discussion as you write or revise the paper.

I will distribute the guidelines for the researched essay before fall break.

5. Reserve readings are available electronically to help you prepare for class; they might also help stimulate ideas for exams and papers. I've also linked some online resources to the web page for this class. These readings are recommended but not required.

6. Graded Writing: I look primarily for content (evidence of original thinking, claims supported by textual evidence and logic), then effective organization of sentences into paragraphs and paragraphs into a coherent essay. Next I am concerned with the clarity of your sentences and your ability to vary sentence structures, and on the mechanical correctness of your writing.

Late penalty: one letter grade for each class period an essay is late; one letter grade for each weekday an essay is late after classes end. I will not accept any written work after the final exam.

I will assign number grades to your essays and exams. At the end of the term, I will divide your total number of points by the number of available points to determine your average.

On a 100-pt. scale, A = 90-100, B+ = 86-89, B = 80-85, C+ = 76-79, C = 70-75,
D = 65-69, and an F = 64 or lower.

I encourage you to meet with me to discuss assignments, your writing, or your grades. I will try to help you understand the material better and improve your work. However, I do not give extra credit.

Reading Schedule (H = Handout)

8/24 Introduction; Christopher Columbus (107): from Journal of the First Voyage, from Narrative of the Third Voyage

8/26 Native American Oral Narrative (21): "The Origin of Stories" (Seneca) and "Raven Makes a Girl Sick" (Tsimshian); Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca (119): from Relation of Cabeza de Vaca

8/31 Don Antonio de Otermín (182): "Letter on the Pueblo Revolt of 1680"; "The Coming of the Spanish and the Pueblo Revolt" (Hopi, 190); Samuel de Champlain (205): from The Voyages

9/2 Thomas Harriot (224): "A Brief and True Report"; John Smith (242): from The Generall Historie of Virginia, from A Description of New England, and from Advertisements for the Unexperienced Planters; Richard Frethorne (257): from the letter to his parents

9/7 William Bradford (311): from Of Plymouth Plantation; Thomas Morton (281): from New English Canaan; Thomas Tillam (533): "Uppon the First Sight of New England June 29, 1638"

9/9 John Winthrop (223): from "A Modell of Christian Charity," from The Journal of John Winthrop

9/14 Anne Bradstreet (382): "The Prologue," "In Honour of . . . Queen Elizabeth," "The Author to Her Book," "To Her Father," "The Flesh and the Spirit," "Before the Birth of One of Her Children," "To My Dear and Loving Husband," "A Letter to Her Husband," "In Memory of . . . Elizabeth Bradstreet," "On My Dear Grandchild Simon Bradstreet," "Upon the Burning of Our House."

9/16 Edward Taylor (456): from Occasional Poems, from Preparatory Meditations, First Series, and "A Fig for Thee Oh! Death"

9/21 Mary White Rowlandson (425): from A Narrative of the Captivity; John Williams (521): from The Redeemed Captive Returning to Zion; Mary French (550): from "A Poem Written By a Captive Damsel"

9/23 Samuel Sewell (484): "The Selling of Joseph"; John Saffin (538): "The Negroes Character"; Cotton Mather (495): from The Negro Christianized, from Bonifacius

9/28 The Salem Witchcraft Papers (http://etext.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/texts/transcripts.html): Read the cases of Mary Warren (Vol. 3, Case 23), Susannah Martin (Vol. 2, Case 36), Mary Osgood (Vol. 2, Case 41),, and John Proctor (Vol. 2, Case 52).

9/30 George Alsop (541): "Trafique Is Earth's Great Atlas"; William Byrd (598): from The History of the Dividing Line . . . and the Secret History; Ebenezer Cook (697): "The Sot-Weed Factor"

10/5 Jonathan Edwards (620): "On Sarah Pierrepont," from A Faithful Narrative, from Personal Narrative (537-41), "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"; John Woolman (664): from The Journal of John Woolman (Travels through North Carolina, 673-78)

10/7 Mid-term exam

10/12 Benjamin Franklin (782): "The Way to Wealth," "A Witch Trial at Mount Holly," "The Speech of Polly Baker," "Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America," "On the Slave Trade"; Handsome Lake (780): "How America Was Discovered"

10/14 Franklin: from The Autobiography

10/19 Fall Holiday

10/21 TBA

10/26 J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur (898): from Letters from an American Farmer

10/28 Thomas Paine: Common Sense (Dover Thrift Edition - not just the selections in the anthology); Timothy Dwight (1191): "Columbia" (H)

11/2 Thomas Jefferson (968): from Notes on the State of Virginia; from Autobiography; letters to Madison, Banneker, Condorcet, and Coles

11/4 Phillis Wheatley (1205): "To the Right Honorable William, Earl of Dartmouth," "On Being Brought from Africa to America," "To the University of Cambridge," "To His Excellency General Washington," Letter to Samson Occom; Prince Hall ( 1106): both selections

11/9 Olaudah Equiano (1116): from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavas Vassa, the African

11/11 Federalist Nos. 6 and 10 (1015) and an Anti-Federalist Paper (1020); Anon., "The Farmer and His Thirteen Sons" (H)

11/16 Judith Sargent Murray (1149): "Desultory Thoughts," "On the Equality of the Sexes"; Jefferson: letter to Martha Jefferson (H); Hannah Webster Foster (1306): from The Coquette

11/18 Royall Tyler (1257): The Contrast

11/23 Joel Barlow (1237): "The Hasty Pudding"; Philip Freneau (1175): "To Sir Toby," "The Wild Honey Suckle," "The Indian Burying Ground," "On the Causes of Political Degeneracy"
Research proposal due.

11/25 Thanksgiving Break

11/30 Joel Barlow: "Advice to a Raven in Russia"; Washington Irving (2071): from A History of New York (Book I, Chapter 5), "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"

12/2 TBA

12/6 Researched essay due.

12/11 (Sat., 8am) Final exam.