EN 2206 American Timeline

EN 2206 American Literature I

Lecturer: Rajeev S. Patke

Lecture Resources

Lecture 1a: Timeline for American History

(Source: Norton Anthology of American Literature)

Contexts		Literary Events
1492 1519-21 1526 1539 1582-98 1584 1587 1603 1607 1619 1620 1630-43 1636 1637	Christopher Columbus arrives in the Bahamas. Native American population of N. America then between 4-7 million. Cortés conquers Aztecs in Mexico Spanish explorers bring first African slaves to N. Carolina First printing press in the Americas set up in Mexico City Spanish begin settling New Mexico Sir Walter Raleigh lands in Roanoke, Virginia John White leads expedition to Roanoke, Virginia. First settler child born. Three years later White finds all settlers disappeared Samuel de Champlain founds Quebec Jamestown, first successful English colony 20 Africans arrive in Jamestown on a Dutch vessel as indentured servants Mayflower drops anchor in Plymouth Harbor Immigration of English Puritans to Massachusetts Bay Roger Williams founds Providence colony Pequot War	1493 519 1568 1588 1589 1600 1607 1616 1630 1630-50 1637	Columbus, Letter … Regarding the First Voyage Cortés, First Letter … to the Spanish Crown Bernal Díaz, The True History of the Conquest of New Spain Thomas Harriot, A Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia Arthur Barlow, The First Voyage … John White, The Fifth Voyage… George Percy, Observations … of the Southern Colony of Virginia John Smith, A Description of New England John Winthrop gives his first sermon William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation Thomas Morton, New England Canaan

Contexts		Literary Events
1670 1675-8 1681 1692 1718 1741 1755-63 1773 1775-83 1776 1783	Hudson Bay Company Chartered King Philip’s War destroys native American power in New England William Penn founds Pennyslvania Salem witch trials French found New Orleans Bering discovers Alaska French & Indian wars Boston Tea Party WAR OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE Declaration of Independence US Constitution adopted	1643 1650 1673- 1729 1682 1682- 1725 1702 1704-5 1728 1741 1768 1771-90 1773 1774 1776 1782 1786 1787	Roger Williams, A Key into the Language of America Ann Bradstreet, The Tenth Muse Samuel Sewall, Diary Mary Rowlandson, Narrative of the Captivity & Restoration Edward Taylor, Meditations Cotton Mather, Magnalia Christi Americana Sarah Kemble Knight, Private journal… William Byrd, History of the Dividing Line Jonathan Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God Samson Occom, A Short Narrative of My Life Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography Phyllis Wheatley, Poems John Woolman, Journal Thomas Paine, Common Sense Crèvecoeur, Letter … Philip Freneau, Poems Thomas Jefferson, Notes on… Virginia

Contexts		Literary Events
1789 1791 1803 1809 1827 1829-37 1830 1836 1838-9 1838 1845 1846 1848 1848-9 1850 1854 1857 1859 1861-5 1863 1866 1869	George Washington elected as first President Washington D.C. established as U.S. capital U.S. buys Louisiana from France U.S. acquires Florida from Spain Cherokee Nation ratifies its new constitution President Jackson encourages westward settling Indian Removal Act Transcendentalists meet informally in Boston & Concord Cherokees pushed back by federal troops Underground railroad aids slaves escape north U.S. annexes Texas War between U.S. & Mexico Campaign for women’s rights California Gold Rush Fugitive Slaves Act Republican Party formed, consolidating anti-slavery factions Supreme Court denies citizenship to blacks 1^st U.S. oil-well CIVIL WAR Emancipation proclamation Transatlantic cables First transatlantic railroad	1787-88 1789 1791 1820 1821 1823 1828-30 1829 1834 1836 1837 1841 1843 1844 1845 1845 1847 1850 1851 1852 1854 1855 1858 1860-65 1866 1873	The Federalist papers Olaudah Equiano, Narrative… Susanna Rowson, Charlotte… Washington Irving, The Skefch Book William Cullen Bryant, Thanatopsis James Fenimore Cooper, The Pioneers Cherokee Council, Memorials William Apess, A Son of the Forest Catherine Maria Sedgwick, A Reminiscence of Federalism Emerson, Nature Emerson, The American Scholar T.B. Thorpe, The Big Bear of Arkansas Margaret Fuller, The Great Lawsuit Emerson, The Poet Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Frederick Douglass, Narrative… Longfellow, Evangeline Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter Melville, Moby-Dick Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin Thoreau, Walden Whitman, Leaves of Grass Lincoln, A House Divided Dickinson writes several hundred poems Whittier, Snowbound: A Winter Idyll Alcott, Transcendental Wild Oats

Last Updated 3 July 2000

_ ___________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________