American Literature 201August 30

Michael SimpsonSection 051

“History, in Burckhardt‟s words, is „the record of what one age

finds worthy of note in another. The past is intelligible to us only in

the light of the present; and we can fully understand the present

day only in the light of the past.” (69)

Edward Hallett Carr*

* Carr, Edward Hallett. What is History? Vintage Books: New York. 1961

Class Summary

A Sense of History

What is History?

Native Americans

The New English Canaan

A Sense of History

1492 to 1865 (373 years)

Discovery of America

American Civil War

1866 to 2001 (195 years)

Reconstruction

9/11

2002 to Present (8 years)

Record key events and people

from this time period.

What is History?

Our sense of history reflects our view of the society in which we live

Victorian belief in “facts”

What makes a “fact” historically significant

History = a series of accepted judgments

1961

History of Thought

Concerns of the historian

Mind of the recorder

“imaginative” understanding of the people at that time

Can only view past through the eyes (concerns?) of the present

Dangers of not having an “objective” history

Scissors and paste history (no meaning or significance)

Propaganda

Native Americans“Between 2492 and 1617, Native American

populations in West Indies, Central Mexico, and

New England were reduced to less than 10 percent

of their original numbers.”

“Diseases, along with the

brutality of the enslavement of

Native Americans, caused

such a precipitous drop in

native labor that the Spanish

began to bring the first African

slaves to the Americas in the

early sixteen century. ” (1)

* McMichael, George. Ed. Anthology of American Literature, Volume 1

9th Edition. Pearson/Prentice Hall: New Jersey. 2007

“The New English Canaan”

Views of American Future

New Canaan vs. Plymouth Plantation

Maypole vs. The Cross

The mind of the recorder

Tone of voice

Greek/Latin allusions vs Biblical allusions

Last Questions

Remember for September 1

Read 1st half of Mary Rowlandson

Deadline for 3rd blog

It is as difficult to appropriate the thoughts of others as it is to invent.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson *

* Sante, Luc. “The Fiction of Memory” The New York Times. March 14, 2010.