Encounters and Foundations to1800

Beginnings What do you

remember about Early America?

Make a concept map.

Anything goes!!

Early Explorers 1490s-1700 Arrival of European settlers

into North and South America

There were others here first, various and diverse American Indians.

A relationship of interdependence between Europeans and settlers existed:

Europeans needed to learn survival skills.

Indians needed firearms, textiles, and steel tools.

Battling New Diseases Arrival of European settlers had a

deadly impact on American Indians.

Their descendents were not exposed to the same diseases. Europeans brought diseases here and wiped out Indian population.

“For want of bedding and linen and other helps..they fall into a lamentable condition as they lie on their hard mats, the pox breaking and mattering and breaking into one another…their skin cleaving by reason thereof to the mats they lie on…”-Of Plymouth Plantation

Appropriation of Land… “The so-called settlement of America was a

resettlement, a reoccupation of a land made waste by the diseases and demoralization introduced by the newcomers.”

-The Invasion of America (1975)

Stories about America were false Despite the hardships explorers found, in

their journals and letters home they focused on America’s:

1. abundant resources2. peaceful and hospitable inhabitants3. unlimited potential for wealth

Why? They lied hoping to recruit more people to make the settlement possible.

Important Dates

Mayflower Pilgrims at Plymouth, MA 1620.

Revolutionary War, 1775-1783.

Declaration of Independence: 1776

Puritans Describe the

following painting in detail.

What values do you think this society had based on this representation?

Puritans Describe the

following painting of a Deacon, or religious leader, in detail.

What values do you think this society had based on this representation?

Puritans English Christians who wished

to return to a simpler form of worship.

Bible was the law and meant to be taken literally. Looked for connections between bible and their own lives.

Experienced persecution in England: jailed, whipped, noses slit, and ears chopped off.

Sought America to enjoy religious freedom.

Puritan Beliefs Believed most of humanity

was damned for eternity.

However, God in His mercy, sent Jesus to save particular people known as the “elect”, or the chosen ones.

Lead pious lives and valued self-reliance, hard work, temperance, and simplicity.

Puritan Tenets Providence: God’s supreme will.

Predestination: at the time of your birth, God knows if you are going to heaven. No amount of good works can save you.

Theocracy: system of government in which religious leaders rule in the name of God. Laws based upon rules in the bible.

Puritan World View Believed people should enter freely into

agreements in government.

However, only the saintly, or elect, people were fit to hold office.

Led simple lives without much entertainment. Valued simplicity and plain style in writing and communication.

18th Century: the Rationalists In Europe, the Age of Reason, or the Enlightenment was

occurring, led by prominent philosophers and scientists.

Rationalism: human beings can arrive at truth by using reason, rather than relying on the past, religious faith, or intuition.

Deism: belief in the existence of a supreme being, a creator, who does not intervene in the universe.

Sir Isaac Newton likened God to a clockmaker who having created the perfect mechanism of the universe left his creation to run on its own, like a clock.

The Rationalists The world operates according to God’s rules, and through the use of reason, people can discover those rules.

People are basically good and perfectible.

People worship God best by helping others.

Human history is marked by progress toward a more perfect existence.

Compare How did the Puritans differ from the

Rationalists?

What beliefs and values did they have in common?

What do you think?What does Perfection look like in 2010?For a man? For a woman?Who, to you, is closest to perfect? Is it possible to attain perfection? Are

human beings capable of perfection?Why do you feel this way?