Notes
Native American oral traditions
- Native nations passed on history, values and humor through oral tradition: creation stories, trickster tales, pourquoi tales, songs and speeches.
- Repetition, rhythm and vivid images helped storytellers and listeners remember. Common themes are respect for land, balance and community.
Puritan and colonial writing
- Puritans valued plain style, self-examination and providence. Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation and Winthrop's "city upon a hill" show their sense of mission.
- Anne Bradstreet wrote personal poetry; Jonathan Edwards used fearful imagery in sermons during the Great Awakening.
Enlightenment and Revolution
- The Enlightenment stressed reason and natural rights. Franklin's aphorisms and Autobiography reflect practical self-improvement.
- Revolutionary writers persuaded: Patrick Henry (rhetorical questions, contrast), Thomas Paine (plain language, memorable labels) and Jefferson's Declaration (grievances, anaphora, appeal to natural rights).
Topics in this unit
Each topic has its own short notes and practice.
Practice
Repetition is a memory aid in oral traditions.
Bradford wrote the history of Plymouth; Edwards the sermon; Franklin the almanac; Bradstreet the poem.
Plain style is simple, factual and direct.
Jefferson drew on Locke's idea of natural rights and consent.
The labels shame fair-weather supporters to push them toward commitment.
Each was rhetoric meant to rally a public audience.
Free response
Write your answer first, then open the scoring guide.
Free-response question
Read this original passage: "In the winter of 1639, our town voted to build a school before a new meetinghouse. Some neighbors grumbled about the cost, yet by spring the children sat on plank benches, learning their letters. A community, we believed, is judged by what it teaches its young."
(a) Identify two features of the passage that show Puritan plain style or values.
Show the answer and scoring guide
The sentences are short and factual ("our town voted," "the children sat on plank benches"), and the passage values education and community responsibility, a Puritan concern.
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(b) Explain how the last sentence could work as an aphorism and what idea it expresses.
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It is a short statement of general truth that can be remembered and applied beyond this town. It says a community's character is shown by how it treats and educates its children.
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(c) Compare this passage's purpose to that of a Revolutionary pamphlet such as Paine's Common Sense.
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This passage records and reflects on a local decision to preserve values, while Paine's pamphlet aims to persuade a wide audience to take political action. Paine uses forceful, direct appeals to move readers toward independence.
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