[SESSION 3]

Unit 2:
William Bradford.

Literatura Norteamericana I: siglos XVII-XIX.

Grado de Estudios Ingleses. Segundo curso.

Manuel Casas Guijarro. 2019/2020. UNED. Centro Asociado de Sevilla.

0. SESSION 3 STRUCTURE.
1. Historical context: monarchy in England. Parliamentary conflicts and Civil War.
2. Historical context: origins of Puritanism.
3. Bradford and the “Pilgrim fathers”.
4. Puritanism: main beliefs.
5. The Mayflower Compact.
6. Bradford’s works and relevance in American Literature.
7. Of Plymouth Plantation Analysis: key elements.
- First text.
- Second text.

8. Compared analysis in colonial literature: John Smith and William Bradford

accounts. [EXPLORATORY QUESTIONS]

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 Historical context: monarchy in England. Parliamentary conflicts
1. and Civil War.

✓ King James I: from 1603 to 1625 (absolutist, puritan, gunpowder

plot)
✓ King Charles I: from 1625 to 1649 (absolutist, English Civil War,
beheaded)
✓ Oliver Cromwell: Commonwealth of England (Strict Puritanism,
1653-1658)
✓ King Charles II: from 1660 to 1685 (Restoration, the Great Fire in
London 1666, Libertinism, reopening of theatres, Sir C. Wren)

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2. Historical context: origins of Puritanism.

1) Anglicanism was the main religion in England by the end of Elizabeth

I’s reign and the early 17th cent. The head of the Church was the
monarch, thus, “The Church of England”.
2) Other faiths were severely persecuted: Catholics and
nonconformists with Anglicans. They were considered heretics and
traitors (against the country’s faith and monarch)
3) Some nonconformists or dissenters from Anglicanism followed the
discipline of Luther and Calvin. Some of them claimed for the
“ancient purity” of the faith and did not believe a reformation of the
Church of England from within was possible, so they “separated”
from it, hence began being called “separatists” and “puritans”.

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3. Bradford and the “Pilgrim fathers”.

- William Bradford belonged to one of this separatist or puritan communities

(from the small village of Scrooby, in the English Midlands, near Sheffield
and Manchester).
- 1608: the congregation feared for their lives and fled to Holland.
- Decided to move to America, onboard The Mayflower in search of a virginal
place to practice their religion freely. (America seen as a paradise because of
state propaganda)
- July - November 11, 1620: the journey was seen as the movement to their
promised land, as a religious pilgrimage. Thus, they started calling
themselves pilgrims and “Pilgrim Fathers”.
- They set land at Cape Cod, and founded Plymouth, the first of the “New
England” colonies, around 1000 km north of Jamestown (John Smith).
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 3. Bradford and the “Pilgrim fathers”.

- Differences Northern/Southern colonies from the

beginning: New England was based on small farms and
insisted on hard toil, gradually became the seed for the
American Revolution, the Industrial Revolution and the
Civil War. The South was based on large plantations
(tobacco mainly), quickly cultivated by slaves. Northern
colonies (Plymouth, Massachusetts -1629, by John
Winthrop-) were run by theocratic governments
(Church=state).
- Bradford was elected the second governor of Plymouth
some moths after they landed, he was governor for 30
years.
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 3. Bradford and the “Pilgrim fathers”.

Plymouth

Jamestown

Plymouth and Jamestown The Mayflower

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3. Bradford and the “Pilgrim fathers”.

Plymouth rock: monument at the place where The Mayflower landed.

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4. Puritanism: main beliefs.

- Predestination: every event on earth follows God’s masterplan.

- Divine Providence: God decides for mankind.
- The Elect: those chosen by God, who show so in their behaviour (pious,
hard-working life).
- They rejected: baptism and redemption. After “the Fall” (original sin)
mankind is damned and only the Elect will be saved. The basic tenets
of Christianism are excluded, hence creating a strict and punitive
portrait of God.

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5. The Mayflower Compact.

▪ Definition: set of rules for self-governance established by the English

settlers who travelled to the New World.
▪ When?: signed on 11 November 1620 onboard the Mayflower
shortly after she came to anchor off Provincetown Harbor.
▪ Meaning: “covenant”: the word "covenant, " infrequently heard in
conversation, is quite commonly used in legal, social (marriage), and
religious and theological contexts. Literally, a contract. In the Bible,
an agreement between God and his people, in which God makes
promises to his people and, usually, requires certain conduct from
them. In the Old Testament, God made agreements with Noah,
Abraham, and Moses.
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 5. The Mayflower Compact.

A church covenant is a declaration, in

which member’s duties towards God
and their fellow believers are outlined.

Relevance of The Mayflower Compact:

covenant searching for unity, in order
to include the people on board who
were outside of the church.

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6. Bradford’s works and relevance in American Literature.

- Wrote a journal, poems and dialogues. Greatest contribution was Of

Plymouth Plantation (two volumes, written 1630-1646, pub. 1857).

- Clear account of the Pilgrims voyage and colony’s beginnings.

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7. Of Plymouth Plantation Analysis: key elements.

- Written from 1630 to 1651, covers a considerable amount of time and

portrays the foundation, evolution and decline of Plymouth colony.
- Its tone evolves depending on the authors mood.
- Didactic function, to illustrate how God intervened in human affairs
and show His mood. Shows how life should be lived according to
Puritan concepts.
- Historical account and religious aim: Bradford tries to portray a
historical account as he first records every fact, but afterwards
continuously interprets events as God’s messages. Reality
sometimes is distorted to match his perception.

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7. Of Plymouth Plantation Analysis: key elements.

- Vision of Native Americans is not as harsh as Smith, but also shows

ethnocentrism. Portrayed as lazy people, compared to their
conception of life.
- Going to America was intended to carry out God’s will, propagating
their religion as a divine mission, or a pilgrimage. They should
become a model to the world (close to Winthrop ‘City upon a hill’).
- Bradford describes America as an uncivilized territory, where they
sometimes are described to feel alone and with no roots. However,
from these unpromising beginnings the story evolves showing
Puritans as enterprising and brave, starting to build up the American
self-made man mythology, rooted on individual prosperity (what
eventually become the ‘American dream’).
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7. Of Plymouth Plantation Analysis: key elements.

- The moral and religious purpose shown is that when you are facing
terrible conditions, do not lose faith, you should trust God.

- By the final chapters Bradford shows the decay of the colony, with a
second generation of settlers, showing his limitations as a historian, and
blaming Satan for their deterioration.

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7. Of Plymouth Plantation Analysis: key elements.

-- First text:
- Description of the expedition and harshness of the voyage: Divine
providence instance.
- First impressions of the New World: “hideous and desolate
wilderness”
- Biblical tone and language.

-- Second text:
- Brief portrait of the First Thanksgiving celebration

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 Compared analysis in colonial literature: John Smith and William
8. Bradford accounts. [EXPLORATORY QUESTIONS]
Relevant features Smith Bradford
Settler, religious aim (create a
a. Goals in their voyage Explorer, commercial aim
new town to practice their faith)
b. Purpose in their writing Political, secular concern Religious, spiritual concern
c. How they perceived the Full of savages, territory for Wilderness, a place to start
New World and wilderness. exploration anew
d. When and where were the In America and England,
In America, 1630-1651
works written? 1608-1630
e. When and where were the In the journey and America In the journey and America
works set? 1607-1631 1620-1646
People in England to go to
America. convince a financial Persuade religious people to
f. Works audience
advisor who wanted to invest in pilgrimage to the new world
a new world

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 Compared analysis in colonial literature: John Smith and William
8. Bradford accounts. [EXPLORATORY QUESTIONS]
Relevant features
g. Literary sources
h. Historicity:
verisimilitude. Reliability
i. Autobiographical
elements
j. Style
Smith Bradford
-Autobiographies and voyage adventures - Self-educated man, several languages
-God explains things he cannot understand, - God manages everything (divine
and he thanks God for his own skills providence), he thanks him for leading them
Blended fact and fiction, contradictory Bradford wrote about the difficulties and
narrative reality of the new world
Smith saw himself as the hero of the colony.
Abstract picture of a man who helped to
Bradford uses plain direct allusions; he is
save the settlers by organizing, building, and
not the protagonist.
always saving the greatest, most difficult and
dangerous tasks for himself.
- Third person narrator
- Ornate style First person narrator
- Smith is more interested in making a name Plain style
for himself than serving a higher purpose
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Further reading:
John Winthrop,
Onboard ‘The Arabella’, he founded Boston (Massachusetts) , “A model of Christian Charity”,
The ‘City upon a Hill’: ‘as a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us’.

Foundational document of the idea of American exceptionalism:

- the history of the United States is inherently different from those of other nations: based on
liberty, egalitarianism, individualism, republicanism, democracy and laissez-faire economics.
- the US has a unique mission to transform the world
- the US history and mission give it a superiority over other nations
Interesting article:
https://thehistoricpresent.com/2010/06/28/the-city-upon-a-hill-and-puritan-hubris/

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Next session we will:
✓ Summarise unit 3: Anned Bradstreet.
✓ Check the analysis of 17th century American poetry.
✓ Check “exploratory questions“ unit 3.

thanks!
mancasas@sevilla.uned.es

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