History of American Literature (1700–1800)
The 18th century marks the transition of American literature from colonial dependence to national assertion. Writing during this period was largely practical, religious, and political, reflecting the concerns of Puritan settlers, Enlightenment thinkers, and Revolutionary patriots. By century's end, the United States had declared independence, and its literature began to forge a distinctly American voice.
**Early Colonial Writings (1700–1750)**
The early 18th century continued Puritan traditions, dominated by sermons, theological treatises, and personal narratives. **Cotton Mather** (1663–1728) was the era's most influential intellectual. His massive *Magnalia Christi Americana* (1702) chronicled New England's religious history, blending hagiography with providential interpretation. **Jonathan Edwards** (1703–1758), a fiery theologian, wrote *Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God* (1741), the most famous sermon of the Great Awakening. His introspective *Personal Narrative* explored religious experience with psychological depth. **Benjamin Franklin** (1706–1790) bridged Puritan practicality and Enlightenment rationalism. His *Poor Richard's Almanack* (1732–1758) offered secular wisdom, while his *Autobiography* pioneered the American success narrative—self-made, pragmatic, and civic-minded.
**The Revolutionary Era (1750–1783)**
As political tensions with Britain escalated, literature became propaganda. **Thomas Paine** (1737–1809) wrote *Common Sense* (1776), a fiery pamphlet that galvanized colonial support for independence. **Thomas Jefferson** (1743–1826) drafted the *Declaration of Independence* (1776), a masterpiece of political prose that articulated Enlightenment ideals of natural rights. **Phillis Wheatley** (c.1753–1784), an enslaved African woman, published *Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral* (1773), becoming the first Black American poet. Her neoclassical verse challenged racial assumptions and asserted Black intellectual capacity.
**The Early Republic (1783–1800)**
After the Revolution, writers sought a national identity. **The Federalist Papers** (1787–1788), written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, defended the Constitution with sophisticated political philosophy. **Noah Webster** (1758–1843) published his *American Spelling Book* (1783), standardizing American English and promoting cultural independence. **Hugh Henry Brackenridge** (1748–1816) wrote *Modern Chivalry* (1792–1815), the first American satirical novel, critiquing frontier democracy. **Charles Brockden Brown** (1771–1810), America's first professional novelist, wrote Gothic thrillers like *Wieland* (1798), exploring psychological terror and republican anxieties.
**Legacy** By 1800, American literature had moved from divine providence to human reason, from British colonies to independent nationhood. The foundations were laid for the 19th-century American Renaissance of Emerson, Hawthorne, Melville, and Whitman.