Cover: Creating an American Culture, 1775-1800, 1st Edition by Eve Kornfeld
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Creating an American Culture, 1775-1800

A Brief History with DocumentsFirst Edition ©2001 Eve Kornfeld

Amid the battle for American independence and the struggle to invent a federal government, American Revolutionary leaders and intellectuals sought also to create an American culture that would unify a territory of immense regional, ethnic, and religious diversity. In a sophisticated, yet accessible,...
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ISBN:9781319328474

ISBN:9780312190620

Cover: Creating an American Culture, 1775-1800, 1st Edition by Eve Kornfeld

Amid the battle for American independence and the struggle to invent a federal government, American Revolutionary leaders and intellectuals sought also to create an American culture that would unify a territory of immense regional, ethnic, and religious diversity. In a sophisticated, yet accessible, interpretive narrative, Eve Kornfeld examines the efforts of Noah Webster, Benjamin Rush, George Washington, Judith Sargent Murray, David Ramsay, Mercy Otis Warren, and others to invent a national literature, narrate a story of nationhood, and educate a diverse people for virtuous republican citizenship. Among the 31 documents following the narrative are early attempts at American epic poetry, excerpts from the first narrative histories of the United States, and commentaries on the place of women and Indians in national life. Headnotes to the documents, reproductions of early paintings and portraits, a chronology, questions for consideration, a bibliography, and an index are also included.

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Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Foreword   

Preface
    
PART ONE
  Creating an American Culture
    1. Introduction
    2. Inventing an American Language and Literature
    3. Educating American Citizens
    4. Narrating Nationhood
    5. Contesting Popular Culture
    6. Encountering the Other
    7. Conclusion
    
PART TWO
  The Documents
  Inventing an American Language and Literature
    1. Philip Freneau and Hugh Henry Brackenridge, A Poem on the Rising Glory of America, 1772
    2. Timothy Dwight, The Conquest of Canäan; A Poem, in Eleven Books, 1785
    3. Joel Barlow, The Vision of Columbus; A Poem in Nine Books, 1787
    4. Benjamin Franklin, A Scheme for a New Alphabet and Reformed Mode of Spelling, 1768
    5. Noah Webster, Dissertations on the English Language, 1789
    6. Noah Webster, A Collection of Essays and Fugitive Writings, 1790
    
  Educating American Citizens
    7. Benjamin Rush, Thoughts Upon the Mode of Education Proper in a Republic, 1786
    8. Benjamin Rush, Plan of a Federal University, 1788
    9. George Washington, Last Will and Testament, 1799
    10. Judith Sargent Murray, On the Equality of the Sexes, 1790
    11. Judith Sargent Murray, The Story of Margaretta, 1798
    12. Noah Webster, The American Spelling Book, 1789
    
Narrating Nationhood
    13. David Ramsay, The History of the American Revolution, 1789
    14. Mercy Otis Warren, History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution, 1805
    15. Mason Locke Weems, The Life of George Washington; with Curious Anecdotes, Equally Honourable to Himself and Exemplary to his Young Countrymen, 1809
    16. John Trumbull, The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunkers Hill, 1786
    17. John Trumbull, The Declaration of Independence, Philadelphia, 4 July 1776, 1787
    18. Charles Willson Peale, George Washington at the Battle of Princeton, 1780–1781
    19. Gilbert Stuart, George Washington, 1797
    
  Contesting Popular Culture
    20. Susanna Haswell Rowson, Charlotte: A Tale of Truth, 1794
    21. Hugh Henry Brackenridge, Modern Chivalry: Containing the Adventures of Captain John Farrago, and Teague ORegan, His Servant, 1792
    22. Royall Tyler, The Contrast: A Comedy in Five Acts, 1787
    
  Encountering the Other
    23. Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, 1787
    24. Timothy Dwight, Greenfield Hill: A Poem in Seven Parts, 1794
    25. John Vanderlyn, The Death of Jane McCrea, 1804
    26. William Bartram, Travels through North & South Carolina, Georgia, East & West Florida, the Cherokee Country, the Extensive Territories of the Muscogulges or Creek Confederacy, and Country of the Chactaws,1791
    
  Appendixes
    A Selected Cultural Chronology of the United States of America (1771-1806)
    Questions for Consideration
    Selected Bibliography

Index

Headshot of Eve Kornfeld

Eve Kornfeld

Eve Kornfeld (PhD, Harvard University) is professor of history at San Diego State University. A specialist in American cultural history, gender in American culture, and poststructuralist and feminist theory, she is the author of Margaret Fuller: A Brief Biography with Documents (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 1997) and has published numerous articles in journals such as the William and Mary Quarterly and the Journal of American Studies. One of the first fellows in the American Council of Learned Societies Humanities Project, she is also active in the effort to bring interdisciplinary perspectives to the attention of K–12 teachers. In 1988, Kornfeld received the Timeos Award of the Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society for excellence in teaching.