Christine

The vision of America, and the role that religion should play in it, differ between Benjamin Franklin and the Puritans. Franklin sees America as a place where men should continuously look to the future with the desire to improve. The Puritans view America as a land where they can freely practice their faith and strive to ready themselves for Judgment day with commitment to God. At the very core, however, the key difference in the visions of America for Franklin and the Puritans is the role of religion.
 * Online Response 3**

To Franklin, the role of religion in the future of America is little to none. Due to this belief, and others who agreed with it, we can find the inception of the idea for the separation of church and state. Rather than focusing on God and religion, he sees self-improvement and enlightenment as a goal for life. To Franklin, law & authority is influenced by usefulness, and he believes that man can achieve prosperity if he strives to improve himself. Franklin’s vision does not remain on the religious beginnings of America, but on its future and bright prospects: the American Dream.

The Puritans sees the role of religion as the utmost importance, and the main focus, in their vision of America: A land where they can freely practice their faith and strive to ready themselves for Judgment day with commitment to God. They are fueled by religious fervor and channel their focus into God, relying on the bible as their source of absolute law and authority. In their beliefs, Puritanism is the heart and foundation of America: It is carried with them to America, helping them to survive in the New World with the support of their faith. Humankind is condemned to eternal punishment, which only the elect few are chosen to be saved, therefore the American Dream, to the Puritans, is an obligation to further their faith and their endeavor to repent before Judgment day.

Franklin’s vision of America, including the role of religion, differs from the vision of the Puritans: Where Franklin sees a place of self-improvement and enlightenment, the Puritans see as a place to escape religious persecution. This key difference between Franklin and the Puritans, the role of religion in America, is one that continues to be debated to this day. Regardless of their differences, they both shared in the beginning concepts of a vision: The American Dream.

Online Response 2

Anne Bradstreet and Michael Wigglesworth show their religious fervor in the form of poetry. Though they were both Puritan, Bradstreet and Wigglesworth held different perspectives in terms of religious concerns and focus within poetry. While Bradstreet’s poem, “The Flesh and the Spirit”, focuses on the conflict between this world and the next, Wigglesworth’s poem, __The Day of Doom__, focuses on Judgment Day and the fall of sinners into hell.

In “The Flesh and the Spirit”, Bradstreet shows concern over the conflict between the pleasures of the earthy world and the life that follows in the divine world. This can be found as she begins the poem: In secret place where once I stood Close by the banks of Lacrim flood, I heard two sisters reason on Things that are past and things to come; One Flesh was called, who had her eye On worldly wealth and vanity; The other Spirit, who did rear thoughts unto a higher sphere. (1-8)

The concentration of her poem is placed on the idea that purity of the spirit will be rewarded by gaining entrance to heaven, which shows that Bradstreet’s piety is focused on the idea that faithfulness will be rewarded by God.

Wigglesworth brings his focus into an alternative topic: Judgment Day. He believes the world is doomed, and that Judgment Day is near, therefore people should convert immediately. In __The Day of Doom__, he particularly concentrates on the fate of sinners, which he writes in detail in stanzas twenty-seven through thirty, sent to hell for their impurity and sins. Much of the poem is written about damnation and punishment; a few stanzas detailing their torment:

For day and night, in their despite, their torment’s smoke ascendeth. Their pain and grief have no relief, their anguish never endeth. There must they lie, and never die, though dying every day: There must they dying ever lie, and not consume away. (1673-1680)

Wigglesworth proves that the focus of his religious fervor is based on the idea that the condemned will receive punishment for sin on Judgment Day.

Though Bradstreet and Wigglesworth maintain their piety, the focus of their Puritan faith is different and can be found in their poetry. “The Flesh and the Spirit” focuses on the conflict between this world and the next, with Bradstreet’s belief in the rewards of purity and good. __The Day of Doom__ focuses on the fate of condemned sinners during Judgment Day, as Wigglesworth beliefs urge readers to convert, or they will be tormented in hell.


 * 7/28/10 - ONLINE RESPONSE 1 - FINAL REVISION**

There are multiple descriptions and stories about the landscape and people of the America when it was first discovered and colonized. These literary depictions vary in different degrees with each author who discussed his expectations of America and what he actually found. Columbus and Bradford show this contrast in their goals, expectations, and findings as both authors gave their accounts of the newly found America. Columbus, who found America while attempting to sail to India and China, depicted a paradise filled with rich land and docile people. Bradford, who sailed to the New World for religious freedom, depicted a desolate wasteland with barbaric, aggressive, wild men.

Columbus, though being the first Europeans to discover America, was actually attempting to navigate a route to China, Japan, and India in search for a way to finance a new crusade. From his letter, it is found that his expectations of the land and its people were very negative: he was prepared to find monstrous, cannibalistic people in a barren, dangerous land. Instead, what he seemed to find was quite the opposite. He writes of America in hopes that the King and Queen of Spain would further support his voyages, almost exaggerating the details of the landscape and the indigenous people that resided there. In his letters, he describes America as paradise; rich, untouched lands that, according to his Letter to Luis de Satangel Regarding the First Voyage, “are most beautiful, of a thousand shapes, and all are accessible and filled with trees of a thousand kinds and tall, and they seem to touch the sky.” He furthers this vision with his account of the birds “of a thousand kinds,” fertile soil, gold, and goods such as honey, spices, gum mastic, and aloe wood. When speaking of the natives, he places them in a positive—almost innocent—light, describing them as intelligent, generous, good-looking people with a timid nature and the potential for being either converts to Christianity or slaves (in hopes of pleasing the King and Queen).

Bradford’s reasons for coming to America were different from those of Columbus. His journey to America was to seek refuge from persecution from the Church of England. He looked at the New World as a relief from persecution and a chance to build a colony where Puritans could live in peace and freely practice their beliefs. In his book, __Of Plymouth Plantation__, he writes: “The place they had thoughts on was some of those vast and unpeopled countries of America, which are fruitful and fit for habitation, being devoid of all civil inhabitants, where there are only savage and brutish men, which range up and down, little otherwise than the wild beasts of the same.” Upon arriving, however, Bradford describes the land as barren wasteland and “a desolate wilderness” that has already been inhabited–not untouched as Columbus describes—by a people who, at first, ran away when approached, remained wary of the settlers, and later attacked them before the arrival of Samoset and Squanto, who helped ease the relationship between the Native Americans and the Puritans.

Though Columbus and Bradford played vital roles in the beginning stages of America, their descriptions of what they experienced have differences: One accounting the untouched paradise waiting to be explored and, the other, nearly lamenting the struggles faced in an unfamiliar, desolate land that is difficult to survive. Despite these contrasts, both authors project the dreams and/or nightmares upon the American landscape and the people who inhabit it.”

 There are multiple descriptions and stories about the landscape and people of the America when it was first discovered and colonized. These literary depictions varied in different degrees with each author who discussed his expectations of America and what he actually found. Columbus and Bradford show this contrast in their goals, expectations, and findings as both authors gave his accounts of the newly found America. Columbus, who found America while attempting to sail to India and China, depicted a paradise filled with rich land and docile people. Bradford, who sailed to the New World for religious freedom, depicted a desolate wasteland with barbaric, aggressive, wild men.
 * 7/14/10 - Online Response 1 - REVISED**

Columbus, though being the first in discovering America, was ultimately attempting to navigate a route to China, Japan, and India in search for a way to finance a new crusade. From his letter, it is found that his expectations of the land and its people were very negative: preparing to find monstrous, cannibalistic people in a barren, dangerous land. Instead, what he seemed to find was quite the opposite. He wrote of America in hopes that the King and Queen of Spain would further support his voyages, almost exaggerating the details of the landscape and the indigenous people that resided there. In his letters, he describes America as paradise; rich, untouched lands that, according to his Letter to Luis de Satangel Regarding the First Voyage, “are most beautiful, of a thousand shapes, and all are accessible and filled with trees of a thousand kinds and tall, and they seem to touch the sky.” He furthers this vision with his account of the birds “of a thousand kinds,” fertile soil, gold, and goods such as honey, spices, gum mastic, and aloe wood. When speaking of the natives, he places them in a positive—almost innocent—light, describing them as intelligent, generous, good-looking people with a timid nature and the potential for being either converts to Christianity and slaves (in hopes of pleasing the King and Queen).

Bradford’s reasons for coming to America were different from those of Columbus. His journey to America was to seek refuge from persecution from the Church of England. He looked at the New World as a relief from persecution and a chance to build a colony where Puritans could live in peace and freely practice their beliefs. In his book, Of Plymouth Plantation, he writes: “The place they had thoughts on was some of those vast and unpeopled countries of America, which are fruitful and fit for habitation, being devoid of all civil inhabitants, where there are only savage and brutish men, which range up and down, little otherwise than the wild beasts of the same.” Upon arriving, however, Bradford describes the land as barren wasteland and “a desolate wilderness” that had already been inhabited–not untouched as Columbus describes—by a people who, at first, ran away when approached, remained wary of the settlers, and later attacked them before the arrival of Samoset and Squanto, who helped ease the relationship between the Native Americans and the Puritans.

Though Columbus and Bradford played vital roles in the beginning stages of America, their descriptions of what they experienced have differences: One accounting the untouched paradise waiting to be explored and, the other, nearly lamenting the struggles faced in an unfamiliar, desolate land that is difficult to survive. Though contrasting, both authors project the dreams and/or nightmares upon the American landscape and the people who inhabit it.”


 * 07/07/10 - Response 1**

There are multiple descriptions and stories about the landscape and people of the America when it was first discovered and colonized. These literary depictions varied in different degrees with each author who discussed their expectations of America and what they actually found. Columbus and Bradford show this contrast in their goals, expectations, and findings as each author gave their accounts of the newly found America. Columbus, being the first in discovering America, but his ultimate goal was to navigate a route to China, Japan, and India in search for a way to finance a new crusade. From his letters, it is found that his expectations of the land and its people were very negative: preparing to find a monstrous, cannibalistic people in a barren, dangerous land. Instead, what he seemed to find was quite the opposite. He wrote of America in hopes that the King and Queen of Spain would further support his voyages, almost exaggerating the details of the landscape and the indigenous people that resided there. In his letters, he describes America as paradise; rich, untouched lands that, according to his Letter to Luis de Satangel Regarding the First Voyage, “most beautiful, of a thousand shapes, and all are accessible and filled with trees of a thousand kinds and tall, and they seem to touch the sky.” He furthers this visage with his account of the birds “of a thousand kinds”, fertile soil, gold, and goods such as honey, spices, gum mastic, and aloe wood. When speaking of the natives, he places them in a positive—almost innocent—light; describing them as intelligent, generous, good-looking people with a timid nature and the potential for being converts to Christianity and slaves (in hopes of pleasing the King and Queen). Bradford’s reasons for coming to America were different from that of Columbus. His journey to America was to seek refuge from persecution from the Church of England. He looked at the New World as a relief from persecution and a chance to build a colony where Puritans could live in peace and freedom to practice their beliefs. In his book, Of Plymouth Plantation, he writes: “The place they had thoughts on was some of those vast and unpeopled countries of America, which are fruitful and fit for habitation, being devoid of all civil inhabitants, where there are only savage and brutish men, which range up and down, little otherwise than the wild beasts of the same.” Upon arriving, however, Bradford describes the land as barren wasteland and “a desolate wilderness” that had already been inhabited–not untouched as Columbus describes—by a people who, at first, ran away when approached, remained wary of the settlers, and later attacked them and their settlements before the arrival of Samoset and Squanto, who helped ease the relationship between the Native Americans and the Puritans. Though both Columbus and Bradford both shared in the beginning stages of America, their descriptions of what they experienced tell two different views: One accounting the untouched paradise waiting to be explored and, the other, nearly lamenting the struggles faced on an unfamiliar, desolate land that is difficult to survive. Though contrasting, both authors discuss, as Prof. Gruesser states: “the dreams and/or nightmares that they project upon the American landscape and the people who inhabit it.”