Literary_Timeline_1771

1771-1790: The time period during which Benjamin Franklin writes his autobiography, which remained unpublished while during his lifetime. His account of his life is divided into four parts, reflecting the different periods at which he wrote them. Although it has been altered from the original manuscript, Franklin’s work has become one of the most famous and influential examples of an autobiography ever written. Franklin's autobiography has received widespread praise, both for its historical value as a record of an important early American and for its literary style. It is often considered the first American book to be taken seriously by Europeans as literature. One who wishes to learn more about The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin can go to http://www.earlyamerica.com/lives/franklin/. 1774-1781: Around 1782, the French-American writer Michael Guillame Jean de Crevecoeur wrote Letters From An American Farmer. Crevecoeur later changed his name to J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur in his quest to become an American farmer, which is shown in his writings. Through a series of letters, describing certain provincial situations, manners, and customs not generally known, and conveying some idea of the interior circumstances of the British Colonies of North America, Crevecœur illustrates the idealized version of a free society (that society being America). While the first letters portray a perfect conception of America, through his secluded farm called Pine Hill, the following letters depict a land damaged and destroyed by society and civilization. One such entity is slavery, which is described throughout the book. To read more about Crevecoeur’s Letters From An American Farmer go to: http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/crev.htm. 1775-1781: During this time the War for American Independence occurred where the thirteen mainland colonies of British North America declared their independence on July 4, 1776, to form the United States of America. This war, by which the United States definitely separated themselves from the British connection, began with the affair of Lexington in Massachusetts, on the 10th of April 1775. It is considered to be the most famous struggle in history where colonial dependencies defeated their powerful parent state. The reasons for Great Britain's failure appear in the progress of the war, which assumed two distinct stages, operations in the north followed by operations in the south. The War of Independence started as a civil war but soon became an international war when France, Spain, and the Netherlands joined the colonies against Britain. To find out more about the War for American Independence follow this link: http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/American_War_Of_Independence. 1775: Tradition holds that the colonials began to sing the tune Yankee Doodle as they forced the British back to Boston on April 19, 1775. The exact origin of the word "Yankee" is not clear, but by the 1770s it referred to the English colonists, particularly New Englanders. A "doodle" was a silly person or “country bumpkin“. Yankee Doodle was a well-known song in the New England colonies before the battles of Lexington and Concord, but only after the skirmishes there was it appropriated by the American militia. Troops under the command of Brigadier General Hugh Percy played Yankee Doodle as they marched from Boston to reinforce British soldiers already fighting the Americans at Lexington and Concord. Whether sung or played on that occasion, the tune’s martial air was intended to deride the colonials. 1789: In this year the French Revolution began. It was a period of radical social and political upheaval in French and European history. While Britain's colonies were working toward becoming the United States of America, France was suffering from economic crisis and on its way to its own revolution. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed within three years. Changes in Britain, and the reading of Newton and Locke had been pushing many French people into believing that their kingdom's old monarchical system could be and should be reformed. The French society underwent an epic transformation as feudal, aristocratic, and religious privileges evaporated under a sustained assault from liberal political groups and the masses on the streets. Old ideas about hierarchy and tradition succumbed to new enlightenment principles of citizenship and inalienable rights. A good place to read more about the French revolution is: http://www.victorianweb.org/history/hist7.html. 1791: A primary document in American history, the Bill of Rights was adapted in this year. On September 25, 1789, the First Federal Congress of the United States proposed to the state legislatures twelve amendments to the Constitution. The first two, concerning the number of constituents for each Representative and the compensation of Congressmen, were not ratified. Articles three through twelve of the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights, became the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution and contained guarantees of essential rights and liberties omitted in the crafting of the original document. For example, the First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion, speech, and the press, the rights of peaceful assembly and petition. To read a copy and learn more about the Bill of Rights go to: http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/nation/jb_nation_bofright_1.html. 1817: William Cullen Bryant’s meditative poem of eighty-two lines Thanatopsis was published this year and granted consolation for human mortality through mankind’s unity with nature. The poem whose title in Greek means “a meditation (or view) on death,” was written in William Cullen Bryant’s seventeenth year in shorter form; it was frequently revised before its first appearance in North American Review in September, 1817, and was enlarged so as to include a new “Wordsworthian” opening (lines 1–17) and an extended, vaguely religious conclusion (lines 66–81) for its publication in Poems, in 1821. The most accomplished and popular American poet of the first half of the nineteenth century, Bryant also was the first American poet to receive substantial international acclaim. Bryant is considered an early proponent of Romanticism in American literature, and his work is often compared thematically and stylistically to that of English Romantic poet William Wordsworth. For more about Thanatopsis, this website will be helpful: //http://olivercowdery.com/texts/1817Bryn.htm. 1828: Noah Webster publishes his book An American Dictionary of the English Language in this year which becomes the most used and popular dictionary in the United States; his name has become synonymous with the word “dictionary”--especially the modern Merriam-Webster versions. Noah Webster is considered by many to be the "father of the American dictionary." He began his work on the project at the age of 43. It took him more than 25 years to complete the first edition. His blue-covered speller books taught five generations of children in the United States how to spell and read, and made elementary education more secular and less religious. Today Webster’s dictionary is offered online, on CD, and in print versions. The Collegiate Dictionary is currently in its 11th edition with more than 225,000 definitions. You can learn more about Noah Webster and his writing of the dictionary at: http://www.merriam-webster.com/info/noah.htm. 1844: The Raven is a narrative poem by American writer Edgar Allen Poe, first published in January of this year. It is often noted for its stylized language and supernatural atmosphere. It tells of a “talking” raven's mysterious visit to a distraught lover, tracing the man's slow descent into insanity. The lover is lamenting the loss of his love, Lenore, while the raven seems to further instigate his distress with its constant repeating of the word "Nevermore". Poe claimed to have written the poem very logically and methodically, intending to create a poem that would appeal to both critical and popular tastes, as he explained in his 1846 follow-up essay The Philosophy of Composition. The Raven was first attributed to Poe in print in the New York Evening Mirror on January 29, 1845. Its publication made Poe widely popular in his lifetime, though it did not bring him much financial success. Soon reprinted, parodied, and illustrated, critical opinion is divided as to the poem's status, though it remains one of the most famous poems ever written. 1851: The New York Times was founded on September 18, 1851, by journalist and politician Henry Jarvis Raymond, and former banker George Jones. The newspaper was originally named the New-York Daily Times, but changed its name to The New York Times in 1857. Sold at an original price of one cent per copy, the inaugural edition attempted to address the various speculations on its purpose and positions that preceded its release. The newspaper was originally published every day except Sunday, but on April 21, 1861, due to the demand for daily coverage of the Civil War, The Times, along with other major dailies, started publishing Sunday issues. The paper's influence grew during 1870–71, when it published a series of exposés of Boss Tweed that led to the end of the Tweed Ring's domination of New York‘s City Hall. The New York Times is third in national circulation, after USA Today and the Wall Street Journal. In March 2009, the paper reported a circulation of 1,039,031 copies on weekdays and 1,451,233 copies on Sundays. In the NYC Metropolitan area, the paper costs $2 Monday through Saturday and $5 on Sunday. The Times has won 101 Pulitzer Prizes, more than any other newspaper. One can locate more information on this prominent newspaper at: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAnytimes.htm.