Lectures on and discussion of the major writers of the early American period.

This course provides an interpretive look at early American thought through its literary and documentary sources. We will explore a wide range of works from narratives of colonial settlement through the literature of the American Revolution and the early republic. Topics to be discussed include: the role of Puritanism in American society; evangelism and secularism; the language of liberty, rights, and representation; revolutionary speech and the writing of the Constitution; the rise of the novel in America; and the rhetoric and logic of antislavery. Authors include Charles Brockden Brown, Olaudah Equiano, Hannah Foster, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Paine, Mary Rowlandson, Phillis Wheatley, and others. This class satisfies the "pre-1800" requirement for the English major. https://english.berkeley.edu/major-requirements

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills