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Becoming America - An Exploration of American Literature from Precolonial to Post-Revolution, 2018a

Becoming America - An Exploration of American Literature from Precolonial to Post-Revolution, 2018a

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BECOMING AMERICA<br />

SEVENTEENTH CENTURY ENGLISH COLONIAL LITERATURE<br />

the Presbysterian Catechism, Printed at Bos<strong>to</strong>n in New-England in 1695. with<br />

the <strong>An</strong>swer <strong>to</strong> it bound up <strong>to</strong>gether in one Book and in Truth Advanced, page<br />

173. <strong>An</strong>d for what relates <strong>to</strong> hime since in England, let them look in<strong>to</strong> the Quaker<br />

Arguments Refuted, Concerning Water-Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, page 70.<br />

<strong>An</strong>d now Reader, I shall take my leave <strong>of</strong> thee, recommending thee with my own<br />

self <strong>to</strong> the Directions <strong>of</strong> the Spirit <strong>of</strong> God in our Conscience, and that will agree with<br />

all the Holy Scriptures in its right place; and when we nd our selves so, we have no<br />

need <strong>to</strong> take any Thought or Care what any Body shall say <strong>of</strong> us.<br />

2.12.2 Reading and Review Questions<br />

1. Compare Gabriel Thomas’s conjectures regarding the roots <strong>of</strong> <strong>America</strong>n<br />

Indians with those <strong>of</strong> Adriaen van der Donck’s. From what value base is<br />

Thomas functioning? How do you know?<br />

2. Why does Thomas dismiss the claims <strong>to</strong> possession <strong>of</strong> previous colonizers,<br />

including the Dutch and the Swedes, due <strong>to</strong> their having made no<br />

improvements <strong>to</strong> the land? What does he mean by improvements? How<br />

do you know? What does William Penn’s followers’ being industrious<br />

suggest about their characters and rights?<br />

3. What’s the eect <strong>of</strong> Thomas’s grouping “negroes” among such bartered<br />

goods as rum, sugar, molasses, silver, salt, wine, linen, and household<br />

goods? What is suggested by this reference <strong>to</strong> negroes? Why?<br />

4. According <strong>to</strong> Thomas, why do women receive unusually high wages in<br />

Pennsylvania? What’s his attitude <strong>to</strong> their “exorbitant” wages? How do<br />

you know?<br />

2.13 JOHN NORRIS<br />

(unknown)<br />

Very little is known about John Norris that is not derived <strong>from</strong> his 1712<br />

pamphlet, Protable Advice for Rich and Poor. This pamphlet encouraged poor<br />

Englishmen <strong>to</strong> establish small farms in the colonial South where they could gain<br />

independent subsistence. He particularly encouraged tradesmen who could not<br />

make their living in England <strong>to</strong> reap “prot and delight” in what is now South<br />

Carolina. His pamphlet addressed possible causes for reluctance <strong>to</strong> settle in South<br />

Carolina, including the fear that “English people, and others” would be enslaved<br />

when they entered the colonies.<br />

2.13.1 From <br />

(1712)<br />

http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/becomingamer/growth/text1/<br />

carolinarandolphnorris.pdf<br />

Page | 289

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