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

BECOMING AMERICA
REVOLUTIONARY AND EARLY NATIONAL PERIOD LITERATURE
3.4.5 Reading and Review Questions
1. In The Way to Wealth, what comfort does Franklin derive from his
works being preferred not by critics and other writers but by common
people? Why?
2. In “An Edict by the King of Prussia,” what faults of the British Crown
does Franklin attribute to the King of Prussia? Why does he deect
criticism in this way?
1. What complaints against the British Crown are shared by the “Rules
by Which a Great Empire May be Reduced to a Small One” and the
Declaration of Independence? Why does Franklin use this means to
make these complaints, do you think?
2. In The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, what literary works does
Franklin cite as important to the shaping of his mind? What, if anything,
do these works have in common? What power does Franklin attribute to
the written word?
3. What human behaviors and qualities does Franklin list in his virtues
and precepts? What, if anything, do they have in common? How do they
compare to Puritan virtues? How do they contrast?
3.5 SAMSON OCCOM
(1723–1792)
Samson Occom was born in New
London, Connecticut into the Mohegan
tribe. Occom’s youth coincided with
the tail end of the Great Awakening, a
revivalist and evangelical movement
that stressed the equality of all people
in the eyes of God. Moved by hearing
evangelical sermons with this message,
Occom converted to Christianity at the
age of sixteen.
A few years later, his mother asked the
Reverend Eleazar Wheelock (1711–1779)
to accept Occom as his pupil. Wheelock,
an evangelical minister, hoped to spread
Christianity among Native Americans
by training young Native Americans to
serve as missionaries to their own people.
In 1754, Wheelock, through teaching
Occom, transformed his English school
Image 3.5 |The Reverend Samuel Occom
Artist | Unknown
Source | Wikimedia Commons
License | Public Domain
Page | 375