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

BECOMING AMERICA
REVOLUTIONARY AND EARLY NATIONAL PERIOD LITERATURE
judgment, dissipate their fears, and allure their hopes, by discussing it in newspapers
and pamphlets, by debating it in assemblies, conventions, committees of safety and
inspection, in town and county meetings, as well as in private conversations, so that
the whole people, in every colony of the thirteen, have now adopted it as their own
act. This will cement the union, and avoid those heats, and perhaps convulsions,
which might have been occasioned by such a Declaration six months ago.
But the day is past. The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable
epocha in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated
by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be
commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God
Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games,
sports, guns, bells, bonres, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to
the other, from this time forward forevermore.
You will think me transported with enthusiasm, but I am not. I am well aware
of the toil and blood and treasure that it will cost us to maintain this Declaration
and support and defend these States. Yet, through all the gloom, I can see the rays
of ravishing light and glory. I can see that the end is more than worth all the means.
And that posterity will triumph in that day’s transaction, even although we should
rue it, which I trust in God we shall not.
3.7.2 Reading and Review Questions
1. In her March 31, 1776 letter, how does Abigail use Christian principles to
advise John against perpetuating tyrannies against blacks and women?
What threats against such tyrannies, especially on the part of women,
does she promise to make?
2. In his April 14, 1776 letter, how does John answer Abigail’s call for a more
equal code of law? What political and philosophical (versus religious)
language does he use? How, if at all, does he equate the tyranny of
petticoats with those of wealthy slave-holders and land-owners? Why?
3. In his July 3, 1776 (Letter 1), what does John believe would have been
obtained had the Declaration of Independence been signed seven months
earlier? Why? To what does he attribute the delay? What benets, if any,
does he attribute to the delay? Why?
4. In their letters, what unconventional views of women’s intellect do both
John and Abigail express? Consider their exchanges on politics, society,
family, and religion as well as their sharing of information with each
other.
5. What import does John give to both the Declaration of Independence and
its signing by all the colonies? How does he support it both concretely,
through quotes, and abstractly, through predictions of the future and the
use of religious tropes?
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