Date: Before 1607     

Major Events: Virginia Company of London(1606), Colony of Jamestown(1607), Failed English colony on Roanoke islands(1601)  

Main Authors: Sioux & Arapaho. 


Kelly, Martin. “A Timeline of Important Events from 1601-1625.” ThoughtCo, ThoughtCo, 4 Dec. 2020, https://www.thoughtco.com/american-history-timeline-s2-104297.

2. Time Period: Precolonialism 

3. Dates: Published in 1869, took place in 1607

4. Point of View: First Person 

5. Themes: Hope, Religion, Anger, Faith, & Nature  

Connection: Arapaho sings, “My children, when at first I liked the whites” (1). This event being displayed could easily be the arrival of Europreans as they travelled further into the states. Arapaho demonstrates the regret that he felt for trusting whites as everything may have seemed calm bretween Natives and whites for some time.  Arapaho also sings, “I have no more sympathy with him” (23). This line symbolizes the climax of the events that took place during this time of European “discoverance”. Arapaho represents the anger that Natives began to build up as whites tried to completely dominate. 

Date: 1607-1775    

Major Events: Jamestown,Virginia(1607), Slavery made legal (1650), & First Great Awakening(1732)

Main Authors: Benjamin Franklin, John Withrop, and Johnathan Edwards 

2. Time Period: Colonialism 

3. Dates: Published in 1741, Set in 1741

4. Point of View: First Person 

5. Themes: Faith, Religion, Emotion, Evil, & Anger   

 Connection: Edwards states, “Yea, there is nothing else that is to be given as a reason why you do not this very moment drop down into hell” (4). Edwards displays the power that God has over any human whether they are very religous or not religous at all. The idea that everyone isn’t in control of his or her own life as God is the only one deciding when and where you end up. He also says, “O sinner!” (4). The significance behind this would be Edward’s argument that everyone is a sinner and could be punished at any given time. 

Date: 1776-1820s

Major Events: Declaration of Independence(1776), U.S Constitution(1789), & War of 1812 

Main Authors: Thomas Jefferson, Elizabeth Cady, and  Ben Franklin  

2. Time Period: Enlightenment 

3. Dates: Published in 1776, Set in 1776

4. Point of View: First Person 

5. Themes: Freedom, Faith, Hope, Government, & Independence

 Connection: Jefferson states, “...it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another…”(1). The very first line of this document displays the idea of government in which the United States hope to cut ties from Britain.  Jefferson also mentions, “That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it…” (2). Independence is a recurring theme in this document as America continues to give evidence to later support the decision to split from Britain. 

Date: 1840s-1860s    

Major Events: Declaration of Sentiments(1848), Mexican War(1846), The Election of 1860 

Main Authors: Thoreau, Emerson, and Dickinson   

“American History 1840 - 1860 Timeline.” Timetoast Timelines, 5 Mar. 1836, https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/american-history-1840-1860. 

2. Time Period: Transcendentalism 

3. Dates: Published in 1854, Set in 1854.   

4. Point of View: First Person 

5. Themes: Nature, Reason, Knowledge, Confidence, & Self-reliance   

 Connection:​​ Thoreau states, “Heaven is under our feet as well as above our heads” (7). Thoreau demonstrates his knowledge of nature as it exists everywhere around us. Thoreau acknowledges that nature exists with or with humans so one should put every piece of time into respecting what is truly around them.  Thoreau says, “I wanted to live deep[in the woods] and suck out all the marrow of life…” (1). Thoreau expresses the importance of nature as one should completely separate themself from any human interaction in order to focus primarily on nature. 

 

Date: 1820s-1865    

Major Events: Civil War(1861-1865), Emancipation Proclamation(1863), & 13th Amendment abolishing slavery(1865)

Main Authors: Frederick Douglass, Olaudah Equiano, and Sojourner Truth   

2. Time Period: Slave Narrative 

3. Dates: Published in approximately 1845 & Set sometime relative to the year 1845.  

4. Point of View: First Person

5. Themes: Injustice, Violence, Hope, Coming of Age, & Dehumanization

 

 Connection: Douglass states, “The louder she screamed the harder he [Mr. Plummer] whipped; and where the blood ran the fastest, there he whipped longest”(4). Douglass recalls how violent his overseer was as he enjoyed whipping the slaves without any remorse. Douglass continues to explain exactly how he observed this event.

Douglass states, “When these[clothes] failed them, they went naked until the next allowance-day. Children from seven to ten years old, of both sexes, almost naked, might be seen at all seasons of the year”(6). This memory of the condition of slaves and more importantly the youth gives an understanding of the overall lifestyle of slaves everywhere as they were constantly dehumanized by limitations on neccessities for living. 

Years: roughly 1901-1950

Major Historical Events: World War I (1914-1918), The Great Depression (1929-1939), & World War II

(1939-1945, America entered 1941)

Major authors: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Zora Neale Hurston, & Gertrude Stein