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Main currents in American thought An interpretation of American literature from the beginnings to 1920

Vernon Louis Parrington

_New View Points in American History_, 179 n _News-Letter_, 127-128 Norris, Isaac, 221 _Notes on Virginia_, 347 North, Frederick Lord, 253, 373 _Novanglus_, 200 n _Novanglus and Massachusettensis_, 208 n Oakes, President, 102 _Objections to the Proposed Plan of a Federal Government for the United States on Genuine Principles_, 254-255 _Oceana_, 25, 269, 319 Odell, Rev. Jonathan, 255-259, 371 Olivers, The, 250 Onslow, Lord, 335 Otis, Harrison Gray, 359 ----, James, 205, 212, 310 Paget (_also_ Pagit _or_ Pagitt), Rev. Ephraim, 64 n Paine, Robert Treat, 247, 324 ----, Tom, 62, 72, 245, 247, 259, 293, 307, 324, 325, 327-341, 352, 353, 369, 374, 376, 378, 380, 383, 384, 385, 386, 387, 393 Palfrey, John Gorham, 118 n _Pamphlets on the Constitution_, 231 n _Patriarcha_, 189, 215 Pattee, Fred L., 373 n, 378 n Paul, Saint, 8, 15, 67 Peters, Rev. Hugh, 75 ----, Rev. Samuel, 58 ----, Rev. Samuel (of Connecticut), 259-263 _Petition to the King_, 219 Petty, Sir William, 170, 171, 172 _Phaenomena Quaedam Apocalyptica_, 93 _Philadelphiensis_, 254 n Philip, King, 29, 30 Phips, Governor William, 86, 104, 119 _Pillars of Salt_, 110 Pitt, William, 8, 164, 182, 183, 185, 188, 220, 224, 226, 227, 238, 292, 293, 372 ----, William (the younger), 340, 385 Plato, 213 Plugson of Undershot, 174 _Poems of Philip Freneau_, 373 n, 378 n _Poganuc People_, 13 _Political Activities of Philip Freneau, The_, 311 n, 379 n _Political Greenhouse, The_, 363 _Political Ideas of the American Revolution, The_, 310 n _Political Justice_, 376 _Political Science of John Adams, The_, 319 n, 334 n _Political Theory of Roger Williams, The_, 67 n _Political Thought from Locke to Bentham_, 280 n Pope, Alexander, 248, 249, 318 _Positions to be Examined concerning National Wealth_, 173 Postgate, R. W., 337 n Pownall, Governor Thomas, 205, 235 _Pretty Story, A_, 253 Price, Lucien, 86 n Price, Richard, 334 Priestley, Joseph, 280, 292, 296, 334, 383 Prince, Rev. Thomas, 94, 114, 128 _Principles of Trade_, 173 _Private Journal Kept by Madam Knight on a Journey from Boston to New York in the year 1704, The_, 137-138 _Probationary Odes by Jonathan Pindar, Esq._, 375 _Problem of Sovereignty, The_, 190 n _Progress and Poverty_, 338 _Progress of Dulness, The_, 249 _Projet d’une Disme Royale_, 171 Proverbs, 113 Psalms, 83 Ptolemy, 13 _Public Advertiser, The_, 235 _Publick Occurrences_, 127 _Publicola_, 324, 325-326 Pufendorf, Baron, 121, 236, 280 Purcell, Richard J., 384 n _Puritan_, 243 n Pym, John, 220 _Queries and Remarks Respecting Alterations in the Constitution of Pennsylvania_, 177 n Quesnay, François, 346 _Races and Immigrants in America_, 134 n Read, Charles, 134 _Reflections on the Augmentation of Wages_, 174 n _Remarkable Providences_, 105 _Replye to the Answ: Made to the Discourse about the Neg: Vote, A_, 44, 46 n _Resolves of the House of Representatives of Massachusetts Bay_, 202 n Revelation, Book of the, 66 n, 83, 94 _Revolution from 1789-1906_, 337 n Reyner, Mr., 91 _Rhode Island Historical Society Publications_, 64 n Riggs, Luther G., 363 _Rights of the Colonists, The_, 238 n _Rights of Man, The_, 324, 334-337, 340 n, 384, 385, 393 _Rise of Modern Democracy, The_, 58 n _Rising Glory of America, The_, 372, 390 _Rip Van Winkle_, 391 Robinson, Rev. John, 17 _Rolliad, The_, 364 Rousseau, Jean Jacques, 154, 164, 271, 272, 324, 334 Sainte-Beuve, 178 Santayana, George, vi Sargent, Winthrop, 168 n Say and Sele, Lord, 29, 34 Schlesinger, A. M., 179 n, 183 n, 379 n Schuyler, Livingston Rowe, 119 n Scroggs, Lord Chief Justice, 119 n Scott, Sir Walter, 256, 370 _Selling of Joseph, The_, 95 _Sermon IX_, 159 n _Sermon XXVII_, 158 n _Sermon XXXIV_, 156 n Sewall, Henry, 90 ----, Jonathan, 207, 246 ----, Samuel, 85, 87, 88-97, 113, 114, 117 n, 124, 126, 127, 165, 170, 195 Shays, Daniel, 277, 278, 320, 352, 364, 365 Shakespeare, 28 Shelburne, Earl of, 183 Sidney, Algernon, 103, 189, 213, 236, 280 _Simple Cobler of Aggawam, The_, 76-80 Singletary, Amos, 284 _Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God_, 159 n _Sketches of Eighteenth Century America_, 140 n, 146, 147 n Smith, Adam, 171, 173, 269, 271, 296, 346 ----, Dr. Elihu Hubbard, 359 Solomon’s Song. See Canticles _Some Good Whig Principles_, 177 n Song of Songs. See Canticles _Speech of January 6, 1773_ (Hutchinson), 203 n Spinoza, 152 _State Trials_, 119 n _Statesmen of the Old South_, 345 n Stoddard, Rev. Solomon, 153, 249 Stone, Rev. Samuel, 57 Stoughton, Lieut. Governor, 85 Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 13, 153 Strafford, Earl of, 269 _Summary View of the Rights of British America, A_, 244 n Sumner, William Graham, 294 _Supreme Court and the Constitution, The_, 276 n _Survey of the Summe of Church Discipline, A_, 54, 60-62 Swift, Jonathan, 333 Tailor, Colonel, 113 _Thomas Hooker, Preacher, Founder, Democrat_, 55 n, 58 n, 59 n Thompson, General, 284 Tippet, Mehetabel, 141 _To all the Great Folks in a Lump_, 375 _To all True-hearted Christians_, 96 _To Atlas_, 375 _To Duncan Doolittle_, 375 n Tooke, Horne, 339, 383 _To a Select Body of Great Men_, 375 Townshend, Charles Viscount, 240 _To a Would Be Great Man_, 375 _Travels in New England and New York_, 362 n, 363 _Travels through the Middle Settlements in North America in the Years 1759 and 1760_, 276 n _Treatise on Christian Liberty_, 12 _Treatise on Taxes_, 171 _Treatises on Civil Government, Two_, 189, 237, 270 n _Two Letters on the Tea Tax_, 228 _Triumph of Infidelity, The_, 363 Trumbull, Rev. Benjamin, 248 ----, John, 248-252, 254, 359, 362 ----, John (the painter), 248 ----, Governor Jonathan, 248, 360 Tyler, Moses Coit, 89 n, 123, 207 n, 220, 226 n, 256, 371, 372, 381 _United States Gazette, The_, 379 Vane, Sir Harry, 10, 12, 38, 59, 66, 72, 73-74 Van Schaak, Peter, 192 Van Tyne, C. H., 179 n, 182 n, 184 n, 188 n, 189 n, 203 n _Various Prospects_, 280 Varnum, General, 276 Vattel, Emrich von, 236, 239, 280 Vauban, Sébastien de, 171 _View of the Causes and Consequences of the American Revolution, A_, 215-218 _Vindication of the Government of the New England Churches, A_, 119 n, 120, 122 n, 123 _Vision of Columbus, The_, 387 Voltaire, 324, 363 _Walker, G. L._, 55 n, 56 n, 58 n, 59 n ---- Williston, 23 n, 24, 100 n, 101 n, 148 n Wallace, Robert, 280, 319 Walley, Major, 119 Walpole, Horace, 203 Walsh, C. M., 319 n, 334 n Ward, Nathaniel, 21, 33, 55, 76-81, 84 Warren, Mrs. Mercy, 207 Warwick, Earl of, 29 Washington, George, 184, 258, 259, 276, 277, 292, 295, 305, 323, 349, 360, 368, 369, 380, 393 Watson, Bishop, of Llandaff, 324, 337 _Way of the Congregational Churches Cleared, The_, 35 _Wealth of Nations, The_, 171, 173, 271, 296 Webster, Daniel, 25 ----, Noah, 291, 299, 382 ----, Peletiah, 291 Wedderburn, Alexander, 164 Wendell, Barrett, 107, 114 n, 116, 150 n, 284 n, 370 Whately, George, 173 _When the Wicked shall have Filled up the Measure of their Sins, Wrath will come upon them to the Uttermost_, 159 n Whitfield, Rev. George, 160, 373 Whittier, John G., 89 Wigglesworth, Rev. Michael, 85 Wilkes, John, 251 Willard, Rev. Samuel, 87 William III, King, 91 n Williams, Roger, iv, vi, 6, 10, 12, 24, 25, 28, 35-36, 37, 49, 50, 53, 54, 57 n, 59, 62-75, 77, 79, 94, 100, 103, 105, 121, 333, 341, 386 Willing, Thomas, 221 Wilson, James, 254, 291, 292 ----, Rev. John, 59 ----, Wood row, 306 _Wingate on the Common Law_, 93 Winthrop, Adam, 41 ----, John, 17, 18, 19, 30, 32, 38-50, 51, 55, 57, 58, 71, 80, 88, 92, 97, 105 ----, Margaret, 39 _Wisdom and Goodness of God, In having Made both Rich and Poor, The_, 337 Wise, Rev. John, 94, 101, 118-125, 162 _Witchcraft, Then and Now_, 86 n _Wonders of the Invisible World, The_, 86 n, 108, 115-116, 116 n Worcester, Bishop of, 253 _Word of Comfort to a Melancholy Country, A; Or the Bank of Credit_, 124 _Word of Congress, The_, 257 _Works_ of John Adams, 207 n, 309 n, 311 n, 312 n, 313 n, 314 n, 315 n, 316 n, 317 n, 318 n _Works_ of Samuel Adams, 199 n, 234 n, 236 n, 237 n, 238 n, 239 n, 240 n, 241 n, 242 n, 244 n, 245 n, 246 n _Works_ of John Dickinson, 226 n, 227 n, 228 n _Works_ of Jonathan Edwards, 156 n, 158 n, 159 n _Works_ of Benjamin Franklin, 168 n, 169 n, 170 n, 171 n, 173 n, 174 n, 176 n, 177 n _Works_ of Alexander Hamilton, 298 n, 301 n, 304 n, 306 n _Works_ of Martin Luther, 12 n _Works_ of Thomas Paine, 177 n, 335 n, 338 n, 339 n, 341 n _Works_ of Daniel Webster, 26 n _Writings_ of John Quincy Adams, 326 n _Writings of Col. William Byrd of Westover in Virginia, Esq., The_, 138 n _Writings_ of Thomas Jefferson, 303 n, 347 n, 348 n, 350 n, 351 n, 353 n, 355 n _Wyoming Massacre, The_, 146 n Yates, Robert, 285 The Romantic Revolution in America [Volume Two] Foreword In justification of the choice of writers and allotment of space in the following pages, let it be said frankly that I have been guided by what I conceived to be the historical significance of the several documents. With aesthetic judgments I have not been greatly concerned. I have not wished to evaluate reputations or weigh literary merits, but rather to understand what our fathers thought, and why they wrote as they did. This will serve to explain the considerable number of pages devoted to southern letters, as well as to certain well-nigh forgotten figures. For the purpose I had in view such a method was inevitable. Lost causes have a way of shrinking in importance in the memory of later generations, and the historian must go back to the days before their overthrow, and view them in the light of their hopes. Time is not always a just winnower; it is partial to success and its verdict too often inclines to the side of the biggest cannon or the noisiest _claque_. The exhuming of buried reputations and the revivifying of dead causes is the familiar business of the historian, in whose eyes forgotten men may assume as great significance as others with whom posterity has dealt more generously. Communing with ghosts is not unprofitable to one who listens to their tales. To our fathers John Taylor and Beverley Tucker and Fisher Ames were living figures; they spoke for their generation, and they may have something still to say to a later generation. For dealing at length with such men as Hugh Legaré and Gilmore Simms and John P. Kennedy and Herman Melville, no apologies need be offered. They have too long been slighted. Walt Whitman I have chosen to regard as the forerunner of a later school, and have reserved the consideration of his work for another study. Certain other men I have omitted regretfully out of regard to space--diverse figures such as Orestes Brownson, Albert Brisbane, and John Esten Cooke, together