We'll read and discuss an assortment of novels, memoirs, sermons, journals, treatises and other writings by American authors of the colonial and early national periods. Students will be expected to attend class regularly, keep up with reading assignments and take part in open discussion. Written work will consist entirely of a series of between five and ten brief in-class essays written in response to study questions handed out in advance.

Texts: John Tanner, THE FALCON; Benjamin Franklin, THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND OTHERE WRITINGS; Michael Kammen, ed., ORIGINS OF THE AMERICAN CONSTITUTION; Charles Brockden Brown, WIELAND; Susanna Rowson, CHARLOTTE TEMPLE AND LUCY TEMPLE; Hannah Webster Foster, THE COQUETTE; Hector St. John de Crevecoeur, LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN FARMER; Washington Irving, THE SKETCH BOOK OF GEOFFREY CRAYON; a reading packet from a copy center