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God Arising And Pleading His People’S Cause ; Or The American War In Favor Of Liberty, Against The Measures And Arms Of Great Britain, Shewn To Be The Cause Of God (1777), Abraham Keteltas, Reiner Smolinski , Editor

Electronic Texts in American Studies

ABRAHAM KETELTAS (1732-98) was raised by Protestant parents in New York and New Rochelle, where he spent much of his time among the communities of Huguenots in the area. Becoming fluent in French early on, he later studied theology at Yale, where he earned his degree in 1752, followed by his preacher’s license in 1756. From 1757 until his dismissal in 1760, Keteltas supplied the pulpit of the Presbyterian church in Elizabethtown, New Jersey. He then served as an itinerant preacher to the Dutch and Huguenot parishes in Jamaica and Long Island, New York, where he gained much popular support. …

The Church’S Flight Into The Wilderness: An Address On The Times, Containing Some Very Interesting And Important Observations On Scripture Prophecies (1776), Samuel Sherwood A. M., Reiner Smolinski , Editor

Electronic Texts in American Studies

Sherwood’s most popular sermon is his much cited The Church’s Flight into the Wilderness: An Address on the Times, containing Some very interesting and important Observations on Scripture Prophecies (1776)—here republished courtesy of the American Antiquarian Society. Delivering his oration in January 1776 in the presence of Gov. John Hancock, Sherwood freely mixes millenarian metaphors and political ideology to incite his listeners to action. Like many of his predecessors, Sherwood readily adapts the mythology of New England’s Puritan past to fit the new situation. The apocalyptic flight of the Woman into the howling wilderness of America a century and a …

A Charge On The Rise Of The American Empire (1776), William Henry Drayton, Reiner Smolinski , Editor

Electronic Texts in American Studies

WILLIAM HENRY DRAYTON (1742–79), chief justice of South Carolina, Revolutionary leader, and wealthy plantation owner, was born near Charlestown. His family on both sides were wealthy planters and prominent politicians, enabling young William Henry to study in London and Oxford. Upon his return he married a South Carolina heiress, turned to politics, and was elected to the Assembly. Drayton championed the cause of British interest in the colonies and opposed such popular measures as the non-importation movement while defending the rights of the individual. Upon loosing his seat in the Assembly, Drayton left for England and returned shortly thereafter to …

Liberty Further Extended: Or Free Thoughts On The Illegality Of Slave-Keeping; Wherein Those Arguments That Are Used In Its Vindication Are Plainly Confuted. Together With An Humble Address To Such As Are Concerned In The Practice., Lemuel Haynes, Paul Royster , Ed.

Electronic Texts in American Studies

This is a regularized text of a private sermon or pamphlet manuscript, authored by a 23-year-old African American who had served in the “minuteman” militia and the Continental Army, and who became an ordained minister and was pastor to white Congregational churches for more than 50 years.

Haynes’ tract is an important and revelatory addition to the early anti-slavery literature in the American colonies. Only identified and published in 1983, it is uniquely situated at the crossroads of independence, anti-­slavery, Congregationalism, and African-American identity. Brought to light by Ruth Bogin, the work is testimony to the diversity of thought and …

Some Strictures Upon The Sacred Story Recorded In The Book Of Esther (1775), Oliver Noble M.A., Reiner Smolinski , Editor

Electronic Texts in American Studies

Oliver Noble (1733/4–92) was born in Hebron, Connecticut, and graduated from Yale in 1757, but stayed on as a tutor until he received his second degree in 1759. Later that same year, he was ordained a minister in South Coventry, Connecticut, but disagreements with his congregation led to his dismissal in 1761. Noble’s abilities as a preacher must have been well known, for his next installment occurred in 1762 at a church in Newburyport, Massachusetts, where he preached from the pulpit of the fifth parish until 1784. Again dismissed, Noble moved to Newcastle, New Hampshire, six months later, and there …

A Short Account Of That Part Of Africa Inhabited By The Negroes, Anthony Benezet, Paul Royster , Ed.

Electronic Texts in American Studies

Anthony Benezet scoured the available English literature of colonial exploitation for evidence of the humanity of the trafficked Africans and the inhumanity of the European traders in human beings. He compiled and published this Short Account in 1762 to present the case for termination of the trans-Atlantic transportation of kidnapped Africans, for abolition of slavery and the slave trade, and for emancipation of the enslaved persons held in bondage in North America and elsewhere. Drawing on Scottish moral philosophy, British Whig ideology, and, most importantly, on New Testament gospel teachings, Benezet presented both reasoned and impassioned appeals for the recognition …

De Bestiis Marinis Or, The Beasts Of The Sea, Georg Wilhelm Steller

Zea E-Books in American Studies

Steller’s classic work, published in Latin in 1751 and in German in 1753, contains the only scientific description from life of the Steller’s sea cow (Hydrodamalis gigas), as well as the first scientific descriptions of the fur seal or “sea bear” (Callorhinus ursinus), Steller’s sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus), and the sea otter (Enhydra lutris).

Steller’s sea cow was a sirenian, or manatee, inhabiting the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea. It was first discovered by Europeans in 1741 and rendered extinct by 1768. It was a 30-foot long, plant-eating aquatic mammal, weighing …

De Bestiis Marinis, Or, The Beasts Of The Sea (1751), Georg Wilhelm Steller, Walter Miller (Translator), Jennie Emerson Miller (Translator), Paul Royster (Transcriber And Editor)

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

Steller’s classic work, published in Latin in 1751 and in German in 1753, contains the only scientific description from life of the Steller’s sea cow (Hydrodamalis gigas), as well as the first scientific descriptions of the fur seal or “sea bear” (Callorhinus ursinus), Steller’s sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus), and the sea otter (Enhydra lutris).

Steller’s sea cow was a sirenian, or manatee, inhabiting the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea. It was first discovered by Europeans in 1741 and rendered extinct by 1768. It was a 30-foot long, plant-eating aquatic mammal, weighing …

A Narrative Of The Captivity Of Nehemiah How In 1745-1747, Nehemiah How, Victor Hugo Paltsits

Electronic Texts in American Studies

Nehemiah How was captured by a raiding party of Abenaki Indians October 11, 1745, outside the fort at Great Meadow (now Vermont). He was taken to Quebec and held captive until his death from "fever" on May 27, 1747. He was among several hundred English colonists taken prisoner during the war. His account recalls his treatment and records the comings and fates of dozens of other prisoners held at Quebec during what was known as King George's War, part of the global War of Austrian Succession.

Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God. A Sermon Preached At Enfield, July 8th, 1741., Jonathan Edwards, Reiner Smolinski , Editor

Electronic Texts in American Studies

The God that holds you over the Pit of Hell, much as one holds a Spider, or some loathsome Insect, over the Fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked; his Wrath towards you burns like Fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the Fire; he is of purer Eyes than to bear to have you in his Sight; you are ten thousand Times so abominable in his Eyes as the most hateful venomous Serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn Rebel did his Prince: and …

A Brief History Of The Pequot War (1736), John Mason, Paul Royster , Editor

Electronic Texts in American Studies

John Mason’s posthumously published account is the most complete contemporary history of the Pequot War of 1636–1637. Written around 1670, and published in part in 1677 (although misattributed by Increase Mather to John Allyn), the complete text was issued by Thomas Prince in 1736. That text is reproduced here in a corrected and annotated edition that includes Prince’s biographical sketch of Mason and various dedicatory and explanatory documents.

John Mason (c.1600–1672) commanded the Connecticut forces in the expedition that wiped out the Pequot fort and village at Mystic and in two subsequent operations that effectively eliminated the Pequots as a …

The Constitutions Of The Free-Masons (1734). An Online Electronic Edition., James Anderson A.M., Benjamin Franklin, Paul Royster (Editor & Depositor)

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

This is an online electronic edition of the the first Masonic book printed in America, which was produced in Philadelphia by Benjamin Franklin in 1734, and was a reprint of a work by James Anderson (who is identified as the author in an appendix) printed in London in 1723. This is the seminal work of American Masonry, edited and published by one of the founding fathers, and of great importance to the development of colonial society and the formation of the Republic. The work contains a 40-page history of Masonry: from Adam to the reign of King George I, including, …

The Constitutions Of The Free-Masons, James Anderson, Benjamin Franklin

Zea E-Books in American Studies

This is an online electronic edition of the the first Masonic book printed in America, which was produced in Philadelphia by Benjamin Franklin in 1734, and was a reprint of a work by James Anderson (who is identified as the author in an appendix) printed in London in 1723. This is the seminal work of American Masonry, edited and published by one of the founding fathers, and of great importance to the development of colonial society and the formation of the Republic. The work contains a 40-page history of Masonry: from Adam to the reign of King George I, including, …

A Divine And Supernatural Light, Immediately Imparted To The Soul By The Spirit Of God, Shown To Be Both A Scriptural, And Rational Doctrine, Jonathan Edwards, Reiner Smolinski

Electronic Texts in American Studies

The early stirrings of the Great Awakening were intensified by Edwards’ famous sermon A Divine and Supernatural Light, Immediately Imparted to the Soul by the Spirit of God (1734). Through a fascinating process of canceling out his opponents’ positions, Edwards clearly defines the workings of God’s grace in the human soul. He distinguishes between “Common Grace” (intrinsic to virtually all unregenerate), which acts upon the mind of natural man and assists the faculties of the soul in their natural course; and “Special Grace” (intrinsic to true saints only), which acts in the human heart and unites with the mind of …

The Negro Christianized. An Essay To Excite And Assist That Good Work, The Instruction Of Negro- Servants In Christianity, Cotton Mather

Zea E-Books in American Studies

There were enslaved Negroes in New England before there were Puritans there, and by 1700 they numbered about 1,000 out of a total population of 90,000. Roughly half of them lived in Massachusetts, and were concentrated in Boston and the coastal towns. Puritans actively participated in the colonial slave trade, importing them from the West Indies and sometimes selling Indian prisoners into overseas slavery.

Cotton Mather was a slave-owner, and his congregation at the Second (or North) Church included both slave merchants and Negroes. The pamphlet reprinted here appeared in 1706 without his name, but his authorship of it was …

The Negro Christianized. An Essay To Excite And Assist That Good Work, The Instruction Of Negro-Servants In Christianity (1706), Cotton Mather, Paul Royster , Editor

Electronic Texts in American Studies

There were Africans in New England before there were Puritans there, and by 1700 they numbered about 1,000 out of a total population of 90,000. Roughly half of them lived in Massachusetts, and were concentrated in Boston and the coastal towns. Puritans actively participated in the trafficking of enslaved persons, importing Africans from the West Indies and sometimes selling native American prisoners overseas.

Cotton Mather’s household contained enslaved Negro servants, and his congregation at the Second (or North) Church included both merchants of slavery and persons of African descent. The pamphlet reprinted here appeared in 1706 without his name, but …

A Two Years Journal In New-York: And Part Of Its Territories In America (1701), Charles Wolley A. M., Edward Gaylord Bourne, Paul Royster (Depositor)

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

This description of the city and inhabitants of New York and its environs was written by the Anglican chaplain who resided there in the years 1678–1680, who published it twenty years after his return to England. A large portion concerns the life and manners of the Native inhabitants, obtained both by direct observation and conversation, and by reports from the official government interpreter. The remainder concerns the habits and commerce of the largely Dutch inhabitants of the city. It is an anecdotal description, sprinkled with quotations from English and classical writers, but very homely in its accounts of such diverse …

New Yorke Considered And Improved A.D. 1695, John Miller, Victor Hugo Paltsits, Paul Royster (Depositor)

Electronic Texts in American Studies

The following work is essentially a line-for-line facsimile of Victor Hugo Paltsits’ edition of John Miller’s New Yorke Considered and Improved A.D. 1695. Miller’s work was written during his tenure as chaplain to the British soldiers stationed in New York from June 1692 until July 1695. His first draft was thrown overboard to avoid its falling into the hands of the French privateers who captured the ship in which he was returning to England. Miller re-wrote his work while imprisoned in France, finished it after his return to England in 1696, and presented it as a report to his …

The Wonders Of The Invisible World. Observations As Well Historical As Theological, Upon The Nature, The Number, And The Operations Of The Devils (1693), Cotton Mather, Reiner Smolinski , Editor

Electronic Texts in American Studies

I. Some Accounts of the Grievous Molestations, by DÆMONS and WITCHCRAFTS, which have lately annoy’d the Countrey; and the Trials of some eminent Malefactors Executed upon occasion thereof; with several Remarkable Curiosities therein occurring.
II. Some Counsils, Directing a due Improvement of the terrible things, lately done, by the Unusual & Amazing Range of EVIL SPIRITS, in Our Neighbourhood: & the methods to prevent the Wrongs which those Evil Angels may intend against all sorts of people among us; especially in Accusations of the Innocent.
III. Some Conjectures upon the great EVENTS, likely to befall, the WORLD in General, and …

Old Mens Tears For Their Own Declensions, Mixed With Fears Of Their And Posterities Further Falling Off From New-England’S Primitive Constitution., Joshua Scottow, Paul Royster , Editor

Joshua Scottow Papers

This is an online edition of Scottow’s popular tract, published in Boston in 1691, based on the first edition. Later editions were published in Boston in 1715, 1733, and 1749, and in New London in 1769. It is a searchable PDF document. The characteristics of Scottow’s original text (spelling, punctuation, capitalization, italics, etc.) have been retained. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected, and a list of emendations is included at the end. Its typographic design is based on that of the original.

The work decries the falling off of New England from the purity and purpose of its original founding, …

Old Mens Tears For Their Own Declensions, Mixed With Fears Of Their And Posterities Further Falling Off From New-England’S Primitive Constitution, Joshua Scottow

Zea E-Books in American Studies

This is an online edition of Scottow’s popular tract, published in Boston in 1691, based on the first edition. Later editions were published in Boston in 1715, 1733, and 1749, and in New London in 1769. It is a searchable PDF document. The characteristics of Scottow’s original text (spelling, punctuation, capitalization, italics, etc.) have been retained. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected, and a list of emendations is included at the end. Its typographic design is based on that of the original. The work decries the falling off of New England from the purity and purpose of its original founding, …

A Brief History Of The Warr With The Indians In New-England, Increase Mather

Zea E-Books in American Studies

This ebook represents a new edition of Increase Mather’s influential contemporary account of King Philip’s War, between the English colonists in New England (and their Native allies) and the Wampanoag, Naragansett, and other Indian nations of the region, beginning in 1675. Mather’s account runs through August of 1676, when hostilities in southern, central, and western New England ended; fighting continued in the region of Maine until 1678. The war was disastrous for both sides, but particularly for the hostile Native Americans, who were brought very close to extermination.

Mather describes his history as “brief” (its 30,00 words run to 89 …

A Brief History Of The Warr With The Indians In New-England (1676): An Online Electronic Text Edition, Increase Mather, Paul Royster (Editor)

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

The following pages represent a new edition of Increase Mather’s influential contemporary account of King Philip’s War, between the English colonists in New England (and their Native allies) and the Wampanoag, Naragansett, and other Indian nations of the region, beginning in 1675. Mather’s account runs through August of 1676, when hostilities in southern, central, and western New England ended; fighting continued in the region of Maine until 1678. The war was disastrous for both sides, but particularly for the hostile Native Americans, who were brought very close to extermination.

Mather describes his history as “brief” (it runs to 89 pages …

The Life And Death Of That Reverend Man Of God, Richard Mather, Teacher Of The Church In Dorchester In New-England. A Facsimile Reprint With An Introduction ..., Increase Mather, Benjamin Franklin V, William K. Bottoroff

Electronic Texts in American Studies

We most often turn to American Puritan prose to glean historicalor biographical data. If we seek a biography that spans the evolution of American Puritanism from its nadir in England through its zenith in the New England of the 1630's to 1650's, and to the beginning of its decline as symbolized by the "Half-Way Covenant" in 1662, we may turn to Increase Mather's biography of his father, The Life and Death of That Reverend Man of God, Mr. Richard Mather. It includes the background for the elder Mather's decision to emigrate to New England (events leading to his suspension from …

A Brief Recognition Of New-Englands Errand Into The Wilderness, Samuel Danforth

Zea E-Books in American Studies

Samuel Danforth’s election sermon of 1670 is a classic example of the New England jeremiad. Addressed to the assembled delegates on the occasion of the election of officers for the Massachusetts General Court, it asks the very pointed question: “What is it that distinguisheth New-England from other Colonies and Plantations in America?” The answer, of course, is that the Puritan colonies (Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven) were founded for the pursuit of religious ends by the reformed Protestant churches of England:

“You have solemnly professed before God, Angels and Men, that the Cause of your leaving your Country, Kindred …

A Brief Recognition Of New-Englands Errand Into The Wilderness: An Online Electronic Text Edition, Samuel Danforth, Paul Royster (Transcriber & Editor)

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

Samuel Danforth’s election sermon of 1670 is a classic example of the New England jeremiad. Addressed to the assembled delegates on the occasion of the election of officers for the Massachusetts General Court, it asks the very pointed question: “What is it that distinguisheth New-England from other Colonies and Plantations in America?” The answer, of course, is that the Puritan colonies (Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven) were founded for the pursuit of religious ends by the reformed Protestant churches of England:

“You have solemnly professed before God, Angels and Men, that the Cause of your leaving your Country, Kindred …

A Declaration Of The Sad And Great Persecution And Martyrdom Of The People Of God, Called Quakers, In New-England, For The Worshipping Of God (1661), Edward Burrough, Paul Royster , Editor

Electronic Texts in American Studies

From 1656 through 1661, the Massachusetts Bay Colony experienced an “invasion” of Quaker missionaries, who were not deterred by the increasingly severe punishments enacted and inflicted by the colonial authorities. In October 1659, two (William Robinson and Marmaduke Stevenson) were hanged at Boston; in June 1660, Mary Dyar (or Dyer) became the third; in March 1661, William Leddra became the fourth (and last) to suffer capital punishment or “martyrdom” for their Quaker beliefs.

While members of the Society of Friends rushed to Massachusetts to test the harsh sentences under the newly enacted laws, other Friends in England simultaneously petitioned Parliament …

Relation Of The Pequot Warres (1660), Lion Gardener, W. N. Chattin Carlton , Editor

Electronic Texts in American Studies

Lion Gardener (1599-1663) was an English military engineer, formerly in the service of the prince of Orange, who was hired by members of the Connecticut Company in 1635 to oversee construction of fortifications for their new colony. On arriving in Connecticut in early 1636, his first assignment was to finish and garrison Saybrook Fort, at the mouth of the Connecticut River. In August 1636, the area was visited by a punitive military expedition from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, led by John Endicott, intent upon intimidating the Pequot and Niantic tribes and demanding delivery of the killers of a group of …

A Declaration Of The Sad And Great Persecution And Martyrdom Of The People Of God, Called Quakers, In New-England, For The Worshipping Of God, Edward Burroughs

Zea E-Books in American Studies

From 1656 through 1661, the Massachusetts Bay Colony experienced an “invasion” of Quaker missionaries, who were not deterred by the increasingly severe punishments enacted and inflicted by the colonial authorities. In October 1659, two (William Robinson and Marmaduke Stevenson) were hanged at Boston; in June 1660, Mary Dyar (or Dyer) became the third; in March 1661, William Leddra became the fourth (and last) to suffer capital punishment or “mar-tyrdom” for their Quaker beliefs.While members of the Society of Friends rushed to Massachu-setts to test the harsh sentences under the newly enacted laws, other Friends in England simultaneously petitioned Parliament and …

Four English Histories Of The Pequod War, P. Vincentius, John Underhill, Lion Gardener, John Mason

Zea E-Books in American Studies

P. Vincentius, A True Relation of the Late Battell fought in New England, between the English, and the Salvages : With the present state of things there (1637)

John Underhill, Newes From America; or, A New and Experimentall Discoverie of New England; Containing, a Trve Relation of Their War-like proceedings these two yeares last past, with a Figure of the Indian Fort, or Palizado (1638)

Lion Gardener, Relation of the Pequot Warres [1660]

John Mason, A Brief History of the Pequot War: Especially of the memorable Taking of their Fort at Mistick in Connecticut in 1637 (1736)