The Forging of an American Identity, c. 1700s
from Franklin to Wheatley & more

A course with Dr. Scott Dupree
Four Tuesdays, September 8, 15, 22, & 29, 2026

6:00 PM–8:00 PM
Reception at 5:30 PM

Educator Members: Free
Non-Educator Members: $64
Non-members: $80

Location: The MacMillan Institute | 518 East Wheatland Road | Duncanville, Texas 75116

The emergence of a literary tradition precedes the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, but separation from the mother country demanded that a new national identity be imagined along with that innovative form of governance. Literature played a vital role in the depiction and even the shaping of those qualities that were to distinguish Americans from peoples of other countries, including those in which they had living relatives. American identity was tied to notions of destiny, modern ideals, and models for other nations. As we probe the early manifestations of this collective creative effort, we glimpse much of the same conflict, crisis, inconsistency, and disillusionment that continues to trouble us today.

Although the United States was not to offer a generation of authors of worldwide acclaim until over half a century of existence, these pioneering writers reveal much about us that remains immediately relevant for our own times. They are important not simply as forebears of o prominent mid-nineteenth-century and later literary figures, including noteworthy women writers, but sometimes experimental and bold explorers of fictional techniques and unconventional attitudes that mark them as fascinating in their own right.

The course engages themes and subjects of political, psychological, sociological, anthropological, theological, and historical as well as literary interest. It includes authors from the last three decades of the eighteenth century. Feminism, slavery, class conflict, the rise of political parties, religious controversies, and social satire characterize many of the motifs prominent in this early literature.

We will read poetry, comedies, epics essays, and letters by a variety of authors, some of whom you are unlikely to have encountered previously or even heard of. With one or two exceptions, these texts were published in the eighteenth century, although two of them did not become available in print until more recent times.

SYLLABUS

September 8: Neglected Voices

Benjamin Franklin, ”The Speech of Polly Baker”

Samson Occom, “A Short Narrative of My Life”

Mercy Otis Warren
“A Political Reverie” (poem)
“The Squabble of the Sea Nymphs” (poem)
“On a Survey of the Heavens” (poem)
“A Thought on the Inestimable Blessing of Reason” (poem)

Abigail Addams, “Remember the Ladies” (letter)

Phillis Wheatley
‍ ‍“America” (poem)
‍ ‍“To the Right Honourable WILLIAM, Earl of DARTMOUTH” (poem)
‍ ‍“On Being Brought from Africa to America” (poem)
‍ ‍“To His Excellency General Washington” (poem)
‍ ‍“On the Arrival of the American Army in Cambridge” (poem)
‍ ‍“On the Death of General Wooster” (poem)
‍ ‍“Liberty and Peace” (poem)

Lemuel Haynes, “The Battle of Lexington” (poem)

September 15: Staging Cultural Distinction and National Harmony

Royall Tyler, The Contrast (comic drama)

September 22: American Turmoil

William Dunlap, The Father, or American Shandyism (comic drama)

September 29: Visionary Perspectives

Philip Freneau
‍ ‍“The Rising Glory of America” (poetic dialogue)
“To the Americans” (poetic dialogue)

Joel Barlow, The Vision of Columbus, Books VII-IX (epic poem)