This course principally examines the period from 1620 - with the settlement of Plymouth Plantation - through the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Although there is some attention to the literature of early discovery (Harriot, Champlain, Smith, etc.), the focus is on literary texts of major historical interest and on authors who pursued the American Dream of economic, religious, political and artistic freedom. Bradford, Williams, Bradstreet, Rowlandson, Taylor, Mather, Sewall, Knight, Syrd, Franklin, the Adamses, Woolman, Paine, Jefferson, DeCrevecouer, Tyler and Wheatley are among the authors studied. Not available every semester.