Amid the battle for American independence and the struggle to invent a federal government, American Revolutionary leaders and intellectuals sought also to create a culture that would unify a territory of immense regional, ethnic, and religious diversity. In a sophisticated yet accessible interpretive narrative, Eve Kornfeld examines the efforts of Noah Webster, Benjamin Rush, George Washington, Judith Sargent Murray, David Ramsay, Mercy Otis Warren, and others to invent a national literature, narrate a story of nationhood, and educate a diverse people for virtuous Republican citizenship. Among the 31 documents following the narrative are early attempts at American epic poetry, excerpts from the first narrative histories of the United States, and commentaries on the place of women and Indians in national life. Headnotes to the documents, reproductions of early paintings and portraits, a chronology, questions for consideration, a bibliography, and an index are also included.

Authors and Affiliations

San Diego State University, USA

Eve Kornfeld

About the author

Eve Kornfeld is Professor of History at San Diego State University.

Bibliographic Information

Book Title: Creating An American Culture: 1775-1800
Authors: Eve Kornfeld
Series Title: The Bedford Series in History and Culture
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-03834-0
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan New York
eBook Packages: Palgrave History Collection, History (R0)
Copyright Information: Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Nature America Inc. 2001
Softcover ISBN: 978-1-349-63132-2Published: 07 April 2001
eBook ISBN: 978-1-137-03834-0Published: 27 September 2016
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XIII, 274
Topics: Science, Humanities and Social Sciences, multidisciplinary

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Table of contents (12 chapters)

Front Matter