Pre-National Documents

There are various pre-national documents that offer insight into the society in which America began. Two fairly popular narratives are those of John Smith and Mary Rowlandson. Both feature stories of captivity, but they share so much more. They outline the way in which an American identity was formed amidst a new context. Not only do these documents define the pre-national culture, they foreshadow the values of a budding nation.

John Smith’s narrative The General History of Virginia is a piece that is doused in conceit. Despite being a narrative, it is written mostly in third person. The piece describes Smith’s experience in Virginia, which includes being taken captive by “savages.” The text is full of other dehumanizing phrases and words so that it is clear that the Natives are not equal to the whites.

In A Narrative of the Captivity and Resistance of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson by Mary Rowlandson there is a similar tone regarding Native Americans. Although from a very different viewpoint, the narrative contains even more demeaning language. Her story begins with a recount of her capture and continues to describe her three “removes” or three segments of her journey with the Natives. Her narrative is written with long paragraphs that emphasize her stress and build to eventful moments. By the end the reader can’t help but to see the “savages” as an uncivilized, immoral people.

A big theme in both Smith and Rowlandson’s narratives is that of faith. Throughout both ordeals, they remain very faithful to God in hopes of making it through their captivity alive. Their faith foreshadows the future of the colonies, which is to go through the Great Awakening in the 1740’s. This was a time of increased religious fervor, a time to convince the whole population to convert. Jonathan Edwards, a famous preacher of the Great Awakening, offers very vivid images of hell in his most famous sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. The sermon is meant to be so scary that anyone not fully committed to Christianity would rethink and recommit with enthusiasm.

Pre-national documents are integral to the understanding of America and its foundations. John Smith and Mary Rowlandson offer a deeper sentiment than just their captivity; they depict the growing fear of the unknown and dehumanization of Native Americans. Besides that, they foreshadow a later period of increased religious commitment and intensity that some historians even credit as the cause of the American Revolution.