American Foundations
Texts That Shaped a Nation
United States Consulate General in Shanghai
Shanghai American Center
Acts of Faith in New England
John Winthrop and the Puritan Vision
Christopher Moses
14:00, 13 March 2026
John Winthrop, Portrait (1630/91), Anonymous
http://www.americanantiquarian.org/Inventories/Portraits/153.htm
Anne Bradstreet
19th cemtury depiction by Edmund H. Garrett https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Bradstreet
In silent night when rest I took,�For sorrow near I did not look,�I wakened was with thund’ring noise�And piteous shrieks of dreadful voice.�That fearful sound of “fire” and “fire,”�Let no man know is my Desire.�I, starting up, the light did spy,�And to my God my heart did cry�To straighten me in my Distress�And not to leave me succourless.�Then, coming out, behold a space�The flame consume my dwelling place.�And when I could no longer look,�I blest His name that gave and took,�That laid my goods now in the dust.�Yea, so it was, and so ‘twas just.�It was his own, it was not mine,�Far be it that I should repine;�He might of all justly bereft�But yet sufficient for us left.�When by the ruins oft I past�My sorrowing eyes aside did cast�And here and there the places spy�Where oft I sate and long did lie.�Here stood that trunk, and there that chest,�There lay that store I counted best.
My pleasant things in ashes lie�And them behold no more shall I.�Under thy roof no guest shall sit,�Nor at thy Table eat a bit.�No pleasant talk shall ‘ere be told�Nor things recounted done of old.�No Candle e'er shall shine in Thee,�Nor bridegroom‘s voice e'er heard shall be.�In silence ever shalt thou lie,�Adieu, Adieu, all’s vanity.�Then straight I ‘gin my heart to chide,�And did thy wealth on earth abide?�Didst fix thy hope on mould'ring dust?�The arm of flesh didst make thy trust?�Raise up thy thoughts above the sky�That dunghill mists away may fly.�Thou hast a house on high erect
Frameed by that mighty Architect,�With glory richly furnished,�Stands permanent though this be fled.�It‘s purchased and paid for too�By Him who hath enough to do.�A price so vast as is unknown,�Yet by His gift is made thine own;�There‘s wealth enough, I need no more,�Farewell, my pelf, farewell, my store.�The world no longer let me love,�My hope and treasure lies above.
Verses upon the Burning of our House, July 10th, 1666
Anne Bradstreet
1400 2026
Map of the Atlantic Ocean (1613)
Pierre de Vaulx, a cartographer and pilot in the French royal navy
US Library of Congress
https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.wdl/wdl.15482
A Map of New England
(1667)
John Foster, Engraver
Boston Public Library / Wikipedia
http://maps.bpl.org
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Map_of_New_England
1400 2026
????— Protestant Reformation
1492— ??????
1625— Charles I becomes King of England
1534— Henry VIII, Act of Supremacy
1620— Plimoth Plantation settled (Massachusetts)
1630— Bay Colony, Winthrop (Boston)
1640-60— English Civil War
—1649, Charles I executed
—1651, Thomas Hobbes ??????
—1660, Robert Boyle, New Experiments
1675-6— King Philip’s War (New England)
1611— William Shakespeare, The Tempest
1688-89, Glorious Revolution
1707, Act of Union (Great Britain)
1692— Salem Witch Trials
1687— ?????, Philosopiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica
1664— English take Manhattan from the Dutch
1690— John Locke, Second Treatise of Government
1980— ?????? elected President of the US
1754-63— French and Indian / Seven Years War
????— Declaration of Independence
1979— Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
1636— Founding of Harvard College
1400 2026
1517— Protestant Reformation
1492— Columbus’ first voyages
1625— Charles I becomes King of England
1534— Henry VIII, Act of Supremacy
1620— Plimoth Plantation settled (Massachusetts)
1630— Bay Colony, Winthrop (Boston)
1640-60— English Civil War
—1649, Charles I executed
—1651, Thomas Hobbes Leviathan
—1660, Robert Boyle, New Experiments
1675-6— King Philip’s War (New England)
1611— William Shakespeare, The Tempest
1688-89, Glorious Revolution
1707, Act of Union (Great Britain)
1692— Salem Witch Trials
1687— Newton, Philosopiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica
1664— English take Manhattan from the Dutch
1690— John Locke, Second Treatise of Government
1980— Ronald Reagan elected President of the US
1754-63— French and Indian / Seven Years War
1776— Declaration of Independence
1979— Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
1636— Founding of Harvard College
John Winthrop, Portrait (1630/91), Anonymous
http://www.americanantiquarian.org/Inventories/Portraits/153.htm
Anne Bradstreet
19th cemtury depiction by Edmund H. Garrett https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Bradstreet
In silent night when rest I took,�For sorrow near I did not look,�I wakened was with thund’ring noise�And piteous shrieks of dreadful voice.�That fearful sound of “fire” and “fire,”�Let no man know is my Desire.�I, starting up, the light did spy,�And to my God my heart did cry�To straighten me in my Distress�And not to leave me succourless.�Then, coming out, behold a space�The flame consume my dwelling place.�And when I could no longer look,�I blest His name that gave and took,�That laid my goods now in the dust.�Yea, so it was, and so ‘twas just.�It was his own, it was not mine,�Far be it that I should repine;�He might of all justly bereft�But yet sufficient for us left.�When by the ruins oft I past�My sorrowing eyes aside did cast�And here and there the places spy�Where oft I sate and long did lie.�Here stood that trunk, and there that chest,�There lay that store I counted best.
My pleasant things in ashes lie�And them behold no more shall I.�Under thy roof no guest shall sit,�Nor at thy Table eat a bit.�No pleasant talk shall ‘ere be told�Nor things recounted done of old.�No Candle e'er shall shine in Thee,�Nor bridegroom‘s voice e'er heard shall be.�In silence ever shalt thou lie,�Adieu, Adieu, all’s vanity.�Then straight I ‘gin my heart to chide,�And did thy wealth on earth abide?�Didst fix thy hope on mould'ring dust?�The arm of flesh didst make thy trust?�Raise up thy thoughts above the sky�That dunghill mists away may fly.�Thou hast a house on high erect
Frameed by that mighty Architect,�With glory richly furnished,�Stands permanent though this be fled.�It‘s purchased and paid for too�By Him who hath enough to do.�A price so vast as is unknown,�Yet by His gift is made thine own;�There‘s wealth enough, I need no more,�Farewell, my pelf, farewell, my store.�The world no longer let me love,�My hope and treasure lies above.
Verses upon the Burning of our House, July 10th, 1666
Anne Bradstreet
https://www.masshist.org/publications/winthrop/index.php/view/PWF02d270
From Dan Rodgers (2018)
“In relation to the principal theme of the American mind,” the immensely influential Harvard historian Perry Miller declared in 1954,
“Winthrop stands at the beginning of our consciousness.” (3)
Winthrop’s “city upon a hill” line was vastly overshadowed by its reminder of the settlement project’s immense vulnerability. (4)
1400 2026
????— Protestant Reformation
1492— ??????
1625— Charles I becomes King of England
1534— Henry VIII, Act of Supremacy
1620— Plimoth Plantation settled (Massachusetts)
1630— Bay Colony, Winthrop (Boston)
1640-60— English Civil War
—1649, Charles I executed
—1651, Thomas Hobbes ??????
—1660, Robert Boyle, New Experiments
1675-6— King Philip’s War (New England)
1611— William Shakespeare, The Tempest
1688-89, Glorious Revolution
1707, Act of Union (Great Britain)
1692— Salem Witch Trials
1687— ?????, Philosopiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica
1664— English take Manhattan from the Dutch
1690— John Locke, Second Treatise of Government
1980— ?????? elected President of the US
1754-63— French and Indian / Seven Years War
????— Declaration of Independence
1979— Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
1636— Founding of Harvard College
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2014/12/sacvan-bercovitch-1933-2014/
American Foundations
Texts That Shaped a Nation
United States Consulate General in Shanghai
Shanghai American Center
Acts of Faith in New England
John Winthrop and the Puritan Vision
Christopher Moses
14:00, 13 March 2026