Making Connections

1. John Winthrop’s “A Modell of Christian Charity” (p. 254) and Jonathan Edwards’s “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” (p. 257) are both considered masterpieces of early American literature and are often presented together even though about a hundred years separates their creation. What do they have in common? What do you see as the greatest difference between them? What does that difference suggest about the religious and spiritual life of pre–Revolutionary War Americans?

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   Making Connections: - John Winthrop’s “A Modell of Christian Charity” (p. 254) and Jonathan Edwards’s “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” (p. 257) are both considered masterpieces of early American literature and are often presented together even though about a hundred years separates their creation. What do they have in common? What do you see as the greatest difference between them? What does that difference suggest about the religious and spiritual life of pre–Revolutionary War Americans?
2. Robert F. Kennedy’s “The Mindless Menace of Violence” speech (p. 262) and Barack Obama’s Tucson memorial speech (p. 271) are both responses to violence. How is each one’s response and solution similar? How are they different?

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   Making Connections: - Robert F. Kennedy’s “The Mindless Menace of Violence” speech (p. 262) and Barack Obama’s Tucson memorial speech (p. 271) are both responses to violence. How is each one’s response and solution similar? How are they different?
3. According to New York Times essayist Wen Stephenson, a jeremiad should be “simultaneously lamenting a declension and celebrating a national dream.” What declension and national dream do Kennedy, Ronald Reagan (p. 265) and Obama lament and celebrate?

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   Making Connections: - According to New York Times essayist Wen Stephenson, a jeremiad should be “simultaneously lamenting a declension and celebrating a national dream.” What declension and national dream do Kennedy, Ronald Reagan (p. 265) and Obama lament and celebrate?
4. In what ways is Obama’s Tucson memorial speech similar to Winthrop’s “A Modell of Christian Charity”? Look carefully at the ways each evokes the idea of faith in American ideals.

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   Making Connections: - In what ways is Obama’s Tucson memorial speech similar to Winthrop’s “A Modell of Christian Charity”? Look carefully at the ways each evokes the idea of faith in American ideals.
5. Do you think Stephen H. Webb’s “How Soccer Is Ruining America: A Jeremiad” (p. 267) is closer in its intent and language to Reagan’s farewell address or to Kennedy’s “The Mindless Menace of Violence”? Explain your answer. Be sure to consider occasion and speaker in your response.

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   Making Connections: - Do you think Stephen H. Webb’s “How Soccer Is Ruining America: A Jeremiad” (p. 267) is closer in its intent and language to Reagan’s farewell address or to Kennedy’s “The Mindless Menace of Violence”? Explain your answer. Be sure to consider occasion and speaker in your response.
6. David Howard Pitney, in his book The Afro-American Jeremiad, defines the black jeremiad as “both radical and conservative.” In comparing it to the traditional American jeremiad, he notes that “the jeremiad typically voiced by national black leaders seems consistently…more searching in examining American social faults and bolder in prescribing reforms than its usual white counterparts.” Contrast the excerpt from Frederick Douglass’s Fourth of July speech (p. 259) to another speech in this Conversation, noting the differences between a traditional American jeremiad and what Pitney calls an Afro-American jeremiad.

   Question

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   Making Connections: - David Howard Pitney, in his book The Afro-American Jeremiad, defines the black jeremiad as “both radical and conservative.” In comparing it to the traditional American jeremiad, he notes that “the jeremiad typically voiced by national black leaders seems consistently…more searching in examining American social faults and bolder in prescribing reforms than its usual white counterparts.” Contrast the excerpt from Frederick Douglass’s Fourth of July speech (p. 259) to another speech in this Conversation, noting the differences between a traditional American jeremiad and what Pitney calls an Afro-American jeremiad.