Page:The Rise of American Civilization (Volume 1).djvu/136

 remote Teutonic origins has seen reflected in the records the harsh and sour visage of Puritan divines; an Illinois essayist reared in Pilgrim orthodoxy has seen shining from them a great light to guide the weary and godly through all eternity. Searchers for humane traditions have come with joy upon the philosophy of Roger Williams, the journal of John Woolman, the lively wisdom of Benjamin Franklin, the democratic doctrines of John Wise, and the grand plea of Andrew Hamilton in the Zenger battle over the freedom of the press. Trained historians have brought under observation single segments of colonial life―economic, political, social, intellectual, artistic―and have written for specialists huge tomes that never find their way into the main stream of American thought.

By none of these methods apparently can the intimate essence of American culture be grasped. In reality the heritage, economics, politics, culture, and international filiations of any civilization are so closely woven by fate into one fabric that no human eye can discern the beginnings of its warp or woof. And any economic interpretation, any political theory, any literary criticism, any æsthetic appreciation, which ignores this perplexing fact, is of necessity superficial. That a few students recognize the nature of the problem and are beginning the search for a synthesis is a striking sign of the new epoch in American intellectual development.

The essential forms of colonial culture, as we have said, were English in their origins. Eminent advocates for the Scotch, Irish, Dutch, Swiss, Welsh, Swedes, and Jews have entered pleas against this ruling in many a portly volume and have placed upon the record facts and arguments worthy of calm review. Some have gone far in their racial claims. One stout partisan has traced the political institutions of America back to Holland through the migrating Pilgrims. Another has given the American Revolution the