“Cain-and-Abel” - “Here He Lyes”
Jill Lepore cites a religious allusion to illustrate the omnipresent disunity in America: “One abolitionist, writing in 1857-Jamestown’s 250th anniversary-argued that Americans ought to ignore 1607 and instead pay attention to the divided nations twin, Cain-and-Abel, founding moments: the Pilgrims’ 1620 landing in Plymouth and the arrival of the first Africans to Jamewtown.” The religious allusion accentuates the disparity between the white pilgrims (who personify the American dream) and the Africans (who weather the American nightmare). The manipulative Pilgrims exterminate the Africans’ ‘American dream’ in the same way that Cain slayed his brother’s dreams of survival.
Sermon - “The Way to Wealth”
Jill Lepore reports, “The Way to Wealth stands among the most famous pieces of American writing ever, and one of the most wilfully misunderstood. A lay sermon about how industry begets riches. (No gains, without Pains.” The figurative sermon implies that Franklin’s work has been influential in modeling the American ideology vis-à-vis wealth formation. The assertions that Franklin makes in his book are apposite economic philosophies that are valid in the American milieu.
