America´s literary independence was slowed by a lingering identification with England, an excessive imitation of English or classical literary models, and difficult economic and political conditions that hampered publishing. Colonial writers of the revolutionary generation had been born English. Fifty years after their fame in England, English neoclassic writers such as Joseph Addison, Richard Steele and Jonathan Swift were still eagerly imitated in America. Early American writers, now separated from England, effectively had no modern publishers, no audience and no adequate legal protection. Editorial assistance, distribution, and publicity were rudimentary. Until 1825 most American authors paid prinetrs to publish their work. The exception, Benjamin Franklin, though from a poor family, was a printer by trade and could publish his own work. The lack of an audience was another problem. The small cultivated audience in America wanted well-known European authors. Only journalism offered financial remuneration, but the mass audience wanted light, undemanding verse and short topical essays– not long or experimental work. The American enlightenment:
The 18th century American Enlightenment was a movement marked by an emphasis on rationality rather than tradition, scientific inquiry instead of unquestioning religious dogma, and representative government in place of monarchy. Enlightenment thinkers and writers were devoted to the ideals of justice, liberty, and equality as the natural rights of man. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (1706 – 1790):
He embodied the Enlightenment ideal of human rationality. Practical yet idealistic, hard-working and enormously successful, Franklin recorded his early life in his famous Autobiography. Writer, printer, publisher, scientist, philantropist, and diplomat, he was the most famous and respected private figure of his time. Self-educated but well read in John Locke and other Enlightenment writers, Franklin learned from them to apply reason to his own life and to break with tradition when it threatened to smother his ideals. While a youth, Franklin taught himself languages, read widely, and practised writing for the public. He also had the Puritan capacity for hard, careful work. Franklin´s Poor Richard´s Almanach begun in 1732 and published for many years, made Franklin prosperous and well-known throughout the colonies. In this annual book of useful encouragement, advice, and factual information, amusing characters such as old Father Abraham and Poor Richard exhort the reader in pithy, memorable sayings. Franklin´s Autobiography is in part another self-help book. Written to advise his son it covers only the early years.