What defines the origination point for American thought?

America, many ideas might define the views and philosophies that youassociate with that phrase in your mind. But, what and when didAmerican thought really begin? Many people would associate severalcommon ideals with America. Ideals like freedom, hard work,imagination, honesty, and a spirit of adventure. Deeper still Americanscan be associated with a pragmatic view of the world. From a pragmatic viewpoint the truth of the world is written in reality. While there maybe great rewards for success, a realistic analysis of potential risks isjust the nature of life. This was true in 1776 when the 13 colonies declared their independence from Great Brittan. The declaration is certainly an important document because of the number and stature of the minds that wrote it. However, the seeds forthis revolution were set long before that July. In a way, the sameideals that made people leave Europe for the new world guaranteed thatAmerica would always think differently.
So having established that American thought didn’t begin in 1776 then we must search for another point in history. One possibility might be the first Great Awakening that began in the 1720’s with the emergence ofCongregationalist preachers like Jonathan Edwards. Edwards stronglyespoused the idea of great enlightenment and salvation was possiblethrough God and that hell really was as hot as a summer’s day inSavannah. The Great Awakening was representative of American pragmatismbecause American ideals were hard at work in collusion with potentialreality of eternal damnation.
Another possibility for when American thought began would be evenfurther back in history with the spirit of the original settlers ofJamestown or even the early Vikings. These settlers faced a harshreality but with a potential for great rewards and certain optimism thatstill embodies the American spirit.
But what about the ideas of the Native American’s certainly they had a different way of thing about the world? It would be foolhardy to discount the ideas espoused by them simply because they failed to leave as conclusive of a written record. Likewise a cultures technical level doesn’t equate to having a strong or weak demonstration of philosophical thought. Furthermore, some of the world great civilizations like the Aztec’s and the Mayan’s certainly had ideas that we would consider to be philosophical. The Native American’s undoubtedly had a strong influence on early American ideals.
So when did American thought really begin? The truth is that you can’tpoint to a specific moment in history because the philosophies mostAmerican’s embrace were always there and they simply needed a place tobe expressed.