Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2013 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: High School Third Year, , course: 11th Grade English, language: English, abstract: While his popular character, Natty Bumppo, was blazing trails across the beautiful, native land of America, Cooper was blazing the trail for American literature. On September 15, 1789, James Cooper, son of the wealthy William Cooper, was born at Burlington, New Jersey. The boy grew up on the ancient, unturned soil of a new nation. As a young man, he was enlisted into the naval service by his father, thereby allowing Cooper to survey the world beyond America. When he later began writing, James Fenimore Cooper's literary efforts were shaped by various encounters of his lifetime.