A Nation is Born

1
A Nation is Born

• 1750-1800
• American Literature
• Mr. Simon

2
Authors

• Benjamin Franklin
• Thomas Jefferson
• Thomas Paine
• Phillis Wheatley
• Patrick Henry
• Abigail Adams
• Michel-Guillaume Jean de Crevecoeur

3
Types of Literature

• Autobiographical
• Journals
• Narratives (Slave)
• Speeches
• Pamphlets
• Broadsides

• Poems- colonial
• Aphorisms
• Almanack
• Declaration
• Letters public private

4
Literary Terms

• Personification
• Diction
• Proverbs
• Persuasion

• Rhetorical Devices
• Repetition
• Restatement
• Parallelism
• Antithesis
• Rhetorical Question
• Page 199

5
The Age of Reason or Enlightenment

• Writers valued reason over faith
• This was a major change from the Puritan period
  and the belief in God for salvation
• Belief in the power of science to further human
  development
• Scientist Galileo and Sir Isaac Newton
• People are generally good and not evil

6
Historical Period

• French and Indian War battle for control of North
  America
• 1754-1763- France lost
• Britain strengthens control of territories and
  power of the American Colonies

• Stamp Act 1765
• Townshend Act of 1767
• taxed normal household goods
• Boston Massacre 1770
• Boston Tea Party
• Coercive Acts

7
Historical Period

• The Shot Heard Round the World
• April 19, 1775- battle on the Lexington Green
• This marks the start of the Revolutionary War
• The War ends on October 19, 1781

8
Cries for a New Nation

• Focus of politics and writing
• Common Sense- important document by Thomas Paine
  1776- sold over 100,000 copies within 3 months
• The Declaration of Independence 1776 Thomas
  Jefferson 1st draft

9
A New Nation is Born

• Articles of Confederation- established the league
  of friendship between States
• This document fails
• The Federal Constitution
• Bill of Rights added to strength document

10
Dates and Terms

• 1774
• 1775
• 1783
• 1789
• Federalist
• Taxation without representation

11
Questions for consideration Reference pages
130-137

• What series of events set the stage for war
  between the American colonies and British?
• What challenges did the new country face in its
  quest for self-government?
• In what ways did politics influence literature
  during this period?

12
Resources

• Research this site and summarize each of the
  following sections http//usinfo.state.gov/produ
  cts/pubs/oal/lit1.htm
• 1. Three authors including basic fact and dates
• 2. The literature of exploration
• 3. The colonial period in New England
• 4. Literature in the southern and middle colonies