Age of Reason

1
(No Transcript)
2
(No Transcript)
3
Age of Reason

• New scientific discoveries and philosophical
  thinking challenge the role of faith
• Establishes and either-or mentally between men of
  reason and men of faith
• Adherents of reason reject faith and mystery in
  favor of the scientific method
• Most accept a Creator but remove him from
  personality and interventionDeism
• Adherents of faith often reject the advances of
  science as opposition to God

4
Deism

• Dominant religious attitude among the educated
  classes in Europe and America
• Human reason capable of solving social and
  political problems
• Supreme Being who operates only through natural
  laws
• No belief in the supernatural
• Did not accept Jesus as the Son of God

5
Whos Composing Literature in the Early Colonies?

• Native Americans
• Oral Traditions
• Puritans
• Focus on Sin Salvation
• African Americans
• Free and Enslaved Narratives
• Statesmen of Revolutionary Period
• Focus on political events

Most literature of the time is NOT coming from
the colonies, but from England.
Those that are writing focus on the issues that
dominated their lives.
6
The Founding Fathers Neoclassicists
1750-1800
Emphasized reason, harmony, and
restraint Also some embraced Deism
7

• Christian
• Patrick Henry

• Deist
• Benjamin Franklin
• Thomas Jefferson
• Thomas Paine

I have disposed of all my property to my family.
There is one thing more I wish I could give to
them, and that is the Christian religion. If they
had that and I had not given them one cent, they
would be rich. If they have not that, and I had
given them the world, they would be poor.
It can not be emphasized too strongly or too
often that this great nation was founded, not by
religionists, but by Christians, not on
religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ!
8
Revolutionary Period Literature

• 4th and 5th generation Americans happily living
  as English subjects until
• King George II imposes regulations that threaten
  the liberties of colonists
• The mind of the nation is on politics and it is
  reflected in the literature produced

9
Revolutionary Period Literature

• Unlike the personal writing of the Puritans, the
  Revolutionary Period produced public political
  writing
• Nearly 30 newspapers and almanacs were popular in
  all the colonies
• Much that is known about private life in the
  period comes from letters
• Poetry of Phillis Wheatley and narratives by
  Michel-Guillaume Crevecouer

10
Benjamin Franklin

• Leading author, political theorist, politician,
  printer,scientist, inventor, civic activist, and
  diplomat
• Worked as a printer from his early teens until
  retirement at 42
• Devoted himself to science, inventing bifocals,
  the lightning rod and the Franklin stove
• Best-known as a statesman and diplomat
• Important role in drafting the Declaration of
  Independence
• Ambassador to England and France

11

• Published Poor Richards Almanac from 1732-1757
• Almanaca publication containing information,
  observations, and advice
• Franklins almanac was especially popular because
  of the aphorisms he included
• Aphorism--a terse saying embodying a general
  truth
• Used the pseudonyms
• Richard Saunders
• Silence Dogood
• Published The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
  in 1771

12
Thomas Paine

• Emigrated to the colonies in 1774
• Published Common Sense in 1776
• Argued that Americans must become independent
• Created a national mood for revolution

13
Paine

• Enlisted in the American army
• Wrote a series of essays titled The American
  Crisis
• In 1787, he became involved in the French
  revolution
• Age of Reason published in 1794
• attack on organized religion
• turned American opinion against him

14
Thomas Jefferson

• 6 2, red hair, poor public speaker
• Author of the Declaration of Independence
• 3rd President of the United States
• Founder University of Virginia
• Architect

• Inventor
• Naturalist
• Linguist
• Skilled Violinist
• Ambassador to France
• 1st Secretary of State
• 2nd Vice President
• Enacted the Louisiana Purchase
• Died July 4, 1826

15
HERE WAS BURIED THOMAS JEFFERSON AUTHOR OF THE
DECLARATION OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE OF THE
STATUTE OF VIRGINIA FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AND
FATHER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
16
Patrick Henry

• Considered the most eloquent
• speaker of the American
• Revolutionary Period
• Delivers speech opposing the Stamp Act in the
  Virginia House of Burgesses

"Caesar had his Brutus Charles the First his
Cromwell and George the Third" Cries of
"Treason! Treason!" "George the Third may profit
by their example. If this be treason, make the
most of it."
In 1775, his speech at the Virginia Provincial
convention in favor of armed resistance fed the
revolutionary spirit