Bell Ringer
• Who was the absolute authoritarian that
granted nobles full power over their serfs?
• Catherine the Great
***Please turn in your homework in the bin!
Agenda/Objectives
• Review of the unit so far.
• How are the American colonies impacted
by the Enlightenment?
• Benjamin Franklin!!! The myth the legend!
• Deism and the watchmaker theory.
Review
• Who came up with the idea of Natural
Rights?
• Who came up with the idea of separation
of powers and checks and balances?
• Who had the pen name Voltaire?
Review
• Who was the king of Austria that gave
religious freedom to all minority religions?
• Who is the Father of Capitalism?
• Who was the person that dissected
humans and proved over 200 conclusion
of Galen to be false?
Benjamin Franklin
• Arguably the most influential man in the
history of the United States!
• Watch the documentary and write 5 facts
about the man, the myth, the legend!
America’s Enlightenment and
Great Awakening
A period marking the contrasting
ideas of intellectual reason and
religious emotionalism
Literacy
• The American Colonies
were the most literate
society in the world (90%
of males in NE, 40% of
females)
• Literacy throughout
varied from 35-50%.
England averaged about
30%.
• Despite widespread
literacy books were fairly
rare; people were moved
by persons who had the
power of the spoken word.
New Ideas
 Great advances in
Europe (Newton)
moved the world as
people became more
dependent on reason
to unlocking the laws
of nature. Inspired
others to search for
reason.
John Locke
• Character of individuals was not fixed could
be changed through education.
• Governmental power was not derived through
god to monarchs but rather was derived from
the need to preserve “life, liberty, and
property” of the governed.
The Father of America’s
Enlightenment
• Franklin and the Junto a
mutual improvement society,
bent on debate.
• Poor Richards Almanack: a
collection of essays, maxims,
and proverbs.
– Early to bed and early to rise,
makes a man healthy, wealthy,
and wise
– Well done is better than Well
said.
– A penny saved is a penny earn
ed
– There will be sleeping enough
in the grave.
Franklin’s Impact
 Other impacts: started
volunteer fire
department, first
library, founded the
college of Philadelphia
(now Penn) which
founded the first
medical school. An
elected political leader,
judge. Led
innovations in
electricity, stoves for
heating, etc…
Insurance
Founded the Philadelphia Library
The Philadelphia Hospital, the nations
first—courtesy of Franklin
Philadelphia Hospital
• "to care for the sick-poor and insane who were wandering the
streets of Philadelphia."
• "a melting pot for diseases, where Europeans, Africans and
Indians engaged in free exchange of their respective
infections."
• Franklin saved the day with a clever plan to counter the claim
by challenging the Assembly that he could prove the populace
supported the hospital bill by agreeing to raise 2000 pounds
from private citizens. If he was able to raise the funds,
Franklin proposed, the Assembly had to match the funds with
an additional 2000 pounds. The Assembly agreed to Franklin's
plan, thinking his task was impossible, but they were ready to
receive the "credit of being charitable without the expense."
• Franklin's fundraising effort brought in more than the required
amount.
American Philosophical Society
• American Philosophical Society:
1743 (Jefferson a later
president) “all philosophical
experiments that let light into
the nature of things tend to
increase the power of man over
matter, and multiply the
conveniences and pleasures of
life”.
• Other impacts: started
volunteer fire department, first
library, founded the college of
Philadelphia (now Penn) which
founded the first medical
school. Electricity, stoves, etc…
Deism
• Deists: rational god
who created the
universe not to
intervene.
• Religion? Viewed as
valuable as it
regulated morals.
Deism and the Watchmaker Theory
• Enlightenment age religion that advocated a belief in God (even if
that belief was irrational)
• God was there in the beginning, and will be there in the end, but in
between we’re on our own
• Imagine an old style windup watch……God made the watch and
wound it up, but then left it alone. He’ll be back when the watch
needs to be rewound
• No need for prayer or worship – it’s counterproductive – God’s not
listening anyway
• Humans have ultimate free choice and free will
• Many of the American founding fathers believed in Deism – Thomas
Jefferson was probably the most famous
• Voltaire also advocated Deism and the right to freedom of religion
American Revolution
• Not really a classic “revolution” in the sense that a social class did
not revolt against the one above it
• Really more of a war for independence, but it did incorporate
rhetoric from the Age of Reason
• American revolutionary LEADERS studied Locke and others – they
certainly believed in the rhetoric, but the average “patriot” in the
street paid little in the way of taxes, so “no taxation without
representation” was little more than a slogan.
• The new government formed after the revolution was at least
outwardly based on enlightenment principles, although it would be
decades before most of those principles were actually put into
practice – think of how long it took women to receive the vote.
Declaration of Independence
• Written by Thomas Jefferson
• Restatement of the social
contract
• List of grievances – what King
George III did to break the
contract
• Considered the first true
government document
containing enlightenment
principles
• Used as a pattern for
revolutions around the world
Writing Prompt
• Imagine the Enlightenment never took
place. How do you think the world would
be shaped today? Give specific examples
of how you think people would be and how
our society would be shaped?
• Minimum of 2 paragraphs.