The Enlightenment and the
Age of Reason

The Human world includes government and law
Natural World:
Scientists applied reason to it using the scientific method





1775-1783 American Revolution
American independence seen as a divine sign that America and her people were destined for greatness. Military victory fanned nationalistic hopes for a great new literature. Yet except for political writing, few works of note appeared during or soon after the
Revolution.
1790 American Copyright Law
American books were harshly reviewed in England. The search for a native literature became a national obsession. The copyright law of
1790, which allowed pirating, was nationalistic in intent. Drafted by
Noah Webster, the great lexicographer who later compiled an
American dictionary, the law protected only the work of American authors; it was felt that English writers should look out for themselves.

Causes of the American Revolution page 460 - 461
The 13 English
Colonies
 Part of British global trade
 Mercantilist policies
 Navigation Acts: regulated colonial trade
 Colonists felt entitled to the rights of English citizens
Growing
Discontent
Early Clashes
 French and
Indian War drained
British treasury.
 Boston Massacre
 Boston Tea Party
 Punitive laws passed by British to punish colonists
 Britain passed and enforced new tax law on the colonists

“
No taxation without representation.
”
 Continental
Congress with representatives from all 13 colonies

Boston Tea Party (1773)


18 th century was a period of major change in
American ideas and ideals…
 As with beliefs of Puritans, changes originated in
England, but took on new spirit and meaning in colonies.

What factors help explain the movement away from the severe faith of the Puritans?


Enlightenment thinkers de-emphasized “grace” and “pre-destination” in favor of “moral choice” and scientific inquiry.
– “virtue,” “order,” “reason,” “sympathy”
 How do you think religious figures felt about this changing view of the universe and how people should function within it?


Enlightenment brought a new, exciting way of seeing the universe…
 universe as an orderly system
 With application of reason, humanity would comprehend universe (think of Newton’s Laws).
 How might this change the way the common man felt about religion and God ?
– Not necessarily a rejection…

“Benjamin Franklin Drawing
Down Electricity from the Sky”
(Benjamin West, ca. 1816)


“Know then thyself, presume not God to scan/The proper study of mankind is man.”
(Alexander Pope)
 What does that mean?

 Many of these thinkers (including Jefferson and Franklin) called themselves “Deists.”

Man can deduce the existence of a supreme being from the fact that the universe exists rather than because of what the Bible says.


Deists also thought that a harmonious universe proves the beneficence of God.
 How might that be?


Humankind is naturally good. (What was the
Puritan stance on this, again?)
 “ Tabula Rasa ” - “blank slate” (knowledge comes from experience and perception
 The more we understand and sympathize with each other, the richer our social and spiritual lives will be.


“Our business here on Earth is not to know all things, but those which concern our conduct.”
(Locke)
 So are these people entirely different from the
Puritans? What’s similar?

Founders and Faith?
– “Nature’s God,” “natural rights” and “public religion”

 What would be the best way for writers in this era to articulate their views?

What is the function of their writing, and how does it differ from the function of Puritan writing?
 Are there similarities?

Rhetoric
Today this term means “the art of speaking or writing effectively (especially persuasive speaking or writing).” In Franklin’s time the term meant the same thing, but more precisely it stood for “the study of principles and rules of composition formulated by critics of ancient times.”
Reason
If one is “rational,” then he has the ability “to reason.” What does it mean to reason? Reasoning is a type of thinking used to seek a truth through cause and effect and through drawing conclusions.
Logic
A system of rules used to express reasoning
Socratic Method
A technique in which a debater does not argue directly but instead asks a series of questions, with the result that the opponent comes either to the desired knowledge by answering the questions or to a deeper awareness of the limits of his knowledge.

 These writers saw the lit. of the ancient
Greeks and Romans as the ideal to which all must aspire.
 Emulation of these “classical” styles and traditions
 Restraint rather than emotion

Dignified, refined and decorous language

 Writing, especially poetry, was seen as having a public function; it was not seen as a means for private, individual expression.
 A mode through which timeless truths could be imparted.
 “self-help”
 “Chicken Soup for the Rational Soul”?

Thou hast a house on high erect,
Framed by that mighty Architect,
With glory richly furnished,
Stands permanent though this be fled.
It’s purchased and paid for too
By Him who hath enough to do.
A price so vast as is unknown
Yet by His gift is made thine own;
There’s wealth enough, I need no more,
Farewell, my pelf, farewell my store.
The world no longer let me love,
My hope and treasure lies above.
(Bradstreet, 1666)
While virtue warms the generous breast,
There heaven-born freedom shall reside,
Nor shall the voice of war molest,
Nor Europe’s all-aspiring pride –
There Reason shall new laws devise,
And order from confusion rise.
Forsaking kings and regal state,
With all their pomp and fancied bliss,
The traveler [admits], convinced though late,
No realm so free, so blessed as this –
The east is half to slaves consigned,
Where kings and priests enchain the mind.
(“On the Religion of Nature,” Philip
Freneau, 1785)

 We should organize our lives into an ordered sequence of reasoned and virtuous thoughts and behaviors
 Aim is “human perfection”
 How would the Puritans have felt about the concept of humans perfecting themselves for themselves and by themselves?

The Declaration of Independence
(1776)
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life , Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness
.


Drafted by Thomas
Jefferson
 People had the right to
“ alter or abolish unjust governments.
”
 Popular sovereignty
 All government power comes from the people
 King had trampled the peoples
’ natural rights.
 Colonists now had the right to rebel

John Trumbull (1756 –1843): Declaration of Independence (1817)





 emphasis on logic and rational thought, not emotions; emphasis on the social/good of the community, not the individual presence of numerous classical allusions; use of satire; use of elevated diction; formal style that adhered to set rhyme schemes, such as couplets; two-dimensional characters or stock types that represent a class or vice
Influence of Drama-comic satires rise of literary magazines novel in various forms, including picaresque, gothic, and novel of manners







Many newspapers!
Colonists began to publish their own books
Almanacs were very popular.
Published poetry, regional history, autobiographies
“Captive Narrative” was a unique form of literature found in the colonies
It told the stories of people captured by
Indians

 in an age of revolution, literature was of course greatly influenced by political texts
 non-fictional texts e.g. Thomas Paine:
Thomas Jefferson:
(1782)
Common Sense (1776),
Notes on the State of Virginia





1706-1790
Philosopher, scientist, publisher, legislator, and diplomat
Relationship with France
“First American”
– Colonial unity
– Idea of an American nation





“farmer’s letters”:
(1782)
Letters From An American Farmer a series of letters,
Set in rural America on the cusp of the Revolution, these pieces celebrate the independence of the yeoman farmer from the hierarchy and corruption of the Old
World
Crevecoeur illustrates the idealized version of a free society, America, a civic-humanist ideal of the freehold farm, virtuous independence and incorruptibility




Poet of American Independence: Freneau provides incentive and inspiration to the revolution by writing such poems as "The Rising Glory of
America" (1771) and "Pictures of Columbus.“
(1774) (patriotic verse) first American poet to write about the Indians:
“The Indian Burying Ground” (1788); “The Dying
Indian” (1784) anti-slavery poetry: “To Sir Toby” (1792)

On Being Brought from Africa to America
‘The first
African-American to print a book
(of poetry)’
'Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land,
Taught my benighted soul to understand
That there's a God, that there's a Saviour too:
Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.
Some view our sable race with scornful eye,
Their colour is a diabolic die.
Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain,
May be refin'd and join th'angelic train.
(1773)

1. People arrive at truth by using reasoning.
2. The world operates according to God’s rules, and through the use of reason we can discover those rules.
3. God created the universe but does not interfere in its workings. (clock)
4. People are basically good and perfectible.
5. Since God wants people to be happy , they worship God best by helping and understanding others.
6. Human history is marked by progress toward a more perfect existence.