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The Age of Reason and The

Revolutionary Period

1. Faith in natural goodness - a human is born without taint or sin; the concept of tabula rasa or blank slate

2. Perfectibility of a human being - it is possible to improve situations of birth, economy, society, and religion

3. The sovereignty of reason - echoes of Rene Descartes' cogito ergo sum or "I think, therefore, I am" (as the first certitude in resolving universal doubt)

4. Universal benevolence - the attitude of helping everyone

5. Outdated social institutions cause unsociable behavior - religious, social, economic, and political institutions, which have not modernized, force individuals into unacceptable behavior

Common Beliefs

1. A searching inquiry in all aspects of the world 2. Interest in the classics as well as in the Bible 3. Interest in nature - the "absentee landlord"

phenomenon 4. Interest in science and scientific experiments 5. Optimism - experiments in utopian communities 6. Heightened sense of a person's duty to succeed 7. Constant search of the self - emphasis on

individualism in:a. personal religion. b. study of the Bible for personal interpretation

Characteristics of the Writing in this Period

Most Deists believe that God created the universe, "wound it up" and then disassociated himself from his creation. Some refer to Deists as believing in a God who acts as an absentee landlord or a blind watchmaker. A few Deists believe that God still intervenes in human affairs from time to time. They do not view God as an entity in human form.

Deists believe that

1. One cannot access God through any organized religion, set of belief, ritual, sacrament or other practice.

2. God has not selected a chosen people (e.g. Jews or Christians) to be the recipients of any special revelation or gifts.

3. Deists deny the existence of the Trinity as conceived by Christians. 4. They may view Jesus as a philosopher, teacher and healer, but not as the Son of

God. 5. They believe that miracles do not happen. 6. The "world operates by natural and self-sustaining laws of the creator." 7. A practical morality can be derived from reason without the need to appeal to

religious revelation and church dogma. 8. Deists pray, but only to express their appreciation to God for his works. They

generally do not ask for special privileges, or try to assess the will of God through prayer.

Deism

• By the end of the 1700s, the Puritan influence on America began to wane

• Spurred by the work of many seventeenth-century thinkers—scientists such as Galileo and Newton, philosophers like Voltaire and Rousseau, and political theorist John Locke—the writers and thinkers of the Enlightenment valued reason over faith.

• Unlike the Puritans, they had little interest in the hereafter, believing instead in the power of reason and science to further human progress.

• They believed that people are by nature good, not evil• In contrast to the private soul-searching of the Puritans of

New England, much of what was produced during the Revolutionary period was public writing.

Puritans vs. the Revolutionary Period

How do events of a given time influence what is written?

To answer this question, you should know that the most important pieces of literature during the AGE OF REASON, were political documents, speeches, and pamphlets (short, concise works that usually argue for or against a political cause.)

Non-fiction (such as the forms mentioned above) was far more influential than fiction.

Can you name works of literature that fit this description? List as many as you can.

List of political documents that we think might be a part of the Age Of Reason (Revolutionary Period)

The Declaration of Independence (political document)

Thomas Paine’s The Crisis (pamphlet) Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin Phillis Wheatley “To His Excellency, General

Washington” (poem)

The Age of Reason as a Literary Period Age of Reason: a movement that was

marked by an emphasis on rationality rather than tradition, scientific inquiry instead of unquestioning religious dogma, and representative government in place of monarchy.

Important writers: Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, Patrick Henry, and any other of the so-called “Founding Fathers.”

Thomas Paine“Those who expect to reap the blessings of

freedom must undergo the fatigue of supporting it.”

Thomas Paine was a renowned pro-America writer and author of some of the most persuasive texts of the American Revolution

He used “plain -style” language in an attempt to engage people of all classes in the struggle for American independence and for a rejection of government based on hereditary monarchy

His bold and simple argument rallied a scattered citizenry to the cause of freedom and exerted considerable influence on the new nation’s emerging political philosophy

Paine wrote the first of the American Crisis letter pamphlets after witnessing the loss of New York and joining the retreat to Newark…a text that George Washington ordered read to all the troops.

Pamphlets helped to bolster the sagging spirits of the ill-fitted troops and firm the resolve of an occasionally diffident population

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

“A life of leisure and a life of laziness are two

things. There will be sleeping enough in the grave. “

Aphorism: A Penny Saved is a Penny earned

Franklin wrote the first section of The Autobiography in 1771 at the age of 65.

At the urging of friends, he wrote three more sections—the last shortly before his death.

Though never completed, his Autobiography, filled with his opinions and suggestions, provides not only a record of his achievements but also an understanding of his character.

Considered to be the “father of his country”