Revolutionary Period

1730-1800

1730-1800

The Age of Reason

• Humans could manage themselves and their societies without depending on authorities and…

• Past traditions• The bible• King or queens• God

• Reason over imagination• Social over personal• Common over individual• In literature: Clarity, order, balance• Classicism resisted change and relied on

tradition.• EMPHASIS on HUMAN LIMITATIONS

Characteristics of society with Classicism

The War of Words

• Began in 1763• Colonists began writing pamphlets, speeches,

songs and poems all geared towards making people aware of what was happening.

Stamp Tax

• England withdrew the Stamp Tax of 1765 because of American demonstration.

• Soon after, England imposed the Townshend Act in an effort not to appear weak.

The Boston Massacre

• Occurred on March 4, 1770• 5 people were killed

The Boston Tea Party

• Occurred in 1773 • Many disliked the tax on tea• 342 Crates of tea ended up in the Boston

Harbor

Thomas Jefferson

• Young Virginian lawyer• Asked to draft a document declaring the

colonies were “free and independent states”

Results of the American Revolution

• Cities continued to grow• Washington elected president in 1789• Richer cultural life• 1st American novel is called “The Power of

Sympathy”

The power of persuasion

• A type of discourse that uses reason and emotional appeal to convince another person to think or act in a certain way

• Persuasive speeches use Allusions, Rhetorical Questions, Parallelism, Powerful Images, and a Quotable Quote

Louisiana Purchase

• The acquisition of more than 800,000 acres that would ultimately form 13 states

• The person responsible for the “purchase” was Thomas Jefferson