Colonial America The Age of Reason

(aka The Revolutionary Period)

How does technological advancement

affect religious belief?

How do citizens cope with a

government that does not meet their needs?

How does the power of rhetoric (use of words to

develop an argument) affect the outcome of a

war?

Why is the concept of the United States

important?

What obligation do you, as a

citizen, have to this country that has given you so much liberty and

opportunity?

What have we lost since the Revolution (aka Civil War) that we

need to reclaim as a country?

The Age of Reason

Colonial America – Age of Reason1700 A.D. – 1800 A.D.

Statements they would have

made:

An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.

Books/Essays Lectures they would have read/heard:

• The Wealth of Nations (Adam Smith)• “A Modest Proposal” (Swift)• The Encyclopedia (Dennis Diderot) • Poor Richard’s Almanac (Franklin)• Common Sense (Thomas Paine)• Emile (Rousseau)

Names they would have

known:

Patrick Henry Thomas Jefferson Thomas Paine Benjamin Franklin John Locke

George Washington James Madison John Adams Samuel Adams Jean Jacques Rousseau

Words connected to them:

aphorism parallelism charged words pamphlet

logic analogy rhetorical question Enlightenment

Notice anything odd?

THE Cause of the Revolution

Middle Class?Landowners?

Political?Financial?

MORAL?

Strange? Or, Expected?

A Dangerous Animal

Uncontrollable

Educated

Middle Class

The Age of Reason• Descartes (1596-

1650)–Rejects Medieval

Authoritarianism

• Voltaire (1694-1778)– Attacks dogma

• Royal Society of London is founded “For the Improvement of Natural Knowledge”

• Isaac Newton’s Principia Mathematica (1687)

Discoveries of the Age

Discoveries of the Age

The Age of Reason• Begins in 17th century England

France and EuropeColonie

s

• Governments not based on “divinely ordained hierarchies”

• Governments = “social contracts” wherein people recognize the need to submit to a certain level of authority

Other Influences

Other Influences

• Authority granted to protect “natural rights” (i.e. life, liberty, property)

• Governments in violation of those natural rights, or those that oppressed the weak, deserved to be overthrown

• Instead of salvation through church, it became salvation through revolution

More Locke . . .

• Human mind at birth = tabula rasa

Human beings neither good nor bad; experience dictates what one becomes

The making of a good society ensures the making of good people

Essentially, “faith in human goodness and the dignity of man” led to an increasing demandfor human liberties

• Predestination and total depravity = fiction

Philosophical Shift• Thomas Paine’s The Age of Reason

– Christianity as irrational– miracles have logical explanations– doubts divinity of Jesus– proof of God in nature, not the Bible

Puritans—New Jerusalem

• Personal God of strong nature

• Emphasis on the study of scripture

• Service to God was primary purpose

• Theology was very personal

Deists—New Athens

• Gentle God/impersonal

• Emphasis on natural philosophy

• Humanitarianism/ service to man

• Theology was rational

Results• Increased demand for human

liberty• Reject New Jerusalem and seek a

New Athens or Rome

Lasting Cultural Impact

•Pragmatism (plainness) and common sense•Uniquely American destiny• Justice, liberty, and equality as natural rights of mankind

The Party Starters

“All the major accomplishments were

unprecedented.”• Founding Fathers knew they were making history, but they had no idea how it would turn out. i.e. Franklin’s famous statement

• Lots of long-term possibilities, but the short term looked grim

• Now the U.S.A. is the longest running republic in world history

B. Franklin A. Hamilton G. Washington T. Jefferson J. Adams

Turn to page 169

Key Foundational Pieces

1775-1776Armed Resistance & The Founding of

AmericanIndependence

Facts:• Jefferson’s youth and

in ability to be silent made him the perfect choice to write the Declaration!

• Not quite an original document— Jefferson “borrowed” from several sources – ex: Locke, Paine

• Some of the accusations against GIII were inflated and/or not really so unreasonable upon closer look.

Jefferson’s Declaration

Facts:• Jefferson blamed

George III for many actions that were truthfully the work of Parliament. This was for rhetorical effect to accentuate the supposed tyranny of monarchy and its alternative: representative government.

Jefferson’s Declaration

Facts:• Jefferson did call for

the abolition of slavery in his original draft; it was the committee that tabled the issue and removed it from the convention’s agenda

• Most framers recognized that slavery ran counter to the Spirit of the Revolution

Jefferson’s Declaration

Now, let’s read where some of

these ideas came from.

How is Locke’s wording different than Jefferson’s?

How did their intents (what they

wanted to accomplish) differ?

What Would YOU Do?

What Would YOU Do?

If the government that “controlled” you seemed too far away, too

divorced from your daily life, too large to make a difference, what

would YOU do?What is the difference between

protest, defiance, and open rebellion?

When do the masses decide it’s time for action?