Transcript A Nation is Born: Early National Literature (1750

A Nation is Born: Early National
Literature
(1750-1800)
Historical Background
The Age of Reason
• Reason over faith
• Reason & science would further human
progress
• Basis of government=social contract
• People good by nature, not evil
• Inspired by works of Galileo, Newton, Voltaire,
Rousseau, Locke, Etc.
A Clash of Arms
• French and Indian War
– Between France & England
– Who will control North America??
• British government needed to pay war debt
Stamp Act
• Must buy and affix stamps to 54 common
items
– Mainly printed materials
– Letters, bills, newspapers, decks of cards,etc.
– Stamp distributors beaten/businesses destroyed
– Repealed
Townshend Acts of 1767
• Taxed paper, paint, glass, lead, & tea
• When colonists boycotted, Mass. Legislature
dissolved & troops sent to Boston
• 1770—British troops fired into a taunting
mob=Boston massacre
• Repealed except for tax on tea
• Boston Tea Party
Coersive Acts
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Punishment for Boston Tea Party
Shut down port of Boston
Forbade public meetings
Housed British troops in colonists’ homes
1774=First Continental Congress/British
appointed new governor of Massachusetts—
Gen. Thomas Gage
“The Shot Heard Round the World”
• April 19, 1775
• 700 British troops vs. 70 colonists on
Lexington Green (8 American casualties)
• British marched on to Concord for another
skirmish
• Battle of Bunker Hill—Americans
killed/wounded over 1000 British soldiers
“The Shot Heard Round the World”
• Second Continental Congress met & named G.
Washington Commander-in-Chief
• Independence declared a year later
• American victory at Battle of Saratoga=France
formally recognized the new nation
• British surrendered at Yorkton, VA in 1781
The New Nation
• Articles of Confederation
– “league of friendship”
• Federal Constitution
– Bill of Rights added almost immediately