Transcript American Literature 1700- 1820 The Enlightenment and the Age of Reason

American Literature 17001820
The Enlightenment and the
Age of Reason
A new way of seeing
the basic nature of the world
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The eighteenth century (1700s) in America is known as the Age of
Enlightenment. In this period, a whole new way of seeing the
basic nature of the world (including God) emerged. In this new view
both kings and the aristocracy – the entrenched ruling class – lost
their authority to rule.
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Likewise, the Christian church – that is, the Catholic church and all
other Christian denominations (Protestants) – lost much of its power
over people’s lives.
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At the same time, modern science began to emerge, with its
emphasis on empirical thinking (seeing is believing) and rational
deduction. In this new atmosphere things like the spectral evidence
of the Salem Witch Trials would have been laughed out of the
courtroom.
A one-two-three punch
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In the place of the old religious dogmas, there sprang up
religious rationalists. In the place of the aristocracy and its
notions of a permanent ruling class (based in part on
primogeniture) there arose political philosophers. And in the
place of superstition came scientists.
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This was like a one-two-three punch (head, guts, head) to the
ideological framework that power structures (governing
systems) had been using all over the place since the Middle
Ages.
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Dogma: Stance pronounced by an 'authority' as the definitive word on a
subject to be accepted without question, often unsupported by
corroborating facts or in defiance of evidence to the contrary. It is often
imposed by an institution (such as a church, corporation or family) into a
set of inflexible rules.
The Aristocracy perpetuates itself
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The English practice of primogeniture – Latin for first
born – required that all of a man’s wealth be passed to
his eldest son upon his death, and this requirement
applied to the land in perpetuity. This rule also applied in
the Colonies.
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So over time a few of the families who had lived in the
colony the longest accumulated great wealth and power,
forming a permanent aristocracy in Virginia and the
other Colonies. The King picked his advisors from among
these people to run the state.
Jefferson objected to the idea of
entrenched powers
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Thomas Jefferson (along with Benjamin Franklin, James
Madison, John Adams, Thomas Paine and some of the
other major Bad Dudes who formed our country)
objected to the idea of entrenched powers, like the
English monarchy and the aristocracy which supported
it, including the governors – loyal to the king – who ran
the colonies.
But noble birthright and hereditary power were so firmly
entrenched in 18th century European thought that to go
against them was dangerous. (Thomas Paine had a price
on his head in England for some of the things he wrote
in America). And, of course, when these ideas were put
into action, it caused the Revolutionary War.
So what caused this new
revolution in thought?
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But people like Paine and Jefferson would not be
stopped. Some of the radical ideas of these new
men were rooted in the classical worlds of Rome
and Greece, which almost all of them had
studied since youth.
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John Locke, an English philosopher, took the
ideas of the Roman Senator Cicero, and
brought them to his modern audience. Locke’s
biggest contributions were the ideas of “natural
rights” and the “social contract.”
Marcus Tullius Cicero, 106-43 BCE
“According to the Law of Nature, it is
only fair that no one should become
enriched through damages and
injuries suffered by another.''
– Cicero
''The strictest law often causes the
most serious wrong.''
- Cicero
http://sites.la.utexas.edu/cicero/images/
All people are inherently equal and free
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Locke argued that all people are inherently equal and
free and that legitimate governments were not based on
divine hierarchies where God appointed Kings, but
came from agreements among men where they
surrendered only some freedoms to protect their natural
right to “life, liberty, and property.”
They do this by forming a social contract in which they
consent to give up a certain amount of power to a
government dedicated to maintaining the well-being of
the whole.
They also give up one right, the right to judge and
punish other persons, which is permitted in the state of
nature.
The people legitimize the government
(and not the other way around)
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Apart from that, Locke argued, a person's individual right to freedom of
thought, speech, and worship must be preserved. In addition, a person's
private property must be preserved by the government. This contract
between the people and their rulers legitimizes the government and
explains the source of the rulers' power.
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Jefferson used these ideas in the Declaration of Independence to assert
two radical new ideas: that all people were equal to one another in
terms of their rights and that they must agree to be governed. From this
point on the days of the royalty were numbered.
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Citizens began to see themselves on the same level as their leaders,
subject to the same shortcomings and certainly subject to criticism if so
deserved.
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Source http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/John+Locke
Excerpt from Common Sense (1776)
by Thomas Paine
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Some writers have so confounded society
with government, as to leave little or no
distinction between them; whereas they
are not only different, but have different
origins. Society is produced by our wants,
and government by our wickedness; the
former promotes our happiness positively
by uniting our affections, the latter
negatively by restraining our vices. The
one encourages intercourse, the other
creates distinctions. The first is a patron,
the last a punisher.
The Age of Reason Rejected…
Medieval authoritarianism was still a big
influence in the New World. The Puritanistic
ideas of predestination needed to be
overcome.
 The leaders of the Age of Reason rejected
the idea that the world was a mystery, and
subject to a wrathful God’s every whim.
 They rejected unquestioning faith in miracles,
holy books, and the divinity of priests.
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Age of Reason accepted:
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That God exists and created and governs the universe.
That God gave humans the ability to reason.
The belief that the universe operated by a rational
formula that can be understood by any intelligent
person, an idea proposed by Sir Isaac Newton (whose
work from 1687 is the basis for the entire science of
Physics. The dude was wicked smart).
The idea that order can be found everywhere in the
natural world; and they found it not in religion but in the
new science.
What happened to the Church?
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Deism was the new religious movement that was a faith
without church or churchmen. It was validated by mathematics,
scientific observation, and logic instead of divine revelation.
Jefferson and Franklin, among others, were deists.
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Deism holds that reason and observation of the natural world,
without the need for organized religion, can determine that the
universe is the product of an all-powerful creator. You don’t
need a priest or a church to tell you what’s right.
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The dominating idea of Hell faded and the gentler God of
natural philosophy replaced the wrathful God of the Puritans.
The God-given power: Reason
God had made it possible for all people at all
times to discover natural laws through Godgiven power—REASON (opposite of Puritan
belief in a mysterious God)
 Man can deduce the existence of a supreme
being from the fact that the universe exists
rather than because of what the Bible says.
 They also believed in perfectibility of every
individual through the use of reason
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“Benjamin Franklin Drawing
Down Electricity from the Sky”
(Benjamin West, ca. 1816)
“I Just Believe in Science, Okay!?”
 “Know then thyself, presume not God to
scan/The proper study of mankind is man.”
(Alexander Pope)
 What does that mean?
Common Beliefs
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 – God and His laws can be deduced
by the thinking individual, without the need for a church
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.
Functions of the Writers of
this period
1.
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A searching inquiry in all aspects of the world around.
Interest in the classical thought of Greece and Rome
Interest in Nature and natural rights
Interest in science and scientific experiments.
Optimism - experiments in utopian communities
Sense of a person's duty to succeed.
Constant search of the self - emphasis on individualism
in: a. personal religion; b. study of the Bible for
personal interpretation.
And Furthermore…
“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?
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– “Nature’s God,” “natural rights” and “public religion”
Neo-Classicism
 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.
Those Greeks Had It Right…
 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
Should We Be Wearing Togas?
 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”?
Artifacts of Different Eras
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)
Order and Virtue
 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?
Sources:
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www.businessdictionary.com/definition/dogma.html#ixzz2EPMWB6Oi
http://www.nlnrac.org/classical/cicero
http://www.nlnrac.org/american
Jefferson and the Aristocracy | Suite101 http://suite101.com/article/thomasjefferson-and-aristocracy-a44071#ixzz2EOLNsGoK
http://www.online-literature.com/periods/enlightenment.php
http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Natural+Law
http://sites.la.utexas.edu/cicero/images/
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/deism
http://www.darienps.org/teachers/mpavia/age%20of%20reason,%20enlightenment
%20and%20neoclassicism.ppt
http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap2/2intro.html
McMichael, George.“The Literature of Reason and Revolution”. The Anthology of
American Literature vol. 1 sixth edition, Ed.
_ “Self-Made Americans”. Elements of Literature, Fifth Course: Literature of the
United States with Literature of the Americas (2000). Holt Rinehart and Winston, New
York.