THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD AMERICAN LITERATURE
AUTHORS Benjamin Franklin Thomas Jefferson Thomas Paine Patrick Henry
*Focus on Political Writing (nonfiction) Autobiography Speeches Pamphlets Almanack Declarations Poems TYPES OF LITERATURE
THE AGE OF REASON OR ENLIGHTENMENT Writers valued reason over faith This was a major change from the Puritan period and the belief in God for salvation Belief in the power of science to further human development
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO REVOLT? 1. To attempt to overthrow the authority of the state; rebel 2. To oppose or refuse to accept something
Diction Charged words Repetition Restatement Parallelism Rhetorical Question LITERARY TERMS
PATRICK HENRY
The Virginia Conventions were a series of five political meetings in the Colony of Virginia during the American Revolution. Because the House of Burgesses had been dissolved in 1774 by Royal Governor Lord Dunmore, the conventions served as a revolutionary provisional government until the establishment of the independent Commonwealth of Virginia in THE VIRGINIA CONVENTIONS
Considered to be the most powerful orator (public speaker) of the American Revolution he delivered his most famous speech at the Virginia Provincial Convention HIS INFLUENCE ON THE CONVENTION
Henry played a key role in turning colonial sentiment against negotiation with England and toward armed resistance to England He begins his speech with a respectful rebuttal to the previous speeches and then defends his call for independence. HIS INFLUENCE ON THE CONVENTION
He argues that the colonists have exhausted every other option and war is all that is going to solve their problems. He goes on to say that the British are already preparing for war which undercuts any argument for peaceful compliance.
April 19, 1775 (one month from the day of Henry’s speech), the Revolutionary War began at the Battle of Lexington. THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR
God War Slavery Chains Freedom Liberty Reconciliation Struggle REPETITION IN HIS SPEECH
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE THOMAS JEFFERSON
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE Drafted by Thomas Jefferson All government power comes from the people King had trampled the peoples’ natural rights. Colonists now had the right to rebel
LITERARY CHARACTERISTICS emphasis on logic and rational thought, not emotions; emphasis on the social/good of the community, not the individual “But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.”