1. Directions:
Create a brief outline for these notes. Use your phone to look up information in order to flesh out ideas. In your notes, along with other information, make sure to answer the following questions and complete the following instructions:
What are the main tenets of the Age of Reason?
How does the Age of Reason differ from Puritanism?
What are key aspects/concepts that one should look for in the writing of this era?
Write at least TWO (2) new pieces of information that are not included on or alluded to in this power point.

2. The Age of Reason 1750-1820, aka. The Enlightenment The Augustan Age
The Neoclassical Period

3. What is the Enlightenment or the Age of Reason?
A period in the 18th century noted for belief in the ability of reason to discover truth, shape society, and shed “light” onto the darkness of ignorance, superstition, injustice, and tyranny

4. What are some beliefs concerning Enlightenment or The Age of Reason?
People could discover the truth about the meaning of life by “REASON” alone.
The natural world, human nature, and social institutions are governed by universal laws.
All men are created equal and are endowed with certain natural rights.
Governments exist only by the consent of the governed, who are justified in rebelling if their natural rights are violated.
JUST SAY NO TO MONARCHY!

5. America and The Age of Reason
Many Americans expressed their thoughts and feelings in newspapers of the time.
They wrote poems, songs, and essays on the issues of the day –mainly about the problems with the British government.
These essays, poems, etc. were printed up in “broadsides” – sheets of paper covered with these anonymous writings, which were then tacked up around the city.
This was one way that the idea of the Revolution was spread in America during the 1770’s.

6. Puritans vs. the Age of Reason
By the end of the 1700s, the Puritan influence on America began to wane.
Spurred by the work of many seventeenth-century thinkers—scientists such as Galileo and Newton, philosophers like Voltaire and Rousseau, and political theorist John Locke—the writers and thinkers of the Enlightenment valued reason over faith.
Unlike the Puritans, they had little interest in the hereafter, believing instead in the power of reason and science to further human progress.
They saw the universe as an orderly system that, with the application of reason and scientific laws, could be understood.

7. Puritans vs. the Age of Reason (cont.)
Enlightenment thinkers de-emphasized “grace” and “pre-destination” in favor of “moral choice” and scientific inquiry.
They believed that people are by nature good, not evil, and that through virtuous thoughts and behaviors one could achieve “human perfection”
In contrast to the private soul- searching of the Puritans, much of what was produced during the Revolutionary period was public writing.

8. Deism: God = Clockmaker
Many enlightenment thinkers (including Jefferson and Franklin) called themselves “Deists”
Deists believed in one God, but found fault with organized religion and did not believe in supernatural events such as miracles, the inerrancy of scriptures, or the Trinity.
Characteristics of Deism
a transcendent God operating by natural law (rather than by providence)
a benevolent God (vs. a punishing God)
a God revealed in Nature, not in the Bible (vs. mandated literal interpretation of the Bible)
freedom of will (vs. having no free will through predestination)
man as naturally altruistic (vs. being evil through original sin or natural depravity)
all men created equal (vs. being “select” through election and predestination)
evil as the result of natural institutions (not of natural depravity)
man’s ability to be perfected by education (vs. through election and predestination)
humanitarian deeds done to a fellow man as the best service done for God (vs. the hard work done as part of the Protestant work ethic)
distrust of existing religious systems (not an organized religion)

9. John Locke’s Tabula Rasa
Deists also believed humankind is naturally good, not inherently evil; they believed in “tabula rasa.”
Tabula rasa was the theory that the (human) mind is at birth a "blank slate" without rules for processing data, and that data is added and rules for processing are formed solely by one's sensory experiences (ie. nurture over nature).
Locke’s theory also emphasized the freedom of individuals to author their own soul and to define the content of their character.

10. 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.
(Anne 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)
“Know then thyself, presume not God to scan/ The proper study of mankind is man.” -Alexander Pope

11. Literary Forms of the Age of Reason
Biographies/Autobiographies/Histories
Government Documents/Almanacs
Newspapers/Pamphlets
Some Poetry
Speeches
Some Fiction
Captivity Narratives
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
The Declaration of Independence
Common Sense/ The Crisis
Poetry of Philip Freneau and Phillis Wheatly
Speech at the Virginia Convention

12. LITERARY CHARACTERISTICS
Emphasis on logic and rational thought, not emotions
Emphasis on the social/good of the community, not the individual
Presence of numerous classical allusions
Use of satire
Use of elevated diction and decorous language
Formal style that adhered to set rhyme schemes, such as couplets
Two-dimensional characters or stock types that represent a class or vice
Novels in various forms, including picaresque, gothic, captivity narratives, and novels of manners

13. Authors: Patrick Henry (1736-1799)
Patrick Henry was born on May 29, He attended public school shortly, but was then taught by his father who was very educated.
He gained fame early in life in a lawsuit called Parson’s Case by being a talented orator.
Henry went on to serve as governor of Virginia and a member of the Virginia General Assembly.
He delivered his most famous speech at the Virginia Provincial Convention in 1775, where he urged armed resistance to England.
Patrick Henry is considered the most powerful orator of the American Revolution, and is often remembered for his famous quote, “Give me liberty, or give me death!”
Some of his famous works include Speech in the Virginia Convention
Known as the “Orator of Liberty,” whose speeches supported American democracy; helped write the new state constitution for Virginia and the Declaration of Rights, a major influence on the Bill of Rights in the Constitution

14. Authors: Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
Born into a wealthy Virginia family on April 13, 1743
Jefferson became the head of his family at the age of 14 when his father died.
Attended the college of William and Mary and went on to get his degree in Law.
Served in the Virginia House of Burgesses and was an outspoken defender of American rights.
Thomas Jefferson became president in 1801 and was able to double the size of the United States by purchasing all the land west of the Mississippi river in the Louisiana Purchase.
Known as the “Apostle of Liberty,” and second-vice president, acquiring the Louisiana Territory west of the Mississippi to the Rockies; penned legal documents and laws that promoted American democracy

15. Authors: Thomas Paine (1737-1809)
Thomas Paine was born in England on January 29, 1737 to a poor family, and he received little schooling as a child.
While he was still young, he was introduced to Benjamin Franklin in London, which changed his life. He was able to gain a career as a journalist and moved to the American colonies.
Paine served in the American army toward the end of
Thomas Paine had many famous works, including Common Sense, The American Crisis, The Rights of Man, and The Age of Reason.
The “firebrand” of the American Revolution; a writer whose pamphlet, Common Sense, reinforced his democratic message that all men were capable of understanding & participating in government

16. Authors: Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
Born in Boston Massachusetts on Jan. 17, 1706
The 15th of 17 children
He attended school for only two years. At the age ten he started working at his fathers candle shop.
Work as a printer until he retired and became a scientist.
His half brother James Franklin founded the new England Courant in Benjamin worked here until He moved to Philadelphia and started the Gazette.
The Gazette was the first newspaper with weather reports, interviews, and cartoons.
Invented the lightning rod, bifocals, and a new type of stove.
Helped draft the Declaration of Independence.
Benjamin wrote the Poor Richard’s Almanac from
He wrote his autobiography. Most autobiographies are written in 1st person. Ben wrote it as another alias or otherwise known as 3rd person.
The oldest Founding Father, who joined in on the writing of the Declaration of Independence and participated in the Constitutional Convention; served as a colonial diplomat to France, but always connected to the common people

17. Philip Freneau (1752-1832): “Father of American Poetry”
Poet of American Independence
Provided incentive and inspiration to the revolution by writing such poems as "The Rising Glory of America" (1771)
First American poet to write about the Indians:
“The Indian Burying Ground” (1788) and “The Dying Indian” (1784)
Also wrote anti-slavery poetry: “To Sir Toby” (1792)

18. Phillis Wheatley ‘The first African-American to print a book
On Being Brought from Africa to America
'Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land,
Taught my benighted soul to understand
That there's a God, that there's a Saviour too:
Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.
Some view our sable race with scornful eye,
Their colour is a diabolic die.
Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain,
May be refin'd and join th'angelic train.
(1773)
‘The first
African-American
to print a book
(of poetry)’

19. Quick Review: Which of the following apply to the Age of Reason?
Emphasis on rationality
Emphasis on tradition
Religious dogma
Scientific inquiry
Representative government
Inherited monarchy
Benjamin Franklin
Jonathan Edwards
Anne Bradstreet
Philip Freneau
Puritanism
Neoclassicalism
Moral perfectability
Human depravity
17th century
18th century
Sermons
Newspapers
Public writings
Private soul-searching

20. Write down one thing you have you learned.
EXIT TICKET → LIA
Write down one thing you have you learned.
Write down one thing you find the most interesting.
Write down one thing that can apply to you.