1. Rationalism (A Branch of Colonialism)
An Overview…
1700s (1750-early 1800s)

2. Reaction to Puritanism
America’s answer to the emotionally driven paranoia of Puritanism
Dangers of Theocracy
Salem Witch Trials…
Reason over superstition/self-perceptions/revelation/tradition/authority
Fundamental religion
Look to reason for answers rather than just god’s finger
Age of Reason & Scientific Revolution
Clock analogy
Deists
Religious belief founded on human reason/observations of natural world instead of the Bible
Rejection of strict organized religious ruling body
Some Deists believed in an absentee “Clockmaker” God who created the world and set it in motion & then completely withdrew from it
Highly controversial…

3. Philosophies Building a true American character/identity
- basic values on which American society was founded
Rise of patriotism
Encourage change/independence via reading/education (role of rhetoric/persuasion in shaping America)
Revolutionary War
Values/Morality through the individual
Democratic Utopia (clearly, the Puritan vision was far from this…)
Self-Reliance

4. Genre & Style Political pamphlets
Travel writing: establishing America’s unique landscape
Making it home (instead of England)
Essays
Speeches
Fiction
Rare
Basic plots & characters finding American and individual identity
Ornate writing style as example of discipline
Promote independence
Rhetoric (Persuasion): ethos, pathos, logos
Thoughtful scientific writing

5. Authors: America’s Founding Fathers
Ben Franklin
Autobiography
Farmer’s Almanac
Thomas Paine
Rights of Man
Common Sense
Patrick Henry
“Speech to the Virginia Convention” (“Give me liberty, or give me death!”)