The Literature of Reason and Revolution

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Part II The Literature of Reason and Revolution

Historical Introduction

Theology dominated the Puritan phase of American writing. Politics was now the great subject to command the attention of the best minds.

I. The American War for Independence 1775-1783

1. The writers held vitally important places in the movement for American independence. Freedom was won as much by their fiery and inspiring speeches and writings as by the weapons of Washington and Lafayette. The 13 original American states were persuaded to become a single nation by the arguments of statesmen and men of letters.

2. Strict rules made by English government hampered the economic development of the colonies. The British wanted the colonies to remain politically and economically dependent on the mother country, which led to the colonies’ intense strain with England. So the American War for Independence broke out in 1775.

(1) 1775, Lexington, beginning of the Independence War

(2) June 4th, 1776, Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence

(3) 1778, alliance with France, turning point for American army

(4) 1778, English army surrendered

(5) 1783, formal recognition by the Britsh government

3. The procedures of the establishment of the new nation

(1) colony

(2) state

(3) federal republic--- the United States of America

II. Enlightenment

1. Enlightment

The spritual life in the colonies during the period was to a great degree moulded by the bourgeois Enlightment.

(1) Originated in Europe in the 17th century

(2) Sources: Newton’s theory; deism（自然神教派）; French philosophy (Rousseau, Voltaire)

(3) Basic principles: stressing education; stressing Reason (Order) (The age has been called Age of Reason.); employing Reason to reconsider the traditions and social realities; concerns for civil rights, such as equality and social justice; the idea of progress.

2. At the intial period the spread of the ideas of the Enlightment was largely due to journalism.All the leaders of the revolution were influenced by the Enlightenment;

3. Representatives: Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson etc.

The representatives of the Enlightment set themselves the task of deseminating knowledge among the people and advocating revolutionary ideas. They also actively participated in the War for Independence.

4. The new nation was set on the basic ideas and principles of the Enlightenment;

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5. Influence of the Enlightment

(1) American Enlightment dealt a decisive blow upon the Puritan traditins and brought to life secular education and literature.

(2) The secular ideals of the American Enlightment were examplified in the life and career of Benjamin Franklin.

III. Literature

1. Call for America’s independence in literature

As soon as America became politically and economically independent, the call for its independence in literature started to emerge.

In 1783, Noah Webster declared, ―America must be as independent as she is in politics, as famous for the arts as for arms‖. Yet throughout the century American literature was largely patterned on the writing of 18th century Englishmen.

2. While imaginative literature (fiction, poetry, prose and drama created by, indicative of, or characterized by imagination or creativity) in America remained derivative and dependent, the heroic and revolutionary ambitions of the age had created great political pamphleteering and state papers. Essaists and journalists had shaped the nations’s beliefs with reason dressed in clear and forceful prose.

3. Representative works

Thomas Jefferson: Declaration of Independence

Thomas Paine: The American Crisis; Rights of Man; The Federalist

Bejamin Franklin: Poor Richard’s Almanch; The Autobiography

Benjamin Franlin (1706-1790)

I. Life

He was a jack of all trades

Born in a poor candle maker’s family in Boston and had no regular education

Became an apprentice to a printer when he was 12

An editor of a newspaper and published lots of essays when he was 16

Went to Philadelphia when he was 17 and became a successful printer and publisher

Found the Junto, a club for informal discussion of scientific, economic and political

ideas.

Established America’s first circulating library, founded the college — University of

Pennsylvania.

Retired when he was 42

(1) a businessman;

(2) A scientist with lots of inventions and a famous experiment (kite, electricity, thunderstorm);first applied the terms ―positive‖ and ―negative‖ to electrical charges.

(3) a statesman

As a representative of the Colonies, he tried in vain to counsel the British toward

policies that would let America grow and flourish in association with England. He

conducted the difficult negotiations with France that brought financial and military

support for America in the war.

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Declaration of Independence

The Treaty of Alliance with France

The Treaty of Peace with England

The Constitution

(4) a writer

(5) an embodiment of the ―American Dream‖

II. Literary career

As an author he had power of expression, simplicity, a subtle humor, sarcastic.

1. Representative works

(1) Poor Richard’s Almanac

Modeled on farmers’ annual calendar; kept publishing for many years; includes many classical sayings, such as:

―A penny saved is a penny earned.‖

―A plowman on his legs is higher than a gentleman on his knees.‖

(2) The Autobiography

Writen when he was 65

An introduction of his life to his own son

Including four parts written in different times

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