1750 1800 Period Overview The age is balanced The slate is clean God is removed from the scene Polemical works abound Alternate Names for this Time Period The Age of Reason The Neoclassical Period ID: 554141
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American Revolution & Literary Rationalism
1750 ~ 1800Slide2
Period Overview
The age is balanced
The slate is clean
God is removed from the scene
Polemical works aboundSlide3
Alternate Names for this Time Period
The Age of Reason
The Neoclassical Period
The American EnlightenmentSlide4
Characteristics of the Period
Social
Self~control
, Discipline, and Order
“The State” is the proper instrument of progress
Personal & Social “self-control:”
Stop!
Think!
What could happen?
Is this what you want?Slide5
Period Social Virtues
“Reason” is celebrated
Benjamin Franklin’s “moral perfection”
Belief in the ability to perfect individuals and society, itself
Faith in Human Rationality
Valid principles governing individuals, society, & natureSlide6
The American Enlightenment
The Belief in “Self~Knowledge
”
Free Inquiry
The Scientific Method ~ The application of test & reason
America: The New Athens or The New RomeSlide7
American Societal Characteristics
Pre~occupied with Worldly Values:
Individual Rights
Social
Well~being
Growth of Commerce
Expression of Political GrievancesSlide8
American Social Philosophy
John Locke’s philosophical Notion:
Tabula Rosa
America has a “Clean Slate”
America’s concern: “Natural Rights of Man”Slide9
America’s Divine Providence
Deism
Remote God
Creates & Watches
“Know then thyself, presume not God to scan, the proper study of mankind is man.” ~Alexander PopeSlide10
Literary Period Characteristics & Influences
Literary Works are “Polemical” (extremely argumentative)
Patrick Henry
Thomas Paine
Thomas Jefferson
John Brown
Frederick Douglass
Malcolm X
Martin Luther King Jr. Slide11
Literary Period Characteristics & Purposes
Public & Political Writing
Plain & Simple Language ~
not ornate or extravagant
Audience~ Common Citizens
Writing concerned with:
Clear & Precise Commonsensical Ideas
Mathematical Plainness (common sense)
All Writing
Non~fiction
Polemical