2012-3-19 1
Chapter Ⅱ
The Literature of
Reason and Revolution
2012-3-19 2
1,Historical Background
? Politics dominated the revolutionary phase
of American writing,
? The crisis in American life carried by the
Revolution made artists self-conscious
about American subjects,
? The spiritual life in the colonies during that
period was molded by the bourgeois
Enlightenment,
2012-3-19 3
2,Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790),
2012-3-19 4
Benjamin Franklin
? American politician,scientist,inventor,and educator,
? He was a typical example of the so-called American Dream,
He helped draft the,Declaration of Independence”,
? He conducted the difficult negotiation with France that
brought financial and military support for America in the
war,
? He founded the college that was to become the University
of Pennsylvania,
2012-3-19 5
Franklin,The Autobiography,
? The common theme underlying his
writings is that industriousness and
discretion are rewarded,
2012-3-19 6
3,Thomas Paine (1737-1809),
? Paine was,Great Commoner of Mankind”,He
was born England,
? At the age of 37,Franklin met him in London and
recognized his peculiar talents in their American
perspective,
? He wrote many political pamphlets during the
Revolutionary period,
? Some important works by Paine,American Crisis,
Common Sense,Rights of Man,
2012-3-19 7
Paine,The American Crisis,
? Historians tell us that Paine wrote The American Crisis on
or about November 20,1776,on a military drumhead,
which served as his desk,
? The British government is compared to a house thief who
causes destruction of life and property and who must be
stopped,
? In short,The American Crisis is Enlightenment,Deist
document,
? Man relies on reason and indomitable optimism,The
American struggling for victory must rely on his devotion to
his cause and to his fellow man,first and foremost,
2012-3-19 8
4,Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
? Life,
? He was the 3rd president of the U.S,(1801-1809),
? During his two terms,he authorized the Louisiana
Purchase,
? After he left the presidency he was primarily interested in
the University of Virginia,His designs for his home,
Monticello,and for the Virginia state capitol and part of
Washington,D,C,stimulated the classical revival in U.S,
architecture,His papers are being published in a projected
60-volume edition (1950- ),
2012-3-19 9
Jefferson:,Declaration of Independence”,
? Jefferson’s great monument in literature and
political theory,
? Formal proclamation of the 13 colonies,
announcing their separation from Great Britain,
was adopted July 4,1776,The actual writing was
done by Jefferson,although corrections were
made by Franklin,Adams,and the Congress at
large,
? The document was signed on Aug,2 by 56
colonial representatives,
2012-3-19 10
? The document is based on the natural-rights
theory of government,derived from Locke and
18th-century French philosophers,and proclaims
that the function of government is to guarantee the
inalienable rights with which men are endowed,
These include,Life,Liberty,and the pursuit of
Happiness.”
? The declaration contended that,since George III
had willfully violated these rights,revolution was
justifiable and necessary,
2012-3-19 11
Debate between Jefferson and Hamilton,
? Jefferson held antagonism toward Hamilton,
then secretary of the treasury,Jefferson,
thoroughgoing republican,feared that
Hamilton’s program would lead in the
direction of monarchy,He championed
states’ rights,individual liberties,and the
ascendancy of the agrarian faction,
2012-3-19 12
5,Philip Morin Freneau (1752-1832)
? § Poems (1786)
? § Miscellaneous Works (1788)
? § Letters on Various Interesting and Important Subjects
(1799)
? After his marriage in 1790 he became editor of the New
York Daily Advertiser,after an appointment by Jefferson as
translating clerk of the State Department,on Oct,31,1791,
began the publication of his National Gazette,a
Jeffersonian paper that particularly attacked Hamilton,
He was a mouthpiece of Jefferson,
2012-3-19 13
Philip Freneau:,The Indian Burying Ground”
? Published in his Miscellaneous Works
(1788),In ten iambic tetrameter quatrains,it
portrays sympathetically the spirit of the
nomadic Indian hunters,who were
traditionally buried in a sitting posture and
with images of the objects they knew in life,
Chapter Ⅱ
The Literature of
Reason and Revolution
2012-3-19 2
1,Historical Background
? Politics dominated the revolutionary phase
of American writing,
? The crisis in American life carried by the
Revolution made artists self-conscious
about American subjects,
? The spiritual life in the colonies during that
period was molded by the bourgeois
Enlightenment,
2012-3-19 3
2,Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790),
2012-3-19 4
Benjamin Franklin
? American politician,scientist,inventor,and educator,
? He was a typical example of the so-called American Dream,
He helped draft the,Declaration of Independence”,
? He conducted the difficult negotiation with France that
brought financial and military support for America in the
war,
? He founded the college that was to become the University
of Pennsylvania,
2012-3-19 5
Franklin,The Autobiography,
? The common theme underlying his
writings is that industriousness and
discretion are rewarded,
2012-3-19 6
3,Thomas Paine (1737-1809),
? Paine was,Great Commoner of Mankind”,He
was born England,
? At the age of 37,Franklin met him in London and
recognized his peculiar talents in their American
perspective,
? He wrote many political pamphlets during the
Revolutionary period,
? Some important works by Paine,American Crisis,
Common Sense,Rights of Man,
2012-3-19 7
Paine,The American Crisis,
? Historians tell us that Paine wrote The American Crisis on
or about November 20,1776,on a military drumhead,
which served as his desk,
? The British government is compared to a house thief who
causes destruction of life and property and who must be
stopped,
? In short,The American Crisis is Enlightenment,Deist
document,
? Man relies on reason and indomitable optimism,The
American struggling for victory must rely on his devotion to
his cause and to his fellow man,first and foremost,
2012-3-19 8
4,Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
? Life,
? He was the 3rd president of the U.S,(1801-1809),
? During his two terms,he authorized the Louisiana
Purchase,
? After he left the presidency he was primarily interested in
the University of Virginia,His designs for his home,
Monticello,and for the Virginia state capitol and part of
Washington,D,C,stimulated the classical revival in U.S,
architecture,His papers are being published in a projected
60-volume edition (1950- ),
2012-3-19 9
Jefferson:,Declaration of Independence”,
? Jefferson’s great monument in literature and
political theory,
? Formal proclamation of the 13 colonies,
announcing their separation from Great Britain,
was adopted July 4,1776,The actual writing was
done by Jefferson,although corrections were
made by Franklin,Adams,and the Congress at
large,
? The document was signed on Aug,2 by 56
colonial representatives,
2012-3-19 10
? The document is based on the natural-rights
theory of government,derived from Locke and
18th-century French philosophers,and proclaims
that the function of government is to guarantee the
inalienable rights with which men are endowed,
These include,Life,Liberty,and the pursuit of
Happiness.”
? The declaration contended that,since George III
had willfully violated these rights,revolution was
justifiable and necessary,
2012-3-19 11
Debate between Jefferson and Hamilton,
? Jefferson held antagonism toward Hamilton,
then secretary of the treasury,Jefferson,
thoroughgoing republican,feared that
Hamilton’s program would lead in the
direction of monarchy,He championed
states’ rights,individual liberties,and the
ascendancy of the agrarian faction,
2012-3-19 12
5,Philip Morin Freneau (1752-1832)
? § Poems (1786)
? § Miscellaneous Works (1788)
? § Letters on Various Interesting and Important Subjects
(1799)
? After his marriage in 1790 he became editor of the New
York Daily Advertiser,after an appointment by Jefferson as
translating clerk of the State Department,on Oct,31,1791,
began the publication of his National Gazette,a
Jeffersonian paper that particularly attacked Hamilton,
He was a mouthpiece of Jefferson,
2012-3-19 13
Philip Freneau:,The Indian Burying Ground”
? Published in his Miscellaneous Works
(1788),In ten iambic tetrameter quatrains,it
portrays sympathetically the spirit of the
nomadic Indian hunters,who were
traditionally buried in a sitting posture and
with images of the objects they knew in life,
