A Nation is Born

1
A Nation is Born

• 1750-1800

2
Historical Background

• The Age of Reason
• 18th C characterized as Enlightenment, Age of
  Reason
• writers and thinkers valued reason over faith
  little interest in the hereafter believing
  instead in the power of reason and science to
  further human progress
• believed people are by nature good not evil
• American statesmen of the Enlightenment Benjamin
  Franklin, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson.

3
Historical Background

• Toward a Clash of Arms
• American Revolution was preceded by the French
  and Indian War Eng/ Fr control of NA 1754 (10
  yrs) 1763 ended Eng controlled North Am territory
• 1765 British passed Stamp act to raise revenue to
  pay for war revolt act repealed
• 1767 Townsend Act taxed paint, paper, glass lead,
  tea boycotts led to Massachusetts legislature
  being dissolved regiments of British troops in
  Boston - British firing on a mob- Boston Massacre

4
Historical Background

• Toward a Clash of Arms

• British Parliament repealed act but left tax on
  tea led to Boston Tea Party
• English passed Coercive Act- shut down port,
  forbade meetings, called Intolerable Act
• 1774 First Continental Congress British
  authority slipping away Governor of Massachusetts
  elected

5
Historical Background

• The Shot Heard Around the World
• 1775 _at_ Lexington Green700 British met 70
  colonial minutemen a shot was fired- 8 Am dead
• Concord another skirmish took place
• Am Revolution began Bunker Hill
• Second Continental Congress- George Washington
  elected commander in chief

6
Historical Background

• The Shot Heard Around the World
• 1 year passed before all colonies declared
  independence
• Battle of Saratoga marked a turning point- French
  then recognized Am Ind committed troops
• Battle of Yorktown ended the war General
  Cornwallis surrendered
• 6 years before war ended
• The New Nation

7
Historical Background

• The New Nation
• Article of Confederation established league of
  friendship among the states
• Bill of Rights was added to placate fear of
  Central power the Constitution inferred

8
Literature of the Period

• A Time of Crisis
• Writing produced was public writing newspapers,
  magazines, almanacs
• The mind of the nation was on politics
• Revolutionary writing mostly political

9
Literature of the Period

• Politics as Literature
• James Otis pamphlets and speeches colonial
  rights Taxation without representation is
  tyranny.
• Patrick Henry speech against stamp act
  initially brought cries of Treason ten years
  later his speech to the Virginia Convention
  expressed the rising sentiment for independence
• Thomas Paine 1776- pamphlet Common Sense
  100,000 copies in 3 mos.
• Thomas Jefferson Declaration of Independence

10
Literature of the Period

• The Cultural Scene
• Verse appeared in newspapers
• Broadside Ballads single sheet printed on both
  sides dealing with current topic
• Some poetry Philip Freneau earliest important
  lyrical poet, Joel Barlow, Phillis Wheatley
• Guillaume Crevecoeuer
• Benjamin Franklins Poor Richards Almanac

11
Literature of the Period

• American Literature as Daybreak
• 1800s only a small body of literature
• Native Indians haunting poetry and legends
  through oral traditions
• Puritans a few powerful inward looking works
• Revolutionary period produced political documents
• Few poets and essayists
• No novels , plays, short stories had yet to be
  invented