The Age of Reason Rationalism

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The Age of Reason (Rationalism)

• 1720-1800

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Why Rationalism?

• Salem Witch Trials
• Colonies became larger
• Distance b/t the Colonies and Britain
• French and Indian War
• England and Frances struggle to control North
  America

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Idealism (Ideal Society)

• PURITANS
• Faith over reason
• People are born as evil sinners
• Citizens make a biblical contract with God
• Private writings (sermons, logs, accounts)
• Religion

• RATIONALISTS
• Reason over faith
• People are generally good
• Citizens make a social contract between men
• Public writings (newspapers, pamphlets, speeches)
• Politics

4
Self-Governance

• King George III and Parliament imposed
  regulations that threatened the liberties of the
  colonists
• Aka the Intolerable Acts

Looks like a man of the people ?
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Self-Governance cont

• The most unpopular British acts were
• Stamp Act
• Townshend Acts (Acts on incoming goods)
• Tea Act
• Coercive Acts (Punishment for the Boston Tea
  Party)

Not quite a carnival cruise
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American Revolution

• April 18th, 1775, fighting broke out with the
  shot heard round the world
• France was one of the key players that helped the
  Colonists win their freedom
• They didnt like the English too much after
  losing the French and Indian War

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A New Government

• One of the most impressive aspects of the
  American Revolution is that all of the original
  aims were realized
• Not everyone was content however
• Alexander Hamilton and Benjamin Franklin were not
  originally pleased with the Constitution of the
  United States

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Literature of the Time Period

• Like the Puritans, educated Americans in the Age
  of Reason did a lot of writinghowever this type
  was public and mainly political
• By the time of independence
• Fifty newspapers had been established
• Forty magazines
• Almanacs were popular as well

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Literature cont

• Pamphlets, speeches, and documents were also a
  big part of the literature during this time
  period
• Poetry and narration was present too
• There were no American novels or plays of
  importance, and the modern short story had yet to
  be invented

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Attitudes and Beliefs

• Personal freedoms
• People should be able to use their free time for
  productive measures to benefit the society around
  them
• Universal law
• The universe is organized through unchanging laws
  that man can discover

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Important Figures in the Age of Reason (a few of
MANY)
Patrick Henry, Giving a speech regarding the
Stamp Act Give me liberty, or give me death!
Thomas Paine, Author of Common Sense (A Pamphlet
spurring the Colonists to fight against the
British)
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Important Figures cont
Thomas Jefferson, one of the many signers of the
Declaration of Independence
Benjamin Franklin, one of the most famous people
in American History