Download Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must undergo

BBL 3230
AMERICAL LITERATURE
WEEK 5
• Architects of Culture: The New
Republic (1790-1820)
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- The Age of Reason
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- The American Revolution
• This period of the American literature
took place in the most important part of
the history of the U.S.A because in that
period was their independence.
• All the works were inspired by political
things; puritan’s belief had been
forgotten.
The 18th-century American
enlightenment as a movement marked
by an emphasis on:
• Rationality rather than tradition
• Scientific inquiry instead of
unquestioning religious doctrine
• Representative government in place of
monarchy.
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Important writers:
Thomas Jefferson,
Benjamin Franklin,
Thomas Paine,
Patrick Henry,
James Madison, and any other of the socalled “Founding Fathers.”
Thomas Paine
“Those who expect to reap the blessings of
freedom must undergo the fatigue of
supporting it.”
 Thomas Paine was a renowned proAmerica writer and author of some of
the most persuasive texts of the
American Revolution
 He used “plain -style” language in an
attempt to engage people of all classes
in the struggle for American
independence and for a rejection of
government based on hereditary
monarchy
 His bold and simple argument rallied a scattered citizenry to
the cause of freedom and exerted considerable influence on the
new nation’s emerging political philosophy
 Paine wrote the first of the American Crisis letter pamphlets
after witnessing the loss of New York and joining the retreat to
Newark…a text that George Washington ordered read to all the
troops.
 Pamphlets helped to bolster the sagging spirits of the ill-fitted
troops and firm the resolve of an occasionally diffident
population
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
“A life of leisure and a life of laziness are two
things. There will be sleeping enough in the grave. “
Aphorism: A Penny Saved is a Penny earned
 Franklin wrote the first section of The Autobiography in 1771
at the age of 65.
 At the urging of friends, he wrote three more sections—the last
shortly before his death.
 Though never completed, his Autobiography, filled with his
opinions and suggestions, provides not only a record of his
achievements but also an understanding of his character.
 Considered to be the “father of his country”