Encounters and Foundations to 1800Introduction to the Literary Period

Fast Facts

Key Concept: Native Cultures Thrive

in America

Key Concept: The Puritans Settle in

New England

Key Concept: The Rise of Rationalism

Your Turn

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History of the Times

• A new movement, the Enlightenment, began to spread, fostering a belief in rationalism.

• European political and social turmoil led people to question the divine right of monarchs.

• Rationalists believe that reason and intellect, rather than revelation, lead to discoveries of scientific and spiritual truth.

• Inspired by rationalism, the founders of the new country set forth ideals of religious tolerance and individual liberty.

Key Concept: The Rise of Rationalism

Tinkerers and Experimenters

• Their writings reflect a rationalist worldview.

• Prominent American rationalists include: Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and Thomas Paine.

• The most prominent rationalist work was Franklin’s The Autobiography

Benjamin Franklin

Key Concept: The Rise of Rationalism

Forming a New Nation

• Inspired by rationalist thought, the founders signed the Declaration of Independence from Britain in 1776.

• Many of the arguments in the Declaration are based on rationalist beliefs.

• George Washington, a rationalist, was elected the first president of United States.

George Washington“The Star Spangled Banner”

Key Concept: The Rise of Rationalism

• Pamphlets, letters, and poetry were popular forms of literature.

• Most American writing was in response to unfolding political and social events: independence from Britain, the struggle of women to gain equality with men, or the struggle of enslaved African Americans to end slavery.

Literature of the Times

Key Concept: The Rise of Rationalism

• The most famous piece of literature of the time period was Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography.

Comprehension Check

How did rationalism differ from Puritanism, and what effect did rationalism have on the new American political system?

Key Concept: The Rise of Rationalism

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Political Writing

Collection 3 Literary Focus

The Power of Reason

Political Writing

The American Revolution was fueled by influential political writings supporting independence.

The writers who inspired the colonists’ revolt based their arguments on the ideals of rationalism.

Political Writing

The rationalist movement marked the beginning of the Age of Reason in Europe in the seventeenth century.

Rationalist thinkers believe that humans

• can discover truth using reason• can use reason to understand

natural laws and guide their lives• need not rely only on religious

faith or intuition

Political Writing

The rationalists were not non-believers.

rationalists believed that God created the natural world and its laws.

rationalists thought the universe operated without divine intervention.

Like the Puritans…

Unlike the Puritans…

These beliefs—which were shared by many of America’s Founders—are known as deism.

Political Writing

The rationalist idea that all people are free to use reason to better their lives was part of the justification for independence.

It’s also the foundation of the most important political documents in American history and literature—

the Declaration of Independence

and the U.S. Constitution.

The Argument for Revolt

Political Writing

Early American leaders spread their ideas by publishing their words and distributing them to the Colonists.

Thomas Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense, published in 1776, is considered by many to be the most important written work justifying independence.

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Political Writing

Common Sense, only 47 pages long, sold 500,000 copies at a time when the population of the Colonies was a little over 2 million.

Paine applied both rationalist thought and deist principles to his arguments in favor of revolution.

Founding a New Nation

Political Writing

Some early American political writers—such as Paine—aroused passion for independence.

Other revolutionary leaders used words—spoken and written—to lay the foundation for the new nation.

Political Writing

In 1775, as the Virginia Convention was debating compromise with Britain, Patrick Henry delivered his famous speech:

“Give me liberty, or give me death!”

Like Paine, Henry used rationalism to persuade the delegates to arm the Colonists.

Henry’s speech was a key step on the road to independence, and his words became a battle cry.

The Granger Collection, New York

Political Writing

The next year, the Second Continental Congress appointed a committee—including Thomas Jefferson—to draft a declaration of independence.

As one of the main authors, Jefferson infused the document with rationalist ideals.

The authors took the ideas that inspired their revolt and used them as a basis for the new government.

Independence Hall, Philadelphia

Political Writing

The Declaration of Independence was the first American document to describe an ideal relationship between the people and their government.

Underlying this relationship, which emphasized the rights of individuals, was the rationalist belief in humans’ capacity—and freedom—to reason for themselves.

Political Writing

Influences on Early American Political Writing

Early American political writing was influenced by philosophy, beliefs, events, and even the spread of technology:

• ideas and principles from Europe’s Age of Reason, particularly the ideals of rationalism

• emergence of deism and its influence on America’s leaders and writers

• conflict between British rule and American colonists seeking independence

• spread of self-published political writing

Ask Yourself

1. In what ways did the philosophies of rationalism and deism contribute to American independence?

2. What role did pamphlets and political speeches play in the decision to declare independence from Britain?

3. How did political writing allow individuals to affect the development of an entire nation? How does this power of the individual reflect the principles upon which the United States was founded?

Political Writing

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Collection 3 Reading Focus

Analyzing Persuasive Techniques

You’ve probably read an advertisement or watched a TV commercial that made you feel that you just had to have that product.

Identifying Persuasive Techniques

What aspects of the ad were particularly persuasive? Did it appeal to

your sense of reason?

your emotions?

a mixture of reason and emotion?

Aren’t many of the decisions you make based on both your intellect and your feelings?

Identifying Persuasive Techniques

Like advertising, effective persuasive writing often appeals to both logic and emotion.

Logical appeals

Identifying Persuasive Techniques

to influence the audience.

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use

Identifying Persuasive Techniques

Emotional appeals

to arouse the reader’s feelings, hopes, and beliefs.

wordsimagesanecdotes

use

Early in 1776, Patrick Henry made his famous “Give me liberty, or give me death!” speech.

Identifying Persuasive Techniques

Henry’s “Speech to the Virginia Convention” used both logical and emotional appeals to persuade his audience to arm themselves against the British.

The Granger Collection, New York

Read this excerpt from Henry’s speech.

Identifying Persuasive Techniques

Imagine what thoughts and feelings a person hearing the speech at the time might have experienced.

I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other possible motives for it? Has Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us; they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministry have so long been forging.

Notice Henry’s logical appeal when he refers to the fact that the British are increasing the number of armed troops in the colonies.

Identifying Persuasive Techniques

I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other possible motives for it? Has Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us; they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministry have so long been forging.

Now notice his shift to an emotional appeal.

Identifying Persuasive Techniques

I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other possible motives for it? Has Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us; they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministry have so long been forging.

Henry knows his audience will be horrified at the image of being chained and bound. He uses strong, vivid language to take advantage of the audience’s fear.

Patrick Henry knew exactly which details and images would sway his audience.

Identifying Persuasive Techniques

How will your audience respond to your arguments?

Patrick Henry’s words—a blend of logical and emotional appeals tailored for his audience—had the power to change history.

Identifying Persuasive Techniques

Your Turn

Read the following passage from Patrick Henry’s speech and analyze his use of persuasive techniques. What appeals does he employ? How can you tell? Sir, we have done everything that could be done, to avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne.

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