REVOLUTIONARY WAR LITERATURE UNIT

1
REVOLUTIONARY WAR LITERATURE UNIT
2
PHILOSOPHY OF REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD

• RATIONALISM AND DEISM
• AGE OF REASON (ENLIGHTENMENT) BEGAN IN EUROPE IN
  1600S
• RATIONALISM BELIEF THAT HUMAN BEINGS CAN ARRIVE
  AT TRUTH (SPIRITUAL AND SCIENTIFIC) THROUGH
  REASON AND LOGIC, NOT FAITH
• BELIEFS WERE OPPOSED TO THOSE OF PURITANS

3
PHILOSOPHY OF REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD

• DEISM A religious perspective that believed God
  would reveal himself to humanity through human
  use of reason and logic. Believers came from all
  types of religious affiliations
• Deists believe that the Creator (God) exists, but
  once the universe was set in motion, God retreats
  and lets the laws of Nature take their course.
• Deists do NOT believe that God revealed himself
  through religious texts like the Bible, Torah, or
  Quranwhile they respect these books, they do
  NOT believe they are the word of GOD, just
  perspectives of other flawed men.
• GENERALLY SPEAKING, THEY WERE FORWARD THINKERS
  WHO WERE INTERESTED IN SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS

4
PHILOSOPHY OF REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD

• MAJOR BELIEFS OF RATIONALISTS AND DEISTS
• UNIVERSE IS ORDERLY AND GOOD
• HUMANITY IS INHERENTLY GOOD
• PERFECTABILITY OF HUMANS is possible THROUGH the
  use of REASON and logic
• BEST FORM OF WORSHIP DO GOOD FOR OTHERSROOTS OF
  SOCIAL WELFARE SYSTEM
• HUMAN HISTORY IS MARKED BY PROGRESS TOWARD A MORE
  PERFECT EXISTENCE
• GOD CREATED THE UNIVERSE, BUT HE DOESNT CONTROL
  YOUR DESTINY

5
MAJOR INFLUENCES ON AMERICAN RATIONALISTS AND
DEISTS

• SIR ISAAC NEWTON BRITISH RATIONALIST AND
  SCIENTIST
• JOHN LOCKE BRITISH PHILOSOPHERFIRST TO CLAIM
  THAT ALL MEN HAD INALIENABLE RIGHTS
• HEAVILY INFLUENCED JEFFERSON

6
Famous American Deists

• Presidents
• George Washington
• James Madison
• John Quincy Adams
• Thomas Jefferson
• Statesmen and Revolutionaries
• Benjamin Franklin
• Ethan Allen
• Thomas Paine
• Patrick Henry

7
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN1706-1790

• ONE OF 17 CHILDRENWHOA!
• BY AGE 24OWNED HIS OWN PRINT SHOP AND NEWSPAPER
• FOUNDED THE ACADEMY OF PENNSYLVANIA (UPENN)
• FOUNDED THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY
• FOUNDED THE FIRST PUBLIC LIBRARY

8
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

• SCIENTIST AND INVENTOR
• RESEARCH INTO ELECTRICITY
• OPEN HEATING STOVE
• BIFOCAL GLASSES
• HARMONICA
• ROCKING CHAIR THAT SWATTED FLIES

9
BEN FRANKLIN

• POLITICIAN AND STATESMAN
• REPRESENTATIVE TO ENGLAND FOR PA ASSEMBLY IN
  1750S AND 1760S
• REPRESENTATIVE TO FRANCE FOR AMERICA DURING
  REVOLUTIONARY WAR
• MEMBER OF CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION
• FIRST US POSTMASTER
• FIRST SECRETARY OF STATE

10
Literary Focus

• Autobiography
• Offers insights into Franklins life as a self
  made man
• Become archetype for American belief in
  re-inventing oneself.
• TABLE WORK
• After sharing your responses to the excerpt, On
  Moral Perfection, discuss the 13 virtues
  Franklin chose to master on his quest for moral
  perfection
• Which ones seem unnecessary to your group? Why?
• Now look at 10 from the homeworkyou chose 10
  virtues to master, but that still seems like a
  lot. Narrow the list down to 7 and compare with
  your group.
• If your group were attempting moral perfection,
  what 7 virtues from Franklins list would you
  choose? Why?
• Order your groups 7 virtues like Franklin
  didmastery of the first virtue makes it easier
  to master the next, and so onexplain your
  reasoning
• TURN IN YOUR GROUPS LIST OF VIRTUES AND
  EXPLANATIONS BY THE END OF THE MOD.

11
BEN FRANKLIN

• Poor Richards Almanac
• Yearly publication for 25 years
• Calculated tides, moon phases, weather forecasts,
  crop guidelines
• Also offered recipes, jokes, astrology, and bits
  of wisdom
• Aphorism a short, witty statement that reveals a
  truth about human nature has both literal
  meaning and metaphorical meaning
• Introduced two ARCHETYPICAL characters to readers
• ARCHETYPE an original pattern or model of which
  all things of the same type are just copies
• Poor Richard Saundershenpecked husband
  archetype
• Bridget Saundersthe nagging wife the shrew
• Modern husband/wife characters who fit this
  description?
• Everybody Loves Raymond Roseanne Big Bang Theory
• Friends (MC) Malcolm in the Middle
• Became first situational comedy
• BF is the father of the American Sitcom!

12
Patrick Henry

• Recognized as most persuasive orator of the Rev.
  War Period
• Effective persuasion appeals to both reason/logic
  and emotion
• Reason/logic (Logos)
• Uses facts, statistics, and examples
• Emotion (Pathos)
• Uses words, images and anecdotes to arouse the
  reader/listeners feelings, hopes and beliefs
• Ethics (Ethos)
• Uses the speaker/writers personal credibility as
  an expert to influence the audience

13
Patrick Henry

• Influenced by the oratory style of Puritan
  preachers of the Great Awakening
• Chosen as a representative to the House of
  Burgess (VA) at 29
• Stamp Act Speech 1765
• Give Me Liberty Speech to VA Convention 1775
• Speech was impromptu after several speeches urged
  the people to compromise
• Outcome persuaded delegates to arm the militias

14
Patrick Henrys Speech the Va. Convention

• Literary Analysis
• Rhetorical questions questions that are asked
  that are not meant to be answered because the
  answer should be obvious
• Used to emphasize a point or create emotional
  effect
• Allusion a reference to something that is widely
  known or understood in history, literature, the
  Bible, mythology, etc.

15
Thomas Jefferson

• Renaissance Man (a man with talents in many
  areas)
• Lawmaker 3rd POTUS,
• Writer author of Virginias laws on religious
  freedom and the Dec. of Ind.
• Scientist and Farmer accomplishments in botany
  and agriculture
• Architect designed and built Monticello and UVA
• Inventor plow, early copy machine, dumbwaiter
• Contradictory Nature
• Was a radical revolutionary and wrote Dec. of
  Ind. but did not fight in the War.
• Spoke out frequently against slavery, but owned
  slaves all his life (freed upon his death) and
  fathered many children with one of his slaves
  after his wifes death.
• Very wealthy Southern landowner, but forgot to
  pay debts and championed the rights of small
  farmers and average citizen

16
Thomas Jefferson and The Declaration of
Independence

• Four parts to the Dec. of Ind.
• Preamble (foreword)
• Announces the reason for the document
• A declaration of the peoples natural rights and
  relationship to the govt
• A long list of complaints against the King of
  England (Geo. III)
• A conclusion that formally states Americas
  independence

17
Thomas Jefferson and The Declaration of
Independence

• Literary Devices
• Parallelism or Parallel structure
• When a writer or speaker uses similar grammatical
  forms or sentence patterns to express ideas of
  equal importance
• Give me liberty, or give me death!
• Liberty and death are of equal importance based
  on how the sentence is structured.

18
Thomas Paine

• Most persuasive WRITER of the Rev. War Period
• Wrote Common Sense pamphlet
• 47 page document published in January of 1776
• Denounced King George and supported American
  Independence
• Returned to Europe after Rev. Warcontinued
  involvement in radical politics
• Wrote The Rights of Mancalled for British
  overthrow of royalty
• Final work, The Age of Reason, laid out the
  principles of Deism

19
Thomas Paine

• Style the distinctive way a writer uses language
• Determined by sentence structure, diction,
  figurative language, and imagery
• Paine mixes direct, common speech with
  expressions that are sharpened by dramatic
  rhetorical and literary techniques
• Lit. techniques used by Paine
• Analogy a comparison between two things to show
  how they are alike
• Anecdote a brief story, used to illustrate a
  point or to serve as an example