6.1 Enlightenment Ideals in American Writing

Enlightenment ideals shaped American literature, emphasizing reason, liberty, and progress. Writers like Franklin, Paine, and Jefferson incorporated these principles into their works, challenging traditional beliefs and promoting individual rights.

This intellectual movement influenced various genres, from political essays to autobiographies. It fostered a distinctly American voice that celebrated self-reliance, questioned authority, and sought to build a more rational, just society.

Enlightenment Ideals in American Literature

Enlightenment ideals in American literature

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• Rationalism
  • Emphasizes the use of reason and logic to understand the world (scientific method)
  • Rejects superstition, blind faith, and tradition in favor of empirical evidence (astrology, alchemy)
• Empiricism
  • Relies on observation and experience to gain knowledge (experiments, data collection)
  • Stresses the importance of the scientific method and experimentation to test hypotheses (Newton's laws of motion)
• Individual liberty
  • Upholds personal freedom and autonomy as fundamental human rights (freedom of speech, religion)
  • Opposes tyranny, oppression, and absolute monarchy in favor of democracy (American Revolution, French Revolution)
• Progress and perfectibility
  • Expresses optimism about human potential and the ability to improve society (education, scientific advancement)
  • Believes in the power of education and self-improvement to create a better future (public schooling, libraries)
• Deism
  • Acknowledges a supreme being who created the universe but does not intervene in human affairs (clockmaker God)
  • Rejects revealed religion, dogma, and miracles in favor of reason and natural law (Deist beliefs of Founding Fathers)

Incorporation of Enlightenment philosophy

• Benjamin Franklin
  • Autobiography emphasizes self-improvement, practical wisdom, and the pursuit of moral perfection (13 virtues)
  • Epitomizes the Enlightenment ideal of the self-made man who rises through hard work and education (printing business, inventions)
• Thomas Paine
  • Common Sense argues for American independence using reason, logic, and plain language accessible to common people
  • The Age of Reason critiques organized religion and advocates for deism from a rational perspective (rejection of miracles, revelation)
• Thomas Jefferson
  • Declaration of Independence asserts individual rights, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as unalienable (natural rights theory)
  • Notes on the State of Virginia reflects Enlightenment scientific curiosity about the natural world (fossils, flora and fauna)
• Phillis Wheatley
  • Poems demonstrate mastery of classical forms and Enlightenment ideals despite enslaved status (Greek and Latin translations)
  • Challenges prevailing notions of race and gender through intellectual achievement (first published African American poet)

Impact on American literary identity

• Emphasis on individualism
  • Celebrates the self-reliant, independent thinker who questions authority (Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau)
  • Rejects traditional social hierarchies and inherited status in favor of merit (Alexander Hamilton, Frederick Douglass)
• Valorization of reason and knowledge
  • Believes in the power of education to improve individuals and society as a whole (public libraries, land-grant universities)
  • Promotes scientific inquiry, intellectual curiosity, and lifelong learning (Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson)
• Secularization of literature
  • Decreases focus on religious themes, motifs, and didacticism in favor of secular topics (rational thinking, human nature)
  • Increases attention to social, political, and philosophical issues facing the new nation (federalism, slavery, women's rights)
• Emergence of distinctly American voice
  • Adapts Enlightenment ideals of liberty, progress, and individualism to the colonial context (frontier spirit, work ethic)
  • Asserts cultural independence from European literary models and traditions (Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper)

Enlightenment ideals across literary genres

• Political pamphlets and essays
  • Make direct, persuasive arguments for Enlightenment principles of liberty, reason, and democracy (The Federalist Papers, The Crisis)
  • Use logical reasoning, historical examples, and appeals to common sense to sway public opinion (Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams)
• Autobiography and personal narrative
  • Emphasize individual experience, character development, and lessons of self-improvement (Poor Richard's Almanack, The Way to Wealth)
  • Demonstrate Enlightenment values of industry, frugality, and practicality through personal example (Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin)
• Poetry
  • Celebrates reason, liberty, and progress through classical forms like elegies, odes, and sonnets (On Imagination, To the University of Cambridge)
  • Appropriates and subverts European poetic conventions to assert American cultural identity (Poems on Various Subjects by Phillis Wheatley)
• Satire and humor
  • Uses wit, irony, and exaggeration to critique irrational social and political institutions (The Devil and Tom Walker by Washington Irving)
  • Mocks superstition, religious hypocrisy, and aristocratic pretensions in favor of Enlightenment rationalism (The Anarchiad, A Mournful Lamentation)