BAN 2374
17-19th century American Literature
Fall 2017
Instructor: Katalin G. Kállay
Lecture 2.
The New Republic: Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, M.G. Crévecoeur
1. Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)
18th c. preacher, thinker – wanted to restore original Calvinist doctrines: questions of ”good Puritanism” – mercy and salvation: only by grace!
Great Awakening movement: 1730s, 1740s: ”Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”
theologian, philosopher – spiritual matters
life governed by divine laws: theo-nomos (not hetero-nomos or auto-nomos)
Consent to Being (Locke) – experience
famous sermon: Divine and Supernatural Light
importance of Beauty! sweetness of Christ
2. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
Edwards’ contemporary – Puritan background (father wanted him to become a pastor)
more practical-minded: printer – getting rich and important as a public figure
Philadelphia – age 40: retired as a printer and became active in his other fields of interest
- scientific inventions (lightning rod, bifocal eyeglasses, special type of stove, etc.)
- founding philanthropic organizations (fire brigade, hospital, philosophical society)
- participation in political matters (signed all the important documents, first ambassador of the US in France)
- literary activity: just one of his many sides – did not believe in literature as an aesthetic experience, rather: practical considerations, moral aims
”Father of the Yankees” – admired in Europe
Autobiography 1771-1784: basic virtues/vices – very similar to Puritan standards, work ethic, moral purpose – except: the religious attitude is missing! hetero-nomos rather than theo-nomos
Poor Richard’s Almanac (published yearly from 1732, for over 30 years) – calendar for simple people: sayings, aphorisms
advertising the new, post-Puritan mode of behaviour, influenced by the spirit of the Enlightenment.
Basic virtues: thrift, industry, love of work, intelligence
Ridicules: laziness, indolence, wasting, thoughtlessness
basis: good human common sense
3. Historican changes influenced by the Enlightenment
REASON: last great common ”religion” of European mankind
millenarianism: any belief in a future period of ideal peace and happiness – the perfect society
18th century: the basis is reason, equally distributed (Deacartes)
human intelligence can understand bth nature and man
improvement: a society based on justice and freedom, happiness can be created (a secular version of the Puritan utopia)
What is only allegorical speculation in Europe can be put into practice in America!
- Montesquieu: legislative, executive and judiciary bodies should be separated
- Rousseau: Social Contract
Historical changes: 18th century: growing consciousness in the American colonies of belonging together
- growth of population (1740: 1.6 million; 1775: 2.5 million) spreading westward: frontier mythology
- regulations from England:
1754-1763: French and Indian wars – after these: England wants profit from the colonies
taxes! King George III. 1760
1764: Sugar Act
1765: Stamp Act
1767: taxes on tea, butter, wine, fruit, glass, etc. – also to ease the English national debt
- legislative bodies of Massachusetts and Virginia declared this illegal
England sent soldiers to Boston
1770: Boston massacre
American population: split in two – clergy: loyal to the crown (tory); others wished to break with England (whig)
1773: Boston Tea Party: a raid made by the citizens of Boston (disguised as Indians) on three British ships int he harbour – as a protest against taxes on tea and the monopoly given to the East India Company. The contents of several hundred chests of tea were dumped into the sea.
1774: Continental Congress (patriotic, anti-British movement)
Declaration of Rights – accepted (protest against English actions)
1776: Thomas Paine (famous orator, pamphleteer, politician, thinker): Common Sense
”It is absurd for a continent to be governed by an island”
1776: Thomas Jefferson: Declaration of Independence: Revolution and War of Independence
1783: Treaty of Paris: accepted the United States of America,
1788: George Washington President
4. Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
3rd president of the US
Southern landowner family
studied law – active participation in politics – democrat: ”the best govermnent is the one that governs the least”
trust in local governing bodies, belief in natural aristocracy (those will be leaders who have the talent for it), the ideal society would consist of loosely related self sustaining units. (African American slaves would not be necessary – they could be shipped back to Africa)
1803: Louisiana Purchase: From Napoleon, the US acquired the French lands between the Mississippi Valley and the Rocky Moutains as well as between Canada and the Gulf of Mexico: doubled the area of the US. Jefferson’s hope: empire for liberty
(but in reality: agricultural innovations -- new large plantations that needed more slave workers)
5. M.G. Crévecoeur (1735-1813)
Frenchman, became a farmer in New York State, married, lived there for 15 years – fascinated by the possibilities that America offers
1780: forced to leave the country (his moderate opinions made him suspicious)
Letters from an American Farmer – optimistic, pastoral tone, excellent observer
for him, an American is a ”new man”, it is a ”new race” – debatable questions
6. Conclusion
The American Revolution may be interpreted as a clash of Europe with itself. The colonists rebel against the mother country because they wish to prove that they are English, more so than the English themselves. ”No taxation without representation” – obviously in the English Parliament. The question of American identity thus becomes more complicated: as if two halves of a split self were fighting each other.
Literature: belatedness – later reaction to the shock of becoming American