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TheAmericanEnlightenmentis a period of intellectual ferment in thethirteen American coloniesin the period1714–1818, which led to theAmerican Revolution, andthe creation of the American Republic. Influenced bythe 18th-centuryEuropean Enlightenment,and its own nativeAmerican Philosophy, theAmerican Enlightenment applied scientific reasoning to politics, science, andreligion, promoted religious tolerance, and restored literature, the arts, andmusic as important disciplines and professions worthy of study in colleges. The"new-model" American style colleges of King"s College New York (nowColumbia University), andthe College of Philadelphia (nowPenn) werefounded,Yale Collegeand theCollege of William& Marywere reformed, and a non-denominational moralphilosophy replaced theology in many college curricula; even Puritan collegessuch as the College of New Jersey (now Princeton) and Harvard reformed theircurricula to include natural philosophy (science), modern astronomy, and math.The foremost representatives of the American Enlightenment included men whowere presidents of colleges: Puritan religious leadersJonathan Edwards,Thomas Clap, andEzra Stiles, and Anglican moral philosophersSamuel JohnsonandWilliam Smith.The leading Enlightenment political thinkers wereJohn Adams,James Madison,James Wilson, andAlexander Hamilton, andpolymathsBenjamin FranklinandThomas Jefferson.
Contents
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·1Dates
·2Religious tolerance
·3Intellectual currents
·4Architecture
·5Republicanism
·6European sources
·7Liberalism and republicanism
·8"Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness"
·9Deism
·10Religious tolerance
Dates[edit]
Various dates for the AmericanEnlightenment have been proposed, including the dates 1750-1820,[1]1765 to 1815,[2]and 1688-1815.[3]One somewhat more precise start dateproposed[4]is the introduction of a collectionof donated Enlightenment books byColonial AgentJeremiah Dummerinto the library of the smallcollege ofYaleatSaybrook Point,Connecticuton or just after October 15, 1714. They were receivedby a young post-graduate studentSamuel Johnson,of Guilford Connecticut, who studied the Enlightenmentworks. Finding they contradicted all his hard learned Puritan learning, he wrote,using the metaphors of light that would soon be used to characterize the age,that, “All this was like a flood of day to his low state of mind”,[5]and that “he found himself like oneat once emerging out of the glimmer of twilight into the full sunshine of openday." Two years later in 1716 as a Yale Tutor, Johnson introduced a newcurriculum into Yale using the donated Dummer books, offering what Johnson called"The New Learning",[6]whichincluded the works and ideas of Francis Bacon, John Locke, Isaac Newton, Boyle,Copernicus, and literary works by Shakespeare, Milton, and Addison.Joseph Ellishas traced the impact of the newly introduced Enlightenment ideas on theYaleCommencement Thesis of 1718.[7]
Religious tolerance[edit]
A switch from sectarian politics andestablished religion in many states to religious tolerance, ecumenicalism, andthe disestablishment ofstate religionwas one of the distinguishingfeatures of the American Enlightenment. The passage of the newConnecticutConstitutionon October 5, 1818, overturned the180-year-old "Standing Order" and theThe ConnecticutCharter of 1662, whose provisions dated back to the founding of thestate in 1638 and theFundamental Orders ofConnecticut; it has been proposed as a date for the triumph if notthe end of the American Enlightenment.[8]The new constitution guaranteedfreedom of religion, disestablished theCongregational church,and ended the last effective theocracy in America.
Intellectual currents[edit]
Between 1714 and 1818 a greatintellectual change took place that changed the British Colonies of Americafrom a distant backwater into a leader in the fields of moral philosophy,educational reform, religious revival, industrial technology, science, and,most notably, political philosophy. It saw the disestablishment of religion inall the states, and a consensus on a "pursuit of happiness" basedpolitical philosophy.
Architecture[edit]
After 1780, theFederal-styleofAmerican Architecturebegan to divergefrom the Georgian style and became a uniquely American genre; in 1813, theAmerican architectIthiel Towndesigned and in1814-1816 built the first Gothic Style church in North America,Trinity Church on theGreenin New Haven, predating the EnglishGothic revivalby a decade. Inthe fields of literature, poetry, music and drama some nascent artisticattempts were made, particularly in pre-war Philadelphia, but American(non-popular) culture in these fields was largely imitative of British culturefor most of the period, and is generally considered not very distinguished.
Republicanism[edit]
Politically, the age isdistinguished by an emphasis uponeconomic liberty,republicanismandreligioustolerance, as clearly expressed in theUnited StatesDeclaration of Independence. Attempts to reconcilescience and religionresulted in arejection of prophecy, miracle, and revealed religion, resulting in aninclination towarddeismamong some majorpolitical leaders of the age.Americanrepublicanismemphasized consent of thegovernment, riddance of aristocracy, and fear of corruption. It represented theconvergence ofclassical republicanismand Englishrepublicanism (of 17th centuryCommonwealthmenand 18th centuryEnglish Country Whigs).[9]
J.G.A. Pocockexplained the intellectual sourcesin America:[10]
“
The Whig canon and the neo-Harringtonians,John Milton,James HarringtonandSidney,Trenchard,GordonandBolingbroke, together with the Greek, Roman, and Renaissance masters of the tradition as far asMontesquieu, formed the authoritative literature of this culture; and its values and concepts were those with which we have grown familiar: a civic and patriot ideal in which the personality was founded in property, perfected in citizenship but perpetually threatened by corruption; government figuring paradoxically as the principal source of corruption and operating through such means as patronage, faction, standing armies (opposed to the ideal of the militia); established churches (opposed to the Puritan and deist modes of American religion); and the promotion of a monied interest—though the formulation of this last concept was somewhat hindered by the keen desire for readily available paper credit common in colonies of settlement.
”
European sources[edit]
Sources of the AmericanEnlightenment are many and vary according to time and place. As a result of anextensive book trade with Great Britain, the colonies were well acquaintedwith European literature almost contemporaneously. Early influences wereEnglish writers, includingJames Harrington,Algernon Sidney, theViscountBolingbroke,John TrenchardandThomas Gordon(especially thetwo"sCato"s Letters), andJoseph Addison(whose tragedyCatowas extremely popular). A particularly importantEnglish legal writer wasSir William Blackstone,whoseCommentaries onthe Laws of Englandserved as a major influence on theAmericanFoundersand is a key source in the development Anglo-Americancommon law. AlthoughJohn Locke"sTwo Treatises ofGovernmenthas long been cited as a majorinfluence on American thinkers, historians David Lundberg andHenry F. Maydemonstrate that Locke"sEssay ConcerningHuman Understandingwas far more widely read than were his politicalTreatises.[11]
TheScottish Enlightenmentalso influencedAmerican thinkers. David Hume"sEssaysand hisHistory of Englandwere widely readin the colonies,[12]and Hume"s political thought had aparticular influence on James Madison and the Constitution.[13]Another important Scottish writerwasFrancis Hutcheson.Hutcheson"s ideas of ethics, along with notions of civility and politenessdeveloped by theEarl ofShaftesbury, and Addison andRichard Steelein theirSpectator, were a major influence onupper-class American colonists who sought to emulate European manners andlearning.
By far the most important Frenchsources to the American Enlightenment, however, wereMontesquieu"sSpirit of the LawsandEmer de Vattel"sLaw of Nations. Both informed early American ideasof government and were major influences on the Constitution.Voltaire"s histories were widely read but seldom cited.Rousseau"sinfluence was marginal.Noah Websterused Rousseau"s educational ideas ofchild development to structure his famousSpeller.A Germaninfluence includesSamuel Pufendorf, whose writings were also commonly cited byAmerican writers.
Liberalism andrepublicanism[edit]
Since the 1960s, historians havedebated the Enlightenment"s role in the American Revolution. Before 1960 theconsensus was thatliberalism, especiallythat ofJohn Locke, was paramount; republicanism was largely ignored.[14]The new interpretations werepioneered byJ.G.A. Pocockwho argued inThe MachiavellianMoment(1975) that, at least in the earlyeighteenth-century, republican ideas were just as important as liberal ones.Pocock"s view is now widely accepted.[15]Bernard BailynandGordon Woodpioneered the argument that theFounding Fathersof the United Stateswere more influenced byrepublicanismthan they were byliberalism. Cornell University Professor Isaac Kramnick, onthe other hand, argues that Americans have always been highlyindividualisticand therefore Lockean.[16]
In the decades before the AmericanRevolution (1776), the intellectual and political leaders of the coloniesstudied history intently, looking for guides or models for good (and bad)government. They especially followed the development of republican ideas in England.[17]Pocock explained the intellectualsources in the United States:
The Whig canon and theneo-Harringtonians,John Milton,James HarringtonandSidney,Trenchard,GordonandBolingbroke,together with the Greek, Roman, and Renaissance masters of the tradition as farasMontesquieu,formed the authoritative literature of this culture; and its values andconcepts were those with which we have grown familiar: a civic and patriotideal in which the personality was founded in property, perfected incitizenship but perpetually threatened by corruption; government figuringparadoxically as the principal source of corruption and operating through suchmeans as patronage, faction, standing armies (opposed to the ideal of themilitia), established churches (opposed to the Puritan and deist modes ofAmerican religion) and the promotion of a monied interest — though theformulation of this last concept was somewhat hindered by the keen desire forreadily available paper credit common in colonies of settlement. A neoclassicalpolitics provided both the ethos of the elites and the rhetoric of the upwardlymobile, and accounts for the singular cultural and intellectual homogeneity ofthe Founding Fathers and their generation.[18]
The commitment of most Americans tothese republican values made inevitable theAmerican Revolution, for Britain wasincreasingly seen as corrupt and hostile to republicanism, and a threat to theestablished liberties the Americans enjoyed.[19]
Leopold von Ranke, a leading German historian, in 1848 claimsthat American republicanism played a crucial role in the development ofEuropean liberalism:
By abandoning Englishconstitutionalism and creating a new republic based on the rights of theindividual, the North Americans introduced a new force in the world. Ideasspread most rapidly when they have found adequate concrete expression. Thusrepublicanism entered our Romanic/Germanic world.... Up to this point, theconviction had prevailed in Europe thatmonarchy best served the interests of the nation. Now the idea spread that thenation should govern itself. But only after a state had actually been formed onthe basis of the theory of representation did the full significance of thisidea become clear. All later revolutionary movements have this same goal....This was the complete reversal of a principle. Until then, a king who ruled bythe grace of God had been the center around which everything turned. Now theidea emerged that power should come from below.... These two principles arelike two opposite poles, and it is the conflict between them that determinesthe course of the modern world. In Europe theconflict between them had not yet taken on concrete form; with the FrenchRevolution it did.[20]
"Life, Liberty and the pursuitof Happiness"[edit]
Many historians[21]find that the origin ofthis famousphrasederives from Locke"s position that "no one oughtto harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions."[22]Others suggest that Jefferson tookthe phrase from Sir William Blackstone"sCommentaries on the Laws of England.[23]Others note thatWilliam Wollaston"s 1722 bookThe Religion ofNature Delineateddescribes the "truest definition" of"natural religion" as being "The pursuit of happinessby the practiceof reason and truth."[24]
TheVirginia Declaration ofRightsadopted by theVirginia Convention ofDelegateson June 12, 1776, adopted a few days beforeJefferson"s draft but written earlier, and written byGeorge Mason, is:
That all men are by nature equallyfree and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when theyenter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divesttheir posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means ofacquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness andsafety.
TheUnited StatesDeclaration of Independence, which was primarily written by Jefferson, was adopted by theSecond ContinentalCongresson July 4, 1776. The text of the second section ofthe Declaration of Independence reads:
We hold these Truths to beself-evident, thatall Men are createdequal, that they are endowed by theirCreatorwith certainunalienable Rights,that among these areLife, Libertyand the pursuit of Happiness.
Deism[edit]
Thomas Paine
Both the Moderate Enlightenment anda Radical or Revolutionary Enlightenment were reactions against theauthoritarianism, irrationality, andobscurantismof the established churches.Philosophers such asVoltairedepictedorganizedChristianityas a tool oftyrants and oppressors and as being used to defend monarchism, it was seen ashostile to the development of reason and the progress of science and incapableof verification.
An alternative religion wasdeism,the philosophical belief in a deity based on reason, rather than religiousrevelation or dogma. It was a popular perception among thephilosophes, who adopted deistic attitudes tovarying degrees. Deism greatly influenced the thought of intellectuals andFounding Fathers,includingJohn Adams,Benjamin Franklin, perhapsGeorge Washingtonand, especially,Thomas Jefferson.[25]The most articulate exponent wasThomas Paine, whoseThe Age of Reasonwas written in France in the early1790s, and soon reached the United States. Paine was highly controversial; whenJefferson was attacked for his deism in the1800 election, Republican politicians took pains to distancetheir candidate from Paine.[26]
Religious tolerance[edit]
Enlightened Founding Fathers,especiallyBenjamin Franklin,Thomas Jefferson,James MadisonandGeorge Washington, fought for and eventually attainedreligious freedomfor minority denominations.According to the founding fathers, the United States should be a countrywhere peoples of all faiths could live in peace and mutual benefit. JamesMadison summed up this ideal in 1792 saying, "Conscience is the most sacredof all property."
