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A Nation is Born 1750-1800 - Coggle Diagram
A Nation is Born 1750-1800
Historical Background
The age of reason
Spurred by the work of many
seventeenth-century thinkers such as...
Scientists Galileo and Sir Isaac Neewton, philosophers Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and politicla theorist John Locke
The writers and thinkers valued reason over faith
They had little interest in the hereafter, believing instead in the power of reason and science to further human progress
They believe that people are good by nature
Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Pain, and Thomas Jefferson helped to express the ideas of the age of reason through their writings
Toward a clash of arms
The American Revolution was preceded by The French and Indian War, a struggle between England and France for control of North America
The conflict broke out in 1754 and continued nearly a decade.
When the war officially ended in 1763, defeated France gave up its claims to North American territory
In September 1774, colonial leaders, although not speaking openly for independece, met in Philadelphia for the First Continental Congress
Literature of the period
A time of crisis
Much of what was produced during
the Revolutionary period was public
writing
The mind of the nations was on politics
Journalists and printers provided a forum
for the expression of ideas
Politics as literature
James Otis of Massachusetts defended
colonial rights vigorously in speeches
and pamphlets
Otis is credited with giving Americans their rallying cry: "Taxation without representation is tyranny"
Patrick Henry was a spellbinding orator whose speech against the Stamp Act in the Virginia House of Burguesses brought cries of "Treason!"
Thomas Paine was perhaps more influential than any other in swaying public opinion in favor of independence
The Declaration of Independence was first drafted by Thomas Jefferson in June 1776
Benjamin Franklin was involved in its creation
The Constitution of the United Stated was drafted in 1787