Week 6: The Literature of Reason and Revolution
Study Guide 
(Return to the Week 6 Schedule)
.
The revolutionaries who would become the founders of the United States were men and women of the 18th century, of its world view and value systems.  If the religious Puritanism fed the enthusiasm of the leaders and settlers of the English colonies of the 17th century, "Deism" was the convenient religious expression for many of the most influential leaders of the Revolutionary War and the drafters of the United States Constitution.  Read the introductions to the writers of the period and the online resources explicating the concepts lying behind both the "Declaration of Independence" and the "Constitution" found in the "Federalist Papers." 
. 
Study Questions Over the Readings 
. 
Benjamin Franklin’s “Autobiography” 
1) Cite evidence that would characterize Franklin as a “project person.” 
2) What in his “Autobiography” suggests the appropriateness of the title of Franklin as a “self-made man”? 
3) Be able to trace Franklin’s growth as a “Deist.” 
4) What might orthodox Christians find objectionable in Franklin’s religious attitudes? 
5) Explain Neo-classical values and attributes in Franklin. 
. 
Thomas Jefferson’s “Declaration of Independence.” 
1) What neo-classical values are to be found in the “Declaration”? 
2) What suggests the “Declaration” as a rationalist document? 
. 
Thomas Paine’s “Age of Reason” 
1) What does Paine mean by “reason”? 
2) Characterize “Age of Reason” as an “empirical” document. 
3) What are the criteria of truth or belief in anything, according to Paine? 

Basic Concepts Related to the Readings
.
Classicism and Neo-Classicism 
Scholasticisim, Rationalism, and Empiricism: Epistemology and Three Western Systems of Reasoning  
The Theories of Catastrophism and Uniformitarianism 

. 

 
 
This page was last modified on August 27, 2004,
and is maintained by Dr. Geoffrey A. Grimes.
.