Thomas Paine Pamphlets, Essays

Thomas Jefferson Documents, Letters

Philip Freneau Poetry

Michel-Guillaume Jean de Crèvecoeur Sketches, Essays

Thematic Characteristics

Presented ideas of Newton, Locke and Descartes

Believed in Deism--God governing through natural laws

God, man, and nature existing in harmony

Reason, reflection, investigation, prudence, and common sense

as guides to understanding divine design

Emphasis on present world

The natural rights of man

Political rights of the colonies

Defining an American

Human and political folly

Contrast and comparisons of Europeans and Americans

Arguments for separation from England

Stylistic Characteristics

English form and style--American sensibility

Many pamphlets and manifestos

Highly rhetorical rather than lurical

Practical, political, and persuasive

Clarity, precision, and grace in prose

Neoclassical satire and broadsides

Stuck closely to form and meter

Emphasized wit

Use of ironic persona

Very topical

Evocation of a national sense

Much propaganda for American Revolition

Important Historical Events

French and Indian War Ends--England the most powerful nation –-1763

Stamp Act 1765

American Revolution--1775-1780

American Constitution ratified--1789

Thomas Jefferson becomes president--1801