Age of Enlightenment

Reason and Revolution, Romanticism and Transcendentalism

The 18th Century Age of Enlightenment was a battle between religion and intellect. Many intellectuals saw this period as a time of “Enlightening” that the public should be made aware of. The coming of intellect was not confined to Literature or Music, but it spanned through science as well (Lewis). Alexander Pope brought Newton’s ideas into his poetry, saying “Whose body nature is, and God the soul / All nature is but art, unknown to thee” (Lewis). Thomas Paine called the Age of Enlightenment the Age of Reason, and believed that every man should be allowed their opinion, and considered the deprivation of this slavery (Sage).

The Age of Enlightenment paved the way for great thinkers and problem solvers as Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin and Thomas Paine, to name a few. “Franklin was the epitome of the Enlightenment, the versatile, practical embodiment of rational humanity in the eighteenth century” Perkins, Perkins p. 282). Benjamin Franklin was a large proponent of the time through his constant search for intellect. His works in the 1740s through the 1750s helped to usher in the electrical age which was a part of the Age of Enlightenment (Schiffer, et al., 67). Not only did Franklin’s analytical mind produce an abundance of useful inventions and philosophies, but it also enabled him to view the world differently than others, which is why he was so important to the rational humanity movement. Franklin used this gift as a platform to improve the daily life of all Americans. Jefferson, much like Franklin, was sympathetic toward humanity and also had an inquisitive mind that allowed him to study a wide range of career fields. “This understanding he applied, with simple American directness, to a conception of democracy for a new land of plenty, where the people might have a fresh start toward liberty, selfhood, and that excellence which he sought in all things” (Perkins, 375). These two men took the time to...