1.“Age of Enlightenment.”__Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2007__.1 June 2007.< http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761571679_2/Age_of_Enlightenment.html >.
The main point of this website is to provide an online encyclopedia. The encyclopedia not only gives information about the selected topic, but also provides links to related topics that allow for a wide range of information within the subject area. The information on this website comes from Encarta, a credible, published encyclopedia. The purpose of this section of the Microsoft website is to provide an encyclopedia where users can research information. Criteria for the Enlightenment include the necessity of reason, science, and humanity. The period emphasized the power of human reason and the need for progress, exploration, and development. Enlightenment thinkers worked toward strengthening the state, rebelling against former ways of the church and nobility. People began looking to nature to find truth. Enlightenment thinkers pushed for a government in which every citizen could participate. This resource gave helpful information on the key characteristics of Enlightenment thought, the main people involved, and the major events occurring at the time. Although the information focuses on the Enlightenment throughout the world, it gives a perspective on America’s role in the Enlightenment compared to other countries.
2.Webb, Joe. “Echoes of Paine: Tracing The Age of Reason through the Writings of Emerson.” ATQ 20.3 (2006): 513-525.
This article defines the Age of Reason by comparing two influential leaders, Paine and Emerson. Paine exemplifies the main beliefs and criteria for the Enlightenment. Paine believed in looking to nature to find God, a universal way through which He speaks to all. He also believed that the Bible was created to overpower man. The article argues that Emerson, a leader of the Transcendental period, hold beliefs similar to Paine. Emerson tried to separate himself, but both believed in the right of man to his own opinion, both attacked organized church, and both worshipped God through nature. The article traces the path from the Enlightenment to Transcendentalism. In the words of Emerson, “Society is a wave. The wave moves onward, but the water of which it is composed, does not.” This article identified the main beliefs of the Enlightenment and the impact it had on the beliefs of the following period. The article highlighted the importance of individual rights, the idea that man should develop his own beliefs without relying on organized church. this article comes from a scholarly journal.
3. USINFO. Dec 2006 US Department of State’s Bureau of International Information Programs. Outline of American Literature. Democratic Origins and Revolutionary Writers 1776-1820. 8 June 2007 http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/oal/lit2.htm
During the Revolutionary America, early American writers struggled to find their own unique writing philosophy. Since they were descendent of England, they had already “cultivated English modes of thought and English fashions in dress and behavior” (Ch 2). With the boom in literacy, the issue of piracy developed in America. The copyright law of 1790 helped protect some of the early writers.
The 18th-century American Enlightenment was a movement marked by an emphasis on rationality rather than tradition, scientific inquiry instead of unquestioning religious dogma, and representative government in place of monarchy. Enlightenment thinkers and writers were devoted to the ideals of justice, liberty, and equally as the natural rights of man. (Ch 2)
The main purpose of this website shares the period in the history of the Revolution of America. The criteria this website uses to check if the specific author or text fits into this literary period is displaying the chronological order of the periods. The different chapters of each period has brief summary of events and authors. This resource was meaningful to me because of the vast amount of information I learned in the reading. I learned that the Enlightenment period helped change “the old-fashioned Puritan tradition” (Ch 2). An early writer, Benjamin Franklin was a “self-made man” in American. He wasn’t trying to be a copycat. Franklin’s self-confidence helped shape a new American made revolution. I credit this website because of its extensive product of information. It has a bibliography and is copyright protected. Plus, the information is from an international information program formed by the US government.
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In American literature, George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson all agreed “that laws, rather than man, should be the final sanction and that government should be responsible to the governed” (political philosophy). This political philosophy in the West was expanded by the Declaration of Independence. The Americans increasingly began to believe that they “must secure their rights outside the empire” (Declaration of Independence). And the human rights of all “human beings everywhere demand the realization of diverse value or capabilities to ensure their individual and collective well-being” (human rights). The main purpose of this website is to share article with the readers. This online encyclopedia is accessible for me to define a definition. The criteria this website uses for me to define my literary term is to link information with the website to help me in my research. The terms I need to absorb are linked and clearly explained. This reading was resourceful because it helped me explain the American constitutionalism. I help me identify some of the early American critics who helped liberate America. Their sets of belief about man kind sums up why our history is the way it began. I give credit to this website because it’s an encyclopedia, which is a trusted resource by scholars and students in academics.
5. “Democratic Origins and Revolutionary Writers, 1776-1820.” Outline of American Literature. December 2006. 31 May 2007. < http://usinfo.state.gov/products/ Pubs/oal/lit2.htm >
The above source is one chapter of an extensive electronic volume of information on American history through its first writers, posted on a federal government website. This chapter deals primarily with the writers, motivations, themes, and authors of the Enlightenment period. The information on the website describes Enlightenment writing as a “movement marked by rationality rather than tradition, scientific inquiry rather than unquestioning religious dogma, and representative government in place of monarchy.” Naturally, as the website notes, much of the writing of this period is political, calling into question some religious aspects as well. Any writer, before and during the American Revolution, who called into question the old ways of thinking could easily be considered an Enlightenment writer. The credibility of the website is unquestionable, being that it’s a government website, dealing mainly with historical events and the literature that came about as a result of such events. In additional, the website names specific authors, along with their corresponding works, making further research much easier.
6. Van Anglen, K.P. “The Lightning from the Sky and the Scepter from Tyrants: Religion and the American Enlightenment.” Religion and the Arts. June 1999. p. 248 31 May 2007. < http://web.ebscohost.com.ezp.mc.maricopa.edu/ehost/pdf?vid=10&hid=118&sid=c22004ca-4d60-860a-51f5fd33afa4%40sessionmgr108 >.
The above source is a peer-reviewed article from a scholarly journal (giving it credibility no doubt) regarding the two schools of academic thought when it comes to the inspiration behind the American Revolution. One school of thought is that the writers, founding fathers, and colonizers of the time were secularly minded, meaning they wished to escape religious influence. Another school of thought, as described by the website, argues that religion played a huge role in the forming of a new government, nation, and people, thus influencing the writings of the times.Although the website may not provide unlimited amounts of literary information, it provokes thoughts on the circumstances and subjects of which Enlightenment authors were putting into print.
7. Hooker, Richard. “The Enlightenment Comes to America.” The Idea of America. 6 June 1999. Washington State University. 8 June, 2007. < http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/AMERICA/ENLIGHT.HTM >
This website gives a history of America. It talks about the enlightenment years of the infant United States, and the political revolutions that followed enlightenment ideals. This website is helpful because it gives the reader an idea of how enlightenment ideas influenced the direction of the country.
8. Enlightenment in America, 1720-1825. Pickering & Chatto Publishers. June 7, 2007 < http://www.pickeringchatto.com/index.php/pc_site/major_works/the_enlightenment_in_america_1720_1825 >
This website is actually a review of a book about the American Enlightenment. It is helpful however because it provides dating for the Enlightenment period. The dates given are 1720-1825. This may be a broad label applied to the period, but it serves the purpose of dating the enlightenment period.
9. " http://galenet.galegroup.com.ezp.mc.maricopa.edu/servlet/BioRCvrsn
=149&locID=mcc_mesa&srchtp=dctnry&c=1&DTRM=enlightenment&ste=
31&n=10&docNum=BY3201224312 This website was a very good one. It went by each century and defined what the enlightenment idea was at that time. The information is very well written and gave me a good basis for what I was looking for. - April Penman--PLEASE CLEAN UP THIS MLA BIBLIOGRAPHIC CITATION!!!
Enlightenment is the belief, "that human reason could be used to combat ignorance, superstition, and tyranny and to build a better world. When enlightenment is discussed people are usually talking about in the 18th century. I have learned that it goes back to as early as the 13th century with Thomas Acquinas. Acquinas used the logical procedures of Aristotle to protect the dogmas of Christianity. Other people in that time used those goals with every aspect of faith with logic. Schoolmen, Scholastics, or doctors of theology were the nicknames given to these individuals. In the 14th and 15th century, in Italy and France, there were humanists. Most of these individuals were Catholics. They believed that when worshipping God one must think on his creation and humanity. They believed that people shared creative power with God, such as: painters, architects, musicians, and the scholar. Moving along the time line to the 17th century. Rene Descartes had the same ideas as the schoolmen but he believed that one begins with a clean slate. "I think, therefore I am." Building on that he tried to, "reason his way to a complete defense of Christianity." With these ideas he made lots of logical errors so that his successors did not believe him. In the 17th Century there were witch-hunts and wars of religion. Slavery was also happening during this time. In present day many people view the enlightenment, "as a historical anomaly." Like in the Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary it defines enlightenment as, "a philosophic movement of the 18th century marked by a rejection of traditional social, religious, and political ideas and an emphasis on rationalism used with the.
10. Osborne, Thomas. Aspects of Enlightenment: Social Theory and the Ethics of Truth. London: U C L P, Limited, 1998. Mesa Community College ebrary. 15 June 2007 <http://site.ebrary.com.ezp.mc.maricopa.edu/lib/mesa/Top?channelName=mesa&cpage=1&docID=2003631&f00=text&frm=smp.x&hitsPerPage=10&layout=document&p00=enlightenment&sortBy=score&sortOrder=desc>.
The main purpose of this website is to discuss different aspects of the Enlightenment era. The website defines the period of the Enlightenment as the eight-teenth-century. With this knowledge one can see if a specific author or test fits into this literary period. This resource was helpful in reading and interpreting authors, texts, and themes of the period because it had information on all of those elements. This was a credible website because the author was clearly listed. It is a credible also because the publishing information is clearly noted.
11. Geras, Norman. Enlightenment and Modernity. Palgrave, 1999. Mesa Community College ebrary. 15 June 2007 <http://site.ebrary.com.ezp.mc.maricopa.edu/lib/mesa/Top?channelName=mesa&cpage=1&docID=2004445&f00=text&frm=smp.x&hitsPerPage=10&layout=document&p00=enlightenment&sortBy=score&sortOrder=desc>.
The main purpose of this website is to offer background information about Enlightenment. The website states that the Enlightenment era was the 1800’s, with this in mind you could check if an author or text fits in this era. Since the resource offers background information about the Enlightenment era, this makes it help in reading and interpreting the authors, texts, and themes of the period. This website was credible because the author and publishing information are clearly stated.
Comments (2)
jamie alger said
at 2:20 pm on Jun 11, 2007
April- I liked how you traced the history that led up to the Enlightenment. Very interesting.
jamie alger said
at 2:25 pm on Jun 11, 2007
Neil- Good website information. I never know that something called "The Glorious Revolution" existed.
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