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18th-Century American Literature Videos 6 videos
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American Literature: Enlighten Me 214 Views
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Description:
What was the Age of Enlightenment? It was a time of some major eye-opening. And not of the Clockwork Orange variety. An intellectual movement swept across Europe, and established ideas in the realms of philosophy, politics, government, religion and war were challenged. At least hoop skirts were still "in."
Transcript
- 00:01
No in lightning Establish not affected rooms of philosophy politics
- 00:10
going new world exotica growth he's appeared to do them
- 00:13
by and large retired attorney and injustice in light man
- 00:19
wait wait Because religious revival god's will tis brief critical
- 00:29
thinking question Okay we're going to change gears here a
Full Transcript
- 00:34
bit this time we're not analyzing any great beloved work
- 00:37
of literature just a recent article written by an english
- 00:39
professor Um why are we wasting your time Well we're
- 00:43
not hopefully but this lesson will be about analyzing language
- 00:47
and stylistic choices like the first few videos in this
- 00:49
course instead it's going to focus on the content of
- 00:53
the writing In other words we want to read this
- 00:55
article to learn about the impact that the enlightenment had
- 00:58
our new england in the seventeen hundreds to be crystal
- 01:01
clear the enlightenment of that period time between giving christmas
- 01:04
when everyone turned their house into a gaudy festival of
- 01:06
headache inducing elimination Okay scratch that the enlightment was actually
- 01:11
an intellectual movement that swept through europe and beyond during
- 01:15
the eighteenth century It carried the notion that beliefs in
- 01:18
the past were dim or dark or lacking and that
- 01:21
those old ideas needed reawaken with light Hence the catchy
- 01:26
title The era was all about looking skeptically at the
- 01:30
established norms like why should the ruling class structured not
- 01:33
be up for discussion Why should everyone be forced to
- 01:36
subscribe to a particular religion Why isn't it time to
- 01:39
give tolerance and personal liberty a try So yeah lots
- 01:43
of changes in the political and philosophical rooms and the
- 01:45
era's artwork specs painters were no longer required by the
- 01:49
seventeenth century painters union toe only paint people who look
- 01:52
like baby versions of vladimir putin anyway since new england
- 01:55
was under english control at the time again sarge a
- 01:58
catchy name there new attitudes about life shaped in the
- 02:01
enlightenment had a defining effect on life in the new
- 02:04
world Stuff that was going on overseas filtered into america
- 02:09
like one big part of the enlightenment was a scientific
- 02:11
revolution that was happening in europe There were a ton
- 02:14
of new inventions steam engines hot air balloons diving bills
- 02:18
fire extinguishers glow in the dark sneakers and a whole
- 02:21
bunch of others Some of the great scientific minds behind
- 02:25
these advancements were making their way to new england where
- 02:27
they would begin A culture of innovation and technology led
- 02:30
independence same deal with great political thinkers philosophers and religious
- 02:34
theorists Thea upstart world of new england had full So
- 02:39
with this huge influx of brainiacs in various fields flooding
- 02:42
into the new world there was bound to be an
- 02:44
impact on puritan culture These folks were all about not
- 02:48
changing They were uber conservative determined to honor the past
- 02:52
But then here comes this flashy new upstart wanting to
- 02:54
shake everything up Many puritans were resistant They thought we
- 02:58
would today call progress Others decided to go with the
- 03:01
flow Which is exactly what emery elliot talks about in
- 03:04
his article The legacy of puritanism How the evolving progressive
- 03:08
ideas of enlightenment shaped puritanism and how the resulting religious
- 03:12
revivals led to both intellectual and physical revolution No need
- 03:17
to read the entire thing Just go ahead and read
- 03:19
the section the impact of the enlightenment on new england
- 03:22
Come back when you're ready we'll be waiting All right
- 03:51
so america was just sort of figuring it's about like
- 03:53
a teenager going through puberty Sorry for made it awkward
- 03:56
Today we say we're american which means something and not
- 04:00
just that we have a mailing address somewhere in the
- 04:02
fifty states we maybe a country full of individuals but
- 04:06
we also have a collective identity Just think of some
- 04:09
of the things that make all of us regardless of
- 04:11
our personal india sink receives an interest fundamentally american The
- 04:15
desire to swoop in and rescue or teach the rest
- 04:18
of the world was really right and wrong Culture of
- 04:20
progress economic security and big business Love for the twilight
- 04:24
movies let's See what elliot has to say about the
- 04:26
enlightenment impact from our country's humble beginnings Our ancestors were
- 04:30
totally excited about plotting forward in the same old same
- 04:34
old They just loved bowing to a king who cared
- 04:37
about his pheasant hunting prowess than their health They were
- 04:41
huge tragedy being herded into the roman catholic church With
- 04:44
no saying matter on they were definitely in the mood
- 04:46
for more centuries of tyranny brutality and injustice Yeah not
- 04:50
really their basic thought Maybe it's time to carve out
- 04:53
a better tomorrow The article covers the degree to which
- 04:56
that particular tomorrow was determined by what was happening in
- 04:59
europe at the time There was now a vast liberal
- 05:02
movement sweeping the civilized world People were reevaluating old ideals
- 05:06
that had long been taken for granted Maybe slavery was
- 05:10
ah bad thing Maybe the public could rely on more
- 05:14
scientific analysis and rationality and less on old tired assumptions
- 05:18
Maybe every man had natural rights The mines were expanding
- 05:23
People were thinking outside the box in art in music
- 05:27
in politics even in religion Yep puritanism learned to shake
- 05:32
its tail feather As elliot explains in his writings puritans
- 05:35
basically broke into three protestant sects based on their dividing
- 05:39
beliefs Male female and other sects got it Okay so
- 05:45
there were some who were married to the old ways
- 05:47
They were called old calvinists because a they walked with
- 05:50
canes and had liver spots and b they subscribe to
- 05:53
the beliefs promoted by john calvin with a major focus
- 05:56
on the concept of some other puritans worked andi emphasizing
- 06:01
the strict calvinist doctrine which made it easier to attract
- 06:04
new members Thes guys were called the old Lights among
- 06:08
these more liberal protestants were some who went so far
- 06:11
as actively evangelize I make an effort to convert others
- 06:15
to their church's beliefs They lead religious revive and we're
- 06:18
big on imagery and passionately spoken sermons The members of
- 06:22
this sect become known as new lights Awesome So who
- 06:26
cares Well let's Think about it These new lights were
- 06:29
skilled motivators They inspired people with their passion and urge
- 06:33
them to make sacrifices for a greater good Yeah it
- 06:36
was actually under the umbrella of religion But those skills
- 06:39
translated quite well When it came time arouse colonists to
- 06:43
take up arms against the bad guy I e england
- 06:46
The new lights might have done most of their preaching
- 06:47
about god The colonial pride was still at the forefront
- 06:51
of their value system America was on its way to
- 06:53
becoming the united states of america And it would need
- 06:57
dedicated persuasive speakers toe light fires under people's butts before
- 07:02
the enlightenment Most colonists weren't particularly thrilled about their situation
- 07:06
No but no one was about to go to war
- 07:08
in order to change their status They were kind of
- 07:11
going about their lives but they were being ruled by
- 07:13
a king who didn't seem to care whether they lived
- 07:15
or died So they remain just sort of resigned to
- 07:17
their fate But then came the great awakening The religious
- 07:21
revival brought about by the new lights It was a
- 07:24
huge improvement over the pretty good awakening which only had
- 07:27
one eye open and change These new lights were both
- 07:30
inspirational and opened Everyone's eyes both of us They told
- 07:34
everyone that americans were god's chosen people that a better
- 07:37
future awaited them All they had to do was fight
- 07:40
for that future So thanks to the idea of american
- 07:43
exceptionalism the belief that america was the greatest country on
- 07:46
earth and their vision of sacred destiny aii americans were
- 07:50
god's chosen people The puritans turned protestants decided to go
- 07:55
fulfill their duty to god What did that mean Well
- 07:58
basically it meant ridding themselves of england so they could
- 08:00
do and a round thing Thomas paine and just about
- 08:02
every great writer and orator of the time talked about
- 08:05
his sense of manifest destiny The belief that it was
- 08:08
god's will for american settlers to spread westward and to
- 08:11
form a bigger and better nation than the one they
- 08:13
were leaving behind Without that idea spring everyone onward The
- 08:17
revolutionary war would have never happened And we never would
- 08:21
have had all those great paintings of it Which would
- 08:23
have been a bummer So the colonists many of them
- 08:26
spurred to action by the new lights One door Sorry
- 08:29
Spoiler alert earned their freedom Okay God our freedom Awesome
- 08:33
sauce What next Well with the country under their control
- 08:36
it was time for american settlers to establish a new
- 08:39
and improved economic and political systems and her capitalism Hey
- 08:44
when you think about it protestants were certainly preoccupied with
- 08:46
the hereafter But they also believe that while you were
- 08:49
on earth you'd better work your funds off That is
- 08:52
it was disrespectful to god not a car earning a
- 08:56
living to support yourself and your family be a burden
- 08:58
to nobody Don't sit around and wait for handouts from
- 09:01
the government Pursue your spiritual and material calling so you
- 09:05
could be rewarded on earth as well as in heaven
- 09:08
which has capitalism written all over it Well material calling
- 09:12
part Anyway elliot goes on to talk about how many
- 09:14
of our most inspirational leaders in the centuries Since like
- 09:16
martin luther king jr made great strides by reminding us
- 09:20
that we the people were meant for something better That
- 09:23
are strong ideals including our belief that all men are
- 09:26
created equal made a smarter and mortally better than backward
- 09:30
countries Who just didn't get it although king and company
- 09:33
usually put in more eloquently So yeah well it's unlikely
- 09:39
you cross tasked with a seventeenth century puritan nowadays on
- 09:42
a trip to seven eleven their influence on our present
- 09:45
culture is undeniable and it isn't difficult to see how
- 09:48
the enlightenment had an influence on them Why does any
- 09:52
of this matter Well for one thing we have our
- 09:55
freedom We're not having to check in with british soldiers
- 09:58
standing guard outside her house every morning so don't we
- 10:01
have a debt Tell those revolutionaries who risked their lives
- 10:04
is to get england out of our hair many of
- 10:06
whom were incited toe action by the protestants It took
- 10:10
the enlightenment a brand new way of looking at the
- 10:12
world to convince early american settlers that they could have
- 10:15
their own country and that they had the strength to
- 10:18
go out there and take it Machiavelli would be proud
- 10:22
for curiosity's sake Where do you think we'd be with
- 10:25
out capitalism Do you think we have quite so many
- 10:28
nice things What There have been as many advancements in
- 10:31
medicine or technology or reality tv programming Would there even
- 10:35
be on american dream All right enough of me talking
- 10:39
at you Here are some Things for you to ponder
- 10:42
What is the doctrine of predestination and why did many
- 10:47
people have a problem with it If you could go
- 10:49
back in time until the puritans that they'd be at
- 10:51
least partly responsible for the rise of capitalism how would
- 10:55
they have felt about it Next What was the great
- 10:58
awakening and what effect did it have on american christianity
- 11:02
and last what's The connection between the puritan idea of
- 11:05
americans as the chosen people and the idea of national
- 11:08
pride have fun mulling over your answers to these questions
- 11:12
I hope you find all these mulling on enlightening experience 00:11:17.962 --> [endTime] Sorry really i'm sorry
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