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IDEAS IN AMERICAN CULTURE
© Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. For review purposes only. Do not distribute.
Reason and Revolution

The United States began in revolution over two centuries ago, and revolutionary
ideas have shaped the country’s history ever since. Social and political movements
for generations have been rooted in the Enlightenment principles of liberty, indi-
IDEA BANK vidualism, and self-government that inspired the nation’s founders. Indeed, the
very idea of progress itself originates in Enlightenment thought, which proposed
Authority that reason, revolution, freedom, and promotion of democratic and patriotic
Conflict ideals would lead to a better world.
Discrimination In many ways, the United States is a product of those European Enlighten-
Equality ment ideas. Known as “the Age of Reason,” the Enlightenment era spanned the
Fairness late seventeenth century to the early nineteenth century. Many philosophers, sci-
Freedom entists, and writers during this time challenged traditional authorities, such as
Independence priests and kings. These thinkers relied on reason, individual observation, and
Individualism empirical evidence to understand the world. Their view of authority led to new
Justice ideas of individualism, freedom, progress, and self-government. We can hear
Liberty these ideas in the country’s founding documents. For example, in 1775, Patrick
Loyalty Henry delivered his “Speech to the Virginia Convention” (p. 118), which ignited
Oppression the American Revolution by urging the patriots that the time to fight had come,
Persuasion proclaiming, “Give me liberty, or give me death!”
As the colonies grew and prospered, they became more independent from
Pride British rule. In the 1760s, the British Parliament began enacting a series of taxes
Protection on the colonies to pay off debts
Protest from the French and Indian War.
Reason To the British government, the
Rebellion measures were justified: its troops
Retaliation
Revolution
Rights
The Pageant of a Nation, an oil
painting by Jean Leon Gerome
Ferris (1863–1930), depicts Thomas
Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Reproduction number LC-USZC4-9904
John Adams reviewing a draft of
the Declaration of Independence in
Philadelphia.

It’s been said that the American
Revolution was a “war of words.”
What is the relationship between
reason and revolution in this “war of
words”?

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