1. THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD 1750-1800 AMERICAN LITERATURE

2. AUTHORS Benjamin Franklin Thomas Jefferson Thomas Paine Patrick Henry

3. *Focus on Political Writing (nonfiction) Autobiography Speeches Pamphlets Almanack Declarations Poems TYPES OF LITERATURE

4. THE AGE OF REASON OR ENLIGHTENMENT Writers valued reason over faith This was a major change from the Puritan period and the belief in God for salvation Belief in the power of science to further human development

5. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO REVOLT? 1. To attempt to overthrow the authority of the state; rebel 2. To oppose or refuse to accept something

6. Diction Charged words Repetition Restatement Parallelism Rhetorical Question LITERARY TERMS

7. 1736-1799 PATRICK HENRY

8. The Virginia Conventions were a series of five political meetings in the Colony of Virginia during the American Revolution. Because the House of Burgesses had been dissolved in 1774 by Royal Governor Lord Dunmore, the conventions served as a revolutionary provisional government until the establishment of the independent Commonwealth of Virginia in 1776. THE VIRGINIA CONVENTIONS

9. Considered to be the most powerful orator (public speaker) of the American Revolution. 1775 he delivered his most famous speech at the Virginia Provincial Convention HIS INFLUENCE ON THE CONVENTION

10. Henry played a key role in turning colonial sentiment against negotiation with England and toward armed resistance to England He begins his speech with a respectful rebuttal to the previous speeches and then defends his call for independence. HIS INFLUENCE ON THE CONVENTION

11. He argues that the colonists have exhausted every other option and war is all that is going to solve their problems. He goes on to say that the British are already preparing for war which undercuts any argument for peaceful compliance.

12. April 19, 1775 (one month from the day of Henry’s speech), the Revolutionary War began at the Battle of Lexington. THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR

13. God War Slavery Chains Freedom Liberty Reconciliation Struggle REPETITION IN HIS SPEECH

14. THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE THOMAS JEFFERSON

15. DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE Drafted by Thomas Jefferson All government power comes from the people King had trampled the peoples’ natural rights. Colonists now had the right to rebel

16. LITERARY CHARACTERISTICS emphasis on logic and rational thought, not emotions; emphasis on the social/good of the community, not the individual “But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.”