Module 4 Lesson 1 - Read

Read: The Enlightenment and Political Thought Prior to the Revolution

Overview

Encyclopaedia or a Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts and Crafts. 1751c. The Enlightenment, or the Age of Reason, was an intellectual and cultural movement in the 18th century that emphasized reason over superstition and science over blind faith. Using the power of the press, Enlightenment thinkers like John Locke, Isaac Newton, and Voltaire questioned accepted knowledge and spread new ideas about openness, investigation, and religious tolerance throughout Europe and the Americas. Many consider the Enlightenment a major turning point in Western civilization: an age of light replacing an age of darkness.

The old way of life was represented by superstition, an angry God, and absolute submission to authority. The thinkers of the Age of Reason ushered in a new way of thinking. This new way championed the accomplishments of humankind. Individuals did not have to accept despair. Science and reason could bring happiness and progress. Kings did not rule by divine right. They had an obligation to their subjects. Europeans pondered the implications for nearly a century. Americans put them into practice first.

Newton's laws of gravity and motion described the world in terms of natural laws beyond any spiritual force. People were beginning to doubt the existence of a God who could predestine human beings to eternal damnation and empower a tyrant for a king. Europe would be forever changed by these ideas.

In America, intellectuals were reading these ideas as well. On their side of the Atlantic, enlightened ideas of liberty and progress had a chance to flourish without the shackles of Old Europe. Religious leaders began to change their old dogmatic positions. They began to emphasize the similarities between the Anglican Church and the Puritan Congregationalists rather than the differences. Even Cotton Mather, the Massachusetts minister who wrote and spoke so convincingly about the existence of witches, advocated science to immunize citizens against smallpox. Harvard ministers became so liberal that Yale College was founded in New Haven in 1707 in an attempt to retain old Calvinist ideas. This attempt failed, and the entire faculty except one converted to the Church of England in 1722. By the end of the century, many New England ministers would become Unitarians, doubting even the divinity of Christ.

A Spiritual Revival

Like much of Europe, England had been a Catholic country until the Protestant Reformation. Henry VIII had, at first, defended the Catholic Church from the criticisms of Martin Luther, but later broke with the Catholic Church in order to divorce Catherine of Aragon and, in 1534, declared himself the head of the Church of England. Unlike other Protestant movements, the essence and doctrine of the Anglican Church vacillated between Catholicism and Protestantism, depending on what religious views were held by the current monarch and his or her advisors. This was a natural consequence of the Church and State being tied together. The result was an Anglican Church that remained Catholic but was caught in the middle, blending aspects of Catholicism and Protestantism. Because the Anglicans retained a detailed liturgical structure, all Anglican churches followed a common guide. Any Anglican, whether in England or in the colonies, could confidently assume what scriptures would be read and what prayers would be said on any given Sunday. For many, this formal, predictable style of worship did not meet their spiritual needs. Indeed, some felt England to be almost a spiritual desert.

The First Great Awakening was a religious revival in the American colonies triggered by a belief among Calvinists that the spiritual life of the colonists was endangered. With a focus on the material, rather than the spiritual, and the pursuit of wealth, rather than the pursuit of a good Christian life, the lifestyle choices of the colonists alarmed and then invigorated evangelical ministers, launching the Great Awakening. Ultimately, ministers from both sides of the Atlantic would inspire each other and be involved in this spiritual revival.

New Ideas – New Political Beliefs

New ideas shaped political attitudes as well.John Locke defended the displacement of a monarch who would not protect the lives, liberties, and properties of the English  people. Locke also wrote that men were born with all “rights” and that governments were created by men through a social contract. In this contract, men gave up rights tothe government in return for the government protecting men’s rights and providing peace and security. As such, Locke argued,   any   uler — indeed any government — who broke the contract could be legitimately removed and replaced with a government who would protect men’s rights. Since man created government, if necessary, man could abolish it or change it.

Jean Jacques-Rousseau stated that society should be ruled by the "general will" of the people. Baron de Montesquieu declared that power should not be concentrated in the hands of any one individual. He recommended separating power among executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government. In his Treatise on Tolerance, Voltaire wrote of individual freedoms of thought, expression, speech, and religion.

American intellectuals began to absorb these ideas. The ideas and beliefs set forth in the Declaration of Independence are Thomas Jefferson's application of John Locke's ideas. Thomas Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense, published at the beginning of the American Revolution, relied on Locke’s theories to present a logical attack on despotism by governments. The delegates who declared independence from Britain used many of these arguments. The constitutions of our first states and the United States Constitution reflect Enlightenment principles.

Several ideas dominated Enlightenment thought, including rationalism, empiricism, progressivism, and cosmopolitanism. Rationalism is the idea that humans are capable of using their faculty of reason to gain knowledge. This was a sharp turn away from the prevailing idea that people needed to rely on scripture or church authorities for knowledge. Empiricism promotes the idea that knowledge comes from experience and observation of the world. Progressivism is the belief that through their powers of reason and observation, humans could make unlimited, linear progress over time; this belief was especially important as a response to the carnage and upheaval of the English Civil Wars in the 17th century. Finally, cosmopolitanism reflected Enlightenment thinkers’ views of themselves as citizens of the world and actively engaged in it instead of being provincial and closed-minded. Enlightenment thinkers endeavored to be ruled by reason, not prejudice.

Expand: Freedom of the Press and John Peter Zengler

Big Brother is Watching

Consistent with Enlightenment thinking, no democracy has existed in the modern world without the existence of a free press; Voltaire included freedom of expression and of speech in his Treatise on Tolerance. Newspapers and pamphlets allow for the exchange of ideas and for the voicing of dissent. When a corrupt government holds power, the press becomes a critical weapon. It organizes opposition and can help revolutionary ideas spread. The trial of John Peter Zenger, a New York printer, was an important step toward this most precious freedom for American colonists.

John Peter Zenger was a German immigrant who printed a publication called the New York Weekly Journal. This publication harshly pointed out the actions of the corrupt royal governor, William S. Cosby. It accused the government of rigging elections and allowing the French enemy to explore New York harbor. It accused the governor of an assortment of crimes and basically labeled him an idiot. Although Zenger merely printed the articles, he was hauled into jail. The authors were anonymous, and Zenger would not name them.

The Zenger Trial and Freedom of the Press

In 1733, Zenger was accused of libel, a legal term whose meaning is quite different for us today than it was for him. In his day, it was libel when you published information that was opposed to the government. Truth or falsity were irrelevant. He never denied printing the pieces. The judge therefore felt that the verdict was never in question. Something very surprising happened, however.

The first jury was packed with individuals on Cosby's payroll. Throughout this process, Zenger's wife Anna kept the presses rolling. Her reports resulted in replacing Cosby's jury with a true jury of Zenger's peers.

When the trial began and Zenger's new attorney began his defense, a stir fluttered through the courtroom. The most famous lawyer in the colonies, Andrew Hamilton of Philadelphia, stepped up to defend Zenger. Hamilton admitted that Zenger printed the charges and demanded that the prosecution prove them false. In a stirring appeal to the jury, Hamilton pleaded for his new client's release. "It is not the cause of one poor printer," he claimed, "but the cause of liberty." The judge ordered the jury to convict Zenger if they believed he printed the stories. But, the jury returned in less than ten minutes with a verdict of not guilty.

Cheers filled the courtroom and soon spread throughout the countryside. Zenger and Hamilton were hailed as heroes. Another building block of liberty was in place. Although true freedom of the press was not known until the passage of the First Amendment, newspaper publisher

 

Module 4 Lesson 1 of 6