A letter dated October 1, 1752, began:
A frequent mention is made in the public papers from Europe, of the success of the Philadelphia experiment, for drawing the electric fire from clouds by means of pointed rods of iron erected on high buildings,"1
It proceeded to describe a curious scientific experiment involving a kite and a thunderstorm:
When the rain has wet the kite and twine, so that it can conduct the electric fire freely, you will find it stream out plentifully from the key on the approach of your knuckle. At this key the phial may be charged; and from electric fire thus obtained, Spirits may be kindled, and all the other electric experiments be performed, which are usually done by the help of a rubbed glass globe or tube; and thereby the sameness of the electric matter with that of lightning completely demonstrated."2
Its author was Benjamin Franklin, one of America's Founding Fathers, and a key figure in the American Enlightenment (1714-1815). The latter was an important intellectual period that focused on the ideas of rationalism, individualism, religious tolerance, social progress, and the development of natural sciences.
Fig. 1 - Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky, by Benjamin West, ca. 1816.
American Enlightenment: Summary
American Enlightenment (1714-1815) was an era in American intellectual history. It impacted society, culture, science, religion, and politics. This period was also directly linked to the ideology of classical Liberalism and the American Revolution of 1776. Major Enlightenment figures in the New World included:
- Thomas Paine (1737-1809)
- George Washington (1732-1799)
- Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)
- James Madison (1751-1836)
- John Adams (1735-1826)
- Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
- and others
American Enlightenment was also rooted in its earlier European counterpart. In turn, European Enlightenment influenced the French Revolution of 1789 and its ideals.
These ideals included:
- religious tolerance
- rationalism
- individualism
- egalitarianism
- social and scientific progress
- secularism
- critique of social institutions
In Europe, Enlightenment thinkers challenged absolutist monarchies, whereas American intellectuals disparaged the institution of aristocracy and reflected upon the European political experience. Both the European and American Enlightenment variants also point to broader trends in modern history:
- the development of capitalism as a socioeconomic system
- the growth of classical Liberalism (ideology)
- the rise of modern representative democracy (political system and form of government)
Did you know?
In Europe, the Enlightenment also contributed to the establishment of nation-states in the 19th century.
American Enlightenment: Dates
Some noteworthy dates for the American Enlightenment are:
| Date | Event |
| 1714 | - Jeremiah Dummer’s book donation to Connecticut’s Yale college
- The American Enlightenment begins
|
| 1748-1752 | - Montesquieu releases The Spirit of Laws influencing the Founding Fathers
|
| 1752 | - Benjamin Franklin's kite experiment
|
| 1769 | - David Rittenhouse documents the transit of Venus
|
| 1776 | - American Revolution and the Declaration of Independence
|
| 1788 | |
| 1789 | |
| 1820 | |
| 1835 | - Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America
|
Background: European Enlightenment
European Enlightenment impacted the American variant significantly.
Fig. 2 - Louis XIV Visiting the Royal Academy of Sciences, by Sébastien Leclerc, 1671.
- In the Old World, Enlightenment (17th-18th centuries) found its intellectual and cultural roots in Renaissance humanism as it replaced the Middle Ages and the powerful influence of the Church.
- Culturally, European Enlightenment may be divided along language lines as an international movement.
- French-speaking philosophes included such thinkers as Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet, 1694-1778), Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), Denis Diderot (1713-1784), and Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (1689-1755).
- Immanuel Kant and Moses Mendelssohn were some of the notable German-speaking intellectuals at this time.
- English-speaking thinkers from the Scottish tradition included Adam Smith and David Hume.
- At its height, European Enlightenment borrowed ideas from earlier modern intellectuals, including the political philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), scientific thinker René Descartes (1596-1650), philosopher John Locke (1632 - 1704), and innovative scientist Isaac Newton (1642-1727) among others.
A philosophe is a public intellectual and a man of letters during the Age of Reason—rather than a philosopher per se—engaged with various subjects in the humanities.
Driven by intellectual curiosity and the spirit of rationality, these thinkers analyzed and described the world around them in novel ways. They reevaluated key issues in politics, religion, and science for the purpose of improving society. Many of their works directly impacted the American Enlightenment.
For instance, Montesquieu’s political treatise The Spirit of Laws (1748-1750) became one of the intellectual sources for the Founding Fathers and, later, for Alexis de Tocqueville’s analysis of American society (Democracy in America, 1835).
Did you know?
European Enlightenment is also called the Age of Reason because of its emphasis on rational thinking.
The Enlightenment in America
Scholars define the period of the American Enlightenment broadly. However, they often point to a specific event—Jeremiah Dummer’s (1681-1739) donation of hundreds of books to Connecticut’s Yale college in 1714. These books subsequently influenced the curriculum in that institution and the thinking of the American historian and philosopher Samuel Johnson (1696-1772). His subsequent role in the field of education—in which he disseminated Enlightenment ideas—made him an important contributor to American Enlightenment.
American Enlightenment: Benjamin Franklin
The Scientific Revolution began in the 16th century with scientists like Nicholas Copernicus. By the 17th century, natural sciences were at the center of the Enlightenment period both in the Old and New Worlds. In Europe, several important scientists operated at this time.
For instance, Isaac Newton’s work in classical mechanics and the law of universal gravitation offered convincing explanations for many events in the natural world.
In colonial America, Benjamin Franklin was equally well known as one of the Founding Fathers as he was as a scientist. His work developed an understanding of electricity although scientists already knew about its existence.
Franklin's 1752 kite experiment analyzing lightning and his invention of the lightning rod are famous examples.
Fig. 3 - Benjamin Franklin’s The General Magazine, 1741.
American Enlightenment: Thinkers
There were several essential thinkers linked to the American Enlightenment in addition to Benjamin Franklin.
| Name | Summary |
Thomas Paine (1737-1809) | - American revolutionary and philosopher born in Britain
- Wrote Common Sense (1776) and The American Crisis (1776–1783) arguing for American independence
|
George Washington (1732-1799) | - American Founding Father and the first U.S. president
- Used Enlightenment ideas to gain American independence from Britain
|
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) | - American Founding Father and the third U.S. president
- Wrote the Declaration of Independence (1776), as the main author, and The Jefferson Bible (1820)
|
James Madison (1751-1836) | - American Founding Father and the fourth president of the U.S.
- One of the main authors of The Federalist Papers (1788) about the U.S. Constitution
|
John Adams (1735-1826) | - American Founding Father and the second U.S. president
- Wrote the Massachusetts Constitution and Declaration of Rights (1780)
|
Another Founding Father, Benjamin Rush (1745-1813), was a well-known physician and educator respected at that time. Rush taught many students at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. However, many aspects of his work are considered outdated today—from his emphasis on bloodletting to cure illnesses to his views on race. Rush also made a contribution to the field of psychiatry, since he was one of the first professionals to make an attempt at the classification and analysis of mental illness.
In turn, the scientist David Rittenhouse (1732–1796) made contributions to the fields of astronomy and mathematics. Rittenhouse observed and documented the 1769 transit of Venus. However, the field of science at this time was not limited to the pursuit of knowledge as such. The notion of scientific progress underpinned the necessary improvements that society required.
For instance, physician Cadwallader Colden (1689-1776) developed ideas of urban sanitation by proposing a drainage and sanitation system for the city of New York in order to improve the health and lives of others. Infrastructural development of this kind was also linked to urbanization and the Industrial Revolution.
American Enlightenment: Literature and Political Ideas
European thinkers provided the necessary foundation for American political ideas.
- In this way, the American Declaration of Independence (1776) borrowed John Locke’s “life, liberty, and estate” and transformed it into “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” These related notions comprised basic rights in the minds of Enlightenment thinkers. Locke also repudiated the notion of the divine rights of kings and proposed a social model in which the subjects agreed upon their government should the ruler lose popular support. This concept, too, influenced Thomas Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence.
Fig. 4 - The Declaration of Independence, by John Trumbull, 1819.
One of the most important American political thinkers of this period was Thomas Paine because of his impact on the American Revolution. Paine also supported the French Revolution (1789) and its egalitarian ideas. He was an advocate of republicanism. Republicanism, classical Liberalism, anti-corruption, and individualism—rather than the tribal collective—comprised some of the general aspects of American political thought at this time. In addition to Thomas Jefferson, other Founding Fathers such as James Madison and John Adams also developed the idea of republicanism.
For instance, The Federalist Papers, to which James Madison significantly contributed, were a series of political essays promoting the notion of representative democracy.
American thinkers also had the benefit of critically analyzing European political models, such as the institution of aristocracy, in order to suggest better alternatives.
Republicanism is a political tradition in which the source of political power is found with the citizens able to elect their representatives.
Religious Tolerance
John Locke’s proposal for separating the Church and state also impacted American thinking and amplified the notion of religious tolerance. Religious tolerance was already part of early colonial America, which served as the safe haven for many religious minorities fleeing discrimination and persecution in Europe within the framework of the Protestant Reformation (1517). These breakaway religious groups comprised:
- Puritans
- Pilgrims
- Huguenots
- Quackers
- Anabaptists
- Scots-Irish
Central figures in the European Enlightenment, such as Voltaire, went further than the separation of Church and state and engaged in criticizing the irrational aspects of religion. Voltaire believed in religious tolerance not just within the framework of different Christian denominations but also at large.
These ideas did not go unnoticed in colonial America. Several American Founding Fathers including:
- George Washington
- Thomas Jefferson
- James Madison
advocated for the freedom of worship to foster religious diversity and protect religious minorities. Thomas Paine proposed deism—the belief in God per se rather than linking God with a particular religious tradition. In turn, Thomas Jefferson published his own Bible (The Jefferson Bible, 1820), in which he compiled passages from the New Testament emphasizing morality. Jefferson’s omission of the passages featuring miracles was in line with Enlightenment-era rationality.
The Enlightenment in America - Key Takeaways
- American Enlightenment was an 18th-19th-century intellectual current in American society, culture, political life, religion, and science. It was linked both to the European Enlightenment and the American Revolution.
- The general Enlightenment ideals comprised rationalism, religious tolerance, social and scientific progress, individualism, opposition to corruption and aristocracy (critique of institutions), secularism, and republicanism.
- There were many notable American Enlightenment figures, some of whom were also the Founding Fathers. They included Thomas Paine, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James, Madison.
- The political aspects of the Enlightenment eventually led to the development of representative democracies in the U.S. and Europe.
References
- Hutton, Charles and Richard Pearson. The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, vol. x, 1750-1755, London: C. and R. Baldwin, 1809, p. 301.
- Ibid.
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