Answer one of the following questions in this category: narrow and focus your answer and also support your response with examples and/or quotes from the readings. Your post should be between 300 and 350 words to get full credit.
Discuss the argumentative strategies Jefferson uses in the “Declaration” to get the American reader on his side and against King George III, especially his juxtapositioning of “Divine Right of Kings” with the “Natural Rights of Man.”
Crevecoeur’s most famous essay is “What is an American.” Find at least three characteristics of this “new American” and discuss them. How do they relate to his idea America as a “melting pot”?
Jonathan Edwards and Benjamin Franklin are important figures in the 18th c., but they represent two very different strands in the history of American thought. Edwards seeks a spiritual and theological guide to this life and especially the next life, much like that of Winthrop, Bradstreet, Rowlandson, and the 17th c. Calvinists. Franklin employs a much more secular, Deistic, Enlightenment approach to solving man’s problems and living successfully in this world, with the emphasis less on God’s sovereignty and more on man’s free actions. Discuss the ways in which Franklin’s “Way to Wealth” demonstrates these more secular Enlightenment ideals about society and humanity.
Wheatley is our first published African American poet, but she does not overtly criticize slavery in her poetry. Does she actually criticize the practice of slavery; if so, how does she do this subtly in her poetry? Cite examples from her poems. Why do you think she is so subtle in her criticism? What could her reasons be in 18thcentury America?
Do you think Foster is offering a critique of Eliza, providing a model to young female readers of the dangers of being a coquette and becoming a “fallen woman” (she gives in to passion over reason)? Or is Foster subverting that model by presenting the difficulties women faced in pursuing the same kind of freedom men possessed in determining their life choices (she seeks individualism over conformity)?
How does Murray wield common stereotypes against women such as vanity or overindulgence in fashion in favor of her argument? What difference between “nature” and “education” does Murray describe with regard to the intellectual power of men and women? How would an equal education affect the relationship between the sexes?
Why does Franklin list the English names and family relationships of a number of the victims of the Massacre? What point is he making about the choice of such names for the children of native Americans? Which laws does Franklin believe the men who committed the massacre violated? Why is this important to Franklin’s condemnation of the attack?
Last Completed Projects
| topic title | academic level | Writer | delivered |
|---|