How to Write an Analysis - Founding Fathers
Penman's Guide
- The term “Founding Fathers” refers to the group of prominent leaders who were essential to the fight of the American Revolution and the founding of the USA. It refers to their usually political writing and encompasses the literary period between 1750 and 1790 when they declared and won American independence from the British Empire.
- In the XVIII century, the most memorable literature was by the Founding Fathers, unlike the Puritans who saw humans as sinful, the Founding Fathers were followers of the Enlightenment movement taking place in Europe, and believed humans could improve themselves.
- They were practical philosophers and they most typically wrote political pamphlets. They sought to build a happy society based on justice and freedom.
- Franklin, for example, did adopt the Puritan’s plain style of writing as he felt writing should always have a practical purpose.
- Most Colonial households only gave their attention to political pamphlets, newspapers, and the Bible.
- The pamphlet was used around the time of the Revolution because it was cheap to publish and the author didn’t need to specify their name. The language used was often exciting or humoristic in order to capture the reader’s attention. Although other writers were more violent in the way they presented their propaganda.
- Enlightenment believed that people do not have to depend on God to improve the world, but people could use their own wisdom to do so.
- In Revolutionary America, both prose and poetry had a political or practical purpose. Writers wrote for the cause of American independence with strong patriotic feeling.
- Many who supported the American Revolution, also supported the French Revolution, and actually went to France.
- The Founding Fathers were key to producing the Declaration of Independence, although not typically considered “literature”, it is some of the most important writing ever written.
