Unit II: Voices of Revolution and Nationalism

Overview of Revolutionary Voices

The period spanning the mid‑18th to early‑19th centuries witnessed an explosion of written expression that both reflected and fueled the American struggle for independence and the subsequent project of nation‑building. Authors from vastly different backgrounds—Native leaders, Enlightenment philosophers, pamphleteers, politicians, women, and enslaved poets—used the printed word to articulate visions of liberty, citizenship, and the new republic’s moral character. This unit gathers those voices into a coherent study of how revolutionary ideals were debated, disseminated, and transformed into enduring cultural narratives.

Native American Perspective: Handsome Lake

‘How America Was Discovered’ (pp. 802–03)

Handsome Lake, a Seneca spiritual leader, delivered a narrative that re‑imagines the encounter between Indigenous peoples and European settlers. Rather than celebrating conquest, his account emphasizes moral decline and the need for spiritual renewal.

“When the white men first came across the great water, they brought with them sickness and greed, and the people of the longhouse began to forget the teachings of the Great Spirit.”

Through this lens, Handsome Lake critiques the dispossession and cultural erosion wrought by colonization, framing the “discovery” of America as a moral failure rather than a triumph. His work invites students to consider how nationalist narratives often marginalize Indigenous perspectives and to recover alternative histories of the land.

Benjamin Franklin: Pragmatism and Moral Instruction

The Way to Wealth (p. 808)

Franklin’s famous aphorism collection, originally the preface to Poor Richard’s Almanack, distills Enlightenment ideals of industry, frugality, and self‑improvement into memorable maxims.

“Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”

The text operates as a secular catechism for the emerging American citizen, linking personal virtue to public prosperity—a formula that can be expressed as:

Franklin’s tone is didactic yet accessible, reflecting his belief that a virtuous populace is the foundation of a stable republic.

Remarks Concerning Savages of America (pp. 821‑24)

In this essay, Franklin challenges European stereotypes of Native peoples, arguing that what Europeans label “savagery” is often a misunderstanding of different social customs.

“We call them savages, because their manners differ from ours, which we think the perfection of civility.”

Here Franklin employs an early form of cultural relativism, using reason (logos) to question ethnocentric bias—a rhetorical strategy that anticipates later Enlightenment critiques of empire.

Autobiography (Part 1, 2) (pp. 828‑86)

Franklin’s autobiography presents a model of self‑made identity, emphasizing the pursuit of moral perfection through a systematic list of virtues.

The narrative’s episodic structure mirrors the Enlightenment faith in progress through self‑examination, reinforcing the idea that the American citizen could be sculpted by rational self‑discipline.

J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur: Letters from an American Farmer

Crevecoeur’s epistolary work offers a French‑born observer’s reflections on the emerging American identity, famously asking, “What then is the American, this new man?”

Letter I

Describes the agrarian ideal, portraying the farmer as independent, virtuous, and tied to the land.

Letter II

Explores the melting pot of nations, noting how diverse European peoples coalesce into a new ethnic formation.

Letter III

Contrasts the American lack of aristocratic titles with the European hierarchy, celebrating the absence of hereditary privilege.

“Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men, whose labors and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world.”

Crevecoeur’s vision of a nascent American character—shaped by environment, labor, and liberty—feeds directly into nationalist discourses that would later be codified in political documents.

Thomas Paine: The Call to Independence

Common Sense (pp. 959‑965)

Paine’s pamphlet galvanized colonial sentiment toward outright independence, employing plain language and powerful metaphors.

“Society in every state is a blessing, but government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one.”

Paine’s argument relies on a triad of rhetorical appeals:

• Ethos: his identity as a common man speaking plain truth.
• Pathos: evoking outrage at British tyranny.
• Logos: logical deduction that monarchy is incompatible with liberty.

The pamphlet’s accessibility made it a phenomenal bestseller, demonstrating how popular media could mobilize public opinion—a precedent for later political communication.

John and Abigail Adams: Private Correspondence, Public Ideals

Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams; Letters from Abigail Adams to John Adams (pp. 979‑83)

The Adams letters reveal the intimate partnership that underpinned revolutionary leadership, while also exposing tensions over gender roles.

John’s letters often discuss congressional debates, military strategy, and the philosophical underpinnings of republicanism. Abigail’s replies, meanwhile, famously urge him to “remember the ladies” and warn against granting unlimited power to husbands.

“I desire you would remember the ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors.”

This exchange highlights the early feminist consciousness within the revolutionary elite and foreshadows later debates about women’s rights.

Thomas Jefferson: The Declaration of Independence

Declaration of Independence (pp. 1057‑61)

Jefferson’s seminal text articulates the philosophical justification for independence, grounding it in natural rights and the social contract.

“We hold these truths to be self‑evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

The Declaration’s structure—preamble, list of grievances, assertion of sovereignty—mirrors a legal argument, employing:

1. Premise: natural rights theory (Lockean influence).
2. Evidence: enumeration of King George III’s abuses.
3. Conclusion: the colonies are free and independent states.

Its enduring language continues to shape American conceptions of liberty and equality, even as its original applicability excluded women, enslaved peoples, and Native Americans.

The Federalist Papers: Hamilton and Madison on Governance

Federalist No. 6

Alexander Hamilton argues for a strong union to prevent internal conflict and foreign exploitation, emphasizing the dangers of disunity.

Federalist No. 10

James Madison addresses the problem of factions, proposing that a large republic can mitigate the influence of particular interests through the principle of “extended republic.”

“If a faction consists of less than a majority, relief is supplied by the republican principle, which enables the majority to defeat its sinister views by regular vote.”

Madison’s famous formula for controlling factionalism can be expressed as:

Together, these essays lay the intellectual groundwork for the Constitution, advocating a balanced government capable of preserving liberty while ensuring order.

Judith Sargent Murray: On the Equality of Sexes

‘On the Equality of Sexes’ (pp. 1193‑99)

Murray’s essay is one of the earliest American feminist treatises, arguing that perceived intellectual differences between men and women stem from unequal education, not innate capacity.

“The souls of women are equal to the souls of men, and though they have not had the same advantages, yet they are capable of the same improvements.”

Murray employs Enlightenment reasoning (logos) to challenge patriarchal assumptions, advocating for female education as a means to achieve moral and civic parity. Her work bridges the revolutionary rhetoric of liberty with an expanding notion of who qualifies for its benefits.

Philip Freneau: The Indian Burying Ground

‘The Indian Burying Ground’ (p. 1223)

Freneau’s poem reflects on Native burial practices, contrasting them with European customs and lamenting the erasure of Indigenous cultures.

“The posture that we give the dead, points out the soul’s eternal sleep; Not so the ancients of these lands— The Indian, when he lays him down,

Sets out his cup, and his beads, and his bow,

And his painted shirt, and his feathered crown.”

The poem’s melancholic tone serves as an early literary acknowledgment of cultural loss, prefiguring later Romantic and Transcendentalist engagements with Native themes.

Phillis Wheatley: On Being Brought from Africa to America

‘On Being Brought from Africa to America’ (p. 1247)

Wheatley, the first published African‑American poet, uses neoclassical form to engage with the paradox of enslavement and Christian salvation.

“‘Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land,

Taught my benighted soul to understand

That there’s a God, that there’s a Saviour too:

Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.”

Her subtle irony invites readers to question the morality of a society that claims Christian virtue while perpetuating bondage. Wheatley’s work exemplifies how enslaved authors appropriated dominant literary forms to assert their humanity and critique the hypocrisy of revolutionary ideals.

Hannah Webster Foster: From The Coquette

Excerpts (pp. 1340‑59)

Foster’s novel, told through letters, examines the limited agency of women in the early republic, centering on the tragic protagonist Eliza Wharton.

The narrative explores themes of courtship, reputation, and the conflict between personal desire and social expectation. Through Eliza’s fate, Foster critiques a society that offers women little autonomy despite its rhetoric of liberty.

“I am determined not to be a slave to my passions, nor to the tyranny of custom.”

The novel’s epistolary format mirrors the Adams correspondence, showing how the letter form served both private intimacy and public moral commentary.

Synthesis: Themes of Revolution and Nationalism

Collectively, these texts reveal a multifaceted revolutionary discourse:

• Liberty and Its Limits: While political documents proclaim universal rights, literary works by women, African Americans, and Native peoples expose the gaps between ideology and practice.
• Identity Formation: Crevecoeur’s “new man,” Franklin’s self‑made individual, and Wheatley’s negotiated Christian identity illustrate competing visions of what it means to be American.
• Rhetorical Strategies: Authors employ ethos, pathos, and logos—often in combination—to persuade audiences, whether rallying for independence, advocating for education, or lamenting cultural loss.
• Genre Innovation: Pamphlets, letters, poems, novels, and political essays each serve distinct communicative purposes, demonstrating the era’s experimental print culture.
• Intersections of Race, Gender, and Nation: Murray, Wheatley, and Foster foreground gender; Wheatley and Freneau address race; Handsome Lake centers Indigenous sovereignty—showing that nationalism was continually contested and renegotiated.

By studying these voices side by side, students gain a nuanced understanding of how the American Revolution was not merely a political rupture but a profound cultural conversation—one that continues to resonate in contemporary debates over citizenship, equality, and the meaning of national belonging.