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VIRTUAL SESSION
IV: March 6
A WORKSHOP FOR THE FIRST ESSAY
ENLIGHTENMENT AND
REVOLUTION
This week’s
session is connected
with your first essay assignment on the influence of the Enlightenment on the Age of
Revolution. This virtual session will be a workshop to help in developing the
essay due on March 11. Make your posting (see below) early
to get maximum benefit in preparing your essay.
Notice that this continues the work of Virtual
Session III, on the Enlightenment.
You have to make only
one posting, but by checking what others are doing and discussing their
contributions you'll be helping yourself and your classmates.
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For your posting:
- Suggest at least two documents dealing with the American
Revolution and two dealing with the French Revolution that you believe show Enlightenment
influence. In a few sentences explain your choices, interpreting the documents in a way
that makes them pertinent to the essay.
- Write a thesis statement that you will use in your
essay’s introduction.
HINTS: Be sure to consult the Web notes for Lecture V and Lecture VI as well as the TB and
SB materials.
To get you started, here are some ideas to think about as
you look at the sources. You aren’t expected to deal with all
of these points or to be restricted to them:
 | Are Paine’s arguments against monarchy related to the
Enlightenment? If so, how? |
| What do Sieyes’ views on French social structure suggest
about Enlightenment influence? Can you think of the writing of any Enlightenment thinker
that supports Sieyes ideas? |
| Look for Enlightenment concepts in the American Declaration of Independence and the
French Declaration of the Rights of Man. Do you find in them
ideas similar to those of any thinkers of the Enlightenment? |
| Burke wrote a strong criticism of the French Revolution. Do
you find any evidence that he blames Enlightenment thinkers or values in any way? |
| What Enlightenment characteristics , if any, do you find in
the American Constitution? |
| What do the documents of Robespierre or Napoleon tell you
about Enlightenment ideas and values in the French Revolution. |
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