Philosophies+of+the+Colonial+Period

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 * American Philosophical Origins and Conflicts **
 * ** 17th Century **
 * ====Long before any European set foot onto American soil there were existing communities and nations who populated this region. The history of American Philosophy essentially began as European colonization began. When the new settlers began to question the nature of self, the connections between people, and origins and destiny of their lives, so too did American philosophy. Beginning with the Puritans and the Pilgrims, these questions, combined with their extreme faith, became their basis for life. ====

**// Some of the influences on American philosophical origins and conflicts of the 17th Century are in the table below: //**
|| //**Slavery **// ||  The Dutch introduced the first captured Africans to America, planting the seeds of a slavery system that evolved into a nightmare of abuse and cuelty that would ultimately divide the nation. ||
 * //** 1619 **//
 * ====**// 1620 //** ====

**// Mayflower Compact //**
|| ====The //Mayflower Compact//, which essentially linked man’s obligation not only to each other, but to some type of organized government as well, the new philosophy began. This attitude was echoed in the beginning documents of other colonies as well. ==== ||
 * ====**// 1631 //** ====

**// Roger Williams //**
|| ====The founder of Rhode Island, Williams thought toleration of others should be stronger than any specific religious commitment to a community. Therefore, social and political issues and how an individual related to his or her community was more vital than one's religious affiliation. Williams was an advocate for the Native Americans (a controversial stance), and wrote a book about language between the Native Americans and the Colonists. ==== ||
 * ====**// 1639 //** ====

**// Fundamental Orders of Connecticut //**
|| ==== The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut appears to be the first written constitution in the Western tradition which created a government, and it is easily seen to be the prototype of our Federal Constitution, adopted exactly one hundred and fifty years later ==== ||
 * **//1641 //**
 * //Legalization of Slavery //** || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">Slavery was legalized in the American Colonies, leading to the beginning of the division of the newly developing country against itself. ||
 * ====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">**// 1641 //** ====

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">**// Massachusetts Body of Liberties //**
|| ====<span class="goog_qs-tidbit goog_qs-tidbit-0" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">The Body of Liberties is a document containing 100 liberties intended for use as guidance for the General Court of the time. ==== ||
 * ====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">**// (1588)-1649 //** ====

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">**// John Winthrop //**
|| ====<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">Early Colonial writer that stressed that “the care of the public must oversway all private respects…for it is a true rule that particular estates cannot subsist in the ruin of the public.” //Although some of these early spokespersons were well-known, not everyone agreed with their philosophies, opting instead to develop and promote their own ideas.// ==== ||
 * ====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">**// 1649 //** ====

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">**// Maryland Toleration Act //**
|| ====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;"> Unlike the Puritan community, other colonies stressed the concept of religious toleration. The Maryland Toleration Act protected Maryland from the charge of intolerance toward Protestants. When the Protestants were in charge of the colony for a time after 1654. The Maryland Toleration Act constitutes the broadest definition of religious freedom during the seventeenth century and was an important step toward true freedom of religion. ==== ||
 * **//<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;"> 1660 //**
 * //<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">Royal African Company //** || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;"> To benefit monetarily and perpetuate the slave trade in the American Colonies, the Royal African Company was developed in England. 'Chattling' of humans led to great division among American Colonists. ||
 * ====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">//**(1632)-1704**// ====

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">//**John Locke**//
|| ====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">English philosopher whose works lie at the foundation of modern philosophical empiricism and political liberalism. Locke believed in the natural rights of man (as evidenced through his Second Tretise of Civil Government), a heavily influential philosphy (eventually adopted by the French in 1789) that impacted the American Revolution. ==== || ====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">**// [|Isaac Newton's 'Laws of Physics'] //** ==== || ====<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">Basic laws of motion, in which objects at rest or in motion will remain unmoved until and unless acted on by some other force. According to Edwards, every act of will was connected to understanding, and thus is determined by God. Newton's theories and how they related to God heavily influenced John Edwards in the 18th Century. ==== ||
 * ====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">//**1686**// ====
 * ====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">//**1688**// ====

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">//**Glorious Revolution**//
|| ====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">Establishment of the Church of England as the reigning church of the country. Other religions, such as Catholicism, Judaism, and Puritanism, were subsequently suppressed. This created complacency and spiritual “dryness” among believers that led to the Great Awakening of the 18th Century. ==== ||
 * ====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">//**1693**// ====

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">//**Some Thoughts Concerning Education**//
|| ====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">A publication written by John Locke, this piece remains a standard source in the philosophy of education. It developed out of a series of letters that Locke had written from Holland to his friend Edward Clarke concerning the education of Clarke's son, who was destined to be a gentleman but not necessarily a scholar. It emphasizes the importance of both physical and mental development—both exercise and study. The first requirement is to instill virtue, wisdom, and good manners. This is to be followed by book learning. For the latter, Locke gives a list of recommended texts on Latin, French, mathematics, geography, and history, as well as civil law, philosophy, and natural science. There should also be plenty of scope for recreation, including dancing and riding. ==== ||


 * ** 18th Century **

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 * ====<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">By the time the country enters the 18th century, American Philosophy is a conflict of ideas that can be divided into two parts; the first continued to be heavily influenced by the Calvinism of the Puritans and the second more directly along the lines of the European Enlightenment and associated with the political philosophy of the Founding Fathers... ====

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">**// Some of the influences on American philosophical origins and conflicts of the 18th Century are in the table below: //**
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 * ====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">**// 1730-1760 //** ====

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">**// Great Awakening //**
|| ====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">The Great Awakening was a movement rooted in spiritual growth which brought a national identity to Colonial America through spirituality. ==== ||
 * ====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">**// 1729-1757 //** ====

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">**// Jonathan Edwards //**
|| ====<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">Evangelist that continued Calvinistic theologic beliefs while integrating the newly emerging scientific worldview. Edwards preached that it was human nature to go against or to resist some things and claimed that this power of resistance is “the actual exertion of God’s power” and could be demonstrated by Isaac Newton’s 'Law of Physics.' Echoing the views of John Calvin, Edwards did not rely on (good) works, but the grace of God as the determiner of human fortune. ==== ||
 * ====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">**//1789//** ====

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">**// Natural Rights of Man //**
|| ====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">One of the basic charters of human liberties, containing the principles that inspired the French Revolution. Its 17 articles, adopted between August 20 and August 26, 1789, by France's National Assembly, served as the preamble to the Constitution of 1791. ==== ||
 * ====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">**// 1715-1789 //** ====

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">**// Age of Enlightenment //**
|| ====<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">The later part of the century is dominated by of European philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment who abandoned, for the most part, the religious context of things and focused rather on social-political issues. The European philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment promoted various ideas ("such as a reliance on reason and science, a broad faith in scientific and social progress along with a belief in the perfectibility of humans, a strong advocacy of political democracy and laissez-faire economics"). Many of the Founding Fathers identified themselves with this philosophy of 'Enlightenment,' and it was during this time that the philosophy for the American Revolution was developed. Thomas Jefferson contributed to the spread of the Enlightenment in America. ==== ||
 * ====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">** //1776: Declaration of Independence// ** ====

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">** //1789-1791:// **** Bill of Rights **
|| ====<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">These cornerstone documents of the United States were drafted during the time of the ‘Enlightenment.’ Much emphasis was placed upon the concept of equality for man, liberty, popular sovereignty, and religious toleration. With less emphasis on religion itself, these men focused rather on social-political-economic issues and how scientific enlightenment thought could transfer to each. ==== ||
 * ====<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">**// 1787 //** ====

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">**// Founding Fathers //**
|| ====<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">Although they included clear references to God in many of America’s earliest documents, the Founding Fathers tended to commit themselves less in their writings to Christianity as such and more to deism, or the idea that God was the creator of a world which is governed by natural laws. Each emphasized the natural, inalienable rights of the individual against the tyranny of the State – with the legitimacy of the State only in securing the rights of individuals while also highlighting the dangers of factional democracy as this could hinder the protection of individual rights and the public good. ==== || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">//**Native American Buffalo Conflict**// || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">The enormous area of the Great Plains, Southwest, Pacific Northwest, and Basin area represented the homelands of many Native American communities.It became obvious that Native Americans and American Pioneers viewed the buffalo from differing points of view... ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16pt;">//**Late 18th Century**//

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