| Summary |
In 1776, thirteen American colonies officially united and declared their independence from Great Britain. Although the war did not begin until 1775, the revolution began over a decade earlier with the formation of a unified American political ideology. This ideology was an extension of the Enlightenment, an intellectual revolution that began in the seventeenth century. Rooted in reason, the Enlightenment embraced concepts of freedom, liberty, and self-government. The Enlightenment's influence on English politics during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was particularly evident. The influence of Enlightenment, however, was not limited to mainland Europe and England; it also dramatically influenced the American colonists. It is apparent that the American colonists developed a radical political ideology rooted in the principles of the English Enlightenment. Historians have thoroughly explored this connection by scrutinizing documents such as the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, and Revolutionary pamphlet literature for manifestations of Enlightenment principles. This thesis demonstrates a social and geographical diffusion of Enlightenment principles by investigating a frequently overlooked source, the colonial newspaper. The newspapers' importance greatly increased during the Revolutionary period. Colonists used these publications to access news and views from both the colonies and around the world. Equally as important, the colonists used newspapers as avenues to express their own political opinions. This thesis examines three of the most reputable colonial newspapers, the Boston Gazette, the Pennsylvania Gazette, and the South Carolina Gazette, for specific examples of American political arguments in the years before the Revolution that demonstrated the English Enlightenment's direct influence on the Revolutionary ideology. |
