The Puritans believed that the sole purpose of writing was to bring the writer to debase himself before God, and teach him the true importance of humility. The Fundamentalist thinkers of the Enlightenment saw things quite differently. They believed that writing was a method for recording logical reasoning, and often provoked rational thought. Whereas the Puritans wrote mainly memoirs and sermons, Enlightenment writers such as Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine wrote volumes on topics that ... questioned life, and the means by which one should live. Though ... ...

• Word Count: 679
• Approx Pages: 3

... of the three major divisions of Christianity. It displays the release of traditional religion and the movement to worldly learning and the rise of protests against the controlled way of expressing one's self. It allows the human himself to reason out the way that he thinks, instead of an authority telling him how to do so therefore, extending his mind. The Enlightenment Writers The central ideas of the Enlightenment writers were similar to, yet very different from, those of the writers of ... because it gives every citizen the right to question the government and to actually do somethin...

• Word Count: 804
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... many ways embodies the Enlightenment spirit, and may even be thought of as the first prototypical American. The first American standard that Franklin covers well is that he is very involved in the country and his own community. Franklin is one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, and he also co-wrote and signed the U.S. Constitution. Franklin also helped draft the Declaration of Independence. Often Franklin is thought of as the revolutionary figure ... to get ahead. Franklin proved to readers that even undistinguished people in America could, through work, become great figures ...

• Word Count: 1556
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... different America to that found in leafy quiet suburbs of Connecticut. D. H. Lawrence described him as Old Daddy Franklin' in mocking of the legendary status Franklin acquired for setting up the first dummy American' and his primary role of authority during the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Lawrence also highlights Franklin's non-religious preoccupations, and his self importance which often suggested a kind of modern Jesus figure, whose materialistic teachings should be ... children and young adults for cultural enlightenment in Europe. So rather than freedom of expression...

• Word Count: 3113
• Approx Pages: 12
• Grade Level: Graduate