The joke is that the motion is hot. I guess it is appropriate. The Brooklyn Historical society, the Old Stone House and greenwood cemetery. I appreciate it. I thought i would start by asking, how many of you have heard of the age of reason . Good. A lot of people. When you think of the enlightenment, you probably think about the rise of rational thought versus religious superstition. Did you know that People Living in the age of reason were actually just as obsessed with emotion . Think about it. The market revolution was fought on the basis of the idea that certainis endowed with inalienable rights. Thats among them are life, liberty, and the pursuits of happiness. Happiness, what is an emotion doing and that rift of political talk . This is a question that many ago set me off on the research that i would like to share little bit with you tonight. I wanted to know why is there a motion in the declaration of independence . What work is it doing . I quickly discovered that although the 18th century is often referred to as the age of reason, the. Wasequally the period swept up in a rising tide of emotion. It started probably with philosophy. You may think of enlightenment rationalism that the 18th century saw the development of an entirely new branch of philosophy, moral philosophy that argued that moral sentiment, Human Emotion were the very foundation of moral decisionmaking. That was one important high culture frame that made people interested in emotion. Theology also emphasized increasingly the importance of emotion. The 18thcentury was very time of evangelical revival and the creation of heart religions that asked for people to have a kind of immediate, personal relationship with god. There is this brandnew emphasis , not so much on book learning or memorization of the bible and immediate, now this emotional connection between believers and the divine. Literature also began to emotion. Gly emphasize the aiken center is the time when the novel as a literary form is really first created. The novel was characterized by this intense exploration of people into your emotions. Anterior emotions. Interior emotions. What i wanted to figure out was, if members of the revolutionary generation were steeped in this kind of transatlantic culture of sensibility as an interest in the motion was called, how did that cultural focus on emotion affect ordinary life . Daily life, political life, what was the kind of impact this affect would be . That led me to writing a book called passion is the gale. I will expand the title in just a second. The first thing i realized when i went to the archives and started reading peoples personal papers, their letters, diaries and especially their commonplace books was how much interest in emotion there was. Facebooks . Eard of, commonplace books . It was like a scrapbook. You collected little bits of Popular Culture that interested you and you copy them into your commonplace book. It could be something visual. Beh more often, it would literary excerpts or snippets. They were interested in quotations by convey new ideas about emotion. In particular, i thought it remarkable number of commonplace books mentioning it by Alexander Pope called an essay on man. Manander popes essay on really grew together all these ideas about emotion that were percolating in the 18thcentury atlantic world. This, i haved was the quote at the bottom of the page. But passione card is the gale. Alexander pope was arguing for the first time that the most important source of human motivation was emotion and that this was a positive force for good in society. A motion was trendy. It was cool and hip and the thing. I have artie said, it was generally referred to as sensibility. Sensibility was supposed to be elegant and refined. A cultivated person was a person of sensibility. Was every bit as important for men as it was for women, maybe more so. Sensibility became this market not only of refinement and status, but of stability civility. This positive view of Human Emotion as a source of moral decisionmaking, as a force for good in society, this contradicted centuries of christian thinking. Augustine,to saint christians have believed that there were two kinds of love. Personal love. The love that led you to one things for yourself and it was inherently selfish and sinful. Love,here was a different christian love which was universal. Universal love. That was a good love. The essence of christian teachings was a total submersion of the self. Suddenly, you had Alexander Pope making the opposite argument. Said,der pope actually god and nature grew in general love and bade self social the same. Pope is saying there is no difference between divine revelation and hope we can find out empirically from the natural world. There is no difference between love for yourself and love for you community and for society at large. This was pretty revolutionary stuff. To americaning colonists on the eve of the American Revolution. They are all scribbling these quotations about these commonplace books that have been sharing with you. And publishing the essay on man in the colonies. Second, whatr a im showing you is an essay on man. It says that it was printed in london and then you see, philadelphia, reprinted. There were not all that many books printed in the colonies, most books had to be imported. Popular that it was printed in the colonies. Wondered as i started to absorb how popular this new thinking on the motion was, could it be connected to the emerging ideas about natural rights during the American Revolution . How would a society that both wanted to promote the ambitions of individual people but also safeguard the interests of society as a whole . How would they work out these competing values . Thisbecame the focus of political aspect of my research. It is what i want to talk to you about tonight. What did it mean for American Revolutionaries to draw on these new ideas about emotion . Lets get to a little bit of ground now on the revolution itself. The revolution in some sense began with the end of another war. Or the french and indian war. The work for empire between person and france. It ended with france giving up all of its north american territory. And leaving the continent east of the mississippi to british claims. Of course, there were Many American nations and empires that did not get recognized. Im not that all are doing that the british actually had anything like organized ground control. As for as europeans were controlled concerned, the continent had been divvied up and handed over from the french to the british. The image i am showing members that victory for the british. You can see bretagne seated on the left and francis on the right with her fleurdelis. She handing over the keys to the city of quebec. This was a moment of enormous triumph for the british. They had won all of north america. This is after several centuries of colonialism. It is supposed to be a grand column really talks about this auspicious morning written here. It talks about georges milder sway. The french were terrible best bits and king george had a milder sway. This was supposed to be an era of auspicious new opportunity. Then, as now, wars were extremely expensive. No sooner did this and in 1753 thin the british found themselves in terrible Financial Difficulties and the first thing they did was look to the colonies for new sources of revenue. The 1764, the purchase started passing the revenue acts to try to raise money. The first thing they did was pass a tax on sugar. That was an unpopular move. Taxsses, the focus of the rumhe base ingredient for and from was popular. Colonists did not like this. Assertingup petitions that the act was causing them Economic Injury and they petitions back to britain where they were ignored. In fact, the british felt that they needed further sources of revenue. Their expenses included the payroll for 10,000 british soldiers that for left in north america to keep the peace. They had significant ongoing expenses. Thenext revenue measure stamp act which many of you have probably heard of. Mandated that all colony material in the would be required to have a scam. An embossed piece of paper in order to be legally valid. The next image is a picture of the stamp. See georges noted on the stand. This imposed serious new cost of doing business. It wasnt really that savvy of the british from a political expect of perspective to put a tax on printed materials. The opinionfor makers of the colonies who were using stamps. Although the sugar did not create widespread resistance beyond some ineffectual petitions, the stamp act aroused. Xtreme protest this is where the use of a motion really starts to get very interesting. Proposed ins february of 1765. The very minute that colonists heard that the bill had been proposed, they started sending petitions to parliament. This is when james otis of massachusetts set forth the doctrine of no taxation without representation in a pamphlet cultic rites of the british colonies asserted and approved. The kings chief minister and responded with his theory of virtual representation and the kind of political battle lines were drawn at that point. The act was due to going to affect on november 1 1765. There is this long delay between the proposal of the act in the actual imposition. Needed because the paper to be manufactured, shift over to the colonies, and put in place. What that meant practically speaking was that the colonists had about eight months to organize eight protests. It met with widespread resistance. Midsummer, by august was getting hot, i would mass demonstrations in the streets. On, when parliament passed the stamp act, the members of parliament actually justified the new revenue measure in the language of sensibility. They told the king that they were thoroughly sensible of your majesties internal conference paternal concerns. In order to pursue every plan which shall appear calculated to improve the public revenue. This is a distinctive 18thcentury way of talking to say im feeling so sensible. I have such emotional sensitivity. It is leaving me to pass the tax. Colonial leaders who wanted to oppose the tax felt that they had to have certain kind. They had to show that they were just as refined as the british aristocrats. They try to use the same kind of flower the language flowery language. They said the threat of henry and prune must doubt with the threat of every tender breast. How must we be to every software emotion if we refuse to join our fellow citizens and oppose the stamp act. There is this bat and forth back and forth between britain and the comments are honestly with a sensitivity and the stamp act. When they first sent petitions, they try to make sure that their petitions were filled with pathos. They wanted to be really emotionally moving. It made sense. The theory of the day says, moral decisionmaking is based in your emotional response to events. If you want to get parliament to rescind the tax, you have to do in a removing manner or with pathos. Did not respond favorably. In fact, they ridiculed the colonists for their warm and unbecoming expression. It really became a matter of embarrassment for the colonists that their efforts to be refined were batted aside and they were told that their warm and unbecoming expressions were angry and to passionate and personal and link to send linked to sin. The next image i want to show you is original to my research and is fun. Two cartoons. One made in london and one made in philadelphia. You he will see is that will see is that the philadelphia copy is a little backward, not as polished, not as finally done at the british one. In fact, the collector who donated it to the Historical Society of pennsylvania which is where i came across it scrawled in the margin. This is a wretched copy. The philadelphia one is not ofte to the same level refinement. I want to focus on the way that it amps up the emotional message. Heres the first one. It is called the deplorable state of america or the stamp act government. What you are seeing here is that this is liberty languishing and this is britain with her shield. It was like a first Victory Image i showed you were britain was seated with a shield. This time, she is saying the stamp act. T. Ou look closely, as st. It was not polite to spell out a curse word. If youre writing out the curse, you put the first and last later. Letter. But by putting writing this, it sends a message that it is a curse act. Shes only often box and it is labeled pandoras box. This is the English Version. Notable here, a scaffold. Gettingt, things are violent. They have gotten beyond that stage of sending their humble petitions full of pathos and they are starting to march in the street. Now, this is the philadelphia version. You can hardly recognize it as the same image. Hectic in hismore visual style. It also makes a number of important symbolic changes. Makes it makes Liberty America ad it makes young megan. Here america is putting off britannia to his flying through the air. In the purchased version, america is an indian and the indian was frequently used as a symbol of the colonists which is not a compliment from the british. Here is a very strong and threatening indian man who is putting a hand on britannia. The americans do not want to convey that threatening angry code at this point. It is 1765. Great decade before the will be at decade of independence. The colonists just with to be part of the glorious edition empire and the auspicious morning paper thought they would be part of. When the americans come to be they change it so that america is now this lovely maiden in distress and she is turning her head aside try not to take the box. Is that theyed me changed with the characters are saying. Libertymerican version, portrays himself as the son of britannia. , mother haveying pity. The English Version does not have any emotion words. The american version is asking these emotional terms for england to have pity. This is the kind of stuff that is coming out of the middle and upper classes in the colonies. The pecos bill petitions. The efforts to show that the colonists are part of the culture of sensibility. Efforts to play on the emotions of the british elite and get them to respond by rescinding the tax. Meanwhile come as a party said, as a party said, the newspapers were full of road accounts of poplar ridge. Not grieve, not pick is, ridge. One month in boston we set out to protest went to the house of a local leader, not affiliated with the british at all and with force and violence entered the. Ouse they damaged and destroyed the furniture and took away the wearing apparel. Popular protesters were not only protesters the stamp act, but also attacking the very kinds of signs of status that they local colonial elite was a proud to have. Were faced with a problem at this point. They do not want the stamp act to go through. There were also very nervous uncontrolled unrest amongst members of the lower order. The answer for them turned out to be to invite all the colonists to participate in the culture of greed. This is a interesting moment because up until now, the idea has been that emotional sensibility is the special mark of refinement. With the stamp act protest, suddenly there is a new move toward saying anyone can respond, anyone can cultivate their emotions. You dont have to be a member of the elite. Ordinary just be an person who responds out of this comment human ability to feel sympathy. In order to dramatize that idea, what leaders did was organize funerals for liberty. Liberty,ee here that this is liberty personified, he looks like he is on his last leg. He is about to expire. They dramatize this still further by organizing mass public funerals for liberty. Caring ched carrying coffins. Bells were wrong. Flags are raised halfmast. People streamed through the streets parading in funerals for liberty. This is a special tombstone in addition the pennsylvania journal. It is a reading newspaper. The New York Times of the day. It was published by william bradford. What he did was remade the masthead to look like a tombstone. Coffinu have libertys and if you could read this more clearly, its a physical and crossbones, the symbol of the poison of the stand. On octoberblished 31, 1765. One day before the stamp act was supposed to go into effect. Public protestss really changed the terms of emotional rhetoric. Stopped appealing to britain for feeling. They started appealing to each other. Now theip ahead revolutionary protest years to the boston massacre. One other quick image to show you. The stamp act was repealed. Designed e resigned. The back was repealed. This was a huge win for this emotional style of protest. What you have here is a british cartoon celebrating the repeal at the funeral of the stamp. I will point out a couple of interesting things. The america stamp is a little baby. It was not proper to mourn for babies. Infant mortality was very high. Public mourning was supposed to be reserved for great figures. This is supposed to represent a humiliating image that they are crying over a baby. What you have here are stamps from america and black cloth from america. The point i want to make is that part and parcel of this protest movement was the beginning of a boycott movement. An economic boycott work on his pledge to stop importing consumer goods from england. Now,ugh it may sound odd kinds the most important werescretionary purchases funeral goods. People did not have a lot of stuff. It was important during a funeral for people to have black cloth and they also would give out commemorative rings in honor of the deceased person or there could be commemorative handkerchiefs. Morning goods were an important part of consumers in. That atite significant the moment they started making these political funerals, americans did not import black cloth which is what is labeled their. They simplified actual funerals at the same time. Lets skip ahead now. The boston massacre. 1770. What happened there was that british troops had been permanently stationed in north america since the end of the seven years war. Many of them were quartered in boston. You might be thinking of an army barracks. There were no barracks. Soldiers had to be quartered in peoples homes. It said that bostonians had to host british soldiers whether they wanted to or not. This was no light burden. Sent to the british extra regiments from ireland to boston because protest had continued to heat up. By 1769, there were 4000 soldiers stationed in a city of about 15,000 people. It was a pretty significant burden. Justnly in terms of existing sidebyside but these guys, but keeping them said and clothed. Fed and there was a burden. By march 5 of 1770, tensions in boston had come to a hilt. Confronted a line of british soldiers pelting them with snowballs and calling them scoundrels. And lobsters. Because of their redcoats. Drawing,art of years soldiers fired on the crowd and killed five people and waited to its more before the soldiers were ordered out of boston by the governor. This was an occasion for a real funeral. It really was a kind of a Pivotal Moment in the ratcheting up of tension between the colonists and great britain. The engraving contains a poem that is fascinating in the way that it goes back and forth between real anger at this event and embracing the power of anger on the one hand. Griefpressing sorrow and in a way that was more clampdown and controlled as we can protest began. The home side, it is scalding drops from rage and anger is anguish. Its are wavering from a time. It weeping world appeased appointed ghosts of victims. The patriots tears. A glorious tribute which involves the dead. Reveredhave here is angry and sorrowful. The grief is not for the british. There are no longer saying have 50, mother. They are now saying, this is a tribute for our dead. It really shows the kind of mounting level of patriot emotion. The indication of anger shows the threat of violence. Youre still at 1770. Still more than half a decade from the declaration of independence. It is not an overt threats of violence. It is implicit. Grief really does send a message that only if the british start responding to this american sorrow are legitimately going to be recognized. Poemhe moment, the portrays them as fierce barbarians grinning over their prey who approved the carnage and enjoy the day. Angry poem that says the british are incapable of responding to the grief of the colonists. Grieft case, the patriots will be preserved only for their own. With the coming of the massacre, the metaphor of grief came full circle. It gave way to actual morning. Restrained a funeral practices in the name of trying to preserve british liberty back in 1764. By 1770, they lifted the ban on morning in honor of american patriots. What you see is this increase in separation between the americans and british. By the time of the Boston Tea Party in 1773, relations were reaching very close to the breaking point. I will not spend too much time on this image. I got this from the library of congress. It is not a key part of my research that it shows how tos contented the colonists were becoming. I read an article in the times this week about the use of images of violated women as a taking sidesg morally. They were talking about the modern times. You can see that america is an indian and now she is an indian maiden. She is half undressed. Shes been restrained by british ministers. Another one forces to down her throat. This is bretagne. She is ashamed. Martial law is about to be declared. This is supposed to be france and spain who are apparently quite pleased at the way that britain is mistreating the americans. In fact, by the time of the Boston Tea Party and the effort of imposing a tax on key and the colonists refusal tea and the colonists refusal to pay, the colonists must either submit or prime according to the king. Britain was determined to crack down once and for all. What you see in the pocket of this minister here is the port bill. They passed something called the port act in 1774 that declared the boston port could be closed tea hadraffic until the been paid for. The idea for us to start the bostonians into submission. Colonists rallied to the aid of massachusetts. , they sentiments of food and supplies. They declared, as did one South Carolina newspaper that they felt sympathy and concern for their distressed brother and suffering in the common cause of liberty. You have this language of sympathy being deployed. Americans are not asking for sympathy from britain, they are sharing sympathy with each other. They are no longer talking about their elegant if this. Pathos. Sayings that sympathy that sympathy can be shared amongst all people. This is one thing started to heat up. I have to fastforward in the course of a lecture like this one. Suffice it to say that the First Continental Congress met in philadelphia in september of 1774. They established some of these try to maintain order. There is always this concern to rejoin against britain but they dont want a rebellion against the local colonial leaders. There is this effort of revolution but not too much revolution. This was followed by the establishment of a second Continental Congress in may of 1775. This Commission General washington for the first time as the newly established army. It also wrote the Olive Branch Petition which was a piece offer to britain. Peace offer to britain. Right before the battle of mexican and concorde. Lexington and concord. Have 1775,s, but may even though they were offering to all of transportation, people were becoming impatient. The new york attendee committee for Public Safety clear that america has grown so irritable by oppression that the least shock of any part is by the powerful and sympathetic affection instantly felt to the whole continent. You have the celebration of the way in which sympathy is uniting the patriots with each other against the british. People beganime, openly criticizing parliament for not dealing enough. Stealing enough. Finally, the king himself feeling himself. Finally the king himself is called for lacking feeling. York76, colonists in new asked in a public pamphlet, shall we any longer sit silent and continued contentedly the subject of a prince who is deaf repetition and grievances . You have here over the course of a decade we have been talking about, a shift from efforts to improve that their columnists for just as cultivated and elevated as the british to a new weretence that colonies united across class lines with each other through bonds of sympathy. And that the purchase were entirely lacking in this important quality. Of claimrliest days protest, but the british fiscal policies had just started provoking opposition, americans were comfortable with the idea of status markers. Something that would part the route from the refined. Colonial protesters that wanted allies among the british tried to establish their emotional credentials as skilled preventers performers of gentle feelings. Drawing up the transatlantic culture of sensibility we have been talking about, it were trying to renegotiate and also reaffirm their membership in the british empire. When the dish responded with nothing but scorn, colonists started brandishing the passions of the people. This is where the idea that still love became so important. Became sove important. Local elites had no desire to see social or political control to the masses. They found they cannot concede succeed in the cause of revolution without the aid of immediate and moderate emotion. They started looking for ways to combine stability and respectability associated with and motivating power that was now being associated with popular passion. Patriot leaders found their solution in the notion of spirit. A vehement brand of emotion. Sidestepped traditional christian critique going back to august and instead thought about spirit as connected to classical ideas of virtue. For fun, im telling you this arm and walked well Norman Rockwell spirit of 1770 62 underscore how it is that idea of the emotion of the revolution and cap has been passed down to the present day. This beard of 76 had a very kind of particular the spirit of the 76 had a very kind of particular meaning of the day. The inhabitants of the colonies affected with the present distress and animated with the noble spirit of liberty has proposed to assert our rights with firmness. Where once moderate colonists had been claiming just to be sensibly affected by the burden of taxation, now resistors were invoking noble spirit and becoming furnace. Flaunting their firmness. Flaunting their bigger. Or. Vig request required a new set of social precepts and social connections that forced changes of society. No one did more to publicize and popularize new ideas about emotion and thomas payne. Han thomas payne. What to talk about his book, i want to talk about his book, common sense. Interested in emotion. 1776. Uary of 2017 he issued a clear and call to examine the passions and feelings of mankind. Confident that anyone who scrutinized their emotions would arrive at a believe in natural rights and naturally quality and consequently would arrive at support for american independence. In the first pages of his declared, the cause of america is in great measure the cause of all mankind. Desolate withy fire and sword, declaring war against the natural rights of all mankind and extra picking the defenders thereof on the face of the earth is the concern of every man to whom nature has given the power of feeling of which class, regardless of party center is the author. With those the power of feeling. The gift of nature, the common trait of all mankind and, if doing so, said that all had the same emotions. Not that the cultivated have one kind in the ordinary masses have another, but all mankind has a common emotional heritage. That really helped to underwrite the theory of nad quality that was central to of innate equality that was central to the new conception of rights. Canonly social class that guarantee knowledge was the universal one defined by the company feelings of all. Aynes believe that all mankind shared in common the same set of passions and feelings foreshadow the position that would soon become famous as a rallying point for the revolution that all men were created equal. In addressing all mankind, payne announced a Progressive Agenda that really surpassed even the most ardent proponents of the socalled patriotic spirit. This is, i think, really interesting. There were different layers of the patriot movement. Some were more progressive and revolutionary, others were more tentative. Uncompromising emotional universalism laid at the heart of paynes politics. The critique the very notion of hierarchy and, with it, all flexible all in flexible social divisions. Equal in theng ordinary be equal in creation, how a race of men came into the world so exalted from the rest is worth inquiring into. , it exposed to the corresponding history of social division. He insisted that emotion was like a distinctive ,haracteristic of humanity explaining, the almighty has implanted in us these feelings for good and wise purposes. They distinguish us from the herd of common animals. To bee asked his readers moved in favor of the independence movement, he was inviting them to replace the radical egalitarianism that he wanted to promote. He believed it was a simple matter of common sense. The touchstone of nature, the best basis on which to form moral judgments. Even something as difficult as whether or not to really support open rebellion against the king. It was one thing to talk about protesting policies and another altogether to declare independence. Claims that the passions and feelings of mankind were granted equally to all and intended to give a moral touchstone that was accessible to all, he was arguing really 40 natural right to participation for all people. If moral standing could be measured by emotional sensitivity rather than social status, that anyone with the power of feeling should have an equal share in the organization of governance. Was breaking rapidly with but the key question shadowing the revolution was how those ideas would work with africanamericans. When anglo americans considered africanamerican emotions at all, they usually assumed that the slaves were spiritless. One of the problems i had when doing the research for my book was trying to find any record at all for the emotions of africandescendent people, whether free or the vast majority of them enslaved. I wondered why and i didnt have a great answer. Frustrated when people would ask me, what do enslaved people feel . I said, we dont have any records. It was kind of an amazing technological development. Digital searching became possible about halfway through my work on the book. Gazette hadania been digitized. I thought, i am going to look up which is howro, anyone of african descent would be referred to at that time. What i found is that, although they never described the motions of african people, they constantly talked about how low spirited they were, how down they were. It opened my eyes to the idea that spirit was supposed to be something felt by free people ssness waspiritle supposed to be the mark of people who were naturally slavish because of their inferior emotions. Was idea, as it turns out, very formally explained by aristotle in his work on politics in which he describes the theory of slavery in which he argued that there were two qualities that were important i. E. Ree people, logos, reason and spirit. According to aristotle, naturally slavish people lacked spirit. It wasnt that they were enslaved because someone violently subjected them to that position, but it was that they were slavish in their temperament and there was nothing they could do about that. This attitude that the enslaved were spiritless was very common in the day. In kind ofhat aspect the meaning of emotional liberty at length in my book. I mention it now just to let you see how radical it was for thomas payne to say that feelings are the common endowment of all mankind. It is not elevated people who have a special kind of spirit. It is not some people have the feeling of liberty, the spirit of liberty. It is that all people have the same passions and sentiments. Activists were very aware of that claim that enslaved people lacked spirit and tried to counter that arguments by demonstrating just exactly how it is sensible in the sense of elevated a motion that was so popular in the 18th century. One of the foremost antislavery maners in this period was a , a lot of at we on. He was a real master of demonstrating the emotional capacities of africans. I will read you a passage from his autobiography, which he presented to the British Parliament in an effort to get the parliament to and the slave trade. Theld the parliament, chief design of it is to excite for theof compassion misery the slave trade has entailed on my countrymen. Connections. Inspired youheaven with the benevolence on that important day when the question of abolition is to be discussed. In using this kind of very emotional language, he was proving that he was a respectable man who understood the rules of politeness, the kinds of conventions of emotion that signal someone had mastered the art of refinement. More importantly, he was turning the pages on racism by daring whites to demonstrate their powers of feeling. Unfortunately, at the time of the revolution, patriots like payne were on the very leading edge of progressive arguments. Many less forward thinking drew upon ideas of feeling and freedom to claim special status of white men. Britons, themany part of the declarations that we hold these truths to be selfevident, that we are endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights, those words were rather unconvincing to the british. As one newspaper commentator yelps for liberty from the drivers of negroes. And yet, as we know, today, the power of those words has endured and has expanded in tremendous days from the era of 1776. The question is, how did we get here from there . Headed we get closer to the more radical and expansive vision of what the revolution could mean. In fact, to really understand that, we have to go back to payne. Betweenld somewhere 120000 and 150,000 copies of common sense. Was one for every five adults in colonial america. We talking about a level of media saturation that is actually hard to even imagine today. It spoke to patriots across the to anticipate links between feeling and freedom. Himself dont forget, his next book is called the age of reason payne understood the limits. At the very outset of common sense, he has his readers imagine a primordial society and warns them that nothing but have it is impregnable to vice. Cooperationns that based on shared feeling was always temporary. As the peoples amount to their first difficulties, they will begin to relax in their attachment to each other. This will point out the necessity of establishing some supply theernment to defects of moral virtue. Believeswords, payne that emotional attachment wasnt going to hold them back forever. Emotionalfounded upon ideals needed government to foster ethical interactions. Actually signal emotions growing political inadequacies. He dismissed the idea that human beings could be counted on to act in virtue. While he believed that emotion was necessary for reality, he didnt think for a minute that it was sufficient. For those invited mr. That point in reading the First Edition of common sense, he reinforced in the second. Ise present state of america alarming to every man capable of judgment. Without every motive power founded upon courtesy, it is held together by an unexampled , whichent sentiments every secret enemy is endeavoring to dissolve. As payne was painting the picture, he is saying patriots can take pride in their level of virtue. The current sentiment is without example in human history, according to payne. Means it isxampled not going to last. He predicted that this harmony beggedisintegrate and he his contemporaries to prepare the ground for a stronger system of it was truly revolutionary because he understood the limitations of that link. His view of human nature was not universally positive. He spoke about the ever present problem of human vice. In fact, i would like to close by saying that the acceptance of the reality of human imperfection is one of the key distinguishing features of the American Revolution and of the constitution. When it came to writing because the two should in 1787, federalist writers and politicians who spoke towards stronger centralization of power made their arguments on the basis of the idea that people are not perfect. Writers of the federalist papers declared, if men were angels, no government would be necessary. Men,gels were to govern neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. The government administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this. In this. Virtue was not and should not be thought of as enough. Wasa government that erected on the sands of virtue was sure to fail. In fact, by the time it came time to write the constitution, americans had the opportunity to compare their revolution to the french revolution. Virtue was very important in the french revolution, but ultimately, democracy failed forceas the desire to people to be virtuous led to the rise of dictatorship. By the time that americans were writing their constitution, they were determined to avoid that area that error. No webster declared, montesquieu believed virtue to be a principle of the republic. The firmness in patriotism that distinguished the republics of greece and rome. Virtue, patriotism, or love of country never was or never will be until mens natures are fixed support of government. Instead, the creators of the u. S. Constitution believe that the nation needed a written set of laws that could both establish order and guarantee rights in a new republic. Worlds first the and longest lasting written constitution, a document that made what john adams called, a government of laws and not of men. Show youimage want to is two points. One made in massachusetts is two coins. What was made in massachusetts and the other was the u. S. Been in 1794. In 1776, the message the massachusetts coin featured on one side the tree of liberty, and on the other side says, liberty and virtue. By the time we get a constitution, we just have liberty. In the end, i concluded that the emotions that were celebrated as moral sentiments did help bring about the revolution, but it was the constitutions legal institutions that ultimately secured the nation. Thanks. [applause] we have some time for a couple of questions. I can come around with the mic. I think we will go here first. When it came time to go to war, when emotions were appealed to or put into play to get colonists to take up arms . Sense wasmmon really pivotal in that effort of persuasion because it was so broadly sold. One of the really interesting things was looking at the declaration of independence, at the drafts. Jefferson wrote a draft of the declaration of independence in which he denounced the english. Eople as unfeeling brethren that part of the declaration got cut. It is not in the final draft. What i saw looking at that is jefferson thought about declaring them unfeeling one more time in the declaration because it gave the patriots the moral high ground, if you will. But, by july of 1776, the colonists were good and tired of appealing for feeling from britain. They were done asking for peace, john tried to ask the british that they were done that they were tired of the culture of sensibility. They were focused on this idea of union through spirit. 76, spirit of spirit of brotherhood. What, in the end, did they mean by happiness . Be happy were you allowed to within the law or what laws were you expect to follow . Nicole it is in the book. But, i am happy to talk about it. Basically, they could have said property, but that was a little too concrete. Was they meant by happiness the pursuit of a position that brought you satisfaction and contentment. Thatsnt a guarantee everyone would be equal, but it was a guarantee that everyone would have a right to pursue a position that make them happy. I actually have a whole chapter on the idea of cheerfulness. People in the 18th century were constantly telling each other to be cheerful. I thought, why is it so important to be cheerful time . Service you who work in professions probably are told, smile. If you are cheerful, you are saying, i am satisfied with my position. Am. Nt mind where i even if i dont have a great position. Am in some way subordinated in society. Happiness is kind of a genuine contentment with your station is what i think is being referenced here. I was curious about the great awakening or other religious developments and the newly defined idea of moral sentiment. If that is working with moral philosophy or if they were some other elements in their idea of moral sentiments. Nicole the way moral philosophers work at moral philosophers looked at a motion versus how moral leaders may have looked at it. There was a split in the colonies among different religious groups, with some much more fully embracing the use of religion and emotion and others being much more reluctant about it. Basically, the focus for moral philosophers was especially on sympathy. As a way of evaluating your relationships with other people and the actions you might take. , theeligious leaders whichis was on affection is, in some sense, about the way you interact with people. Aboutore so, they talked being affected by the spirit of god. Cultivating a kind of emotion that links you specifically to god. More than worrying so much about emotion that links you to other people in society. It is a little bit of a split. It is quite interesting. I didnt really quite get into the nittygritty technical details, but the 18th century had a particular vocabulary of emotions. They very seldom use the word emotions at all which is why i use it as my analytical umbrella term. Talked about emotions, sensibilities, sentiments, feelings, passions. Each one of those words for emotion was a different variety and you can track pretty closely what those different words signal. Religious affections were a very specific form of emotion where is moral sentiments were a different one. I realize this is a century and a half before freud, but i was wondering if any medical doctors tried to make a link between what the colonists were feeling u. S. Soldiers at peoples houses, that oppressive and you hadd oppressive taxes, people shocked. Were there any medical arguments made for they probably didnt use the term mental health. Nicole not directly. Ofre were brandnew theories what was called nervous sensibility in this period. That the nervous system has something to do with someones Overall Health was brandnew. There was a scientist in philadelphia who was very interested in sensibility, what we would call emotion, and Overall Health. He was really a path breaker in this regard. Part, the idea of a mindbody connection or emotional suffering causing disease, that really had not developed at all in the 18th century. They havent really quite figured out the germ theory of disease. There is still a lot of humoral theory floating around. People are still trying to balance their humors, which in a sense does have a tenuous connection to emotions. There were these sort of classical theories about the humors and bodily health. Of, there wasnt this kind sense about the impact of trauma. That someas just peoples humors were naturally to remove ace and person from trauma and violence, the cure was inducing bloodletting or Something Else to put them back in balance. And we have time for one more question. I noticed, at the end, you talked about the constitution as a set of laws. At the same time, you indicated that there is a spirit of the revolution. And tryingondering to figure out just because remove this really . Pirit nation to find as a laws are we could find are fined as a nation to laws . Nicole i think that it really has been a twofold process in this long, long project in tried to create a more perfect union. Many of us would argue it is still unfinished. I think work to take away the kind of social divisions and cultural divisions that were inaugurated by writers like payne, trying to create universal views of human nature really were important. People have the same feelings as free people. Is the, whats lacking legal status of freedom. I think those efforts were incredibly important and remain incredibly important. Think same time, i dont that emotional appeals in and of themselves or by themselves are sufficient. I think that is kind of the twofold lesson that payne leaves us. Yes, it is really important to do this cultural work, have this cultural perspective, but we have to think about legal structures that will put in place a more just society. Thank you so much for this wonderful conversation. [applause] very thoughtprovoking. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2016] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] the Smithsonian Museum of African American history and culture opens its doors for the first time. Live from the National Mall leading up to the dedication ceremony. Speakers include president obama the museum director, first Lady Michelle obama, former president george w. Bush and mrs. Laura bush, u. S. Supreme Court Justice john roberts, congressman john lewis. , librarian Richard Levinson confronts three myths about president and their health. Isalso hear about how dr. Contributed to the deaths of without theand public knowing. The parkway central library, part of the free library of philadelphia, hosted this hourlong event. Introduce pleased to tonights speaker, librarian Richard Levinson. He is a librarian here in the Central Senior Services department of the library, and he was one of the