Philip Morin Freneau’s Views, Essay Example

Freneau’s Views on Society

Philip Morin Freneau was not only a famous American poet and editor, but also a recognized nationalist and polemist who had his personal views on society.[1] Sullivan suggested that Freneau was loyal to revolutionary ideas in general and American independence in particular; naturally, this position determined his opinions about society.[2] Hence, it was not surprising that Freneau, with his revolutionary views on society, supported the Republicans, and joined the militia of the American Revolutionary War period.[3]

Overall, Freneau’s opinions about society are based on the principles of Jeffersonian democracy, Thomas Jefferson’s constitution, and the Republicans. For this reason, the “Poet of the American Revolution” supported the ideas of democracy, patriotism, equality, people’s unity, personal liberty, and national independence.[4] For example, Freneau’s poem American Liberty proves the author’s desire to see his native land as an independent and powerful country.[5] As the poet said, “New Albion’s sons whom honest freedom moves, / My heart admires them, and my verse approves…”.[6] As one may see, Freneau respected his American compatriots guided by the liberty spirit. Today, Freneau remains a bright representative of the national American spirit and humanism because this prominent figure believed in the inexhaustible human potential and the powerful nature that helps people to embody their natural striving for liberty and independence in a real life.

Freneau can be called a Jeffersonian because he shared the principles suggested by Thomas Jefferson based on Republicanism; to be specific, the American poet supported the ideas about civic duty, and opposed social privileges, corruption, and aristocracy.[7] Sillen called him a bright supporter of Jeffersonian democracy and “a defender of the rights of all mankind”.[8] This way, Manning and Clarence noted that since Freneau was an opponent of “imperial pomposity”, “monarchical pettiness”, and the Federalists’ beliefs, he belonged to the proponents of a simple, honest, and fair political system, in other words, republican democracy that relies on common people’s opinion. [9]

Sillen assumed that Freneau was a patriot of his native land, and supported the citizens who fought for Jefferson’s ideals related to the creation of independent America. Freneau’s patriotism can be seen in his famous poem, The Rising Glory of America, where he praised the beauty, uniqueness, and potential of his native land [10] Through his National Gazette, he promoted his unprejudiced criticism of the Federalists’ ideology and their ideas promoted during the American Revolutionary War in a prosaic form (mainly, with the help of essays).[11] In addition, Freneau always actively participated in public debates between the Republicans and the Federalists.[12] Overall, his creative work of the American Revolutionary War period was inspiring and incendiary, and reflected his “uncompromising desire to carry out the wonderful promise of the Revolution”.[13] Freneau’s literal activism (embodied mostly in the poetic form) was directed at the promotion of freedom; for this reason, it is not surprising that he compared the American Revolutionary War with the famous French Revolution. Besides, he was against social exclusion and monarchist doctrines based on elitist form of governance and people’s selection according to their race and social status. In his poems, To the Americans and America Independent, Freneau underlined the obvious necessity of the embodiment of all democratic values through the achievement of the country’s independence that can significantly improve a social life, and contribute to the country’s overall wellbeing.[14] Overall, Freneau criticized Negro slavery, preached the rights of women and men, advocated reason and science, and supported the ideas about the creation of “the great family of mankind”.[15]

According to Sullivan, Thomas Jefferson believed that the political and literary activism of Freneau helped to save the constitution of independent America.[16] Since Freneau supported the ideas of Jeffersonian democracy embodied in Jefferson’s constitution, he was a supporter of the democratic society. In this context, Duyckinck revealed some crucial Freneau’s beliefs related to society. Occupying the Republicans’ position in the society of that period, Freneau considered republicanism the core political value of the American society. He believed that each person has a duty to aid the state (in any possible manner) in resisting monarchism protecting and expanding human liberty. In addition, he supported the rights of all people to vote and to be informed; for this reason, he treated freedom of press and speech as the most essential priorities of society.[17]

Manning and Clarence revealed that Freneau advocated egalitarianism.[18] It means that he was for the equality of all people regardless of their difference in sex, social status, race, religion, and other social aspects used by the Federalists to inflame social conflicts. Freneau’s egalitarian approach to society provided the idea that social equality leads to people’s overall community and global citizens’ unity, the main democratic power.

Duyckinck noted that in the time of Revolution, Freneau manifested his Whig’s and Republican’s attitudes to society inspired by the ideologies of the Whig and Republican parties.[19] Criticizing the British rule in America, Freneau called people for the struggle against slavery and dependence.[20] For him, the main duty of each citizen was to manifest his or her patriotism and desire to belong to an independent nation through active participation in the American Revolutionary War. For example, in his poem The Citizen’s Resolve, Freneau suggested that citizens are rightful owners of their lives, and can make essential decisions that can influence all country.[21] Freneau believed that the struggle for independence would help Americans to realize their natural human desire for free labor, land, and life.[22] First, Freneau opposed slave labor, and suggested that each person has an opportunity to be a rightful owner of his or her own land. Second, he was against a plantation system that had made the human relationship unfair, and aggravated the conflict between the rich and the poor. Third, for Freneau, a democratic society existed without slaves, and included only independent and equal citizens that had their rights and duties. As one may see, Freneau was an inspiring advocate of humanism, fairness, collectivism, and nationalism that serve the practical instruments of a democratic society.

Freneau’s Views on the Social Contract

The social contract is the matter of political philosophy, and should be considered as a doctrine that suggests the necessity of citizens’ agreement in the establishment of the state government that guarantees the realization of their rights.[23] According to Duyckinck, Freneau understood the citizens’ constitutional rights (stated in the US Constitution of the 18^th century), organization of the government, functioning of political parties, and other essential aspects of politics.[24] Being the “Poet of the American Revolution”, Freneau remains one of the bright figures of the American history with his own views on the social contract.[25] One needs to remember that these views are mostly shaped by Freneau’s commitment to Jeffersonian democracy (it can be traced in such poems on politics, as A Political Litany, On the New American Frigate Alliance, etc.).[26]

Freneau was a proponent of a decentralized Jeffersonian democracy.[27] As Huff noted, Freneau “was consistently democratic in orientation; he actively attacked the Tories…, the king and his minions during the Revolution, and thereafter centrists who sought to strengthen the national government at the expense of individual rights”.[28] Besides, Freneau was a social commentator whose views were filtered through the lens of the Republican Party politics.

Adair and Yellin revealed that within the framework of Jeffersonian democracy, the social contract was based on the ideas supported by Freneau.[29] According to his first idea, the national government is seen a dangerous but obvious necessity to be established for the common protection, security, and benefit of people, nation or community. The government should be watched closely, and be limited in its powers over citizens; besides, it should be free from religious disputes. Freneau’s second idea represents the following evidence: natural, social, and political rights and values (mainly, related to equality, freedom of speech, press, right to vote, etc.) should be protected by the Republican Party (the main governing body) that serves the official voice of all state citizens. Third, the party’s government policy should be realized for the benefit of the yeoman farmer or landowner (a collective symbol of civic virtue, the cultivation of personal living habits that prove to be essential for community’s success). Finally, the federal government should not violate the individuals’ rights, and rights of the states. Overall, following the principles of Jeffersonian democracy, Freneau viewed the social contract as a mutually beneficial agreement realized through the strict distribution of rights and responsibilities between citizens and a state government that supposes citizens’ obedience to law in exchange for the government’s protection of their rights and values.[30]

According to Samples, within Jeffersonian democracy, some essential points related to the social contract need to be underlined.[31] Following the Jeffersonian democracy principles, freedom of speech and press was considered by the Republicans as the best method to prevent the government’s tyranny over people. Besides, the US Constitution should be considered the most essential legal document that ensures people’s freedom and serves the guarantee of the social contract. At the same time, Jefferson believed that “no society can make a perpetual constitution, or even a perpetual law” because “the earth belongs always to the living generation” that can manage this constitution or law in a corresponding way.[32] Both points mentioned above suggest that according to the offered social contract model, the government’s and the constitution’s functioning ensures the realization of people’s rights regardless of imperfectness inevitably presented in law and state-citizens’ relationships. Naturally, Freneau considered this idea; for this reason, he offered to struggle for the establishment of Jeffersonian democracy that unlike Federalists’ monarchy is a more fair and beneficial form of the state government from humanistic and reasonable points of view.

Huff suggested that Freneau was a propagandist of the Revolution and people’s struggle for the state model provided by the Republicans.[33] This fact implies that the active participation of citizens in the American Revolutionary War was a form of their commitment to the social contract provided by the Jeffersonian democracy. Hence, the Republican Party’s government means the achievement of all benefits of the social contract represented by the ideal relationships between citizens and their governing body.

Herman mentioned that Freneau’s views on the social contract echo Rousseau’s ideas embodied in the French Revolution. Although Federalists thought that the social contract is chimerical in practice, Freneau agreed, “man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains”; however, it was not the only Rousseau’s standpoint that helped him to defend the benefits of direct democracy, mocking the evils of the representative government supported by the Federalists.[34] In his poem The Benevolent Captain, one may see the following lines: “These, all in Freedom’s sacred cause allied, / For Freedom ventured, and for Freedom died…”.[35] As one may see, Freneau talked about the necessity of freedom (mainly, from Britain’s tyranny and other opponents of the independent and democratic USA); instead, the Federalists never raised the topic of freedom. Within the environment of the restrictive and anti-democratic policies of John Adams’ administration, in his creative work, Freneau demonstrated the obvious necessity of the Republican Party’s government based on the Jeffersonian democracy principles.

Although Thomas Jefferson and the Republicans influenced Freneau greatly, he understood the social contract in his own way. As Herman revealed, “Freneau lauded the sanctity of a social contract that undercuts tyranny, prevents blind obedience among citizens, and fosters a civil freedom of mutual toleration and respect for differences”.[36] Overall, Freneau supported a social contract (based on fairness and humanistic ideas) that helps to embody universal enfranchisement and direct democracy benefits within a diverse American society.

Freneau’s Views on Education

Sillen provided the idea that Freneau was a bright representative of the Republicans’ ideology shaped by the Jeffersonian democracy model.[37] Adair and Yellin added that he shared Thomas Jefferson’s views on many essential topics related to the national administration.[38] All these facts provided the idea that Freneau had corresponding views not only on the American Revolutionary War, country’s destiny, and government, but also on education.

Since Freneau was a devoted Jeffersonian, he believed that expansion and protection of human liberty was one of the chief goals of the democratic state.[39] He agreed that American citizens have a right to obtain education regardless of their social status and other circumstances (for example, financial problems). In addition, according to Thomas Jefferson and the Republicans, educated public is considered a key to a national success because knowledge (offered by a state system of education) was believed to be the most powerful instrument that develops and advances a nation.[40] Hence, the educational system that existed in the 18^th century needed to be reformed correspondingly.

Onuf revealed the peculiarities of Jeffersonian views on education shared by Freneau. In a democratic state, people should be well-informed and vigilant; in addition, they should understand state laws and all their rights. As Onuf noted, Jefferson thought, “only through education … citizens …would be enabled to understand their rights, to maintain them, and to exercise with intelligence their parts in self-government”.[41] In this context, education was seen as a means for enlightenment and a significant tool that promised to secure citizens’ liberties within a state. For this reason, as Onuf underlined, it was not surprising that advocates of Jeffersonian democracy “promoted publicly supported education”.[42] Freneau also was a supporter of general public education that promised to preserve the republican government. This type of education served to sustain the patriots’ consciousness of themselves as a free people and Revolutionary spirit by providing American citizens with knowledge about the British tyranny, American resistance, revolutionary war, and other essential topics in a popular form.[43]

As a Republican, Freneau supported the idea of a new system of education within a democratic society. This new system was represented by universal education offered by Thomas Jefferson. Robson revealed that this system of universal education “would yield a natural aristocracy of talent while simultaneously allowing the wealthy to proceed in school as far as they wished”.[44] The idea of universal education supposed the reformation in education, especially in terms of higher education that allowed adults to be educated. In addition, all Republicans (including Freneau) believed that education is a human natural right; for this reason, the universal education system was necessary since it would provide citizens with an opportunity to obtain education at any period of their life, and as long as they want to.[45]

Besides the views inspired by Jeffersonian democracy, Freneau had his own experience-based ideas about education. Hachemer suggested that Freneau’s surrounding reality suggested that American artists (mainly, poets) can be well-educated; however, they are usually overworked and underpaid.[46] In his poem To a New England Poet, Freneau claimed that knowledge may not provide skilled people with sustainable income.[47] As the poet said,

Though skilled in Latin and in Greek,

And earning fifty cents a weak,

Such knowledge and the income, too,

Should teach you better what to do….[48]

For Freneau, education does not necessarily serve a condition for a happy life; for this reason, in this context, Freneau was hopeful about Jeffersonian democracy that promised to ensure the wellbeing of the educated people. At the same time, Freneau did not diminish the value of education for people; for him, the potential of human intellect can be fully realized only with the help of education.[49]

Overall, Freneau believed that education should be treated as a natural right within the framework of a democratic state.[50] It means that right for education, as well as for freedom of speech and other fundamental rights, of each citizen should be respected; besides, the democratic state government needs to provide citizens with favourable conditions for education and its practical application in a real life. Freneau expected that the educational system of his time could not provide people for sustainable living; however, its reformation would meet the needs of citizens by providing them with powerful knowledge, intellect, and skills need to apply them in a real life. Universal education should be encouraged by public, and be accessible to both young and adult people; in this case, this system forms a conscious, intelligent, and well-informed nation. Freneau hoped that a Jeffersonian democracy may help to achieve the ultimate goal of education that is the contribution to national and social wellbeing.[51]

Freneau’s Views on American Character Identity

Since Freneau was a patriot, an active participant of cultural life in the period of the American Revolutionary War, and a radiant Republican fighter for the establishment of Jeffersonian democracy, he had his own views on the American character identity.[52] These views were mostly shaped by the belief in a democratic independent state in which the government protects fundamental human rights. Correspondingly, the views on the American character identity can be traced in the creative works of “the father of American poetry”.[53]

Michael provided Freneau’s views on the American character identity from the Jeffersonian perspective. Taking into consideration that Freneau was partially influenced by Thomas Jefferson’s ideology, he shared the president’s idealistic views on American character identity. As Jefferson, Freneau believed that the American identity is represented by a freedom-loving and intelligent person without prejudices (in relation to a social status, race, and other characteristics of a diverse society); for this person, patriotism, self-involvement in nationally significant affairs, and commitment to the common wellbeing are characteristic features.[54] Both Jefferson and Freneau thought that the authentic American identity is characterized by people’s “faith in freedom, the rights of man, and the innate controlling faculty of reason and the sense of right and wrong”.[55] As one may see, Freneau believed that American character identity is based on such essential concepts as freedom, equality, respect to human rights, and devotion to the native land.

Freneau formed his views on American character identity under the influence of the Republican Party’ ideology, as well. This ideology is rooted in the obvious necessity to remain a consolidated people within the unstable American political environment of the 18^th century. Kornfeld revealed that the Republicans believed in the following ideas:

“Only united, virtuous, liberty-loving citizens could resist corruption, curb governmental power, and prevent tyranny from overtaking the Republic. To survive, a Republic needed citizens who would constantly put the public interest above their own. They must think first not of self, family, community, region, or party, but of the nation”.[56]

Freneau shared the mentioned ides, since he greatly supported the Republicans.[57] In Freneau’s opinion, civic dedication to the state and readiness to sacrifice one’s interests to national welfare are incorporated in American character identity. In other words, according to Freneau, self-sacrifice for the national wellbeing’s sake is peculiar for the Americans.

In Freneau’s poem, The Rising Glory of America, one may see how the poet represents American character identity.[58] According to Miskolcze, Freneau believed that the American authentic identity can be found on the unique mixture of the native, even “savage” America (embodied in the American Indians’ legacy) and civilized America (embodied in Anglo-American alliance and Jeffersonian democracy) spirits.[59] For Freneau, the natives are “unskill’d to raise the lofty mast, / or force the daring prow thro’ adverse waves”.[60] In the poem, Freneau suggested, “the road to nationhood is assumed to be paved by the unbalanced opposition between the civilized and the savage”.[61] Besides, in the poem, the poet underlined that the US nation is best represented by ships; in its turn, a ship symbolizes nation’s sense of unity and community.[62] As one may see, Freneau attached to the American character identity unity and the unique combination of the native and the civilized, as well.

In the poetic legacy of Freneau, one may see that American character identity is tightly connected with a rebel and revolutionary spirit.[63] For example, The Benevolent Captain, A London Dialogue, Prince William Henry, Political Balance, and other poetical works provided the idea that a person who wants positive changes, being pressed by the system, should become a rebel.[64] In this context, the revolution of Americans pressed by the British tyranny should be viewed as a wish for national self-identification and positive transformation from slavery to freedom.

According to Freneau, American character identity is partly based on American exceptionalism. This exceptionalism is formed by the belief that an agricultural slavery society has a potential to become a glorious nation able to preserve liberty, dignity, and uniqueness.[65] In addition, Freneau saw that the US nation was one of few nations that were able to mix the native and the foreign for the sake of the progressive and sustainable national development; this ability underlines the US originality and exceptionalism.[66] Taking into consideration all information stated above, one may see that Freneau associated American character identity with a freedom-loving, patriotic, self-sacrificed, and exceptional nation without prejudices that respects its human rights, and achieves success with the help of self-commitment, self-involvement, and unique ability to mix the native and the foreign.

References

Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, Philip Freneau, George Washington, and Charles River, Primary Accounts: Federalist and Republican Debates of 1790-1800 (Kindle Edition, e-publisher, 2011), 2.

Cynthia Kierner, The Contrast: Manners, Morals, and Authority in the Early American Republic (New York; NYU Press, 2007), 14.

David W. Robson, Educating Republicans: The College in the Era of the American Revolution, 1750-1800, (Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1985), 107.

Douglass Adair and Mark E. Yellin, The Intellectual Origins of Jeffersonian Democracy: Republicanism, the Class Struggle, and the Virtuous Farmer (Lanham: Lexington Books, 2000), 5.

Eve Kornfeld, Creating an American Culture: 1775-1800 (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2001), 8.

Evert A. Duyckinck, Poems Related to the American Revolution (New York: W. J. Widdleton, 1865), vii-xxxviii.

Harry H. Clark, “What made Freneau the father of American prose?”, Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, September 18, 2012.  http://images.library.wisc.edu/WI/EFacs/transactions/WT1930/reference/wi.wt1930.hhclark.pdf

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, On the Social Contract (London: Courier Dover Publications, 2003), 21.

John Curtis Samples, James Madison and the Future of Limited Government (Washington, D.C.: Cato Institute, 2003), 61.

John Michael, Identity and the Failure of America: From Thomas Jefferson to the War on Terror (Minneapolis: Minnesota Press, 2008), 44-46.

Luciana Louise Herman, 1794: American Race, Republicanism and Transnational Revolution (Ann Arbor: ProQuest, 2007), 39-40.

Mareike Hachemer, About Philip Freneau – Targets and Self-Assessment (Santa Cruz: GRIN Verlag, 2007), 12.

Martin, J. Manning and Clarence R. Wyatt, Encyclopedia of Media and Propaganda in Wartime America (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2011), 60-61.

Peter S. Onuf, The Mind of Thomas Jefferson (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2007), 139-205.

Philip M. Freneau, Poems written and published during the American revolutionary war, and now republished from the original manuscripts (Philadelphia: Lydia R. Bailey press, 1809), 2-89.

Philip M. Freneau, The Poems of Philip Freneau (Princeton: HardPress, 2008), vi-285.

Philip M. Freneau, “To a New England Poet”, The Norton Anthology of American Literature 1620–1865, (New York: Norton, 1998), 813.

Randall Huff, The Revolutionary War Era (Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004), 139-140.

Robin Miskolcze, Women & Children First: Nineteenth-Century Sea Narratives & American Identity (Lincoln: Nebraska Press, 2008), 13-14.

Robert Sullivan, My American Revolution (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012), 178-257.

Samuel Sillen, “American Revolutionary Poet”, Books and People, 6 July 1943, 22.

[1] Martin, J. Manning and Clarence R. Wyatt, Encyclopedia of Media and Propaganda in Wartime America (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2011), 60.

[2] Robert Sullivan, My American Revolution (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012), 219.

[3] Manning and Clarence, Encyclopedia of Media and Propaganda in Wartime America, 60

[4] Manning and Clarence, Encyclopedia of Media and Propaganda in Wartime America, 60.

[5] Philip M. Freneau, The Poems of Philip Freneau (Princeton: HardPress, 2008), 142.

[6] Freneau, The Poems of Philip Freneau, 142

[7] Samuel Sillen, “American Revolutionary Poet”, Books and People, 6 July 1943, 22.

[8] Ibid., 22.

[9] Manning and Clarence, Encyclopedia of Media and Propaganda in Wartime America, 60.

[10] Freneau, The Poems of Philip Freneau, 49

[11] Ibid., vi.

[12] Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, Philip Freneau, George Washington, and Charles River, Primary Accounts: Federalist and Republican Debates of 1790-1800 (Kindle Edition, e-publisher, 2011), 2.

[13] Sillen, “American Revolutionary Poet”, 22.

[14] Freneau, The Poems of Philip Freneau, 185, 271.

[15] Ibid., 22.

[16] Sullivan, My American Revolution, 218.

[17] Evert A. Duyckinck, Poems Related to the American Revolution (New York: W. J. Widdleton, 1865), xxi.

[18] Manning and Clarence, Encyclopedia of Media and Propaganda in Wartime America, 60

[19] Duyckinck, Poems Related to the American Revolution, xxxii.

[20] Sillen, “American Revolutionary Poet”, 22.

[21] Freneau, The Poems of Philip Freneau, 42.

[22] Duyckinck, Poems Related to the American Revolution, xxxiii.

[23] Jean-Jacques Rousseau, On the Social Contract (London: Courier Dover Publications, 2003), 21.

[24] Duyckinck, Poems Related to the American Revolution, xxx.

[25] Manning and Clarence, Encyclopedia of Media and Propaganda in Wartime America, 60.

[26] Freneau, The Poems of Philip Freneau, 139, 285.

[27] Randall Huff, The Revolutionary War Era (Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004), 139.

[28] Ibid., 139.

[29] Douglass Adair and Mark E. Yellin, The Intellectual Origins of Jeffersonian Democracy: Republicanism, the Class Struggle, and the Virtuous Farmer (Lanham: Lexington Books, 2000), 5.

[30] Ibid., 5.

[31] John Curtis Samples, James Madison and the Future of Limited Government (Wachington, D.C.: Cato Institute, 2003), 61.

[32] Ibid., 61.

[33] Huff, The Revolutionary War Era, 140.

[34] Luciana Louise Herman, 1794: American Race, Republicanism and Transnational Revolution (Ann Arbor: ProQuest, 2007), 39

[35] Philip M. Freneau, Poems written and published during the American revolutionary war, and now republished from the original manuscripts, 51.

[36] Ibid., 40.

[37] Sillen, “American Revolutionary Poet”, 22.

[38] Adair and Yellin, The Intellectual Origins of Jeffersonian Democracy: Republicanism, the Class Struggle, and the Virtuous Farmer, 5.

[39] Adair and Yellin, The Intellectual Origins of Jeffersonian Democracy: Republicanism, the Class Struggle, and the Virtuous Farmer, 5.

[40] Peter S. Onuf, The Mind of Thomas Jefferson (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2007), 139.

[41] Ibid., 172.

[42] Ibid.,154.

[43] Ibid., 170.

[44] David W. Robson, Educating Republicans: The College in the Era of the American Revolution, 1750-1800, (Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1985), 107.

[45] Ibid., 107.

[46] Mareike Hachemer, About Philip Freneau – Targets and Self-Assessment (Santa Cruz: GRIN Verlag, 2007), 12.

[47] Ibid., 12

[48] Philip M. Freneau, “To a New England Poet”, The Norton Anthology of American Literature 1620–1865, (New York: Norton, 1998), 813.

[49] Freneau, The Poems of Philip Freneau, vii.

[50] Robson, Educating Republicans: The College in the Era of the American Revolution, 1750-1800, 107.

[51] Onuf, The Mind of Thomas Jefferson, 169

[52] Manning and Clarence, Encyclopedia of Media and Propaganda in Wartime America, 61.

[53] Harry H. Clark, “What made Freneau the father of American prose?”, Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, 39.

[54] John Michael, Identity and the Failure of America: From Thomas Jefferson to the War on Terror (Minneapolis: Minnesota Press, 2008), 44.

[55] Michael, Identity and the Failure of America: From Thomas Jefferson to the War on Terror 45

[56] Eve Kornfeld, Creating an American Culture: 1775-1800 (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2001), 8.

[57] Sillen, “American Revolutionary Poet”, 22.

[58] Freneau, The Poems of Philip Freneau, 49.

[59] Robin Miskolcze, Women & Children First: Nineteenth-Century Sea Narratives & American Identity (Lincoln: Nebraska Press, 2008), 13.

[60] Freneau, The Poems of Philip Freneau, 49.

[61] Ibid., 13.

[62] Ibid., 14.

[63] Philip M. Freneau, Poems written and published during the American revolutionary war, and now republished from the original manuscripts (Philadelphia: Lydia R. Bailey press, 1809), 2.

[64] Freneau, Poems written and published during the American revolutionary war, and now republished from the original manuscripts, 49, 62, 77, 89.

[65] Cynthia Kierner, The Contrast: Manners, Morals, and Authority in the Early American Republic (New York; NYU Press, 2007), 14.

[66] Miskolcze, Women & Children First: Nineteenth-Century Sea Narratives & American Identity, 13.