An age of revolutions in Europe and America

1. Alexander Pope assumes an authoritative voice in “An Essay on Man.” These lines, beginning with “All nature is but art,” and ending with “whatever is, is right” are declarative statements in keeping with the general tone and theme of the poem. In “An Essay on Man,” Pope seeks to situate humankind in the natural order of the universe. Pope shows the potential and the limitations of human beings, encouraging an attitude of humility.

By stating, “All nature is but art,” Pope affirms the ineffable beauty of nature: which is one thing that humankind certainly does not create. As much as human beings can interfere with nature or adjust nature for functional or aesthetic purposes, nature is “art” on another level: a creative, perhaps divine level. Pope then refers to “all chance, direction, which thou canst not see,” which reiterates the meaning of the previous line about nature being naught but art. Human beings cannot possibly understand the meaning behind creation, and should simply appreciate its beauty and inherent harmony.

Human beings do struggle with why there is evil in the world, and what the meaning of life might be. In these lines from “An Essay on Man,” Pope urges greater humility with regards to the human position. Human beings might not actually have the capacity to ever understand the meaning of life, or why evil exists. “One truth is clear,” claims the speaker: “whatever is right, is right.” In other words, if something exists, it exists for a reason and that reason might be far bigger than the human being can understand at this point in time. Pope urges acceptance and a willingness to surrender to a higher intelligence.

2. Also in “An Essay on Man,” Alexander Pope seems to pander to the racist tropes of his time, referring to the “poor Indian! Whose untutored mind / Sees god in clouds, or hears Him in the wind.” These lines refer to the animistic nature of many Native American worldviews, which do not believe in the anthropomorphic, authoritarian God of the Judeo-Christian bible but instead view nature as being the repository of spiritual wisdom and truth. While it seems initially that Pope buys into the colonialist mentality, reading this passage in the overall context of “An Essay on Man” shows that perhaps Pope actually sympathizes more with the Native American outlook than with the European.

“An Essay on Man” urges humility overall, on a perspective that does not necessarily elevate the human being above nature but actually shows how human beings are just one small part of creation. In these lines, Pope seems to show that the Native American worldview is more akin to reality: in that the Native American sees God in nature. The Christian, on the other hand, are disrupters, people who “thirst for Gold,” and thereby rape nature for its economic expediency rather than recognize the inherent value in its sheer beauty and spirituality.

The Native American worldview is one that may seem simplistic to the Christian, who has a litany of written texts claimed to be the word of God. Yet the Native American possesses the whole of nature: from the weather and the sunlight to every leaf on every tree in the “depth of woods.” Far from denouncing the indigenous worldview, Pope actually seems to be celebrating it in “An Essay on Man.”

3. The birth of America occurred within a specific historical framework and was contingent upon Enlightenment philosophy. When Thomas Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence, he did so not out of nowhere, but within the overall context of Enlightenment theory. The Declaration of Independence is frequently considered a political document, but in fact it is also a precursor of Romanticism in literature and a clear exhibition of neoclassicism, too. Romanticism is in fact defined by its revival of classical Greco-Roman themes, which emerge just as much in the arts as in political culture.

In the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson is both neoclassical and Romantic in its idealism. The document is grounded on the belief that “these truths are self-evident,” and based on the “Laws of Nature.” Jefferson even refers to “Nature’s God,” to suggest that the impetus for American self-governance—the democratic principle--is part of God’s plan. The Declaration comes across as a mythical, almost religious text in that Jefferson frames it as being divinely ordained. As such, the document is purely Romantic in its vision. The document refers to the neoclassical political idealism of democratic self-rule, while also basing that self-rule in divine principles.

Rather than presuming human beings have the authority to determine what is right or wrong, Jefferson is claiming that right versus wrong are ethical questions only answerable via divine principles. These are not necessarily Christian principles; they are principles that are reasonable—based on the inherent divinity of logic and reason and not scripture. Jefferson’s humanistic approach to ethics hearkens to the principles espoused by Socrates, which is why the Declaration of Independence is both neoclassical and Romantic in scope.

4. The Declaration of Independence and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen are two similar documents based on similar universal ethical principles. Both documents are grounded in the assumption that there are universal human rights, which in Jefferson’s terms are “inalienable.” The rights of human beings are unconditional, designed to be universally applied under common law. Ironically, though, both France and the United States had these documents in place well over a hundred years before women—half the population—had the right to even vote.

Although these two documents arose out of different cultural contexts, they both extended from Enlightenment philosophy. Rousseau in particular informed both the French and the American documents, but Locke’s influence is also evident in both documents and especially on the Declaration of Independence. Rousseau’s belief in individual human rights, in the role of common law as good governance, and on the principle of common good are all values shared in common by the French and American documents.

The primary differences between the Declaration of Independence and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen are historical and cultural, rather than thematic. Mainly, the French document focuses more on the “rights of man,” whereas Jefferson’s declaration is more political in tone. Both refer to the importance of individual rights and freedoms, but the Declaration of the Rights of Man is more reactionary against the French monarchy than it is constructive of a new form of government.
5. Based on the same principles that undergirded the French Revolution, the Haitian declaration of independence from France ironically echoes the Enlightenment values that helped France eventually overturn centuries of oppressive monarchic rule. With Jean-Jacques Dessalines, the Haitian revolution had an inspirational author of its own declaration of independence and constitution, based on the principles of universal human rights. The “Liberty or Death” proclamation was similar to its French predecessor, paradoxically invoking the former colonizers’ own language to assert Haitian independence.

With the “liberty or death” proclamation, Dessalines simply wanted to extend the same human rights deemed universal under French law to its colonies. Racism and classism, plus economic and political expediencies, caused French dominant culture to scoff at the attempt of its colonies to share in the democratic distribution of power and revolutionary spirit spreading throughout the world. It was only a matter of time before visionary leaders like Dessalines would help empower people to overthrow colonial regimes just as the people of France and the United States overthrew monarchic powers.


Works Cited

Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.

Dessalines, Jean-Jacques.

Jefferson, Thomas. Declaration of Independence.

Pope, Alexander. An Essay on Man.