Early American History

Sensibility and the American Revolution

The book Sensibility and the American Revolution" by Sarah Knott is a look at the idea of sensibility as a movement and its relationship to United States history. The author follows the growth of the sensibility movement in America, defines the movement and its goals, and offers up rationale why it existed and grew in popularity.

The author calls this movement a "sentimental project" (Knott 2009, 29), which helped create a societal acceptance and of personal change, which helped lead to unparalleled social reform. She writes, "Man's sensibility to the world around him was deemed a natural basis for social action, a means of healthy self-formation and social connectedness" (Knott 2009, 1). She also believed society was linked to the self and that it was a "sympathetic means of cohesion" (Knott 2009, 1). Many people think of the literary form of sensibility when they hear the term, and the author does relate her thesis to the literary sensibility movement popular in the early eighteenth century, but she makes it quite clear there is more to her sentimental project than the literary analysis, because it is far more far-reaching than that.

Her project integrates literature, economics, epistemology, and physiology, sensibility was a demonstrative philosophy, and early in the book, the author ties it in to her thesis, when she notes, "The leading officers of that [Revolutionary] army drew on shared sensibility to effect military cohesion as rebellion turned into revolution" (Knott 2009, 18). She also believes this American sentimentality was spread via print and the medical practitioners, when the Philadelphia Medical School began training physicians in the "sensible" nervous system, and the training spread to others in the medical field. She writes, "Good bodily health entailed a pitch-perfect degree of sensibility" (Knott 2009, 79). This idea also spread in many of the popular writings of the day, and in newspapers.

She also believes sensibility led to patriotic feelings during the Revolution. She writes, "In the narrower sense, americanization involved the turning of sensibility to overtly American -- patriot, nationalistic -- ends" (Knott 2009, 105). Thus, sentimentality made the colonists open to social change, and helped develop their sense of patriotism and national pride that helped them ultimately win the Revolutionary War. She also believes it helped shape the new Republic and frame the foundations of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. She notes, "At ratification, Federalists and Anti-Federalists promoting or opposing the Constitution made sensibility and society shared ideological terrain" (Knott 2009, 200). She shows throughout the book that the idea of sensibility helped form the nation, helped frame its new laws, and helped lead to openness and frankness is a society that was not afraid to break new ground.