1700-1820 Am Literature

Cotton Mather's death symbolically markes the passing of classic puritanism as the colonists knew it. The gradual change, now known as period of enlightenment, maked a change in the understanding of one's moral code, and the sorce thereof. Significant new ideas presented in this time were the theories and laws of Isaac Newton, explaining that there are rules to this natural world that we are living in, and new forms of religion presented by John Locke, and the religion of Deism. The idea presented by John Locke was that humans were born a "blank slate" with the idea that we are to love eachother because we share the same existance. The religion of Deism was about the idea that we were put together by a supernatural force and are set loose on this earth without governing from such force. The most significant change brought by this new era, was the movement from the classic puritan religion into a more modern understanding.