Good example of critical thinking on the american enlightenment: the age of reason

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In the article, The Declaration of States, author Thomas Jefferson tried to rationalize the importance of securing autonomy if only to establish a degree of authority on a particular area. This authority is meant focus only on the improving one’s area of responsibility for effective management and to secure productivity that could contribute to the national economic gains of the nation to which it belongs to. On the other hand, in an article entitled The Way to Wealth, Benjamin Franklin talks about productivity from a different perspective and the role of the government in this effort.
Benjamin Franklin’s written work on The Way to Wealth determines closely with the concept of how true prosperity could be gained even when facing the hardest of economic times in the country. Herein, Franklin writes several points of advice that he thinks would help the nation find a way to make progress a personal goal. In a way, he believes that with each person doing what is good for himself, the effect would eventually cover the nation’s desire to be more engaged in the development. Among the notable lines that Benjamin Franklin penned in his work is the concept of doing things with the purpose rather than giving one’s self the leisure of time and relaxation that negates the concept of hard work. Seizing the opportunity that comes to one’s life is necessary; this is what is being suggested in the lines that read “ One today is worth two tomorrows” (Franklin, 2). This inspirational saying was penned by Franklin to help the people realize about the facts on how life should be treated strongly as based from what comes along and what must be grabbed immediately as such opportunities do not come around twice. It is from this writing that famous sayings about living have come to existence. The message of Benjamin Franklin was clear and engaging. Somehow, this defined the way he perceived the reality behind success. Basing from points of frugality that the nation’s people had to deal with during the war years, Franklin wants to bring about a sense of sparkle on how the people realized the concept of hope and progress that lies within their very hands. Aiming to encourage them to desire a better, he also pushes them to do what is better than what is considered good enough at the time.
However, that passage could also be reflective of the idea that while by doing things independently more focused would allow a good tangible result which would eventually be taken collectively. In a manner that every state works hard to accomplish something but towards the end when these independent efforts are put together it will amount to something big. In the same manner that can be related to Thomas Jefferson’s statement on why there should be independent states. If they are under one leadership, a nation as big as the US will not be receiving equal approximation in terms of funding and resources. Naturally, those closer to the central government will be receiving more than those from afar. Hence, the independent states would allow each to focus on their own. By doing so, they would have time to improve and contribute more to the federal government.
On another argument, the articles sought to express that if promoting better working behavior, this written work gives a distinct indication on how hard work is later on paid with high gains of development that comes from real sweat and strong conviction to do what is right in the eyes of a person; which later on gives a good foundation of progress for the whole nation. This point of realization is what will make a person happy. It is only through such oneness that the American nation would rise as imposed by Jefferson in the declaration of independence as he notes: And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor (Jefferson, 5). In a way, the promotion of self-distinction of worth assists in the distinction of social development.
When it comes to such idea, Thomas Jefferson’s draft of the United States’s Declaration of Independence entails to present the same idea. As it could be read from the draft “ that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” (Jefferson, 1); this line proclaims how the independence of the American community away from the grasp of the British administration’s control, is based on a God given gift to all mankind. Herein happiness is noted as part of the element that makes up a satisfying and worthy option of living. Relatively, it connects with what Benjamin Franklin mentions in his work; that happiness, when worked for, comes in the sweetest form of realization. Creating a foundation for the future of their nation, Franklin and Jefferson both intended to find a way to motivate their people further. To this Franklin adds the importance of action rather than dreaming or hoping for better days as he mentions:
” So what signifies wishing and hoping for better times. We may make these times better if we bestir ourselves. Industry need not wish, as Poor Richard says, and he that lives upon hope will die fasting. There are no gains, without pains, then help hands, for I have no lands, or if I have, they are smartly taxed. (Jefferson, 3)
Here, Franklin tries to establish a course of motivation for the people. First, through pointing out their strengths and capacities of embracing a better life and second, through giving them an idea of the worth that they have as human individuals through the draft of how their rights should identify their capacities to contribute to the development of the community they are living in. Understandably, people have become more decadent towards the writings of Franklin and Jefferson during the present days. It seems as though the American society [and everyone else included in it] has neglected the works of their forefathers in establishing a foundation of moral living that shall define the progress they are taking into account in their hands.

CONCLUSION

True to its sense, such awakening in line with the concept of freedom and happiness allowed the American society to explore its overall capacity to expand its knowledge and apply it in innovative creations that define modern living. However, there are always two sides to a coin and in this point, the positive side connotes the idea of development aided by the freeness of the human mind, while the negative side leans on the fact that with such freedom comes lack of control especially in determining what is moral and what is not. In a way, while the American era of enlightenment has opened the doors to better options of thinking and making things happen, it also has given way to the concept of living that is not based on grounded morals but liberty of mind and desires of the human society. Such course of enlightenment fails to identify the important foundation of freedom as drafted by Jefferson as he says “ a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes that impel them to the separation” (Jefferson, 2); with such disregard to the principles of American enlightenment, people forget the need for limitations declared under the commissioning of liberty and freedom among the American people.
In the same manner, American awakening thrives in the idea that people necessarily have to work seeking for the common. Autonomy of states secures the national sovereignty because it allows for the state to concentrate on improving their own jurisdiction which would eventually contribute to the betterment of the entire nation.

WORKS CITED

Franklin, Benjamin. The Way to Wealth.
Jefferson, Thomas. Declaration of Independence of the United States of America.