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Declaring Eden: Jefferson, Grotius, and the Natural Law Tradition Declaring Eden: Jefferson, Grotius, and the Natural Law Tradition
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Grotius and Genesis Grotius and Genesis
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Other English and European Influences on Natural Law Other English and European Influences on Natural Law
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Natural Law in Colonial New England Natural Law in Colonial New England
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“Eden Blooms Again”? Natural Law and the Rhetoric of Slavery “Eden Blooms Again”? Natural Law and the Rhetoric of Slavery
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“Your Petitioners Apprehend …” “Your Petitioners Apprehend …”
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“Contrary to the Law of Nature” “Contrary to the Law of Nature”
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The Crafting of Eden: Freemasons, Right Reason, and Republican Government The Crafting of Eden: Freemasons, Right Reason, and Republican Government
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right reason and the republic of oceana right reason and the republic of oceana
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The Masonry of Freedom’s Temple The Masonry of Freedom’s Temple
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Second Adam and Grand Master Second Adam and Grand Master
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{ 7 } Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Eden: The Architects, Slave Laborers, And Master Masons Of Freedom’s Temple
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Published:June 2014
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Abstract
Chapter 7 moves from the Great Awakening to the Revolution and illustrates the important influence of edenic rhetoric on understandings of natural law in New England. The chapter suggests that despite Thomas Jefferson’s personal skepticism with respect to the veracity of miraculous narratives in the Bible, colonial readers would have understood his invocation of natural law and a Creator, in the Declaration of Independence, as language justifying the colonial rebellion by way of Genesis. Phillis Wheatley, Prince Hall, and abolitionist lawyers for Quock Walker similarly seized on Adam’s creation narrative as evidence in support of their arguments against slavery. The chapter concludes by turning from accounts of rebellion to representations of the new republic as an Eden accomplished and Freemasons who cast George Washington as a second Adam. This national turn highlights the influence of New England theology and culture on the formation of the United States’ paradisiacal mythos.
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