American Literature Portfolio
the 1620 Mayflower voyage, until the year 1647. The book ends with a list, written in 1650,
of Mayflower passengers and what happened to them.
The Age of Reason
The Age of Reason: Being an Investigation of True and Fabulous Theology , a deistic treatise
written by eighteenth-century British radical and American revolutionary Thomas Paine,
critiques institutionalized religion and challenges the inerrancy of the Bible. Published in
three parts in 1794, 1795, and 1807, it was a bestseller in America, where it caused a short-
lived deistic revival. British audiences, however, fearing increased political radicalism as a
result of the French revolution, received it with more hostility. The Age of Reason presents
common deistic arguments; for example, it highlights the corruption of the Christian Church
and criticizes its efforts to acquire political power. Paine advocates reason in the place of
annaabi.ee 
