Teaching the Article
Exercise 3, Reconciling Home Ties and Cosmopolitanism
One of the powerful passions that Fithian was constantly trying to reconcile with his pursuit of an enlightened self was his love for Cohansey--the place he called home. This exercise builds on the previous one by exploring Fithian's homesickness.
A. Thomas Paine's Cosmopolitan Beliefs
Read the following quotations from the writings of Thomas Paine, the eighteenth-century British world's preeminent cosmopolitan. Paine believed that a truly enlightened individual would be unrestrained by the boundaries of what he perceived to be parochial, backward, and narrow-minded commitments to home, faith, community, and family. How are these cosmopolitan beliefs displayed in these excerpts?
Documents:
B. Fithian's Cosmpolitanism and Love of Home
Now compare Paine's writings to excerpts from the writings of Philip Vickers Fithian, written during his travels in Virginia and Pennsylvania. How do these documents reveal the tension between Fithian's pursuit of an enlightened cosmopolitanism and a love for his Cohansey home?