# Golden Age of Freethought > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Golden_Age_of_Freethought > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Golden_Age_of_Freethought.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Age_of_Freethought > Source revision: 1324117793 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) 19th-century intellectual movement in the USA This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. Please help improve this article by citing more sources. Find sources: "Golden Age of Freethought" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (November 2016) The **Golden Age of Freethought** is the mid 19th-century period in [United States](/source/United_States) history which saw the development of freethought as an organized movement. The Age, roughly from 1875 to 1914, is referred to by at least one contemporary writer as "the high water mark of freethought as an influential movement in American society".[1] It began around 1856 and lasted at least through the end of the century; author [Susan Jacoby](/source/Susan_Jacoby) places the end of the Golden Age at the start of [World War I](/source/World_War_I). Freethought is a philosophical position that holds that ideas and opinions should be based on science and reason, and not restricted by authority, tradition, or religion.[2] It is characteristic of the [18th century Enlightenment](/source/Age_of_Enlightenment) but hardly confined to any one epoch or place. The late nineteenth century American Golden Age was encouraged by the lectures of the extremely popular [agnostic](/source/Agnosticism) orator [Robert Green Ingersoll](/source/Robert_Green_Ingersoll), the popularization of [Charles Darwin](/source/Charles_Darwin)'s *[On the Origin of Species](/source/On_the_Origin_of_Species)*, the push for [women's suffrage](/source/Women's_suffrage), and other political, scientific, and social trends that clashed with religious orthodoxy and caused people to question the traditional ideas about the world that they encountered in received opinion.[3] A freethinker of the late 19th century could have been someone from any of the varied religious and political backgrounds.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*] [Charles Knowlton](/source/Charles_Knowlton), [D. M. Bennett](/source/D._M._Bennett), and Ingersoll were influential freethinkers of the period. Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899) was one of the more prominent freethinkers of his time. He was known as the "Great Agnostic". Ingersoll, a lawyer, an orator and a [Civil War](/source/American_Civil_War) veteran, is famous for his skeptical approaches to popular religious beliefs. He would speak in public about orthodox views and would often poke fun at them. Guests would pay $1 to hear him speak (equivalent to $33 in 2025).[4] Ingersoll was the leader of the [American Secular Union](/source/American_Secular_Union), successor organization to the [National Liberal League](/source/National_Liberal_League_(United_States)). [Charles Knowlton](/source/Charles_Knowlton) was born into a [Puritan](/source/Puritan) household in 1800. The science and medicine practiced around this time was known as "heroic". [Heroic medicinal](/source/Heroic_medicine) treatment was rather medieval and consisted of blood-letting, and induced vomiting and profuse sweating. These treatments, far from being restorative, usually actually proved harmful to patients. Knowlton had [wet dreams](/source/Wet_dreams) in his adolescence, leading him to be the subject of many types of heroic treatment. The revulsion that these interventions induced in him prompted him to pursue humane approaches to treatment. Believing that effective and healthy treatment must be founded on a sound understanding of human anatomy, he began [body snatching](/source/Body_snatching) from graves and studying the bodies he exhumed. Knowlton was imprisoned for this. On release his concern for the introduction of more humane medicine was undimmed. He became a doctor, putting his scientific findings into his practice. He also married into a family of freethinkers. Knowlton wrote "Elements of Modern Materialism" and "[Fruits of Philosophy](/source/Fruits_of_Philosophy)" in 1832. The second would prove much more successful. The book included a [spermicidal](/source/Spermicidal) method which he had invented.[5][6] ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Jacoby, Susan. *Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism.* New York, NY: Metropolitan Books ([ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-8050-7776-6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-8050-7776-6)), p. 151 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Shop FFRF"](https://web.archive.org/web/20101217081118/http://ffrf.org/shop/nontracts/What-Is-A-Freethinker/). Archived from [the original](https://ffrf.org/shop/nontracts/what-is-a-freethinker) on 2010-12-17. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["The Blasphemer Robert G. Ingersoll"](http://donswaim.com/bierce-ingersoll.html). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-inflation-US_4-0)** 1634–1699: [McCusker, J. J.](/source/John_J._McCusker) (1997). [*How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda*](https://www.americanantiquarian.org/proceedings/44525121.pdf) (PDF). [American Antiquarian Society](/source/American_Antiquarian_Society). 1700–1799: [McCusker, J. J.](/source/John_J._McCusker) (1992). [*How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States*](https://www.americanantiquarian.org/proceedings/44517778.pdf) (PDF). [American Antiquarian Society](/source/American_Antiquarian_Society). 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. ["Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–"](https://www.minneapolisfed.org/about-us/monetary-policy/inflation-calculator/consumer-price-index-1800-). Retrieved February 29, 2024. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** [Knowlton, Charles](/source/Charles_Knowlton) (October 1891) [1840]. [Besant, Annie](/source/Annie_Besant); [Bradlaugh, Charles](/source/Charles_Bradlaugh) (eds.). [*Fruits of philosophy: a treatise on the population question*](http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38185/38185-h/38185-h.htm). San Francisco: Reader's Library. [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [626706770](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/626706770). A publication about birth control. [View original copy.](https://archive.org/details/fruitsphilosoph00knogoog) 1. *See also*: Langer, William L. (Spring 1975). "The origins of the birth control movement in England in the early nineteenth century". *[Journal of Interdisciplinary History](/source/Journal_of_Interdisciplinary_History)*. **5** (4). [MIT Press](/source/MIT_Press): 669–686. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.2307/202864](https://doi.org/10.2307%2F202864). [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [202864](https://www.jstor.org/stable/202864). [PMID](/source/PMID_(identifier)) [11619426](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11619426). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Jacoby, Susan. *Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism.* New York, NY: Metropolitan Books ([ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-8050-7776-6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-8050-7776-6)) ## External links - [beliefnet.com on the *Golden Age of Freethought*](http://www.beliefnet.com/story/144/story_14442.html) - [beliefnet.com interview with Susan Jacoby](http://www.beliefnet.com/story/144/story_14451_1.html) - [The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 1 (of 12) by Robert Green Ingersoll at Gutenberg.org](http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38801) - [Freethought Revival at beliefnet.com](http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Secular-Philosophies/Freethought-Revival.aspx) - [goldenageoffreethought.com from the *Truth Seeker* magazine](http://goldenageoffreethought.com/) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Golden Age of Freethought](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Age_of_Freethought) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Age_of_Freethought?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.