During the seventeenth century, many of Europe’s diverse and numerous countries were going through countless political, economic, and cultural transformations. The Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment were two of the greatest, most important changes of the early modern era which greatly altered the course of history in most of Europe. People were starting to question and challenge widely accepted beliefs and applying approaches to knowledge rooted in human reason to the physical universe and human affairs. The study of history often focuses on these events and its effects on Europe, excluding or ignoring its effects on places outside of Europe. The Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment both sparked interests in science in China and …show more content…
The ideas of Enlightenment thinkers like John Locke and Montesquieu helped create the basis for the Declaration of Independence, the American Revolution, and the creation of the government of the United States of America. John Locke’s philosophy of natural rights, like life, liberty, and property belonging to everyone, and Montesquieu’s philosophy of separation of powers, both influenced the rise of a state with no king when they declared their independence from the British in 1776, which was revolutionary and a radical idea since most countries were ruled by some kind of a monarchy during the early modern era. These philosophies were supported by human reason, unlike previous eras where ideals had been supported by religion, which is why they were thought to be so innovative and impressive. The American Revolution, fueled by Enlightenment ideals, later became an incentive for the French Revolution among other revolutionary movements challenging oppressive, widely accepted beliefs of
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Show MoreIn conclusion, the Enlightenment was vital to the American Revolution and the creation of American Government. The Enlightenment beliefs that influenced the American Revolution were natural rights, the social contract, and the right to overthrow the government if the social contract was violated. The Enlightenment beliefs that aided to the creation of the American government were separation of powers, checks and balances, and limited government. As stated before, without the Enlightenment there would not have been a revolution, resulting in no American Government. The Enlightenment’s influence on the creation of America is irrefutable.
The natural given right of life, liberty and the right to own property ideas of the philosopher John Locke were fundamental to the creation of probably the two most important document of the United States: The Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution. This was achieved during 18th century within the Enlightenment period. In the Enlightenment period reasoning was the main focus towards a social change in order to eliminate the suffering of human beings and set precedent to the pursuit of happiness. Rogers stated the “Jefferson's ideas in the Declaration of Independence put the 13 Colonies on the road toward the creation of a new, independent nation.”
The scientific revolution of the seventeenth century obsolete old systems of thinking, and allowed new ones to emerge. The teachings of the church and Bible were suddenly found lacking after the scientific developments. It became necessary and possible enough for philosophes (Enlightenment thinkers) to begin applying the new scientific methods - where empirical observation was first applied to the physical universe – and to study about humanism. The Enlightenment philosophers think they still owed to Renaissance humanists, but they believed they were undergoing a radical change from past thought.
The Enlightenment made American society more egalitarian, allowing people to relate to and believe that all people are equal and deserve equal opportunities and rights. The Great Awakening emphasized emotional religiosity or a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The colonists' perceptions of government and society as a whole changed as a result, and as a result, they rebelled against England. The Enlightenment emphasized logic, reason, progress, and science in its arguments. The Great Awakening argued for Christianity across social, economic, and educational divides.
Two revolutions, both taking place in the 18th Century, both world-changing. People heavily associate the French Revolution with the American Revolution, due to the many general similarities. However, there are crucial differences that led to their respective results and their long-term impact. How did these events begin? America's reasons began as grievances lodged against taxation.
The Guillotine was made to chop of people's heads where it was evident that was a advanced piece of technology. Moveover, this shows that the Scientific Revolution played a large factor in the Enlightenment by the advances in technology and the way the government changed by the spread of new ideas. The theory of the heliocentric was challenged in the Scientific Revolution but when the era changed to the
The Great Awakening and Enlightenment were two very different cultural phenomena that happened during the 1700s but they both had a similar effect on colonial society. The Enlightenment was based on reason, science, rationality and progress. Benjamin Franklin, an Enlightenment thinker from Pennsylvania, believed that science could benefit society. Other Enlightenment thinkers had rational views of God and viewed him as a clockmaker that controlled the universe.
Consequently, a limited government was created in response to these new thoughts. Furthermore, this new type of government was extremely revolutionary because it changed the way that the citizens had thought or viewed about the government. Two Enlightenment philosophers that influenced the creation of the government were John Locke and Montesquieu. John Locke had the belief that everyone had natural rights (life, liberty, property) and that if the government failed to protect these rights, they could be overthrown and replaced. Also, Montesquieu’s idea of the separation of powers helped shape the government.
In the 19th century, Manifest Destiny was a theory created by John O'Sullivan, an American editor and columnist, where he believes that the destiny of American settlers was to expand to the west, while at the same time spread their traditions and their institutions. As a result, many Americans settlers expanded beyond the west coast and gained more land as it caused them to built transcontinental railroads and many other great things. In addition, the American settlers considered the United States to be the best possible way to remake the world in the image of their own country as they believe God had blessed them with the growth of American nation. After encouragement to the Western Expansion, major changes such as technology, social economics, and the roles of women had great effects toward the Americans’ way of living, where it became known as the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution sparked the way how Americans’ lives changed thanks to advance and new modern technologies that were invented.
Enlightenment views on government and policy helped the two new governments create their own unique system for governing. One ideal of enlightenment was equality. America believed in equality before the law. In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
During the Enlightenment new ideas were created that greatly impacted society. The new ideas created during the Enlightenment impacted society so much that many of the ideas were utilized when forming the government of the United States. Three European men Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Rousseau each had their own unique views of what would be best for society. Each philosopher had ideas that would make today 's society more ideal and with hard work are possible to achieve.
Theology is the study of religion, faith, God and God’s relation to the world. Science is the study of the world based off of experiments and observations. In the beginning the two were combined, both looked to answer and study the world and how it was created by God. As time went on things began to change. Science started looking for more substantial proof and information, while theology still relied on what could not be seen.
Many of his thoughts and principles were studied and adopted by the founders of the United States and are evident in documents, just like the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Locke emphasized the freedom of humans, the equality of all before God, regulation and authorities through consent of the governed, and he justified the overthrow of presidency when it fails the people. Jean-Jacques Rousseau was another prominent thinker from the Enlightenment era. Rousseau differed with Locke about the position of the individual in relation to the country, with Rousseau emphasizing the importance of the ruled being worried in
Background Information on the Enlightenment: In the year of 1791, The French and Haitian Revolution coexisted simultaneously. France was trying to pick up the pieces of a country left in shambles, while across the hemisphere, Haiti was about to ignite the fire. In France, they were in the process of creating a new government, in which all citizens would have equal rights, as based on the Declaration of the Rights of Man. In Haiti, a shocked oppressed populace was discovering the power that was held by the Declaration of the Rights of Man and was keen to set their own revolution.
This sharing of power added ideas from the newly formed government that focused on the freedoms of citizens in England. Voltaire contended that the English government had successfully limited the power of the monarchy by affirming the power of the nobility, criticizing the French feudal system for its inability to share political power amongst the citizens of France (6). Advocating a limited monarchy to hold political discussions concerning the progress of the French government towards liberal reforms during the French Revolution. Voltaire as an enlightened philosophe, published papers about the rationality of the French government, which influenced his attitude towards the English constitutional monarchy that implemented the enlightened ideal of liberty. John Locke wrote that the purpose of electing legislative powers was to create laws and rules that protected the “properties of all the members of society,” a natural right of mankind (5).