Look At The Historical Roots Of The American Enlightenment

American Enlightenment In order to understand how the American Enlightenment began, one must look at the historical roots of how the nation’s early political development was heavily influenced by the European Scientific Revolution and French Enlightenment. The Scientific Revolution and the French Enlightenment greatly influenced the understanding of political, economic, and social behavior.

The Scientific Revolution emerged in Europe when scientist such as Copernicus, Brane, Kepler, Galilei, Newton, Bacon, and Descartes, though all fairly religious, wanted to understand religion through science, math, and reasoning. Prior to this revolution, knowledge in Europe was strictly based off of tradition, scripture, and church authorities (Lecture). This all began to change when scientists, Copernicus,

Despite many scientist of the Scientific Revolution remaining fairly religious, these men were heavily influenced by scholasticism. For instance, Isaac Newton challenged the typical way of thinking in Europe; he wanted to know exactly how and why and yet simply believed the study of nature was helping with understanding God (Lecture). However, many felt resentment for these scientist and their ideas of scientific reasoning. In fact, when Galilei advanced the telescope many religious leaders refused to look through it (Lecture).

Unlike the scientist of the Scientific Revolution, philosophers of the French Enlightenment fought to weaken the institution of religion. The French Enlightenment focused on challenging the traditional way of thinking, the unearned privileges of the monarchy, and the impact of religious thinking. Philosophers followed the writings of John Locke and were heavily influenced by his idea of the right to revolt. These men were tired of being controlled by a monarchy who were ill-prepared and religious leaders who ignored the facts of