How Did The Enlightenment Influence The American Government

Thomas Jefferson’s works and ideas laid the foundation for several key aspects on the limits of the United States government, the idea of separation of church and state, and the importance of personal rights. Jefferson wrote many influential pieces of literature which pushed the concept of having limited government power. Jefferson wanted America not to be like the European monarchies that fell due to religious strife, so he emphasized a secular government. Jefferson, following closely with the ideas of John Locke, stressed the importance of the protection of individual rights against the government.

In this unit, you examined the American and French Revolutions. The American Revolution, sparked by conflict over British rule and influenced by Enlightenment ideas, broke colonial ties with a monarchy and yielded a new nation. The French Revolution, inspired by the American Revolution as well as the Enlightenment, freed French citizens from an absolute monarchy and secured equality before the law for all male citizens.

John Locke was a philosopher and political scientist. He had many interests and produced a number of writings that influenced future leaders. One of these leaders was Thomas Jefferson, who was involved with the aid of America and the act gaining independence from Britain. The Declaration of Independence and Locke’s views on government contain many similar aspects. These ideas includes the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (natural rights); the protection that is provided by the government for these rights; and the altering or abolishment of government if it fails to provide and protect the rights of the people. There may also be some differentiating ideas regarding these two sources. An example of this may be that, even though Jefferson and Locke agreed that the people should be able to overthrow the government if their rights were encroached upon, Hobbes believed that this would lead to a state of nature, which wouldn’t end greatly.

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.

The lasting political effect of the Enlightenment can't be overstated. At the least three fundamental political revolutions came about throughout this time period in Britain, America, and France. Those revolutions manifested thoughts centring on

Montesquieu stated that the best way to secure liberty and prevent a corrupted government was to divide the powers of government among separate groups that could check and manage one another. Madison and the other Founding Fathers listened to Montesquieu and established an executive, legislative, and judiciary branch in the federal Constitution as well as a system of checks and balances.

The British government influenced the principles of limited government, individual rights, and checks and balances. The Enlightenment thinkers influenced the principles of separations of powers, checks and balances, popular sovereignty, and individual rights. Also, the failures of the Articles of Confederation influenced the principles of federalism, limited government, and checks and balances. All of these influences have greatly impacted the United States government. To this day we believe that the British government, changed the found fathers view on government after limiting the king’s power. The Enlightenment thinkers also influenced us with their intelligence and discoveries. It is also believed that the failures of the Articles of Confederation influenced the United States Constitution because the founding fathers did not want for their government to fail, like it did with the articles. Without the influences of the United States Constitution, the United States government today would not be the same. For example without the United States Constitution, marriage rights could be denied to same sex couple, we would have our democratic right to vote for a president every 4 years, and etc. None of these things would have existed if it were not for the influences of the United States Constitution. Our world has changed for the better, since these

The Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the Enlightenment both desired to improve European society, however the level of religious tolerance during the Glorious Revolution differed from the Enlightenment. The Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the Enlightenment both desired to improve European society’s disposition to inherit natural rights. The level of religious tolerance during the Glorious Revolution, which favored Protestant beliefs over Catholicism, differed from the Enlightenment.

Philosophical ideas impacted human history, particularly in government. Niccolo Machiavelli and John Locke ideation molded human history on how power should be divided equally amongst the people and the ruler. Their theories began the steps to construction of the U.S government. Machiavelli ideas migrated the power in monarchies away form the power of the church to the King/Queen. Particularly starting in Florence during the renaissance and political enlightenment. Locke ideas came before the American Revolution and were the foundation for the U.S Constitution and partly reasons for the revolution. Though these men were not able to live through or the start of their notions, the people took a hold of them impacting government systems.

The Enlightenment philosophers influenced America’s government. John Locke’s ideas were echoed in the Declaration of Independence. Montesquieu Separation of powers was enforced in the U.S. constitution. Voltaire strongly believed in freedom of speech, thought and expression which is our 1st amendment. Lastly Hobbes backed Montesquieu with the separation of powers. The government of the United States would be very different without these four incredible

The Enlightenment was an intellectual movement created by many philosophers of the 18th century aimed to change their governments. These philosophers wished for more rights for the people and more representation in a constitutional government instead of the monarchy. Philosophers like Voltaire called for tolerance, reason as the primary source of authority, freedom of religious belief, and freedom of speech and expression. In addition he promoted the separation of religious and state, in order to mark a distance between any organized religion and the nation state. The political philosopher Montesquieu introduced the idea of a separation of powers in a government. He advocated that separation of powers would keep any individual or group from

During this time period, the influence of Enlightenment had overpower some of the most important values of the church and absolute monarch. Thomas’s Paine’s Common Sense document illustrates many keys that Enlightenment thinkers were influenced by. In the document, one of the idea that he wrote about was the government system and how everything was structured in an unfair approach. The key example of how Enlightenment thinking influenced the unfairness of the government is the freedom and the rights of individuals by God’s desires. Like it was mentioned in the text, “Society in every state is a blessing, but Government …is but a necessary evil” (Paine, pg 69). Having a group of people taking charge of the community is great but the approaches

The Enlightenment was an important and revolutionary time during Europe’s history. Many new ideas and ways of thinking were formed off of ideas during the Scientific Revolution. The new thoughts were often controversial with previous ideas that were formed by the church, but they were accepted quickly by much of the upper class society. The ideas that were formed during this time were used hundreds of years later to help shape many new governments.

The Bill of Rights is a formal statement of the fundamental rights of the people of the United States, incorporated in the Constitution as Amendments 1-10, and in all state constitutions. [Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com. Web. 25 Nov. 2015.]. The Bill of Rights had an idea that an individual natural rights should be protected from the government. This document had many ideas from enlightenment thinkers such as John Locke and Thomas Hobbes. Both John Locke and Thomas Hobbes had a great influence on the foundation on the Bill of Rights. How did the ideas of enlightenment leaders have an impact on how the Bill of Rights was created?

“All mankind being all equal and independent no one ought to harm another in his life” john Locke. The enlightenment has a major impact on today's every day life the philosophers of the enlightenment changed the way government was thought of and looked at. Did the enlightenment inspire change the way people thought of the government.