How Did The Enlightenment Influence The French Revolution

(1) “The movement known as the Enlightenment included writers living at different times in carious countries. Its early exponents, the philosophes, popularized the rationalism and scientific ideas of the 17th century. They exposed contemporary social and political abuses and argued that reform was necessary and possible.” (The Heritage of World Civilizations). This led to tremendous rethinking of religious and moral matters as well as scientific theory.

The Enlightenment was a European intellectual movement of the late 17th and 18th centuries that emphasized the use of reason and individualism. It was mostly influenced by Descartes, Locke, and Newton. The idea of enlightened absolutism valued reason rather than faith. Enlightened monarchs had total control but embraced rationality. Being an enlightened ruler meant allowing religious tolerance, freedom of speech, and the right to hold private property. The so-called enlightened rulers of the 18th century included Catherine the Great, Joseph II, and Frederick the Great. Joseph II ruled with more enlightened ideas than the other too but he lacked to make a long lasting changes during his reign. But to what extent did these rulers actually rule with enlightened absolutism?

The ideas of the Enlightenment shaped the revolutions of the late seventeen hundreds in numerous ways. Because of the Enlightenment, people began to question their surrounding, leading to the separation of religion and the monarchy. This was vital because it lessened the strength of the monarchy. The Enlightenment allowed people to see that they had certain rights that they were given at birth, and that no one, not even the monarchy, could take these rights away. These basic rights are the foundations of most standing constitutions to date.

The eighteenth century saw a host of social, religious, and intellectual changes across the British Empire. While the Great Awakening promoted and emphasized emotional religiosity, the Enlightenment promoted the power of reason and scientific observation. Both of these movements had a lasting impact on the colonies (Schultz, 2014). These movements had an impact on the American lifestyle that still exists today.

Question #2: In what ways did Enlightenment ideas contribute to the outbreak and course of the French Revolution?

The Age of Enlightenment lasted from the 1620s to the 1780s, and was a period of time where many great thinkers emphasized individual freedoms and logical reasoning. Enlightenment challenged many prominent organizations, such as the Roman Catholic Church and some governmental organizations. One Enlightenment thinker, Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Voltaire), thought that “government should be responsible for the people and supply to them freedom and happiness. The people thus agree to be governed on such terms1”. Voltaire believed that the government should cater to the people’s needs, and not control its citizens and take away their freedoms. In addition, he also thought that people should have a right to choose how their government governed them.

In conclusion, The Enlightenment greatly impacted the American Government and Revolution because the ideas and concepts that were gained from the time period supported the new beginning of our nation’s prodigious

During the Enlightenment there were lots of important and impacting philosophers. The Enlightenment was an 18th century European movement in which thinkers attempt to apply the principles of reasons and the scientific method to all aspects of society. A very impacting philosopher by the name of John Locke had a great impact on American Revolution and French Revolution. impacting the US Declaration of independence, constitution, & Declaration of the Rights of Man. The philosopher was big impact on the American and French Revolutions. Locke believe all people are born free and equal with three natural rights life, liberty, and property.

According to our studies, the Enlightenment was a movement that prioritized the human capacity for reason as the highest form of human attainment (Lecture Insert Cite). The Enlightenment originally began in Europe and found it 's way to the colonies. Before the Enlightenment, people had always believed that the social class in which they were born into would be the one in which they would die. People would follow their leader 's words without daring to question them and believed that when they died they would either face eternal salvation or eternal damnation. There was no room for thought. They were told what to think and do and they did not dare question it. That is until in the 1500 's, a European scientist named Copernicus began questioning the foundational beliefs everyone had previously been lead to believe by their leaders. This led to a change in what the people believed. Thus, by the 1600 's, educated people were postulating whether natural laws governed society and the universe (lecture cite). Essentially, the Enlightenment challenged the role of religion and divine right. This assisted Colonial America is seeing that it was possible to challenge the King and divine right. The movement ended up taking a scientific approach to the world and human nature as it challenged the role of God. It allowed people to see that

The Enlightenment was a period of time that stressed the importance of reason and individual ideas. Many philosophers published works criticizing a country’s monarch or divulging the flaws they saw in a system within the government, such as the justice system. The Enlightenment also stressed the importance of education, and as a result of this, literacy rates experienced a major upward trend. Now able to read the philosopher’s works, a larger sum of people now were educated on the corruptions within their government. This caused a questioning of traditional practices, and people began to believe they could revise their government. These new ideas played as a catalyst to acts of resistance, or in a broader retrospect, the French Revolution.

The Intellectual movement known as the Enlightenment occupies an important position in the growth of Western civilization. How it totally affected society, especially French society is a subject of debate, from the beginning of the Revolution to today. In fact, two schools of interpretation are involved.

The Scientific Revolution started a domino effect of people beginning to understand the powers they held. People could freely ask questions instead of indiscriminately accepting what they were told. A basic summary of this effect is written in the first paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, “When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and assume among the powers of the earth…which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them…” (p. 72). The Enlightenment gave people power to make the changes they wanted for independence and politics using intellect and reason, their natural right. The norm of a society that is modelled today became reason over

The Enlightenment era was around the 18th century. A time where many different philosophers imputed many of their own thoughts and beliefs on religion, human rights, the government and other important situations involving our country today. Many figures associated with the Enlightenment were, John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Voltaire, Baron Montesquieu, and Beccaria, to name a few.

The founding of America effected everyone all around the world. The years before the founding, there were certain actions that helped lead to it. There has been several time periods that have influenced the establishment of America. Without any prior movements, it would have been more difficult. The founding of America was impacted by the Renaissance, spreading of individual ideas, enlightenment, a philosophical movement, and exploration, founding of the new world.

The Enlightenment Period was the reformation of society, politics, and the economy. The Enlightenment Period was occurring throughout Europe during the 18th century. Traditional views were challenged by science and reasoning. Philosophers who had a great impact during the Enlightenment period included: John Locke, Voltaire and Montesquieu, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Adam Smith. John Locke proposed that everyone was born free and had certain unalienable rights. Locke’s philosophy can be observed through sections of the United States Declaration of Independence.