How Did The Enlightenment Influence The French Revolution

Also, Montesquieu’s idea of the separation of powers helped shape the government. It was put into place to keep one branch from becoming overpowered. Without these key concepts, our government would supposedly become or stay as an absolute monarch. 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

He favored representative government and a rule of law. He denounced tyranny. He insisted that when government violates individual rights, people may legitimately rebel” (Powell 2). He believed that the government was created for the people and not just the monarchy and if the government fails it’s up to the people to ‘fix’ it. He influenced many people and philosophers, including Thomas Paine and Thomas

In 1776, the British colonists that were living in America were getting tired of Great Britain’s control. The British were strictly ruling the colonies at this time, and the colonists decided that they were going to fight back. Firstly, colonists were given hefty taxes. Great Britain did this to receive more money, since they are in debt from the French and Indian War. Also, there were many unfair laws that were being instilled.

Question #2: In what ways did Enlightenment ideas contribute to the outbreak and course of the French Revolution? The Enlightenment was a period of rationalization and understanding, and in many ways contributed to the birth of the French Revolution. Around the time of the French Revolution the church was the dominate force in France. That being said, often times the church would offer explanations to many events as acts of God. The ideas of The Enlightenment saw the opposite.

Many scholars believe that the French and Indian War was the turning point that led to a downhill spiral of the relationship between the American Colonies and Great Britain. After this war, the British were more strict on the colonies in many ways. Due to the firmness and unfair laws, many colonists grew upset and demanded that they have the rights of Englishmen. The British believed in a different form of representation, known as virtual representation, which was when someone from England represented the colonies in Parliament. But, the colonists believed in actual representation, which was when someone from the colonies would represent them in Parliament.

Each of the philosophies discussed the purpose of government as well as which government was the most ideal. For Paine, government, is “a punisher,” in which society is ruled by in order to protect the properties of one’s natural rights (Paine 3). However, he defends a representative democracy as being the ideal. Likewise, John Locke also argues that governments protect the rights of man. Similarly, to

He believed that people should be able to overthrow their leader if they were not happy and that is exactly what the colonists did. After the American Revolution was won the Declaration of Independence was then formed after multiple drafts. This document demonstrated Locke’s philosophy that all men were born equal with the natural right of life, liberty, and property. The Declaration of Independence was highly influenced by Locke’s ideas and if he was alive to be able to see the outcome, he would be very pleased to say the

This concept of separation of powers influenced James Madison when writing The US Constitution because it ensured that one branch of government could not gain more power than another. Although both were immensely influential, John Locke was more because he shaped the founding of the United States. Locke influenced in the formation of the Declaration of Independence with his redefined ideas on the nature of government and every human’s natural

Big changes requires big ideas. During the 18th century in Europe well educated people called philosophes explored ideas about, how to change the society in which they lived. Relying on reason and belief that natural laws held key to understanding human behavior, the philosophes latched onto one big idea also known as freedom. They believed that allowing individuals more freedom and reducing government control would make society better. But what was the central idea of thinkers who led the intellectual revolution of the late 17th and 18th centuries?

To gain faith back from the public, Congress had placed many restrictions on the government, based on the public’s opinion. The Watergate, Nixon Scandal affected America greatly. It led to the first time President of the United States of America had ever resigned. After Ford 's pardoning, it caused the nation to be conflicted. People lost confidence in their own government because of the thought that future Presidents may take advantage of their own power, just like Richard Nixon did.