How Did The Enlightenment Influence Colonial Thinking

The Enlightenment a revolutionary scientific era when philosopher’s contributions to society made an impact on colonial thinking. Among these influential intellectuals were Francis Bacon, Rene Descartes, John Locke, Isaac Newton Algernon Sydney, Charles de Montesquieu and Denis Diderot. Throughout The Enlightenment era philosophers new ideas questioned the monarchies and the church who supported them. During the awakening times of The Enlightenment, society began to expand the way of thinking. People found rational ideology through science, which than enabled freedom, political and legal equality. Philosophy, science, sociology, economic laws, politics and religion findings helped the evolution of this era. Untimely leading to one of Americans most important and recognized document in history, The Declaration of …show more content…
One philosopher in particular highly influence The Declaration of independence. John Locke who stated “All men were created equal, in that all were given by God certain inalienable natural, rights (life, liberty, and the right to own property) which cannot be taken away by any government.” Which later was interpreted by Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence by stating “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that’s among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.—That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”(archieves.gov, The Declaration of Independence: A Transcription) Additionally the idea of government and leadership came to be known as a Social Contract theory, implemented in The Declaration of independence and also theorized by Locke. Most of The Declarations human civil rights or "natural rights", were derived from Enlightenment thinkers '