Thomas Jefferson And The American Enlightenment

The American Enlightenment refers to a time period beginning in the early 1700’s and lasting until the early 1800s. During this period, the thought process and foundation of America began to form based on new philosophic ideas. Influenced by the European Age of Enlightenment, the American Enlightenment began to incorporate scientific reasoning into politics, the further development of science, religion, and even began developing religious tolerance. The American Enlightenment was believed to be a catalyst for the American Revolution due to its stress on liberty and equality being natural human rights. While many of the Founding Fathers exuberate qualities representing this philosophic time period, I believe that Thomas Jefferson truly embodies …show more content…
Deism stressed the idea that God did not intervene in daily matters and lives, but rather that religion served more as a moral compass for living. Deists believed in a higher power, but saw religion as a guide to ethical conduct rather than an interactive relationship with this supreme being. Thomas Jefferson believed that reason and logic explained the happenings of the world, and rejected the idea of supernatural influences. Jefferson writes in Query XVII that “reason and persuasion are the only practicable instruments. To make way for these, free inquiry must be indulged” (Jefferson 675). Jefferson very clearly shows that rather than accepting the notion that God is in absolute control and involved in every aspect of life, reason is what leads to ultimate truth, as seen in “Reason and experiment have been indulged, and error has fled before them” (Jefferson 675). Thomas Jefferson even wrote out a version of the Bible, known commonly as the Jefferson Bible, in which he removes all mention of miracles and divine intervention. This shows Thomas Jefferson’s deistic views, and his belief in reason and logic rather than divine …show more content…
Liberalism is a political philosophy associated with the American Enlightenment that is founded upon the ideas of equality and liberty. Thomas Jefferson felt very strongly about human rights, and often fought for them in the early development in American government. Jefferson believed that governmental authority should not be absolute, and that the people possessed basic human rights. Being influenced by John Locke’s idea of unalienable rights, Thomas Jefferson included them into the Declaration of Independence as seen in “all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with inherent and unalienable rights” (Jefferson 663). Thomas Jefferson felt strongly that people needed to have certain rights granted to them to protect them from the government. In the event the the government fell to corruption, Jefferson believed that the people should have rights which would limit the government’s authority. This can be seen in Thomas Jefferson and the Anti-Federalists fighting for the incorporation of the Bill of Rights into the Constitution. The belief in liberalism that was developed in the American Enlightenment is exuberated in Thomas Jefferson’s firm standing on human rights and the idea of unalienable