Compare And Contrast The Declaration Of Independence And Enlightenment

Does independence mean the same thing for everyone? During the 18th century, people from different countries and of different statuses began to think about what that word meant for them. Enlightenment thinkers began to come up with ideas of how the government and world should work. These ideas led to the uprising of people that felt as though the government was not sufficient or that they were being oppressed, which in turn led to some revolutions in the world. America and France are some examples of how Enlightenment ideas sparked a fire that caused them to think about how their government should be. The Americans came up with a document called the Declaration of Independence, and the French came up with a document called the Declaration of the Rights of Man. These two documents showed that even though the two countries had different meanings of independence, they still had similar ideas that stemmed from the …show more content…
However, they have qualities that distinguish them from one another. The Declaration of the Rights of Man were more so a way for the people to tell King Louis XVI how they felt they should be treated and seen in the eyes of the government, while the Declaration of Independence was a formal way of dissing King George III. While both documents listed natural rights that they felt that they were entitled to, the two countries had different rights that they felt were “natural and imprescriptible.” Also, both countries believed that all men should be seen equal in the eyes of the law and government. The Declaration of Independence listed what the people thought was true and everything King George III was doing wrong, while the Declaration of the Rights of Man listed what the people felt that government should look and be like. These two documents show that the word independence could have different meanings for