The Enlightenment was key in influencing and determining nearly every part of the colonies and the colonial independence movement, especially on government, politics, and religion. If it wasn’t for the figures and central ideas of the Enlightenment, the U.S. would have been very different because the Enlightenment influenced many key figures from American history such as Thomas Jefferson, ideas like freedom from oppression and natural rights came straight from Enlightenment, and almost every part of life, even religion, were strongly affected by the Enlightenment.
Key figures in the creation of the US like Thomas Jefferson were vastly motivated and moved by the Enlightenment which meant that the country was as well. As the creator of the Declaration …show more content…
Religion played a big factor in the American Revolution. The average American thought that revolution was justified in the sight of God. With the Enlightenment and the Great Awakening came a new perception of America’s early relationship to God and the Church. Instead of one church, Protestant ideas built on Enlightenment principles of freedom and free-will allowed people decide if they wanted to participate in church. The American Revolution gave lawmakers an opening to protect religious freedom, and extend the separation of states and church. Most of the thirteen colonies supported an official religion, called the “established church,” but the Enlightenment and the Great Awakening lessened interest in established religions. Thomas Jefferson led the struggle to extend the separation of the state and church. His Statute of Religious Liberty, enacted by the legislature in the late 1700’s, outlined the boundary between the right to participate in government and religious belief: “Our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, any more than our opinions in physics or geometry… All men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities.” - Thomas Jefferson, Statute of Religious Freedom. People fought for freedom of religion during the
Key figures in the creation of the US like Thomas Jefferson were vastly motivated and moved by the Enlightenment which meant that the country was as well. As the creator of the Declaration …show more content…
Religion played a big factor in the American Revolution. The average American thought that revolution was justified in the sight of God. With the Enlightenment and the Great Awakening came a new perception of America’s early relationship to God and the Church. Instead of one church, Protestant ideas built on Enlightenment principles of freedom and free-will allowed people decide if they wanted to participate in church. The American Revolution gave lawmakers an opening to protect religious freedom, and extend the separation of states and church. Most of the thirteen colonies supported an official religion, called the “established church,” but the Enlightenment and the Great Awakening lessened interest in established religions. Thomas Jefferson led the struggle to extend the separation of the state and church. His Statute of Religious Liberty, enacted by the legislature in the late 1700’s, outlined the boundary between the right to participate in government and religious belief: “Our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, any more than our opinions in physics or geometry… All men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities.” - Thomas Jefferson, Statute of Religious Freedom. People fought for freedom of religion during the