• Home Page
  • How Did The Enlightenment Philosophers Who Influence The American Revolution

How Did The Enlightenment Philosophers Who Influence The American Revolution

Improved Essays
Show More
The European enlightenment did influence the American revolution and creation of the democratic republic government. Some philosophers who influenced the revolution were John Locke, Montesquieu, and Voltaire. The American revolution would never have happened if these philosophers never spoke what there opinions despite the punishments. These philosophers were all the crucial influencers of the American revolution.

John Locke was an enlightenment philosopher who believed in the natural rights of human beings or in other words, rights that people are born with. Some of these rights were the right to life, property and freedom. Locke also believed that if a ruler did not hold up to these rights then the people have the right to revolt. Before Locke started to get his message across, rulers were extremely cruel and unfair. Rulers would kill people because they didn't like the look the person gave them. So this influenced the American revolution by putting laws to restrict rulers and to keep people's natural rights safe. Otherwise we would still have rulers killing people for no reason at all.

Montesquieu is another enlightenment philosopher that influenced the American revolution and government. What montesquieu believed in was a government with separation of power and a series of checks and balances to make sure that no one …show more content…
The people before the enlightenment couldn’t say anything that they wanted. If they did, then they would be killed because the chances are whatever the person says can put high ranking people in jeopardy. So no one could say monarchy is not the way to go, this is all a terrible idea and the ruler is a little bit of a psychopath. Now they couldn't say this because they would be killed. Voltaire was heavily punished for his remarks and beliefs of being able to say whatever you want and not have any reproductions. Voltaire's beliefs have actually become the first amendment of the American Bill of

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Enlightenment Ideas In The Declaration Of Independence
    • 452 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Enlightenment Ideas In The Declaration Of Independence

    The ideas of Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, and others had a major impact on this document. Starting with John Locke, about how some of his enlightenment thoughts effected the Declaration of Independence. He, first, had the idea that people have natural rights. His ideas were used at least 4 times…

    • 452 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Superior Essays

    American And French Revolution Dbq Analysis
    • 1144 Words
    • 5 Pages

    American And French Revolution Dbq Analysis

    In the American and French Revolution, both the American and French Revolution tried to use some ideas from the European Enlightenment to help resolve some of the problems that were going on. The Enlightenment ideals were mainly focused on reason to solve problems going on. Philosophers such as Hobbes states that people are naturally selfish, cruel, and greedy and started to question the rights of men that state to have some sort of power given to them. They were influenced by these ideas, trying to use logic to find solutions for their current government and societal issues. Many things worked and many terribly failed.…

    • 1144 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    How Did The Enlightenment Influence American Society
    • 1153 Words
    • 5 Pages

    How Did The Enlightenment Influence American Society

    Voltaire fought for freedom of religion, and plus, their ideas end up in the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence. The Enlightenment was an intellectual movement based on reason and thought. (Littell) It made a huge impact on many things around the world. The Enlightenment; known as the Age of Reason, lasted from 1685 to 1815.…

    • 1153 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    French Revolution Dbq Analysis
    • 640 Words
    • 3 Pages

    French Revolution Dbq Analysis

    Similar to Locke, Voltaire believed that the freedom of religion promoted peace and equality. He believed that, “If one religion only were allowed in England, the government would very possibly become arbitrary…but as there are such a multitude, they all live happy and in peace” (Document B). With many religions conducting business and trading ideas, it is impossible for one entity to dominate. The concept of the personal freedom to exercise one’s own religion is as essential to the success of society as the freedom to protect and preserve the…

    • 640 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    DBQ: The French Revolution
    • 958 Words
    • 4 Pages

    DBQ: The French Revolution

    But because of too many different theories it caused people to not be on the same page which greatly affected them during the Revolution. The Enlightenment was one of the causes the Revolution because of the new ideas of the middle…

    • 958 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    French Revolution Dbq
    • 529 Words
    • 3 Pages

    French Revolution Dbq

    During the time of the Enlightenment, many people started to question their daily lives. While the French monarchs and churches were taking total control of the people and their government, philosopher such as John Locke, Voltaire, Adam Smith, and Mary Wallstonecraft started to not only question but applied logic and reason to life as they knew it, but also had similar thoughts of equality for all. Little did any of them know that their ideas would pave the way for many concepts that we still use to this day. We start out in the year of 1690, which was eighty-six years before America's declaration of independence was first written. John Locke, who is widely known for his book "Two Treatises of Government", which contained many controversial theories that are similar to what we know today.…

    • 529 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Differences Between Enlightenment And The Great Awakening
    • 897 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Differences Between Enlightenment And The Great Awakening

    The Enlightenment and the Great Awakening were very different movements, but both have greatly impacted the Americas with their philosophies. The differences in these two movements are very complimentary to each other and to republicanism. The Enlightenment argued for reason in all things, and the Great Awakening argued for Christianity. Together, however, these two ideas laid a foundation for a more republican-like system of government in the new world. To reach this form of government and maintain it required both Enlightenment, or reason, and Christianity, or more specifically, virtue.…

    • 897 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    American Revolution Dbq
    • 655 Words
    • 3 Pages

    American Revolution Dbq

    During the 1500 and 1600s absolute monarchies, believing their divine right came from God, became powerful in Europe, the ruling by these people though quickly became unfavorable by the commoners. As the Enlightenment, a time of new thinking and ideas, began to spread throughout Europe many people began to become angry with their rule. The late 1700s and 1800s brought many revolutions including the American, French, and those in Latin America. People wanted to have a say in government, politics, and their own life, and many people in Europe and the Americas were willing to fight to the death to obtain it.…

    • 655 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    French Revolution Dbq
    • 511 Words
    • 3 Pages

    French Revolution Dbq

    The French Revolution was not the end of the Age of Enlightenment because the ideas that the philosophers had brought. John Locke was considered the father of Empiricism and he like many philosophers brought ideas that would end up changing history. “John Locke defended the displacement of a monarch who would not protect their lives, liberties and property of the English people”. As more and more people began to hear about these Ideas they began to hope for a future where they didn’t have to follow the rules of others and they would actually be able to put their opinion in the ideas of their Monarchy.…

    • 511 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Enlightenment Movement Dbq
    • 1350 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Enlightenment Movement Dbq

    The Enlightenment movement was wholly responsible for the revolutions that followed. Ideals of equality and liberty were cherished in the Enlightenment movement, and those who took those ideals to heart were able to jumpstart another movement, one of revolutions. Those who were responsible for starting the revolutions had voices and ideals that were heard across the globe, and while they clearly presented agreeable arguments they also had restrictions on how far they would or could go. The American Revolution was a fight for independence from the oppressive British rule.…

    • 1350 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Individual Rights Dbq Analysis
    • 548 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Individual Rights Dbq Analysis

    He also asserted that all people should have the same rights as long as we allcontribute to our governmentContinuing, individual rights was an important part of Voltaire's ideas on religion. Voltaire discusses the importance of individual rights in religion when he writes,”there the Jew ,the muslim, and the christian transact together as tho’ they all professed the same religion”(DocB). That line shows that it is possible for all representatives from different religions to worktogether, that it even seems as if they could all follow the same…

    • 548 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    The Dark Ages Dbq
    • 724 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Dark Ages Dbq

    There’s was a time that The Dark Ages took fear in people's life but in the late 17th and 18th century The Enlightenment Ages was born. In Europe, well known philosophers from all over the world help the world with new ideas and invention that changed people's point of views and people's principles. The philosophers that really took the world by storm with the ideas and views were Voltaire, Adam Smith, Mary Wollstonecraft, and John Locke. These brilliant Piliphersers…

    • 724 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    The Enlightenment Influenced Life In America Today
    • 660 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Enlightenment Influenced Life In America Today

    The Enlightenment influenced life in America today because it first tipped the first domino to what lead to America becoming independent. The first passage states, “Reason had led many thinkers to the conclusion that kings and queens were ordinary mortals, and that conclusion implied many kinds of uncertainty.” (93). This first domino was people realizing that kings and queens were humans like themselves which of course lead to a Civil war in England and the American revolution. So in short two ways the Enlightenment influenced America is that it played a role in use being a free country and two the enlightenment showed is that all humans are equal and for that reason we elect a president instead of praising a king or queen.…

    • 660 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Decent Essays

    American Revolution Founding Generation
    • 132 Words
    • 1 Pages

    American Revolution Founding Generation

    The American Revolution was not the result of just one event, yet it was caused by various events throughout history. Although, one of the first main events leading up to the American Revolution was in the mid-18th century when there was a major disagreement between the colonies of America and Britain. They were disagreeing over the way that Britain treated the Americans because the Americans felt that they should have been granted the exact same rights that the Englishmen were given. This quarrel expresses the big idea of “No taxation without representation”. The founding generation derived the major concepts of the Enlightenment.…

    • 132 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    The Enlightenment Influence On The Constitution
    • 1741 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The Enlightenment Influence On The Constitution

    The Enlightenment was an intellectual movement, many thinkers started to use reasons and science to explain things. One Enlightenment thinker was Jean Jacques Rousseau, he believed in the idea of popular sovereignty, this means that the people have the power. The idea he had was one of a social contract this meant that the people would give their consent to the king to be governed by him. Also if the king, that the people have consented to be ruled by started to act in a way that the people did not like Rousseau believed the people should be able to overthrow that monarch. The United States believed in many of the things that Rousseau said and incorporated his ideas of popular sovereignty into the Constitution.…

    • 1741 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More

Related Topics

Ready To Get Started?
Discover
Company
Follow
©2024 Cram.com
Privacy Policy |  About Ads |  Site Map |  Advertise  | 
  • Cookie Settings