Individual Freedom Dbq Essay

Important change requires important ideas. During the 17th and early 18th centuries, well-educated people in western Europe known as philosophes explored ideas on how to improve society. What was the key idea among the many ideas presented by the philosophes? Individual freedom was necessary to improving society. This was especially true in matters of government, religion, economics, and social equality for women. This idea was a key part of their thinking in four areas: government, religion, economics, and social equality for women. John Locke argued that individual freedom was an important part of Locke's ideas on government. According to document A in the first paragraph, Locke first wrote that people are naturally free and have the right to maintain their freedom. In addition, on the same document paragraph 2, Locke states " To preserve this freedom, men need to create a government with a legislative and an executive." Freedom was the main idea of Locke’s thoughts about government because a government that is created by free individuals was more likely than a monarchy to preserve the freedom of individuals. These types of governments are the only type to succeed in the long run. …show more content…
Voltaire discusses the importance of individual freedom in religion when he writes in document B in the first paragraph, the comparison of benefits of religious freedom to the benefits of economic freedom. In extension, to paragraph one on the same document show's that a society works best and peacefully when all participants can trade or practice religious beliefs freely. It can be argued that individual freedom was the main idea in Voltaire’s discussion of religion because individual freedom is the key ingredient for this time of religion to a smoothly running