Enlightenment And The French Revolution

the claim to the Crown, and he believed that individuals held the right to revolt against a

France stood as the center for the Enlightenment because it was in a constant dichotomy between “the desire to censor dissident ideas and the desire to appear open to modernity and progress” (Hunt, 4098). Parliament hindered the monarchy’s reform efforts by using their own words of Enlightenment influence against them. This was a paradox that showed how the Enlightenment affected all levels of French life, but was applied to achieve different results. While the American Revolution and the resulting new republic was regarded as a successful application of the Enlightenment, the unstable, failed attempts at change and reformation in France led to early signs of revolution as revolts “in the name of liberty” from 1787-1789.

The French Revolution was a period of far-reaching social and political change in France that lasted from 1789 to 1799. Before the revolution there was a period of time called the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was a philosophical movement in which followers considered that human reason brought a move from theory to practice and criticism to reforming education, household administration, social reactions and politics. Voltaire, a French philosopher and contributor to the Age of Enlightenment, expressed these ideas utilizing his intelligence, wit and style to mark his name as one of France’s greatest writers. The Enlightenment influenced the French Revolution to a great extent by introducing new ideas that encouraged questioning of authority and religion, advancing people’s outlook on commodities, and forcing citizens to compare their need with the Republic’s needs. This further brought an uprising of people wanting more such as equality and civil rights. In the process to do so there were 250,000 casualties in the Reign of Terror followed the Thermidorian Reaction which implemented an oligarchy government called the Directory. Royalist riots prompted the Coup d’etat of Fructidor which brought Napoleon into Directory which he later overthrows and creates an Authoritarian Republic.

Montesquieu believed that everything was made up of laws or rules that never changed. He wrote the book The Spirit of the Laws, which greatly covers the importance of separation of power in balancing the control of the

The Enlightenment influence made a monumental impact on the French Revolution. For example, the impact the Enlightenment had on the American Revolution influenced the French Revolution. Considering the French Revolution occurred quickly after the American Revolution, and the French contributed greatly to the funds, the French people were very aware that they could attain freedom from their monarchs (Document 5). Along with this, Marquis de Lafayette partially wrote The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, and he was a military officer in the Revolutionary War. Natural rights was another major factor in terms of inspiring the French Revolution. List of cahiers shows the grievances against the King, and requesting that their are rights and equality

The Enlightenment is said to have begun in the 1680’s, the same decade that the “Glorious Revolution” occurred, which crowned daughter of James II Mary and her husband Prince William of Orange Monarchs of England. This turning point in English history can be considered part of the Enlightenment due to the switch from an Absolute Monarchy to a Constitutional Monarchy and the passing of the English Bill of Rights in 1689 after William’s ascension to the throne.

To what extent were Enlightenment ideas responsible for the outbreak of the French Revolution and the reforms of 1789?

Baron de Montesquieu was a French lawyer and a political philosopher who lived during the Age of Enlightenment. He was born on January 18, 1689 in La Brede, France. He was greatly interested in philosophy, and he believed liberty was a natural right, but disagreed with absolute monarchs. He thought that sometimes governments could get too powerful, so he wanted the government to be split into 3 different branches. These ideas of the separation of powers eventually took a large part in the U.S. constitution.

Enlightenment in Europe was a period in which ideas were legitimately from one country to another. It is also known as civilization time where traditional authority was put to the question while embracing the notion of humanity to improve human change. The French revolution was directly in motivation by Enlightenment ideals which marked a peak of its influence and a beginning of its fall. The Enlightenment 's imperative of the seventeenth-century forerunners incorporated the Englishmen Francis Bacon and Thomas Hobbes, the Frenchman Renee Descartes and the important characteristic logicians of the Scientific Revolution, including Galileo, Kepler, and Leibniz. The civilization called for changes in different parts of Europe and America than

During the eighteenth century there was one central political cause for the French Revolution. King Louis XVI was a weak ruler who endured a lavish lifestyle. He disregarded the people’s needs, leaving much of the French population in discontent. Prior to the revolution the form of government was Absolute monarchy led by Louis XVI. The problem with absolute monarchy was that people were denied basic rights, and a say in government because the divine right theory was abused. The King ruled by the divine right of theory which

In the eighteenth century, the Enlightenment was prevalent in Europe, and France was the center of the Enlightenment. Philosophers introduced the idea of freedom and equality to the French people, the concept of equality to the great influence of France. Montesquieu advocated the separation of powers to prevent government power concentrated in the hands of individuals, so that democratic political thinking can be universal. Before the French Revolution, there were three classes in the French society.

The French salon, a product of The Enlightenment in the early 18th century, was a key institution in which women played a central role. Salons provided a place for women and men to congregate for intellectual discourse. In a male-dominated society, women served as the hostesses, decided the agenda of topics to be discussed, and regulated the

Liberté, égalité, fraternité was the cry of freedom that countless people used to propel them through, and to the end of the French Revolution. This long period of social, political and economic change in France lasted 10 years, starting in 1798 and ended with Napoleon Bonaparte. The French Revolution greatly affected all of Europe at the time and continues to represent the embodiment of revolution to this day. This constant struggle between the heavily taxed, burdened, and unrepresented third estate and those higher created an environment of monumental change for everyone. In the years leading up to the French Revolution, new beliefs and ideas were reaching every corner of Europe creating the thought that men should live free of oppression. However, in France the leader Louis XVI lead like a tyrant leaving the people impoverish and angry. Through the analysation of numerous circumstance present during the Ancien Régime, such as an inferior fiscal leadership, massive debt, and the forthcoming of new ideas during the Enlightened period, it can be concluded that the means for this revolution were justified as it is in our essence to revolt for a change.

Individual freedom was another prominent theme of the Enlightenment. By this, we mean the idea that man is endowed with certain liberties or rights. These rights were believed to have been granted by God and/or nature. Enlightenment figures typically espoused ideas of equality and human dignity. The Enlightenment had individual freedom with certain unalienable rights' is very much in line with the Enlightenment concept about individual freedom.In addition Enlightenment philosophers main idea was too write about different times of areas like human society including government,religion,the,economy and the social role of women.Additional Is that nature is an excellent teacher and the second belief was they shared their confident in

The Enlightenment era was a heavy influence on the French Revolution to find ways to govern people in society after the absolute monarchy of King Louis XVI. The beliefs of the Enlightenment, including Locke’s “natural rights”, Voltaire’s free society; and Rousseau’s social contract and general will, ultimately swayed ideas towards to understanding aspects of life and