How Did The Enlightenment Impact On American Society

One reason that The Declaration of Independence was so influential was that Thomas Jefferson’s claims against the King of England were easy to understand and logical. Typical complaints include “For quartering large Bodies of Armed Troops among us;” and “For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent.” Jefferson uses plain language that everyone can understand to point out large injustices done by the king. His statements about the King are short and to the point. He does not waste any words or bore the reader with abstract writing or excess words and thoughts. He goes from one point to the next to the next in such a fashion that the reader’s concentration is never broken. His points are logical and everyone living in the colonies at that time and many people around the world probably had some idea of the incidents behind all his grievances against the king. Jefferson raps up the injustices done by the king by declaring the United Colonies to be free and independent states.

Some of the leaders of the American Revolution were influenced by Enlightenment ideas which are, freedom of speech, equality, freedom of press, and religious tolerance. American colonists did not have these rights, in result, they rebelled against England for independence. In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote about American's natural rights to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." These ideas came from the Enlightenment, the ideals led towards the American Revolution soon after (Fisk). "The American Revolution must be considered as an anticolonial war for independence, not only a war of liberation from overseas rule but a war for freedom. The American Revolution was a movement to fulfill aspirations to acquire more property" (Morris, 3).

Thomas Jefferson believed that all Americans should have the "freedom of language and sentiment…as derived from the laws of nature" . In his most famous document, the Declaration of Independence, he stated "that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain [inherent and] inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" . Jefferson was a strong advocate of a bill of rights within the Constitution. In a letter to James Madison, he says that he "did not like…the omission of a bill of rights providing…for freedom of religion [and for] freedom of the press" . Jefferson was in favor of religious freedom because it did him "no injury for [his] neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god" . Jefferson wrote the Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom which essentially stated "that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion" . He summarizes his feelings in letters to both Elbridge Gerry and Edward Carrington, where he writes that he is "against all violations of the constitution" because "the basis of our governments should be the opinion of the people, [and] the very first object should be to keep that right" .

There are many things that set America apart from the world. Most notably are our political structure, social structure, capitalistic ideals, and the free exchange of ideas and beliefs that were all born from the desire for freedom. After hundreds of years of being told what to do by the Church and the monarchy, there came a time when the people decided that it was time to come out from under the thumb of both, and to become something better. None of this would have been possible if The Enlightenment had not paved the way. The Enlightenment fueled formation of America and continued influencing the evolution of America in to what it is today.

Enlightenment ideas helped the Americans fight against British rule and create a new nation. With the fight for their new nation came the Declaration of Independence. This document is based on the beliefs of John Locke. John’s teachings mostly focused on self-government and natural rights. John Locke Believed that everyone was created equal with the same three natural rights. The Declaration of Independence argued for natural rights and equality as well. The Declaration of Independence was influenced by Locke’s idea of Equal rights and self-government. They liked the idea of a Democracy, the rule of the people. The United States’ Declaration of Independence states. The American colonist separated from Britain because King George 3rd was not governing the people correctly. For example, he created “Taxation without Representation”. Taxation without Representation is when the American Colonist were being taxed unfairly. John Locke believed the government was there to protect the people, and if they were not being protected they have the right to rebel against the ruler. This is exactly what the American colonist did. The document by the colonies declaring separation from Britain, stated. John Locke’s beliefs of self-government influenced the colonies to rebel and become it’s own

Period 4 (1450-1750) was characterized by regional networks of trade expanding into fully global networks. This exchange not only spread goods, but also spread ideas that influenced the Enlightenment. These ideas were not just a period 4 thing; they influenced period 5 (1750-1900) as well. The Enlightenment ideas played a large role in influencing the revolutions in North America, Haiti, and France, which were important to their times.

Thomas Jefferson was a founding father and the writer of the Declaration of Independence. His beliefs on freedom and unalienable rights are what lead us to our independence. His arguments for breaking away from the king of England include the repeated petitions by the colonists, the quartering of slaves in homes, and the certain unalienable rights which are given to every man upon birth, among other things. Thomas Jefferson uses logos, ethos, his mastery of the English language, and diction to make his position clear to the colonists and to the world.

Between 1620 and 1776 Puritanism and The Enlightenment both had large influences on the development of the American colonies. Puritanism was one of the earliest influences of the American colonies, the prosecution of puritans in Europe led puritans to flee to America and impose their beliefs. The Enlightenment however had a great influence on the American colonies by laying the philosophical foundation the Government would build on. In turn both philosophies had significant impacts in different ways to the United States.

Thomas Jefferson has always been a very prominent writer even at a young age when he created a pamphlet that was against parliamentary authority of Great Britain. Many praised him for this and may of his other works later on. This praise led to the leaders of the thirteen colonies electing him to be the main writer of the document that would enable all of their freedom from Great Britain: the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson, as well as everyone else in the colonies, believed that they should have their freedom because Britain was uprising the colonies, taking away their rights, and trying to make slaves out of the colonists.

During the American Revolutionary War, conflicts arose from tensions between the colonists that came from Great Britain to the New world and Great Britain. The fighting started at Lexington and Concord in 1775. For the colonists, it was now a war for their independence. France entered the war siding with the colonists in 1778, this turned a civil war into an international conflict. With the help of French, the colonists defeated the British.

Role of Enlightenment in Catalyzing Change in America The Period of Enlightenment played a vital role in the various changes that took place in America in the past 250 years. It formed the basis for intellectualism at the time. In other words, it was an intellectual approach that philosophically advocated for education and change in logical methods. Therefore, the rational part of the enlightenment took place in some instances during the early years of 1800s uo to the present days.

The Enlightenment was a period of time where philosophers such as John Locke, Charles de Montesquieu, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Mary Wollstonecraft developed core ideas that varied from independence for all to equality between men and women, to division of power in governments into three equal sections. The Enlightenment influenced the American, South American, and Haitian Revolutions by influencing the people who lead these revolutions. Thomas Jefferson, Simon Bolivar and Toussaint L'Ouverture built nations and helped free the oppressed. Jefferson was the third president of the United States and wrote the Declaration of Independence allowing him to become an influential political leader. Bolivar became a political leader by leading the

Philosophers have played a major role in the way Governments, Politics, Labor, Economic growth and collapse, and how the Founding Fathers shaped the ideologies of the newly formed United States, The American, and French Revolutions. This paper will show how those Philosophers influenced the United States and French Uprisings and how the two would became major powers in the world. I will also be comparing Philosophers on various subjects including Government, Politics, Labor, Economic growth, and collapse, science, art, and religion. Philosophy is one of the four major achievements of the human mind along with science, arts, and religion.

By the late eighteenth century, the Enlightenment, or the Age of Reason as it was called had begun to rapidly spread across Europe. People began believing in the ideals of popular government, the centrality of economics to politics, secularism, and progress. This cultural movement was sparked by intellectuals and commonwealth thinkers such as the influential writer John Locke and the famous scientist Isaac Newton, both who emphasized the fact that man, by the use of reason, would be able to solve all of his problems-whether it be problems with the government, morals or the society. However, these ideals weren’t just limited to the European nations where they had first begun. On the other side of the world, off in the United States,

Before the Enlightenment, France's government was too strong because it had too much power. During the Enlightenment, many philosophers helped improve France as a whole. One specific example would be Montesquieu. Montesquieu wrote books on many topics such as law, climate, forms of government, and religion. Also, he traveled and explored Europe to expand his knowledge and studied in an extensive learning program.