How Did The Enlightenment Influence The French Revolution

The Enlightenment formed off of another movement known as the Scientific Revolution in the seventeenth century. The Scientific Revolution brought about new scientific discoveries especially in Astronomy changing the preconceptions of how the cosmos affect the natural world. These dramatic discoveries made people question the existing political and social orders. The Enlightenment challenged the traditional hierarchical ideals such as a king’s divine right to rule, the privileges of nobility, and the political power of religion. It also inspired the ideals of individual determination, freedom and equality, and the basic principles of human reason and natural rights.

Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Rousseau were renowned philosophers of the French Revolution. These 3 philosophers put forth their views on several issues and compelled citizens to ponder about the absolute monarchy in the country and that everyone should have equal rights. These philosophers also denounced the validity of the King being a direct representative of God. In the 13 Colonies, philosopher John Locke put forth his argument that every man is born with equal rights. Many Colonists began to believe that the British Government was breaching these rights, by making them pay many taxes and restricting them from other activities. Hence, resulting in infuriated colonists. Apart from philosophy, a shared ambition for equal positions in society, and a revised political system also led to conflict. In France, the third estate yearned for similar rights as the clergy and nobility. The commoners had to pay all taxes while the other two estates were let off of taxes, despite there was poverty increasing in the third estate. All of the power in France was held by the King and Queen making there be an absolute

Montesquieu, a philosopher who lived in France during the reign of absolute monarchs, experienced the unjust division of political power between the wealthy nobles and king living in Versailles and the citizens of the third estate. He believed that instead of an absolute monarchy, political power should be divided between three branches of government, the legislative, executive, and judicial, with a system of checks and balances to ensure that one group would not overpower the others. (Doc. 3) Montesquieu’s ideas would become the basis of the United States’ government and serve as an inspiration to the French third estate to support the decline of absolute monarchies. Another French philosopher, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who wrote The Social Contract in 1762 during the reign of French monarchs, stated that absolute authority removes the natural rights of humanity. (Doc. 5) As a firm believer of individual freedoms, Rousseau explained that a leader must gain the citizens’ consent to rule, as all citizens are equal due to logic and reasoning. Like Montesquieu, Rousseau’s ideas would inspire the French to overthrow its monarch during their revolution. His reasoning encouraged the French to accept a democratic government, where citizens elect a leader to rule them, unlike before where monarchs inherited political power. Frederick II,

The Enlightenment had a profound effect on the declaration of independence and the constitution. There are many ideas and principles that were created during the enlightenment that inspired the founding fathers. Ideas such as separation of powers, liberalism, and that government is supposed to protect the natural rights all came around during the enlightenment. These ideas had a major influence in why we declared independence from England and how we formed The United States of America. These ideas had major influence on America because they are the principles on which america was founded.

Other than Louis's own fault other political factors were also responsible. In the 18th century, known as the Age of the Enlightenment, some philosophers spoke of the new ideas of how the government should rule the country. Philosophers such as John Locke, Baron de Montesquieu, and Jean Jacques Rousseau, their ideas influenced the people in France during that time. John Locke's main theory stated that the government should provide protective services to its citizens, mainly on life, liverty and property. The only reason why the government had the power was because the people entrusted their rights to the

Enlightenment thinkers, also known as philosophers had a major impact on the American and French Revolution. Philosophers from the 1700s influenced the making of two documents known as United States’ Declaration of Independence and France’s Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizens. The Declaration of Independence is a document that was written in 1776 by Thomas Jefferson. It reflects the beliefs of enlightenment philosopher, John Locke. Written in 1793 by Marquis de Lafayette, the Declaration of the rights of man and of the citizen was influenced by the beliefs of Voltaire, another Enlightenment thinker. John Locke didn’t like the idea of absolute monarchy. He favored the idea of self- government and equal rights. Locke believed that the

The Influence of Enlightenment Intellectuals on American Government Intellectual and moral movements have been at the heart of human progression. These revolutions open minds and hearts and inspire those to work towards the betterment of the individual, community and society. Campaigns for justice, equality and change have sparked the creation of new laws and even new nations. Ideas from movements such as The Enlightenment have inspired and been reflected in the American Revolution, which resulted in the birth of the United States of America. Enlightenment thinkers have had the greatest influence on the development of American government.

The American and French Revolutions were both fundamentally based on the Enlightenment ideas. The main ideas that they followed were by John Locke. His ideas inspired the Americans and the French to have a revolution. In these revolutions, the Americans had success and the French failed. The success that the Americans experienced wad due to the protection of rights they had. These rights are 'Life, Liberty and Property.? In America a constitution was put together that provided for a stable government and also a representative government. In France failure was caused by chaos, terror, fear and war. The French were unsuccessful because they failed to create a democratic

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

No one could have imagined the impact that the Enlightenment would have and its long-lasting effect. The Enlightenment and its ideas became so widespread that they did not only affect France, but many other countries also. The French Revolution was directly inspired and influenced by the Enlightenment. Revolutionaries in France built their cause around the ideals of the Age of Reason.

The ideas from the Enlightenment and its thinkers greatly influenced the world today, everything from our ideas of modern government to our view of everyday life. Important Enlightenment philosophes such as Locke, Montesquieu, Hobbes and Voltaire established controversial ideas and theories on human nature, natural rights, and how government should be run and which form of it was superior. These ideas were all never even thought of before, and shattered many of the previous notions of ideas, such as ideas of how to run government, that had already been established and taken as a standard for several hundreds of years.

The Enlightenment influenced the American Revolution with many ideas and concepts. Enlightenment philosophers believed in different structures of living such as natural rights, freedom from oppression, and innovative ways. Modern day America is ifluenced by liberty, equality and justice. Ideas from the Enlightment can be found in important documents from the revolution and passed it.

The Enlightenment was the root of many of the ideas of the American Revolution. It was a movement that focused mostly on freedom of speech, equality, freedom of press, and religious tolerance. The American Revolution was the time period where America tried to gain its independence from England. They got influenced very much from many philosophers. That will be discussed throughout the essay. The Enlightenment ideas were the main influences for American Colonies to become their own nation.

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.

Prior to the French Revolution enlightenment thinkers such as Voltaire had been writing about equality and individual freedoms. These ideas began to catch hold with the populous of France, who were almost all living in very poor conditions. Perhaps the most important of these authors, in regards to the French Revolution, was John Locke who talked about the idea of a decentralized government, a system where the people represented the people; a democracy.1 The people of France began to make a push for such equality, and in August of