How Did The Enlightenment Thinkers Influence Founding Fathers Decisions

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 government should be separated into three major powers, Executive, Legislative, Judicial. This was to guard against tyranny.

The creators of the Constitution wanted to create a government that was powerful enough to take care of business, but not so powerful that is could threaten tyranny. One key idea in designing such a powerful, but limited, government was the doctrine of separation of powers. In old-fashioned monarchies, the key powers of government; the power to make the law, the power to enforce the law, and the power to judge the law, were all held by one person: the king. The King, claimed to rule by the direct authority of God, could do pretty much whatever he wanted. For Example, King Henry VIII. In Britain, the center of power eventually moved from the royal family to the Parliament. Still, there was no division of powers; Parliament held not only the

The Enlightenment was a period of time that intellectual ideas and philosophical views dominated the 18th century. From the Enlightenment arose many despots that brought new reforms to the country of which they ruled. The Enlightened despots were absolute monarchs that sought legal, religious, and educational reforms. Success or failure Catherine the Great, Frederick the Great, and Joseph II came to as the most noticeable Enlightened Despots.

The intelligent thinkers of the Enlightenment period of the time influenced the ideas of American Independence, Declaration of Independence and the form of government that the Americans developed after the revolution very significantly. Some of these clever thinkers were John Locke, Voltaire and Baron de Montesquieu. Without their philosophies and thoughts we might not even have some of the rights that we have today. John Locke, an Enlightenment thinker, highly influenced American Independence and Government. Locke stated that he believed there were natural rights that all people had including, life, liberty and property.

The Enlightenment influenced leaders of the American Revolution. Colonists pointed out their abuse of their rights by the English King. The Declaration of Independence echoed Locke’s ideas of natural rights and purpose of government. More Enlightenment ideas can be seen in the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. America’s basic laws include Montesquieu’s ideas of separation of power and Voltaire’s ideas of freedom of religion and speech.

Separation of Powers helped ensure that the government wasn't in the hands of just one specific group or person. Along with Checks and Balances, they made sure that that one group or person couldn't hold too much power, but that power was shared, in our case among an Executive, Legislative and Judicial branch. An example of this Constitutional principle, is how Congress can make a law, but the President still has the power to veto it. The last main Constitutional principle found in our government is Popular Sovereignty. This means that all political power is given to the people, meaning that we are able to elect our leaders and participate in political issues. We felt that each of these principles were important for our government because we didn't want our government to turn into a dictatorship. We figured that if power was separated and the people were given a say, that it would stop someone from holding too much power and taking

In 1787, the founding fathers of our great nation developed the Constitution. The Constitution was not only a document, but a new beginning for our nation. By introducing a completely new ruling document for the United States of America, many different opinions arose. To establish widespread support of the Constitution, many provisions such as the separation of powers were included to limit the power of the central government. Separation of powers is a fundamental element of our nation that was introduced by the philosopher, Montesquieu. The element of separation of powers is embodied in the Constitution within Articles I, II, and III by establishing three branches of government. The three branches are supposed to act independently of one another

To make sure the government has limited authority, the founding fathers formed the concept, Separation of Powers. This system limits the power of government by dividing authority among three separate, but equally powerful, branches. The Legislative Branch writes laws, the Executive Branch orders them, and the Judicial Branch reviews them. This separation is achieved symbolically in the Constitution itself. It is important to remember, however, that although power may be balanced within the government, it does not come from the government. An important amenity the Constitution makes is that the government must derive its power from the people. The very first words of the Constitution are, “We the People of the United States…” (U.S. Constitution), a phrase the founding fathers chose very carefully. It is the people who give the power to the government and provide limitations. The people elect government officials to help guide the government 's tasks. The people have an opportunity to elect new officials to replace those whose policies have become unpopular.

Although Baron de Montesquieu became President of the local parliament, he explained the importance of dividing power. He thought the best way to protect political liberty was to separate government into three branches, called the separation of powers. The Legislative branch makes laws. The Executive branch enforces the laws. The Judicial branch interprets the laws.

Many of the ideas in the Constitution emerged during the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment’s purpose was to challenge traditional ideas based on faith alone and to advance society by using philosophical ideas and scientific knowledge. People who were greatly influenced by the ideas of the Enlightenment are Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Thomas Paine, and Benjamin Franklin, these ideas played a key role in writing the U.S. Constitution. Another Enlightenment thinker named Baron de Montesquieu had ideas found in the U.S. Constitution. His idea was that each branch of government we have was to be separated, to have independent powers. This Enlightenment idea turned out to be the Separation of Powers. Another important idea from the Enlightenment

When our founding fathers established this great nation, they needed a basis for a form of government. Many people influenced the government system of the united states, notably more than others, John Locke and Baron de Montesquieu. John Locke was an english philosopher during the enlightenment period. He voiced the fundamental view that government is justly accommodated to serve the people, specifically by protecting life, liberty, and property. Baron de Montesquieu was a french philosopher , who also lived in the age of enlightenment. Baron de Montesquieu voiced a strong stance on his view of separation of powers. Both of these great philosophers had similar views on how government should be, but they also had different views.

Throughout history, many people have had very different ideas about how governments should be run. Of those many people, four had very important ideas about government. Those four people were Charles de Secondat Baron de Montesquieu, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Thomas Hobbes, and John Locke. Montesquieu believed that laws were necessary but varied for each area for their own conditions; Rousseau believed in self directed law and freedom through giving themselves to others; Hobbes also believed that laws were necessary but that mankind could not thrive if they lived in a world of war; and John Locke expounded that laws should only be created with the consent of the people and that a man truly can’t sign away his life. These influential philosophers

Well, if you look at Charles Montesquieu’s point of view, he believed that man, if given the opportunity, to take all of the power he most likely will. He also believed that this system makes it so that one branch cannot become too powerful, and each branch can only have a certain amount of limited power. This is to assure that the government is not ruled by just one person or one ruler, and decisions are made based on what the people decide or

Enlightenment thinkers such as Hobbes, Locke, and Montesquieu, started in the 1600s, european philosophers began debating the question of who should govern a nation. As the absolute kings weakened, Enlightenment philosophers argued for different forms of democracy, because each of them wrote their own idea about why they should govern the nation and who can be an absolute king weakening for different forms of the democracy, therefore they would write their own speeches about how and why they would do this for the government and they would see who’s would be the best to make the one to be a govern for the nation, but it seems if they were all too good so they couldn’t do it because it was an hard decision choose from, so they came up