Ideas Of The Enlightenment: American And French Revolution

     Since both France and America had the same philosophers to influence them, they were ?enlightened? with the same ideas, which are seen later in both constitutions. England also played a big part in influencing both nations but it was the famous philosophers like Montesquieu, Rousseau, John Lock and Voltaire who lead the revolution to be a fight for human rights. Voltaire, one of the most influential philosophers of his time, having been influenced himself by John Lock emphasized his ideas on reason and the natural rights of human beings and made the people in France and America realize the rights as human beings they should have. Montesquieu was a French jurist and political philosopher who advocated a ?free and balanced aristocratic government? to be established in France. One of his main ideas was his political thought on the separation of powers in where each branch of the government would limit the power of the other two branches as so no branch could become a threat to liberty and therefore no tyranny could occur. Rousseau, a French political philosopher influenced both nations with his preaches

Both the Enlightenment and the Great awakening caused the colonists to alter their views about government, the role of government, as well as society at large which ultimately and collectively helped to motivate the colonists to revolt against England. The Enlightenment was vital in almost every part of the founding of America, which included everything from government, to politics itself, as well as religion. Many of the ideas from the Enlightenment and the Great Awakening shaped our country as a whole in its seminal years, inspiring everything from the American Revolution, to the Constitution, and even electricity and stoves. Without the central ideas and figures of both the Great Awakening and the Enlightenment era, the United States

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

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 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.

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

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.

Throughout the Enlightenment, philosophes have made discoveries as well as have ideas that have revolutionized society as we know it today. The Enlightenment took place during the 17th and 18th century in Europe. During this period, philospohes, or philosophers, would discuss different questions and brought new, intellecutal ideas that brought out the Age of Reason. There is many different points of view of what the philosophes main idea was during the enlightenment. The main idea of the philosophes was greater individual freedom. This idea was a key part of their thinking in three areas: government, religion and women's rights.

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 begin, Philosophes of The Enlightenment were truly remarkable. They are constantly thinking of ways to better the sake of the world. Voltaire, John Locke, Adam Smith and Mary Wollstonecraft all had one purpose, to unite everyone. The main idea that they were trying to imply is that everyone should interact with each other to make the world a better place. Religion should not be separated, government all be ruled by one branch, women be inferior to men and lastly the people who are living in a bad government should have right to abolish the government and prevent it from going bad.Concurrently, you might ask, why his was their main idea? It's quite simple, These 4 profound Philosophes were alive in an era that wasn't the best. There was chaos among the people and government, which led to society to begin to tear up. The Philosophes wanted to change that they wanted to live in a world where you can pass past a religion with a friendly hello not, "cut one another’s throats out".This idea was a key part of their thinking in three areas: change in Government, Unity of religion , and natural rights. All three of these main ideas had such a big impact on how time played a role in society.

During the Enlightenment period, it was the age of reason. Where people understood and viewed things differently. However, centuries later from that time period (1700s) both America and France incorporated and reflected various enlightenment ideas and formed it into several documents such as the Bill of rights, Declaration of Independence both America and France, and the Constitution. These Enlightenment thinkers believed in our natural rights, our equality, and our freedom of speech, expression, and press. By having a unified government and society America and France decide to incorporate these ideas to change the fighting and all of the revolts and decided to get the freedom everyone deserves, except for women until later on. However, both America and France took bits of pieces of these ideas and slightly changed them. The one who reflected most of these enlightenment ideas was America.

The French and American revolutions are both very significant in the world’s history. The American Revolution happened first, around the last half of the 18th century where the Thirteen Colonies became the United States of America, and gained independence from the British Empire. The French revolution on the other hand, was from 1789 until the turn of the century 1799. For the French people this was a period of political and social turmoil. The idea of Enlightenment stuck a large population of the French people and led to many changes in society. These two individual revolutions have many comparisons and although they are not identical they become intertwined with separate philosophies on politics and economic expansion.

During the 18th century, the Enlightenment ideas were flourishing in both the American and French Revolutions. The Enlightenment perspective consisted of people searching for their social prestige, questioning authorities and believing they could create a new republic. The Americans aimed for independence and the French desired to overthrow their monarchy. The objective in both revolutions were relatively the same, to overthrow and recreate in efforts to achieve national sovereignty. However, the outcomes of the two socials worlds were radically different. The French citizens emerged more enlightenment thinkers demanding their equal rights despite regressing back to a monarch. In contrast, the Americans formed a successful democratic republic but continued inequality within their society. Furthermore, the French were significantly more revolutionary, as opposed to reactionary, than the Americans.

It wasn't until the American Revolution halfway across the world on the other side of the Atlantic ocean that the metaphorical seed planted in France finally sprouted. The Americans took these Enlightenment ideas of freedom, liberty and equality, and immediately put them into effective action against British oppression, and thus the American Revolution began. The American Revolution borrowed heavily from Enlightenment ideas. In fact, Thomas Jefferson, a key character in the the Revolution, based his ideas directly on the ideas of Locke, declaring that all men were equal. Although he altered these ideas slightly by stating a more radical idea that the people could overthrow oppressive government, his idea that the government exists solely to serve its people was nonetheless identical to that of Locke.

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