Impact Of The Enlightenment And The French Revolution

The enlightenment era arose in the modern cultural ideology of the 18th century, as ideas among philosophers had a widespread effect among the society. The age of enlightenment, in western society, projected the rejection of traditional Christianity, western philosophy, intellectual advances, scientific, and cultural life, government legitimacy and authority. Upon the enlightenment period multiple philosophers emerged, the individuals arose to leading figures using reason to understand all aspects of human life. The motivations for the enlightenment came primarily from the Englishmen, John Locke. John Locke was a philosophical influence in both political theory and theoretical philosophy, which was embraced among the era of 1789-1914 and

The French Revolution lasted from 1789 to 1799 and in this time the French people rebelled in attempt to destroy the absolute monarchy held by King Louis XVI. The revolution was influenced by the American Revolution and Enlightenment ideals that give them rights. The French Revolution came close to an end in 1793 when King Louis XVI was executed and came to a final close when Napoleon Bonaparte took power in 1799. Many things led the people of France to fight the power of the monarchy. What were some of the many causes of the French Revolution? Through the Enlightenment ideas, the people of France saw and fought the abusive government, King Louis XVI, and the social inequality he brought to the people.

Leading up to the American Revolution, King George III of England implemented many taxes and acts to collect money from the Colonists after he funded their war against the French colonies, known as French Canada, and the Native American tribes. These taxes charged the Colonists on household items, such as paper, food, and tea. King George III enforced these taxes by sending his army, the Red Coats, to the American Colonies. All of the Colonists were livid with their ruler, who was 3,000 miles away, and decided to fight back. Although many people believe the Boston Massacre was the tipping point of the revolution because blood was shed, the tipping point was actually the Tea Act because

The Boston Massacre began on the evening of March 5, 1770. With a small argument between British Private High White and a few colonists outside the custom house in Boston on King Street. The argument began to escalate as more colonists gathered and began to harass and throw sticks and snowballs at Private White. British soldiers in Boston opened fire on a group of American colonists killing five men. Prior to the Boston Massacre, the British had instituted a number of new taxes on Americans including taxes on tea, glass, paper, paint and lead. (American Revolution)

This was yet another taxation at American ports on things such as glass, white lead, paper, paint, and tea. The colonists were frustrated by yet another taxation without representation. They began smuggling in teas at a cheap price. This led the British officials to be placed in places, such as Boston, to restore order. The tension between the colonists and the British was obvious and inevitably led to fighting. In this case, The Boston Massacre.

The Enlightenment was a movement which focused on logic and individualism instead of tradition lasting between the 17th and 18th centuries. Ideas from Enlightenment influenced the uprising within the American colonies, France, and Latin America throughout the 1700’s. Thomas Hobbes thought the best government should have single ruler. John Locke thought that people should rule themselves instead of kings. One of the main ideas is that people should be governed by reason, not by tradition.

The harsh controls by the British towards the colonists led to a revolution by the Americans because of the unjust law called the Quartering Acts. Parliament declared to the colonists that they were responsible and required “to house and quarter the officers and soldiers in the barracks [for the British]”(Parliament). The Quartering Act instantly drove the colonists into disapproval. The angry colonists started to protest. They were furious about how they were the ones required to pay the funds for the British soldiers. They didn’t understand why they had to pay for beer and wine for the British troops, because those items were unnecessary for the war. Colonists tried to disobey and protest against the British government, however, the British government threatened the colonists that the Quartering Act would tax them even more if they were to disobey. Even so, the Patriots did not give in to the government. As a result, the Quartering Act made tempers rise from the Patriots. As the Quartering Act is proven to drive the colonists into ferocity, so did the Boston Massacre.

The Enlightenment or the Age of Reason was a major influence in the American revolution. The Enlightenment was a cultural movement that began in Europe that promoted the power of reason in order to reform society and acknowledge intellectuals. His arguments concerning liberty and the social contract later influenced the written works of Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and other Founding Fathers of the United States[8], Locke was coined the Father of Liberalism.[9] Locke stated that In a natural state all people were equal and independent, and everyone had a natural right to defend his “Life, health, liberty, or possessions,” which was later implemented in the American Declaration of Independence as, “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”[10]

In France important discoveries were made during the age of enlightenment. Philosophers developed a new respect for human intelligence. Poets celebrated freedom and imagination. People believed that the truth about how the world around them functioned could be worked out by reason, instead of accepting ideas and superstitions of the past. It was also a time of when people began to find things out by scientific experiment and observation. When enlightenment ideas spread to America, they are an influence of British-born writer, Thomas Paine. Thomas Paine supported the ideas behind both the French and American revolutions. In his book, The Rights of Man, he said he saw "a dawn of reason rising on the world" (Gale online) In France, we can see the writings and ideas of Voltaire and Rousseau on government and citizens' and human rights begin to influence political events.

The American Revolution (1775-1783) and the French Revolution (1789-1799) have many similarities, as well as differences. One similarity between the two countries involves freedom in the sense that both wanted to escape the rule of their king. Both countries started an uprising and planned to revolt against unfair taxation cause by the monarchy. America and France each wanted to set up a Republican government that provided liberty and justice to all classes of citizens.

Everyone knows the story of how America came to be. It was similar to David versus Goliath, the American colonists against the potent England. England at the time of the Revolution, boasted the largest and most powerful fighting force in the history of the world. The Americans were rebellious country-cousins who wanted freedom from what they regarded as a capricious and tyrannical paternal England so they could govern themselves. The result was America.

The Enlightenment, also known as the Age of Reason, encouraged the power of reason to change society and advance people's knowledge. The Enlightenment was a period in the mid sixteenth and the early eighteenth century when a group of philosophers, scientists and thinkers supported new ideas based solely on the concept of reason. During this period of time, there was a decline of both the power of the churches and the absolute monarchies. The ideas of the Enlightenment influenced both the American and the French Revolution. During the Enlightenment, traditional views were challenged by Enlightenment philosophers which ultimately led to both the American and the French Revolution.

The Enlightenment established many new ideas and created different views of the government and the world which didn't exist before. New ideas of society and government were made with inspiration of the Enlightenment ideas of human rights, equality, and democracy by Philosophers like Voltaire, Locke, and Paine. These ideas changed people’s ideals and views of the government's policies. Enlightenment ideas were the reason why people wanted to change, change their government and the way they were treated and how they lived, because they heard of peoples ideas, such as John Locke's belief of equality, Voltaire’s idea of freedom of speech and religion, and Tom Paine’s concept of the right to rebel. People fueled the American Revolution of

What fueled the revolts even more was that common citizens wanted to obtain independence and liberty from an oppressive government, also citizens wanted fair taxation and representation in the government. The revolutions had a large quantity of ideas in common however; they were two different countries in which the revolutions occurred in, in two unlike geographical locations, and with total dissimilar types of culture. What makes the American Revolution different in this case is that the Americans did not have any neighbors that would attack them. Americans were at fighting what has been called “The International Enemy” of the time, the British, which many countries were against. In order for all the revolution to continue the British would have to have crossed an ocean to fight the Americans, thus giving the Americans time to prepare for the arrival of the British. In the case of the French they did not have time to prepare and fight because they were fighting their own government in their own nation. Also they were surrounded by countries and they would constantly be attacked. When were the French not attacked during any of their wars they were involved in?

3. Did the Enlightenment and The French Revolution bring about change in terms of gender?