Locke And Montesquieu's Impact On The American Revolution

The views of these two influential thinkers were considered very radical in their time because their views were radical and very different from any form of government that anyone back then had ever heard of or dreamed possible. They thoughts that a government run by the people would be chaotic. They had never heard of any more separation of power than in England, where it was a limited monarchy. Their views on people were also influential especially Locke's views. He gave people the idea that they are more than just slaves for the government and that they should have some say in how their government is run. These ideas and many more inspired revolutions that were sparked by these two eccentric individuals. Locke and Montesquieu's thoughts also still ring true today. They are the basis for not only the U.S but many other governments as well. That

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.

Thesis: Enlightenment thinkers John Locke and Baron de Montesquieu would highly agree with the preamble to the Declaration of the Independence, while Thomas Hobbes would strongly oppose the preamble due to his general lack of belief in humanity.

The Great Awakening and the Enlightenment both profoundly impacted the American Revolution. Both ideas brought about a better understanding of the role of government in governing its people, the function of religion in the State, and a more general keener awareness of the rights of man. However, overall, the Enlightenment played the most pivotal role in bringing the American Revolution to fruition.

The Enlightenment was an intellectual movement during the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, in which humanity valued reason over tradition. The Enlightenment had reformed society by implementing reason and scientific thought. During the eighteenth century, European rulers had taken the beliefs of philosophes and had used their knowledge to influence their decisions. Overall, the Enlightenment philosophy influenced Rulers and their power significantly.

The Enlightenment was a cultural movement that challenged the authority of the church in science and philosophy while elevating the power of human reason. One of the most influential Enlightenment writers was John Locke. He argued with the church that people were not born with sinful minds. He believed that their mind was shaped by society and education, which made people better. Baron Montesquieu, another writer, contributed to American colonies by creating our three political powers: Executive,

John Locke was an English philosopher and his influence was very strong with the colonists. He believed in four main ideas and three of those have to do with men. He said men are essentially good, born

The Enlightenment of the 1600s and 1700s was a time of lasting change. Philosophers emphasized the use of human reason, natural laws were introduced, and perhaps most importantly – people began to turn away from absolutism and divine right and towards democracy. These ideas would end up having a monumental impact on the future revolutionary leaders in America. Enlightenment thinkers like Thomas Reid and Francis Hutchison had a direct and obvious influence on Thomas Jefferson, the author of our Constitution. Along with the Enlightenment, the Glorious Revolution, English Civil War, and their thinkers were key influences on the American Revolution that helped determine many important features of America then and now.

John Locke, Voltaire, Montesquieu, and Rousseau all had a hand in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. John Locke had a focus on natural rights. He thought people were peaceful and moral. He believed in a direct democracy, a government in which the people vote. Montesquieu sharply criticized an absolute monarchy, which Hobbes was a fan of.

Rousseau and Jefferson are two very compelling philosophers, that both have had a great influence on the revolution. The two authors share several key concepts with one another, such as their views about human right, the freedom and protection of them, the strengths of man himself, and the difference between where their style of writing came from, considering Rousseau came from Switzerland and Jefferson the United States.

Enlightenment Impact on the U.S Colonies A European creative movement of the late 17th and 18th centuries assert reason and individuality rather than culture. It was massively altered by 17th-century philosophers such as Descartes, Locke, and Newton, and its outstanding interpreter incorprate Kant, Goethe, Voltaire, Rousseau, and Adam Smith. The Enlightenment was a philosophy, that had the beliefs of knowing what's going on around the world. Causes

John Locke “proved to be the most influential philosophical and political thinker of the seventeenth century” (Kagen 213). He lived in a period of great political change; Locke’s upbringing came to influence his philosophies, and these ideas had much significance in regards to 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.

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.

Montesquieu: A French political philosopher who advocated the separation of executive and legislative and judicial powers (vocabulary.com). Although it challenged the church’s rulings, Montesquieu had many philosophies on how the government should work (britannica.com). Montesquieu had a great childhood, nice jobs to start off his philosopher career, and wrote an amazing book with a lot of ideas that helped make the world what it is today. Thanks to Montesquieu many things in the United States are the way they are, including the Constitution (Johnson).