Similarities Between Franklin And Rousseau

The Enlightenment is when popular Christian preachers in the 1700’s preached to their congregation that freedom does not bestow from the English crown but is bestowed from God. They explained to their people that they had free will to choose what they wanted to do in order to be the best they could be for themselves. This included freedom of commerce, freedom of religion, and freedom of press. The Enlightenment gave people courage because of their faith in God to pursue freedom. Benjamin Franklin guided people in politics and people in the religious fashion and got them together. He helped facilitate the continental congress and other countries that would help support us during the revolutionary war. Franklin helped introduce Enlightenment to America through his readings, his writings, and his actions.

John Locke liked freedom, he thought that freedom was good for the government. “...(W)e must consider, what state all men are naturally in, and that is, a state of perfect freedom to order their actions, and dispose [manage] of their possessions and persons, as they think fit, within the bounds of the law of nature….” (Doc A) This states that Locke wants freedom but their comes consequences. To have this freedom men needed to create a government with a legislature and an executive. Locke’s main idea was people had rights.

Many similarities can be found in the way Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin chose to structure the Declaration of Independence and “Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One” respectively. Both writings employ a list format, Franklin choosing to number his twenty arguments where Jefferson left his twenty-seven abuses and usurpations unlabeled. These lists follow a short introductory section in both texts, though the Declaration of Independence has a paragraph that concludes the piece and “Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One” simply ends with the twentieth rule. While these structures are strikingly similar, the effects of these organizational choices vary greatly in these two different texts.

A group was eventually formed in 1769, which was known as the American Philosophical Society, and allowed for leading colonial thinkers like Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson to analyze their ideas to improve society, eventually leading to the need of the American Revolution. These core ideas of the Enlightenment were the basis of the Declaration of Independence, as well as the Constitution.

Constitution. John Locke’s belief of “life, liberty, and property” was the most influence on the American. Beside the Magna Carta, Petition of Rights, and English Bill of Rights, Locke also has a great influence of limit government. Locke’s Social Contract theory was to protect the basic rights of the people, it for the right of citizens to revolt against their king. Social contract is a convention between men that aims to discard the state of nature. According to Locke, the State of Nature is a state of perfect and complete liberty to behavior one's life as one best perceives fit, and free from the interfering of others. Also from Locke’s view of State of Nature, he believes it was given by

Thomas Jefferson considers himself a contributor to the Age of Enlightenment. Through many of his writings he expands on the philosophies of the great European writers of that era - Rousseau, Locke, Hume, and Leibniz. In “The Declaration of Independence,” Jefferson directly adopts several themes found in the work of French writer Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Rousseau’s “The Origin of Civil Society,” provides a foundation for most of Jefferson’s ideas in “The Declaration of Independence.”

The Enlightenment was a period of learning and expanding. It was a shift in society and how people thought. John Locke and his ideas contributed in a major way towards the Enlightenment. Locke had three main philosophies, religious tolerance, all men are born a blank slate, and that the divine right to rule is incorrect. His influence on society helped shape the transition of religion to reason & questioning. Locke left a very powerful and positive impact on England during the seventeenth century.

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

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

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.

The Enlightenment of the 18th century evolved due to the many changes brought about by the Scientific Revolution. With all of the new scientific discoveries, new thought processes were developed. The scientists of the Scientific Revolution brought about revolutionary change. These scientists inspired the philosophes of the Enlightenment to challenge the ways of the "Old Regime" and question the ideas of the church. Philosophers such as Francois Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and John Locke published their controversial ideas and these ideas along with some important political action, helped to mold a new type of society. The new society was one that tolerated different religious beliefs. "The minds of men, abandoning the old disciplines

In 1784, Benjamin Franklin stated, "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." It is hard to say whether or not Benjamin Franklin is right due to the fact that we face different struggles in this day and age that people in Napoleon Bonaparte’s and Franklin’s era did not have to worry about. Our situations regarding security and freedom, especially after September 11, 2001, dramatically changed as citizens realized how often their everyday lives were jeopardized with each new discovery and invention concerning weapons or violence.

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.

If one compares Locke and Rousseau noticeable similarities and differences can be found. Both men advocate similar ideas with different outcomes regarding the state of nature. Furthermore, Locke and Rousseau both come to distinct actualization and prophecies. Regarding the progression and advancement of mankind. Therefore, by comparing and contrasting these two distinct teachings one can find the true principles behind the state of nature and the natural laws inherent in mankind.

The thought-provoking thriller, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, was written in response to the Industrial Revolution, an event that either sparked excitement about the new advancements and opportunities, or caused anxiety amongst others who believed that it would ruin human’s relationship with nature. With this novel, Shelley was hoping to warn the reader about our possible, frightening future if we continue our actions without thinking about how they will affect nature. Two philosophers, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, made an obvious impact on Shelley’s writing. John Locke's philosophy is that we all start with a clean slate and then our environment shapes us into the people we are. Jean-Jacques Rousseau believes that we are all born with goodwill and that society corrupts us. These philosophies help to