The Enlightenment

     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

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.

The enlightenment was a European movement during the 17th and 18th centuries. The enlightenment wasn’t a physical movement; however, it was an intellectual movement. Most of the ideas centered around authority and legitimacy. Later these ideas may have transformed into liberty, progress, tolerance, fraternity, constitutional government, and separation of church and state. The enlightenment was valued greatly, considering that it showed people how to think scientifically, and it also let the world understand different scientific processes. John Locke influenced Thomas Jefferson with these enlightenment writings by helping him write the Declaration of Independence because of Locke showing Jefferson that people were born with natural rights.

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.

In the 18th century, Enlightenment and the Great Awakening changed the idea of freedom for the colonists. The Great Awakening was a time of religious revival in the colonies. Enlightenment was an intellectual movement in the 18th century which emphasized economic and political freedom. American and British tensions grew in this time period due to Britain wanting America to be under the king’s control. Enlightenment, the Great Awakening, the Founding Fathers, and different social groups changed the ideas of freedom and equality. During the American Revolution, the idea of freedom changed from Enlightenment and the Founding Father’s ideas of economic freedom, to equality in social groups such as slaves, Native Americans, and woman.

The Declaration of Independence was written by Thomas Jefferson and became a very important document on July 4, 1776. The 16th grievance says,”For imposing taxes on us without our consent:”. This went against social contract because, for example Obama care, they are raising taxes to support those in the program. The 11th grievance says,”He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislatures”. This went against natural rights because even though there was peace, there was invasion in civilians personal homes. The 14th grievance says,”For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:”. This went against natural rights by giving the troops’ security,

When the Enlightenment was in full swing it was influencing the way a whole society thought. The Enlightenment was changing very quickly. The way of thinking was intended to be for the greater good, but had also came with some criticism. During the Middle Ages the concept of the City of God defined an entire society. Everything was based on faith, and that was the only way believed to find out the truth in everything. The Enlightenment went against that idea by applying science and facts as proof, rather than solely with faith. Reason was now being used to find truth in something rather than faith. It seemed that the societies’ views would have to change from one extreme to a new. The

Americans in the Enlightenment period strongly connected themselves with the classical age in terms of how they approached their art. The Enlightenment period lasted for about 150 years, from approximately 1700 -1850. Throughout this time period many artists took inspiration from the classical age which occurred in ancient Greece and Rome hundreds of years before. We can see examples of this in buildings like The White house and Monticello in America, and Kedleston Hall in England. These three buildings, though located in very different parts of the world, all have a number of aestheticly similar attributes.

During the 18th century, a worldwide movement, more commonly recognized as the Age of Enlightenment, encouraged the spread of philosophical thinking, science, communications, and politics. This movement gradually branched out from Northern Europe and reached places such as the United States of America and France, encouraging the American and French Revolutions. The Enlightenment brought about a new age of philosophical and intellectual thinkers, such as John Locke, which helped shape and influence modern government and politics. John Locke is recognized as the father of classical liberalism, introducing the Two Treatises of Government, Social Contract, and private property, which formed the basis for the constitutions in westernized

The Enlightenment; age of reason, lasting throughout the 18th century was a period of intellectual growth in Europe. It introduced modernity; a period defined by the rejection of tradition and prioritization of equality and individualism. These beliefs were a direct influence of the actions and discoveries made during the scientific revolution that challenged core beliefs. Although, these newfound ideals were being popularized by Philosophes encouraging a focus on science and philosophy, preexisting principles made it difficult to do so. While Europe was no longer in the dark ages, many societal values remained dictated by Christianity and a monarchial government. The enlightenment challenged traditional European values to a moderate extent

The moment I close my eyes, I become exactly who I want to be. In my mind’s eye, everything is how it should be. I can shut out a stormy day and see sunshine. In the midst of a final examination, I can close my eyes and I have already begun my summer vacation. Sadly as I once again enter the realm of veracity with the opening of my eyes, the weight of the world is once again felt on my shoulders. I look around and I see filth and garbage coexisting with beauty and radiance; lies and deceit in the same sphere as honesty and integrity. The worst of mankind is horrid; the best is something to be idolized. One might say to one self, “If I but eliminate the depraved, I would only see, hear and do virtuous things.” Reasonably, this statement just makes sense!

The age of enlightenment took place in the 18th century. This was a time that was characterized by lot of aristocratic wars. Philosophers of that time agreed that war was among the greatest evils confronting mankind. The problem they faced with this conviction is that power lay with the aristocracy who viewed wars as a constituent of the society. The aristocracy treated wars as a necessity and as such it was treated as a normal and ordinary fact of life. These philosophers therefore devised ways to make war limited or more humane.  The aristocratic wars of the 18th century were more limited and conducted in human ways as compared to the days before the age of enlightenment.  However towards the late 18th and early 19th century were

The Enlightenment was a period in the 18th century, when people were free and were more likely to speak what they thought without fear of being looked down upon as less intellectual. Science was being accepted as a more credible source during this, religion was very influential, but science was gaining ground after religion always being considered the total truth and nothing else. The Enlightenment was a great time for science it was a time when many people felt like they did not need to twist their thoughts and discoveries into a version that could somehow fit with the Bible in order to gain credibility with the common people at least with the educated. "Enlightenment is man's release from his self-incurred tutelage." (Kant What is Enlightenment? 47) Tutelage was something that held people back so much they were scared to voice their thoughts without someone else encouraging them to do so or pushing them. The release from tutelage was a key factor in pushing the idea of liberty, equality, and perfection in society at that time.

From black magic to modern medicine, the public’s perception of health has evolved over time. The concept of health had experienced most of its development during the Age of Enlightenment, when the virtues of reason and knowledge encapsulated society. Historian Ernst Cassirer associated the advancement of this era with the advancements of the human mind. In doing so, he deemed reason a positive force, one that pushes fallacies apart and pulls together the truth, and stated that a desire for knowledge was no longer sinful. With this understanding of the Enlightenment at hand, one can easily see how the sentiment of the era motivated the advancements of health and medicine. Using knowledge as a motivation and reason as a tool, the philosophes brought health and medicine toward modernity by questioning the status quo and introducing a new, empirically-based regime. The era’s compulsion for science, experimentation and critique allowed for an abundance of advancements within the realm of health and medicine.

Knowledge is a power that we as humans have achieve throughout history. With presenting new perspectives and challenging beliefs, we have made this far. Although like many other things, knowledge and challenging perspectives had to start from somewhere. By looking at Voltaire, who was a famous French philosopher in the early European colonization, we can explore his beliefs through one of his pieces in order to further understand the Enlightenment movement.