The Enlightenment Impact On Government Reform

The Influence of Enlightenment Intellectuals on American Government Intellectual and moral movements have been at the heart of human progression. These revolutions open minds and hearts and inspire those to work towards the betterment of the individual, community and society. Campaigns for justice, equality and change have sparked the creation of new laws and even new nations. Ideas from movements such as The Enlightenment have inspired and been reflected in the American Revolution, which resulted in the birth of the United States of America. Enlightenment thinkers have had the greatest influence on the development of American government.

During the Age of Absolutism, views of how government should have been run were drastically different that the views of Enlightenment thinkers. The fundamental difference between these two views of government – absolutism and Enlightenment – was that, in an absolute view of government, it stated that it should be run by a monarch – such as a king or a queen – and that he or she should have complete and unquestionable authority over everything, whereas the Enlightenment resulted in the development of new ideas, many of which criticized absolute monarchies, such as the idea that the fundamental function of government was to protect it's people's rights. The Enlightenment thinkers all had different ideas, and all to varying degrees, but the

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

The Enlightenment also had a large impact on both government and society. For example in Document # 5 English philosopher Locke states “Man being… by nature all free, equal, and independent no one can be… subjected to the political power of another without his own consent… To protect natural rights governments are established… Since man hope to preserve their

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.

Many of the social factors that led to the rise of Prussia were made by Fredrick the Great. Some even called him ‘The Social Reformer’. He made life for Prussians easier by abolishing torture and corporal punishment.[7] He established religious tolerance and freedom of speech by ending censorship.[8] Fredrick resettled immigrants from Austria to establish weaving as a major Prussian industry.[9] He proved himself as an enlightened ruler who reformed Prussia’s agriculture, legal system, industry and government for the better.[10] He added a diversity of skills to his country by integrating religions into his countries everyday life such as, Jewish teachers, or Jesuit merchants and bankers.[11] He also purposely set reasonable prices on grain so farmers and townspeople wouldn’t go hungry.[12] Frederick William I also helped socially unite Prussia by created a strong centralized bureaucracy. This allowed commoners to rise to top positions in the civil government. So now power rested with the hard working, not with the men who were born rich or with land. With this change, there was no longer Parliamentary Estates. This socially reformed Prussia set the foundation for a powerful Prussian empire.

The Enlightenment had a profound effect on the declaration of independence and the constitution. There are many ideas and principles that were created during the enlightenment that inspired the founding fathers. Ideas such as separation of powers, liberalism, and that government is supposed to protect the natural rights all came around during the enlightenment. These ideas had a major influence in why we declared independence from England and how we formed The United States of America. These ideas had major influence on America because they are the principles on which america was founded.

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 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 ideas of the Enlightenment are currently shown directly in our modern day society. The Enlightenment was a european movement in the late 17th century emphasizing reason and individualism rather than tradition. It allowed people more freedom and more opportunities. It affected today's way of living through politics because it questioned the idea of people of a community governing their community. Religion was also affected because it sought reasonable faith that many could follow and had reason. The Enlightenment did not only have an impact on politics and religion but also on economics because it denounced slavery and slave trade as well as lessened the government's control over the market. The Enlightenment has continued to be influential throughout modern times in many ways but is most present through politics, religion and economics.

After the Renaissance, there were many factors that gave way and led to chaos, and then the choice between an absolutist government, or a constitutional one. These factors included the decline of the previous social order of Feudalism, the Protestant Reformation, new logical and scientific ideas from famed Renaissance thinkers, and riots/revolts from unhappy citizens of numerous classes. Some states like France, Russia, and Prussia, resulted in all the power gathered under the monarch’s personal control, which happened due to comparable actions by the ruler. In the 1600s and 1700s, Absolute monarchs like Louis XIV, Peter the Great, and the Soldier King of Prussia, had similar methods to strengthen bureaucracy and control the nobles, develop

One of the ways that the Enlightenment put an end to oppression was through government reformation and the elimination of absolute monarchy. The idea of discarding absolute monarchs was associated with many of the philosophes of the time, including John Locke and Baron de Montesquieu. Locke said “Society can never lose the native and original right it has to preserve itself, which can only be done by a settled legislative, and a fair and impartial execution of the laws made by it” (Document A). This shows how important it is for the government to be more complex and dependable to ensure equality and success. Rejection of the common form of authority was one of the

Before the Enlightenment, every law and every decision was made and accepted, only by the King. There was a traditional social structure consisting of the monarchy on the top, followed by the nobles and clergy, and then all of the lower class on the bottom, which included peasants, merchants, and craftsman. When the people of the Western a Society began to receive ideas from Enlightenment scholars and thinkers, the began to realize how wrong the ways of the King were. They began to revolt against and disagree with these ways of the King. These people, motivated by the ideas of the Enlightenment, challenged the traditional social and political structures of the Western society to eventually lead to human rights for everyone.

Frederick the Great of Prussia and Joseph II of Austria adopted the newfound ideas of the Enlightenment to different extents with Frederick the Great advancing the ideas by implementing religious toleration, freedom of speech and press, and setting a single code of laws for all of his subjects and not advancing them by not abolishing serfdom for fear of upsetting the “Junkers”, or Prussian nobility; Joseph II advanced the ideas of the Enlightenment eagerly by completely abolishing serfdom paying no heed to what it could cause socially and politically and he didn’t advance these ideas in the end because his many reforms caused alienation of the church and nobility and radical changes in social hierarchy.