The Enlightenment's Influence On The United States Constitution

“Nevertheless, faith in knowledge and reason and in the progress they were held certain to achieve remained the dominant characteristic of the Enlightenment.” With the change in political climate, women began to grasp the idea of reason in the new society. There was a fight for education, professionalism, and citizenship. The change that the Enlightenment brought to the world, gave women the lifeline they needed to pull away from their domesticated roles as housekeepers, wives, and mothers.

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 ideas of the Enlightenment spread to the American colonies, profoundly influencing leaders of the Revolution to create a new structure of government. Enlightenment, as defined in Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, can be broadly defined is the movement towards reason and individualism rather than tradition. The text, by Thomas Paine, challenged the principles of liberty, equality, and justice. Thomas Paine was a revolutionary thinker who used Enlightenment ideology as a platform to persuade towards the founding of an independant America, and towards the founding of the Declaration of Independence.  The Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson and adopted by the Continental Congress, was the first attempt at putting

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.

In the 17th and 18th Century, a new age erupted in Europe that shaped the world and it’s ideas to this day, called the Enlightenment Period or the Age of Reason. During the Enlightenment Period, hundreds of individual ideas were expressed between philosophers as well as the citizens of England and France. Interestingly enough, most of these ideas seemed to share one central theme together. This theme was around individual freedoms that people can and should have, and the natural rights they should also hold. In these discussions of individual freedoms, sprouted innovative ideas regarding politics, economics, religion, and social rights.

The introduction of Enlightenment ideas into colonial America during the 1700s shaped the thoughts of the general public, and these ideas would foreshadow the American Revolution. The Enlightenment idea that authority and tradition should be questioned had travelled to America. The acquittal of Zenger (a publisher arrested for writing negative things about a governor) demonstrated how the American people believe that the press should be free and able to criticize authorities. This shows how the enlightenment belief in skepticism of authorities had found its way into the American society. John Locke’s “social contract” (the idea that a government can exist only if the people consent to it) also became familiar to the American people. The belief

The Enlightenment thinkers had many of the ideas in our government that is in use today. The Enlightenment thinkers had a huge impact on both the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. Both these documents impact America and me greatly.

Without those central ideas of enlightenment the United States would be fairly different since these ideas shaped america in its earlier years. The enlightenment helped the colonist realize that the taxes the British government where imposing on them where uncalled for.The colonist declared these taxes unfair and protested against them. without enlightenment thinking the revolutions wouldn't have happened because it made all the colonist aware of what the British government was actually doing. Also the enlightenment allowed people to chose there own religion instead of tying them down to one specific church; Making less conflict between the colonist allowing them to be

During the Enlightenment period, it was the age of reason. Where people understood and viewed things differently. However, centuries later from that time period (1700s) both America and France incorporated and reflected various enlightenment ideas and formed it into several documents such as the Bill of rights, Declaration of Independence both America and France, and the Constitution. These Enlightenment thinkers believed in our natural rights, our equality, and our freedom of speech, expression, and press. By having a unified government and society America and France decide to incorporate these ideas to change the fighting and all of the revolts and decided to get the freedom everyone deserves, except for women until later on. However, both America and France took bits of pieces of these ideas and slightly changed them. The one who reflected most of these enlightenment ideas was America.

The Enlightenment and its thinkers played an important role in the formation of our republic. The founders used these ideas to create an experiment of democracy. However, one thinker was more prominent in the Constitution than the others were. Out of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Charles Montesquieu and Jean-Jacques Rousseau John Locke had the most influence on the Constitution.

In the 18th century, nations were fighting for their independence and humans were fighting for their fundamental rights. Constitutions played a role in this process, allowing people to declare their freedom from an absolute monarchy and establishing a government that favored them. For many nations, the constitution stated why government should rule the people and be run by the people in order for things to be fair and equal. Forming a parliament, congress, or some other type of representation was an essential part of this equality. Constitutions also stated how there should be an equal separation of powers to make sure that no one power could have too much control, as a monarch had done previously. In the United States, France, and Great Britain,

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

The many revolutions of this earth have shaped the world we have today. But for those revolutions to even happen, the brave revolutionists needed motivation, they needed causes to fight for. The American Revolution finally separated the thirteen American colonies from their tyrannical British government. They fought unfair treatment, unfair taxation, and for representation in their government. The colonists were also inspired by Enlightenment thinkers, but their revolution also helped to inspire others. The poor, oppressed third estate of France, who was also paying unfair taxation and treatment, saw the success of the American Revolution and was finally able to build the support and confidence to start their own revolution. The American Revolution

The philosopher John Locke once said, “[g]overnment has no other end, but the preservation of property” (“John Locke”).  The social contract is the fundamental basis for modern government.  This idea affects everything we believe a modern state should represent for itself and its people.  This way of understanding the role of government was inspired by the writings of the Enlightenment era philosophers. This way of understanding the role of the state and its people is significantly different from what was believed in ancient Athens and Rome. The Enlightenment era philosophers did more than just think of new ideas of government; their works not only inspired changes during the 18th century, but also continued to shape modern governments. While it is true that certain forms of democracy evolved in ancient Athens and Rome, modern governments differ significantly from these ancient societies. In some cases, the very words put forth by the philosophers were written directly into the constitutions of countries practicing these new ideas. Without the contributions of John Locke and other enlightenment philosophers, democracy and government as we know it today would not exist.