The Influence Of The American Revolution And The Enlightenment

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 United States Constitution has a great impact on American’s life. The U.S. Constitution recognized America’s national government, fundamental laws, and guaranteed certain basic rights for its citizens. Out of all the philosophers, John Locke’s philosophy had the greatest impact on the decisions that were made at the Philadelphia Convention and the writing of the United States Constitution. Locke introduced the ideas of natural rights and limited government.

It is not surprising that Rousseau's philosophies lead to the beginnings of both the American and French revolution. Jefferson and the other members of the Continental Congress have become capable of molding these thoughts into a document that will act as a philosophical outline for the founding of the United States. The Declaration of Independence allows the founding fathers an opportunity to build on some of the Puritan ethics of the founding new country of America and to justify their independence and establish a republic based on democracy and personal freedom from government

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.

Jefferson received a great deal of inspiration from Locke in writing the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration, however, is not a creation of government. The Constitution of the United States is the result of the Declaration. Locke influenced that form of government, as well.

The American and French Revolutions were both fundamentally based on the Enlightenment ideas. The main ideas that they followed were by John Locke. His ideas inspired the Americans and the French to have a revolution. In these revolutions, the Americans had success and the French failed. The success that the Americans experienced wad due to the protection of rights they had. These rights are 'Life, Liberty and Property.? In America a constitution was put together that provided for a stable government and also a representative government. In France failure was caused by chaos, terror, fear and war. The French were unsuccessful because they failed to create a democratic

The Enlightenment is said to have begun in the 1680’s, the same decade that the “Glorious Revolution” occurred, which crowned daughter of James II Mary and her husband Prince William of Orange Monarchs of England. This turning point in English history can be considered part of the Enlightenment due to the switch from an Absolute Monarchy to a Constitutional Monarchy and the passing of the English Bill of Rights in 1689 after William’s ascension to the throne.

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

In result of The Seven Years’ War Britain controlled American trade and territory. In order to pay for the expenses of the war several taxation acts and military presence were implemented such as the Sugar Act, Stamp Act, Currency Act, Quartering Act and the presence of British troops at the colonies. Consequently, Americans who thought these actions violated their political and constitutional liberties opposed these policies with petitions, boycotts, and resistance strategies known as the Imperial Crisis. In January 1776 Thomas Paine’s Common Sense was composed to convince Americans of the need for independence from British rule and establishment of democracy. This pamphlet

John Steinbeck was clear in saying that “ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen,” especially in how it applies to the formation of the American government. There is no argument that the documents that formed the basis of our nation such as “Common Sense,” “The Declaration of Independence,” and the “Virginia Declaration of Rights” were heavily influenced in the composition of their works by the ideas and writings of great thinkers that came before them such as the Baron de Montesquieu, Jean Jacques Rousseau, and John Locke. All of these works are not only united on a thematic level of the type of government they all speak of, but they also carry very similar conceptual ideas throughout

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

Around the same time, Americans were also influenced by the works of Charles, the Baron de Montesquieu, a French political thinker. He believed that there were three types of governments; a monarchy (ruled by a king or queen), a republic (ruled by an elected leader) and a despotism (ruled by a dictator). In his book, The Spirit of Laws ,

The Enlightenment was a European based intellectual movement centered in France. However, the Enlightenment did reach America and was influential to American life. The Enlightenment stressed reason and rationality in understanding and remaking the world. Enlightenment thinkers believed that the universe could be ordered, foretold, and condensed into laws. The Enlightenment also stressed that change and improvement was possible for individuals and society alike. Enlightenment thinkers considered themselves to be philosophers and lovers of wisdom. People who believed in Enlightenment ideas would have not strongly believed in God or that God had any intervention in the world. This led to Enlightenment philosophers, such as Isaac Newton, to see

Government is built on the premises of the established ideas of former politicians and then the new outlooks of recent politicians. All ideas on government are based on the structure and laws of former civilizations. Thus, many politicians can have similar viewpoints on government due to basing their ideas on the same former structures. But, in contrast new government structures include a variety of variations. Therefore, Jean Domat, Montesquieu and Jean Jacques Rousseau have major differences in their outlooks on government, but they do share similar aspects.