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Origins of the Enlightenment

  • 1685-1815
  • There is no specific origin of the Enlightenment. It is said to have began as discontent from the colonies began to emerge. England was trying to tighten control and raise revenue through taxes (due to the French and Indian War) in the colonies which increased tension causing the colonies to fall into a desire for independence rather than reformation.

  • The Enlightenment Movement challenged the political and religious belief systems of the 18th century.

  • The ideas from the Enlightenment provided the colonists with alternatives to English rule and gave them philosophical reasoning to turn against it.
  • Government should only be able to create laws that are for the good of the people, and must get the consent of the people
  • "Secondly, these laws ought to be designed for no other end ultimately, but the good of the people." -Locke
  • People must exchange some of their natural rights to get protection for their property and freedom.
  • People have the right to abolish government, if it stops working in the best interest of the people.
  • He discusses that there should be 3 branches of government, just like Montesquieu did.

Founder's Documents

The Rights of the Colonists

By: Samuel Adams and Benjamin Franklin (1906)

  • In this document it is said that colonists have natural rights: Right to Life, Liberty, and Property.
  • "When men enter into society, it is by voluntary consent; and they have a right to demand and insist upon the performance of such conditions and previous limitations as form an equitable original compact." -The Rights of the Colonists
  • Men have free will to live the way they want; to disagree and leave their state if they choose to do so.
  • Entering into society is totally voluntary.
  • Laws should be naturally attainable
  • "The natural liberty of man, by entering into society, is abridged or restrained, so far only as is necessary for the great end of society, the best good of the whole." - The rights of the Colonists
  • This was influenced by the Social Contract because he uses the word Sovereign, meaning all citizens need to act collectively.
  • "The first and most important conclusion from the principles we have established thus far is that the general will alone may direct the forces of the State to achieve the goal for which it was founded, the common good.... Sovereignty is indivisible ... and is inalienable.... A will is general or it is not: it is that of the whole body of the people or only of one faction." -Social Contract
  • In both documents we can see the idea that society must be treated as a whole to aim for a common good.

  • "the very nature of its institution, is for the support, protection, and defence of those very rights; the principal of which, as is before observed, are Life, Liberty, and Property." - The Rights of the Colonists
  • This idea comes from John Locke who said that we should welcome an executive power to protect our property and liberties.
  • " there in to the governors whom the society hath set over itself, with this express or tacit trust that it shall be employed for their good and the preservation of their property." -Locke

This was influenced by John Rousseau's idea of laws only work because the people accept them and because they are for the public good.

  • "And this power has its original only from compact, and agreement, and the mutual consent of those who make of the community." -Rousseau
  • This ties into taxation without representation which was a problem that was addressed in this document. The people must be represented in the government in order to be taxed, which is similar to people must give consent to the laws that govern them.
  • "That it is inseparably essential to the freedom of a people, and the undoubted right of Englishmen, that no taxes be imposed on them, but with their own consent, given personally, or by their representatives." -Resolutions of the Stamp Act

The Declaration of Independence

By: Thomas Jefferson (1776)

  • Locke discussed the idea of forming a new government if the current one does not function for the people.
  • He is responsible for the justification of rebelling if your leader is tyrannical.
  • "Such revolutions happen not upon every little mismanagement in public affairs. Great mistakes in the ruling part." -Locke
  • "But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security." -Jefferson
  • he was sure to point out that there were not one time mistakes but ongoing just like Locke said it must not just be a one time thing.

  • This is reflected where the colonists make the long list of great mistakes that the king has made.
  • "That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. " -Jefferson
  • It is evident that Locke influenced this line because we see the same ideas in his document. He discusses what people should do if a government becomes destructive.
  • This is similar to the ideas of Jean Rousseau.
  • "All men have equal rights to liberty, to their property and to the protection of the law." -Rousseau
  • This is evident in declaration when Jefferson discusses that all men are created equal with inalienable rights.
  • Rousseau discussed how society must be treated as a whole when governed but people still have individual freedoms. He says you must keep the general will of the people in mind when creating laws. Jefferson points out that the King was not doing this correctly, and did not have the good of the people in mind.
  • "He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good."-Jefferson

It opens with a list of grievances against the king, explaining why they have decided to overthrow him and become a separate nation.

It goes on to explain, All men are created equal and there are certain unalienable rights that governments should never violate.

  • "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

When rights are no longer protected it is the people's duty to overthrow it.

They need a fair judicial system and a legislative branch that will not make laws without consent over things that affect the people.

It was not okay for the Parliament to stop protecting the colonies borders, along with American property.

Here is where we can see The Spirit of the Laws being displayed. The idea of different branches of government having specific roles.

-"When the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person, or in the same body of magistrates, there can be no liberty; because apprehensions may anse, lest the same monarch or senate should enact tyrannical laws, to execute them in a tyrannical manner." -Montesquieu

This is what was happening in the colonies before independence. Things were happening in a tyrannical manner because the king controlled almost everything.

Mikaela Giordano

Enlightenment Documents/Thinkers

The Spirit of the Laws

By: Montesquieu (1748)

Value: Montesquieu is an Enlightenment thinkers, so his ideas are highly respected. He was a French philosopher, therefore, making this document credible.

Limitations: Montesquieu admitted that this idea worked better in theory than in practice, so he does not know if this plan will actually work to make people happy when put into place.

  • Montesquieu wrote this to explain human laws and social organizations such as government
  • He discusses:
  • the importance of separation of powers
  • system of checks and balances between branches of government
  • different forms of government were better for different situations
  • “With equality in the three forms of government, will lead to liberty” -Montesquieu
  • this quote is talking about the three branches of government
  • Judicial
  • Determines punishment for criminals
  • Resolves disputes between individuals
  • Executive
  • controls army and relations with other countries
  • Legislative
  • Enacts Laws
  • Controls how laws are enforced

Effects of the Enlightenment

  • Short- term:
  • improved the mindset of monarchies across Europe
  • European countries adopted these new ideas
  • In Russia, Catherine the Great improved health care, women's rights and religious toleration.

  • Long-term:
  • opened a path for independent thought
  • produced many important philosophers that are still important today such as Thomas Jefferson, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, George Frideric Handel and Isaac Newton.
  • sparked ideas in the American and French Revolutions
  • French people revolted against their king

gave structure for today's government to make sure no one power exceeds another

The Social Contract

By: Jean Rousseau (1763)

Value: influenced by valid enlightenment ideas to define what the colonists deserve.

Limitations: this document could be biased towards the benefit of the people because they were people living in the colonies.

Value: Jean Rousseau is writing about current situations, so he is living through the problems going on between colonies and Britain. He was a major figure in the Enlightenment.

Limitations: He recommends the death penalty for people who violate the social contract, this is showing his opinions may be very extreme.

  • Rousseau's social contract between man and government allows men to unite together while retaining individual freedom
  • "man is born free, but he is everywhere in chains," -Rousseau
  • This is saying that modern states hold us back from the the physical freedom that we are born to.
  • Real authority only comes from a contract agreed upon by all citizens.
  • He suggested giving up our physical freedom, so, we gain the civil freedom of being able to think rationally.

Locke’s Second Treatise

By: John Locke (1690)

Value: Finally gave the idea that the colonists should be represented in their government. It is very specific allowing colonists to know how to go about his ideas. The things that Locke was expressing were directly related to the problems that colonists were having. He is writing about something he is living through, and was a prominent figure in the Enlightenment.

“The Resolutions of the Stamp Act”

By: John Dickenson or John Cruger

(October19, 1765)

Limitations: He talked about how a government should function, but not how to go about creating a government. Some of his ideas may be biased because he just wanted something new.

  • This document was outlining how Britain and the colonies would agree over matters such as the Stamp Act.
  • Colonies must be legal to the crown and have the same rights to Parliament
  • Colonists will not be represented in the House of Commons
  • Representatives for colonies are chosen by the people
  • the colonies must have representation in government in order to be taxed
  • British cannot take land from colonies
  • Colonists filter profits back to Britain therefore they contribute to the supplies granted by the crown.
  • Colonists must have a mutually good relationship with Britain.

Value: This allowed the colonists to make compromises with Britain and make changes that they were not happy with due to the stamp act. It is a good representation of colonists views during this time.

Limitations: Not all the things they were unhappy with were changed such as Britain could still make money off the colonies, and since it is just written it does not imply that England would follow through with these resolutions.

Value: This document allowed the colonists to get their thoughts into a coherent idea which provided a foundation for the new nation that would be developed when the colonies became independent of Britain. It is a good representation of most of the Enlightenment ideas and philosophies.

Limitations: Some of the arguments brought up may not be valid because colonists were infuriated with Britain which may have caused them to exaggerate the truth or have biases.

How did the ideas of Enlightenment philosophers influence the Founding Fathers of America?

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