The Enlightenment Essay

The Enlightenment was a movement that shunned superstition and was more in favor with a scientific explanation of the world. The Enlightenment was also known as the Age of Reason or Age of Enlightenment. It started in Europe and America around the 17th and 18th centuries. The Enlightenment was about people who used their critical thinking skills to argue knowledge, education, politics, religion, and art. The enlightenment produced an increased number of inventions, books, scientific findings, political laws, and revolutions.

The Enlightenment produced a new variety of thinkers. These thinkers used rationality to change their religious disposition of the elite “Enthusiasts” to “Intellectuals”. People like John Locke and David Hume looked at

The Printing press made its first debut in the 15th century, which helped spread ideas throughout European cities. Print culture during the enlightenment used text and visual communication to spread word about the movement to the English colonies. The rise of literacy increased within British American colonies. Literacy was regular for most men than women. Books, pamphlets, and newspapers were published and distributed. The first newspaper was made in Boston in 1690 and was called the “Publick Occurrences”. About 70 year later every city had their own weekly newspaper. By the mid-1700s, as the colonies multiplied in size the newspaper began to publish alliterations between colonist and the growth of the city. One of the main books was the Bible, the other was the almanac. The almanac was mainly used by farmers to predict the weather for the upcoming season. This allowed farmers to plan ahead. The most successful was Benjamin Franklin’s, “Poor Richard’s Almanac” The name came from a pen name, Richard

People who were skilled in herbalism used to make revolting potions that were sometimes made with fecal matter and urine to cure different types of sicknesses. An assumption that dog droppings was the cure for blindness. They would grind the dry droppings into powder and rub the powder inside of the blind eye. Medicine did not improve since previous periods. Hippocrates was separated into four different fluids yellow bile, blood, black bile, and phlegm. Doctors used leeches which are segmented worms that are blood suckers. They also carried knives and lancets. They believed they could cure metal illness issues. The doctor would cut the patients veins and allow the patient to bleed out to get rid of the infected blood. The bleeding had no positive effect and increased the chances of death. Women played a huge role in colonial medicine they help out as midwives assisting with child birth and other female issues. Men were excluded in labor and anything pertaining to women’s private areas. However, some male doctors did not like the fact that women were in