Causes Of The Enlightenment Dbq Essay

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The Enlightenment brought many new ideas to the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries and lead to changes in society. The people of this time started to question everything that was in their lives and they looked to the philosophers. Many scientists began to discover new things and they learned about how things really worked. The people started to focus more on secular ideas and not spiritual ideas. Mostly everyone started thinking about why they wanted and focusing more on making the world better. John Locke, Voltaire, Adam Smith, and Mary Wollstonecraft all said that society can be made better by giving the people free will. John Locke was a great example of the philosophers who wanted the people to have freedoms. Locke thought that the government should be people focused and that the people need to have a say. Locke recommended a legislative and executive branch of the government. (Doc A) Locke believed that the king should have very limited power, giving Parliament more. He stated the people should create their own government if the old one should fail. (Doc A) John Locke strongly believed in freedom of choice in the government. …show more content…

Voltaire’s main belief was that people should be allowed to make their own decision in choosing religion. He stated that if a kingdom would have only one religion, it would be forced and autocratic. If the government had two religions, it would cause the people to fight, so Voltaire believed there should be more than one religions, and the people should choose what they want to follow. (Document B) He thinks that to stop conflicts and bring the people to peace, religious freedom is something that will truly help. Voltaire truly thought tolerance would make the world a much better