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English Philosophers: The Effects Of The Enlightenment

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The Enlightenment was an important turning point in history, and there were a lot of different effects of the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment brought a lot of new ideas about the purpose of government, human rights, and how the government should be set up. Philosophers like Thomas Hobbs, John Locke, and Baron de Montesquieu shared their opinions.

Thomas Hobbs, an English philosopher born in 1588, wrote the book, Leviathan (1651), about the purpose of government. He believed that absolute authority of government was necessary. In addition, he believed that there was a relationship between government leaders and the citizens of that government. The idea that he spread was that the citizens agree to be ruled by a leader, while the leader agrees to protect their interests. …show more content…

John Locke believed that every human was born with "natural rights," which he stated are life, liberty, and property. He believed that everyone deserved to live well, act freely within the boundaries of the law, and to own their own goods. In addition to human rights, Locke believed in religious tolerance and separation of church and state. He did not want the church involved in government due to corruption.

Baron de Montesquieu was a philosopher who was instrumental in the set up of government we see today. He wrote The Spirit of the Laws (1750), which shows his view on how the government should run. Montesquieu wrote about how there should be three separate branches of government, executive, judicial, and legislative. As well as separating the powers of government, we wrote about a checks and balances system so that each branch had some power over the

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The best form of government, as stated by Montesquieu, is one where the legislative, executive and judicial powers were separate and kept each other in check to keep any branch from being too powerful. He called this idea the separation of powers. An example of this in his eyes was England’s government. Charles mistook the way that political power operated. He saw the English government as one where it separated and balanced powers instead of one central part holding all the power.

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John Locke believed this as well, that the citizens should be able to change the government if needed. However, this also showed what Thomas Jefferson was going through. He was not only founding a government, but he was rebelling against one. He disliked the idea of monarchy, and giving total control to the government. This further shows that John Locke had an influence on Pres.

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He believed a government is based on the consent of the governed. The Constitution states that the government is “by the people, for the people”. This directly aligns with what John Locke believed. John Locke believed in individual liberties. The Bill of Rights directly lists out what liberties and rights citizens would have.

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During the 17th-18th century, a movement referred to as The Enlightenment arose in the efforts by philosophers to reassemble European politics, beliefs, science, and communications. The purpose was to solve problems in the world with reason. An example of philosophers can be seen in Baron de Montesquieu’s view on wanting a separation of powers; Adam Smith’s thought of laissez-faire where the government allows business to operate with little or no government interference; and John Locke’s idea that everyone has the right to life, liberty, and property. John Locke influenced the foundation for people believing in natural rights. This stimulated an outbreak of revolutions such as The Revolutionary War, French Revolution, and The Saint Domingo

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Background Information on the Enlightenment: In the year of 1791, The French and Haitian Revolution coexisted simultaneously. France was trying to pick up the pieces of a country left in shambles, while across the hemisphere, Haiti was about to ignite the fire. In France, they were in the process of creating a new government, in which all citizens would have equal rights, as based on the Declaration of the Rights of Man. In Haiti, a shocked oppressed populace was discovering the power that was held by the Declaration of the Rights of Man and was keen to set their own revolution.

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Consequently, a limited government was created in response to these new thoughts. Furthermore, this new type of government was extremely revolutionary because it changed the way that the citizens had thought or viewed about the government. Two Enlightenment philosophers that influenced the creation of the government were John Locke and Montesquieu. John Locke had the belief that everyone had natural rights (life, liberty, property) and that if the government failed to protect these rights, they could be overthrown and replaced. Also, Montesquieu’s idea of the separation of powers helped shape the government.

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The Enlightenment was a period between the 17th and 18th century in which philosophers attempted to discover new ways to improve and understand their society. There were four Enlightenment philosophers, John Locke, Voltaire, Adam Smith, and Mary Wollstonecraft. The Enlightenment philosophers believed that individual freedom could improve our society in several areas. These areas included natural rights, freedom of religion, and social equality/ equal learning. First, is the idea that people have the power to create and change the government and that everyone has natural rights or rights that belong to all humans from birth.

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John Locke saw no explanation reason why kings should rule rather than having people rule themselves. Great Awakening created splits among member of religious denominations. Some people’s belief changed while others stayed the same. Jonathon Edwards led one of the first religious revivals in MA. He proclaimed humans sinful and corrupt if they don’t repent then God was prepared to send them to hell.

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Thomas Jefferson’s works and ideas laid the foundation for several key aspects on the limits of the United States government, the idea of separation of church and state, and the importance of personal rights. Jefferson wrote many influential pieces of literature which pushed the concept of having limited government power. Jefferson wanted America not to be like the European monarchies that fell due to religious strife, so he emphasized a secular government. Jefferson, following closely with the ideas of John Locke, stressed the importance of the protection of individual rights against the government. Thomas Jefferson believed that a government should have limitations.

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John Locke was a philosopher and political scientist. He had many interests and produced a number of writings that influenced future leaders. One of these leaders was Thomas Jefferson, who was involved with the aid of America and the act gaining independence from Britain. The Declaration of Independence and Locke’s views on government contain many similar aspects. These ideas includes the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (natural rights); the protection that is provided by the government for these rights; and the altering or abolishment of government if it fails to provide and protect the rights of the people.

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Locke is a founder of the Common Sense pamphlet. He believed in government ruled by people. “He expressed the radical view that government is morally obliged to serve people, namely by protecting life, liberty, and property. He explained the principle of checks and balances to limit government power. He favored representative government and a rule of law.

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The Founding Fathers rebelled against the British government for good reasons, which led to the American Revolution in 1783. The Founding Fathers were justified in rebelling against the Britain because the government was not protecting the rights of the citizens, taxing the colonists, and forced them to house British soldiers. In 1756 Britain put the first tax on the colonists. This was the Stamp Act, it required colonists to pay taxes on certain items such as newspapers, legal documents, licenses, and even playing cards.

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Montesquien thought that each should hold equal power, so it does not become a despotism in other words tyranny. Volataire, (1694-1778) other enlightenment writer, thought that people should have Freedom of speech rights and religion rights which they did not have. Volataire idea Enlightenment became important thinking. Volataire was famous for using mockery to expose and criticize the superstitions, prejudices, and follies of the eighteenth century European society. I think that the revolutions from these chapters interrelate in the following way; The Enlightenment influenced the French Revolution influence, they looked to the philosophes for influence.

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The age of enlightenment was a philosophical peak in history that set a course for the rest of time. Many different ideas were brought about that shaped the way we live to this day, especially here in the states. Two philosophers in particular affected the United States of America; Thomas Hobbes and Tom Locke. Both of these philosophers pasts formed their philosophy and the ideas they had, which affected the government of their time, and our government today. Hobbes and Locke had very different upbringings and backgrounds, which led them to having very different points of view on life.

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Philosophers influenced with new thoughts. The English philosopher John Locke impacted with his ideas about the natural rights, which are the rights of the human being outside of law. The french thinker Montesquieu published “The Spirit Of Loss” which was a book that talked about how the government should be. He was responsible for the discussion about separating the government into three power: legislative, executive, and judicial. Another influential philosopher was the french Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who wrote the Bill Of Rights.

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