The Enlightenment is a period of time during the 17th and 18th century that brought forth many new, revolutionary ideas regarding social, political, and economic issues. Such ideas aided the founding fathers in their creation of a new government that would soon be the United States of America. Two of these founders, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, differed in their political reasoning. For example, while Jefferson believes that the people “can be trusted with their own government,” Hamilton argues that the people “seldom judge or determine right.” Hamilton favored a type of government that would put a select few (the rich) in charge of the people, while Jefferson favored a government that would put the people in total control.
Though they had different both reforms were for the Progressive
During the 18th Century, the Enlightenment was introduced in Europe. This new movement brought about modernization of thinking about government and individualism, and reevaluated previous beliefs. The Enlightenment had many new Philosophers who helped spread their views on government. Philosophers were similar in ideas about the rights of citizens and people’s choice of which government they want, however they differed on the reason government existed and governmental power. Overall, the ideas were a substantial departure from previous ideas about human equality, absolute rulers, and the court system.
Absolutism is viewed as having the absolute power over a state. For these rulers, Louis XIV and Peter the Great, one may argue over the other of who has the greatest absolute power. Louis XIV, in my opinion, was one of the greatest examples of an Absolutist. Louis XIV was viewed as the ideal man whose qualities shined on the inside and outside. His exterior physique was sculpted through all sorts of exercise and time spent outdoors (Accounts of Louis XIV).
Enlightenment The enlightenment was a time in which leaders and philosophers promoted ideas during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that influenced people's thoughts concerning politics, social justice, human progress and religion forever. As said by Philosopher Immanuel Kant, “Enlightenment is defined as the upset of the established order/the awakening of one’s mind/forsaking society’s imposed mindset and establishing one for yourself.” (Document 12) These scientists like Issac Newton and writers like John Locke were challenging the old ways and because of that people became socially aware.
The Enlightenment before it had brought forth the idea that man had a right to control his or her own destiny. This idea started a fire that would carry across Europe, and would eventually set off the gunpowder that had existed in France for many years. The French people were tired of struggling to live while their despotic rulers, the aristocracy, lived in splendor and lavishness. Because of the Enlightenment, according to historian and thinker William Doyle, “no distinction was now drawn between despotism, tyranny, and absolute monarchy” (Doyle 67). The people of France made this their opportunity to subject “him and all other officials to a constitution”, and “replace the rule of arbitrariness by the rule of the law”, i.e. the law created by the general will (Doyle 67).
Different factors had a part to play in starting or even propelling ‘the Age of Enlightenment’, including the rule of the Church and State which experienced a power struggle among them, in addition to the Western discovery of latest societies with noticeably exclusive cultural traditions and norms. Many intellectuals felt unhappy with the fixed social styles amongst their very own collectives, and angry at their governments' refusal to provide non-public rights. The lasting political effect of the Enlightenment can't be overstated. At the least three fundamental political revolutions came about throughout this time period in Britain, America, and France.
The Enlightenment was a period of time that stressed the importance of reason and individual ideas. Many philosophers published works criticizing a country’s monarch or divulging the flaws they saw in a system within the government, such as the justice system. The Enlightenment also stressed the importance of education, and as a result of this, literacy rates experienced a major upward trend. Now able to read the philosopher’s works, a larger sum of people now were educated on the corruptions within their government. This caused a questioning of traditional practices, and people began to believe they could revise their government.
During the 1600s and 1700s a new type of monarch emerged known as an absolute ruler. Some of these rulers were Louis XIV, the Fredericks of Prussia, and Peter the Great. These rulers believed that a monarch had a divine right to rule and should only listen to God. All these rulers had characteristics that defined them as absolutists. Louis XIV was constantly at war during his reign which resulted in a powerful army.
The Enlightenment went against the political views, and morals of the Age of Absolutism. The Enlightenment challenged the views of the Age of Absolutism because it questioned the traditional authority established during this period by taking away the idea of single power, that had benefited the monarchs and the wealthy, and introducing the new idea of ruling for the good of the people instead. During the Age of Absolutism, rulers believed in the idea of single power, but during the Enlightenment, people started to challenge this idea and introduced a new form of government free of tyranny. Document 1, a primary source written by Machiavelli in the 15th century, states, “Men have less hesitation in offending a man who is loved than one who is feared . . .
The Enlightenment gave people power to make the changes they wanted for independence and politics using intellect and reason, their natural right. The norm of a society that is modelled today became reason over
According to our studies, the Enlightenment was a movement that prioritized the human capacity for reason as the highest form of human attainment (Lecture Insert Cite). The Enlightenment originally began in Europe and found it 's way to the colonies. Before the Enlightenment, people had always believed that the social class in which they were born into would be the one in which they would die. People would follow their leader 's words without daring to question them and believed that when they died they would either face eternal salvation or eternal damnation. There was no room for thought.
Absolutism 's nature of putting complete control of a nation into one person has not always been successful, however there are ways in which it does succeed in being an effective way of ruling. As Machiavelli 's "The Prince" stated: People always will have a motive of bettering themselves, and they will attempt to do so through duplicity and great avarice. Their loyalty and compliance to a leader is assured as long as the one they follow has an allure, so granting trust and power can lead to their betrayal and could cause the fall of the monarch’s reign. If all power rests with a single individual, there will be a far less chance that a struggle within a nation 's very own government will occur. Absolutism in this respect does well, as it
The concept of leadership was prevalent in the ancient world. It had a place in the way the people of ancient times governed their lives. Greece, and especially Athens, is the cradle of democracy in the western civilization. Athens owes the first penal and civil law code to Draco. An outstanding statesman and poet called Solon acted in Athens at the same time as Draco.
