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The influence of the american revolution
To what extent did the american revolution fundamentally change the american society politically
The influence of the american revolution
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The Enlightenment placed great emphasis on the individualism and secularism. For example, John Locke introduced ideas of natural rights. These natural rights were to be protected by the government, and if they were not, the people had the right to overthrow the government. For the first time, colonists were given the opportunity to have power and a say in government. Power came from the individual rather than a religious authority like it previously was before.
The Enlightenment was a European movement that emphasized reason and respect for humanity. Enlightenment thinkers thought reason could solve humanity’s problems and the literature created by these Europeans greatly influenced educated Americans, including founding fathers such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Much of Enlightenment thought surrounded politics and how a proper political system should be structured. John Locke was an Englishman would argued that the state was obligated to grant natural, human rights to the people it governed. He wrote in his Two Treatises on Government that these rights included “life, liberty, and property.”
Enlightenment ideas were important to make the people write the Declaration of Independence which started the American Revolution. There were actions of many people that started the American revolution such as the actions of King George the third impacted all of these greatly. King George the third was the one who made the actions become so great that they had to write a document to get the rest of the colonists in on revolting or breaking away from the kingdom. This document was called the Declaration of Independence that finally declared America’s independence from England. The colonists did many different things that made the American Revolution happen, including come up with the ideas of the Enlightenment.
The Declaration of Independence’s ideals are artfully connected to the Enlightenment period which heavily influenced the ideologies of the British colonists. The ideals of freedom and equality were ever present when the Declaration of Independence was written and subsequntly expanded upon in modern American Government. The correlation between the Declaration of Independence and the Enlightenment can be seen in the structure of the Declaration of Independence. The grievances are stated in a very logical manner, with no arguments based on religion with the individual colonists welfare in mind.
The enlightenment was a time of revolutions and revelations leading to the world we live in now. During this time countries were born from the ideas of the many enlightenment philosophers. The Declaration of Independence was a vital document to starting America's government and thanks to Thomas Paine, John Locke, and Montesquieu with their enlightenment ideas on independence, natural rights, and how to run a government, America has become a thriving land of promise and virtues. Thomas Paine was a revolutionary leader known for writing the pamphlet Common Sense. The pamphlet inspired the colonies to break away from the British rule and form their own country.
The American Revolution is a test of Enlightenment thinking because it incorporates enlightenment ideas into practical things like freedom from the government and taxes with representation. Some of the ideas tested prevailed such as freedom from the government and taxes with representation and are still present in today's society but others did not flourish. Some of the Enlightenment ideas that were tested during the American revolution were separation of powers, freedom from the government, and control over taxation. One example of freedom of the government being tested was the Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson on July 4th, 1776. The declaration separated the 13 British American colonies from Great britain.
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.
The ideas of the Enlightenment influenced the American Revolution and the formation of the American Government. Firstly, The Enlightenment was a philosophical evolution that emphasized the aged ideas of the Greeks and Romans. In addition, the major philosophers of this time period were Voltaire, John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Rousseau, Adam Smith and Isaac Newton. Their ideals include having an absolute monarch as a government (T.H), the separation of powers (Mont.), the government should not interfere with a free market economy (A.S), the freedom of speech (Volt.), the government could be overruled (J.L), and the government should rule according to the will of the people. Nevertheless, these ideals are important because they shaped the government that we have today.
It also emphasized reason over religion in the search of knowledge. There were many great philosophers of the enlightenment and their ideas contributed to today's American government. The major Philosophers consisted of was John Locke who created our natural rights of, life, liberty, and property. He also believed in a constitutional monarchy. Another philosopher was Montesquieu, he created separation of powers and checks and balances which we use in our government today.
The Enlightenment was an intellectual movement that applied to the method to aspect society. They brought to the idea that we had the right to Freedom of speech, Freedom of Religion and Natural laws that include Life, Liberty and Property. This all leads to important leaders who established a part in Enlightenment. Out of all the Enlightenment thinkers, John Locke contributed most to democracy because he gave the right to rebel if the government failed the people. “Modern World history” textbook illustrates “Eventually, to protest their economic and political rights, the colonists united and began to arm himself against what they called British the oppression.”
Enlightenment views on government and policy helped the two new governments create their own unique system for governing. One ideal of enlightenment was equality. America believed in equality before the law. In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
Enlightenment was created by the English philosopher John Locke. The ideas that were influenced by enlightenment were life, liberty, and property. This also gave to the idea of natural right. Enlightenment influenced the way people finally realized that divine right wasn’t right and start to doubt it. Throughout time enlightenment has influenced a lot of important events in history.
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.
In conclusion, the Enlightenment was vital to the American Revolution and the creation of American Government. The Enlightenment beliefs that influenced the American Revolution were natural rights, the social contract, and the right to overthrow the government if the social contract was violated. The Enlightenment beliefs that aided to the creation of the American government were separation of powers, checks and balances, and limited government. As stated before, without the Enlightenment there would not have been a revolution, resulting in no American Government. The Enlightenment’s influence on the creation of America is irrefutable.
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
