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Short note on French revolution
Enlightenment ideas of french and american revolution
French Revolution and enlightenment
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The “Declaration of the Rights of Man and of Citizen” said that “Men are born free and equal in rights” some of these right were life, liberty, and property. The document also ensured many freedoms and equal justice to the common people of France. This document improved the lives of the common people but it was not enough to satisfy them. So on Jan 21st 1793 the weakest king, Louis XVI was executed. This opened up an opportunity for Maximillian Robespierre to assume power.
Firstly, in the beginning the government was able to control everyone, but after the Enlightenment, people started to question things. Because of this, the Enlightenment encouraged people to challenge the authority, and think upon reasoning/logic. The word/phrase "common sense" was an Enlightenment idea, which inspired a man named Thomas Paine, during the Rev War. The Declaration of Independence was based on Enlightenment ideas, which were presented by John Locke. The Enlightenment supported ideals including: liberty, democracy, individualism, religious tolerance, and
However, despite the law, these rights were not granted to all human beings, as the Declaration preserved the institution of slavery and women were not granted equal rights. In 1789, the French Revolution broke out, lasted 10 years, and ended with the ascent of Napoleon Bonaparte. The French revolution was heavily influenced by present Enlightenment ideas, specifically, the concepts of sovereignty and absolute rights, as well as the population’s powerful resentment of royal absolutism, the system of noble privilege and the unfair and unequal system of taxation. Although the French revolution failed to achieve all of its goals, it brought along the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789). The declaration was heavily
The sixteenth century America is primarily dominated by the Puritan idealism, but slowly through the year’s things are changing both in the religion and culture. In human nature the constant need for change is captivating, a change towards something new and different than the current. The events of the growing and changing eighteenth century America reflect just that. Ideas of the Enlightenment take deep root in the transformation of ideas about human’s relationship to God and to nature. Therefore, a deeply religious society starts transforming into a more secular culture, but religion still has quite a large influence.
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.
We all know the famous statement from the Declaration of Independence, “we hold these truth to be self-evident than all men are created equal.” This statement and a lot of the other statement are heavily based on the Enlightenment thinkers such as John Locke. A lot of what Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence come directly from John Locke’s ideas about the government. Let’s look at three examples of this. One of the major ideas of the Enlightenment was the people have certain types of right just because they are people in the state.
During the 18th and 19th century, revolutions were happening on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, facilitated by the ease with which ideas and information could travel by sea. These revolutions aimed to produce liberty and equality for all, a radical new idea that came about in the Enlightenment Era. The French Revolution began in 1789, when the French National Assembly wrote the Declaration of the Rights of Man. It continued in 1792 and 1793, when the constitution was written, and culminated in 1818, when France finally abolished slave trade. The French Revolution best lived up to the Enlightenment ideals of liberty and equality because of the rights and freedoms that were guaranteed to every citizen without discrimination through two important documents: the Constitution and the Rights of Man.
The Enlightenment was a movement focused on equality, freedom of speech, press, and religion. The movement helped shape the philosophical basis of the American Revolution and was crucial in determining the politics, religion, and government of colonial America. All aspects of life were affected by the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment popularized self- improvement and societal change. Many figureheads and philosophers such as Thomas Jefferson and John Locke helped shape these ideas.
This led to the people wanting a change of the government. The French Revolution officially begun in 1789, most notably with the storming of the prison Bastille on July 14 1789 by rioters. The Bastille was stormed both due to it being a symbol of the French monarchy, and also to gain the gunpowder and weapons that was stored there. The National Assembly, who were the representatives of the third estate, created the Declaration of Rights of Man, in August of 1789, which gave rights to the freedom of speech and assembly, and was of fundamental importance throughout the Revolution. This Declaration was also the foundation of a constitution which came about in 1791.
How long did it take for the human race to start realizing things around them? The Enlightenment was a time period where people began to question absolute monarchy and that’s where reason and scientific methods were applied to all aspects of life during the 17th and 18th centuries. The Enlightenment thinkers called philosophes were scholars who flaunted the ideas of the Enlightenment. The American Revolution (1775-1783) and the French Revolution (1789-1815) were direct causes of the Enlightenment. The ideas of John Locke, Voltaire, Adam Smith, and Mary Wollstonecraft all played important roles in the revolutions.
The Declaration of Independence, ratified in 1776, was a major stepping stone from tyranny to democracy. Our founding fathers wanted a government which served the people’s best interest and created the Declaration of Independence to showcase this. They took inspiration from the philosophers of the Enlightenment era. In the document, they started off with the Preamble, stating our natural rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, followed by the grievances to the English King, their attempts for reconcile, and finally the declaration of their independence from the monarchy. This document was the first in history to create a country based on rules of equality, unalienable rights, and citizens having the right to overthrow a tyrannical
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.
After the National Assembly abolished the feudal system in France, they “decided that France would henceforth be a community of legally equal citizens” (Popkin, “French Revolution”, p.31). On August 27, 1789, the National Assembly created the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen”. The purpose of this document was to cast off the feudal system and usher in a new system that would be more fair to all citizens of France. This is evidenced in article 1 of the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen” that states “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights” (Popkin, “French Revolution”, p.31). There was an implication in the Declaration that “the hierarchies of power and privilege that had structured French society would cease
The notation that museums replaced rituals of the church has a lot to do with museums being social institutions that try to produce a better life on earth rather than on in the afterlife. Unlike some religious institutions, museums have being able to adapt to historical circumstances and changing their vision of what creates a better future. This ideal of creating a better future was an influence of the Enlightenment period and has continued through to present day. During the enlightenment period, many theologians and philosophers were writing their perfect models of utopian civilizations the three most favored models were by J.V. Andrea, Tomasso Campanella, and Francis Bacon.
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.
