Enlightenment Ideas In America

294 Words2 Pages
Enlightenment ideas are the thinking and reasoning that helped found our modern world as we know it today. Society in America is heavily based on freedom and equality which during the Enlightenment was influenced by John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau. Locke said that all men were created equal, and that no man was more powered over another. The only exception to this rule was if the man was elected or chosen to be a leader, such as a Democracy. In today's world, we believe that all men are created equal and should be treated as equal. Rousseau also influenced these ideas today by believing that the government belongs to the people. As a country, we have the power to control who is in the government by electing them. Before being elected,