The Enlightenment Period “May we think of freedom not as to do as we please but as the opportunity to do what's right.” said Peter Marshall. The Enlightenment period was a time where there was an intellectual movement in the eighteenth century that emphasized reason and science. It took place from 1685 to 1815. The Enlightenment happened because many people believed that people should have more rights. The Enlightenment connects to this quote because it shows how people should not take freedom for granted, but do what's right, just like what some of the people did during the Enlightenment period. The Enlightenment ideas that had the most impact on the world are women's rights, freedom of speech and freedom of religion. During the Enlightenment …show more content…
This quote is evidence demonstrating how many women during the Enlightenment period did not have the same rights or respect as the men at the time. This also shows that a few made a significant impact on the time period. One such woman was Olympe de Gouge. She was a social reformer and playwright that used her position to advocate for the rights of those women she viewed as under represented. Other women, including Abigail Adams, and Mary Wollstonecraft, were also key figures at the time, bringing this very important topic to attention and advocating for women’s rights. In conclusion, these women helped shape and transform women's rights during the Enlightenment period. Another important impact on the world from the Enlightenment period was freedom of speech. The TCI textbook states, “Voltaire also spoke out for the right to free speech. Once he wrote a letter to a man whose views he strongly opposed and said that he would give his life so that his opponent could continue to write” (Section …show more content…
People like Voltaire see this as truly unfair. His belief was that everyone should be able to have and share their own opinions and ideas. In conclusion, the right to freedom of speech made a big impact on the world, because it finally allowed people to speak for what they believed was right, and now could truly share the new ideas that they had with the rest of the world.. A final important impact on the world from the Enlightenment period was freedom of religion. Prior to this, the people didn't have the right to have different religious beliefs. TCI textbook evidences this in the following passage: “Voltaire was especially concerned with freedom of thought and expression. He championed religious tolerance, or allowing people to practice religion in their own ways. Voltaire thought religious conflict was one of the main sources of evil in the world.” “He argued that no single religion possessed all the truth but instead held that there was a core of truth in all religions”. “This core was the “natural religion” that was made available to everyone” (Section 5). These quotes demonstrate just how restricted people's religious beliefs were during the