How Did The Age Of Enlightenment Change The World

Of all the actions, writings, empires, rulers, and wars; I believe the age of enlightenment changed the world the most. Enlightenment, meaning to illuminate or inform. The age of European Enlightenment brought about some of the biggest changes the world would ever see. Its concepts would illuminate, transform, and inspire people across the planet. From ending the idea of “divine right” to changing the way in which people viewed rights, no other movement would have such a long and dramatic effect on the world. Enlightenment’s greatest contribution will be changing the way in which the world looked at rights, religion, and revolutions. In changing governmental views of these three “R’s”; enlightenment would topple empires, inspire

Best explained by Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence, “That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government…” Although the most blunt about the rights of the people to revolt; Jefferson was not the first to believe this, no, earlier enlightened writers such as Jean Jacques Rousseau, John Locke, and Montesquieu all believe that people had natural rights, that governments must be with the consent of the governed, and that governments who did not honor these beliefs could be replaced by those people. This would never have been acceptable during the “divine right” era of history. These ideas would,and still do, affect regime change across the planet. As revolutions, constitutional governments, and regime change have become acceptable options for peoples who believe their government does not represent them appropriately. In this way, enlightenment not only changed the developing world of the 17th and18th century but still continues to affect change