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How Did The Enlightenment Impact Society

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The Enlightenment has made an everlasting impact on society. The Enlightenment, also known as the Age of Reason, is a movement that took place during the late 1700s to the 1800s. It was a continuation of the scientific revolution and was all about reason and individualism. The Enlightenment led to the shaping of society in aspects of governmental structures, moral codes, and economics. If it had not been for the Enlightenment, society would not be the way it is today. To begin with, the Enlightenment has highly influenced governmental structures. An example of this would be the U.S. three branch system. This system was the idea of Charles-Louis de Secondat, baron de la Brede et Montesquieu. He was an important advocator during the Enlightenment who theorized separation of power to create checks and balances. With this intention in mind, he wanted to encourage order and equality. And so the three branch system today promotes both order and equality, as it was intended to do so. Overall, the …show more content…

Take, for example, the Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence. Enlightenment principles can be found in both of these important documents. This is due to the fact that contributors of these documents, such as Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, were influenced by writers of the Enlightenment. For instance, in the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson got his ideas from George III to demand the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. When it came to the Bill of Rights, James Madison took a page from the Enlightenment playbook when promoting personal liberties such as the right to freedom of speech, assembly, and religion. These different principles help promote and maintain a well-stabilized society. These are some of the most important governmental documents that were influenced by the Enlightenment, which in turn has made a crucial impact in the shaping of

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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.

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The Enlightenment era showed light on whether or not monarchs, Kings or Queens, really acquired their absolute power from God. People started to think with their own minds, they started to think intellectually. The Enlightenment acknowledged three philosophers, John Locke, Baron de Montesquieu, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who are now widely known for their famous political theories.   Let's start with Thomas Hobbes, a famous English philosopher whose ideas are later contradicted by John Locke. Hobbes believed in something called “State of Nature” which is the condition of human beings without political association.

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1354 Words | 6 Pages

The Enlightenment gave way to new ideas about the natural born rights of citizens and equality, and fueled the concept of liberalism. In document four, The French Revolution by Albert Mathiez, the author stated that the Revolution was accomplished in men’s minds before it actually came to fruition. The ideas that helped the men accomplish this were the ideas of the Enlightenment, proving that this time period helped cause the French Revolution. Another main concept of the Enlightenment was the concept of immutable laws of nature, and in document six, Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution, these laws are used as evidence to support the idea that the Third Estate is everything. The belief that the Third Estate was a crucial part of the French society was what fueled the Revolution, furthering the idea that the Enlightenment helped lead to the French Revolution.

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During the Enlightenment many new ideas inspired the government and the people to come together to better society. People such as John Locke, Beccaria and many others had different ideas of how to reform the government during the Enlightenment period, which lasted from 1685-1815. The ideas created by the philosophers of this time included new beliefs and new laws. This ultimately leads to new relations forming between the government and the people. The propositions proposed by the Enlightenment altered the association between government and society by uniting the ideas of the government and the people, promoting the tolerance of all religions, and giving justice to the people.

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The Framers decided to include this is the constitution because colonists were not treated properly by the British government. They did not have a say in the way they were governed, so they wanted their new system to change that. Montesquieu’s idea of a separation of powers asserted that government power should be dispersed into three separate branches so one part of the government does not gain too much power. Baron Charles de Montesquieu’s book, The Spirit of Laws, which was published in 1748 and discussed his beliefs in the roles of government included in excerpt that was as follows, “To prevent this abuse, it is necessary, from the very nature of things, that power should be a check to power…. When the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person, or in the same body of magistrates, there can be no liberty. . .”

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The Enlightenment was a time of great intellectual growth and expansion, regarding what we humans knew about the world and how we interacted with one another. Many Enlightenment philosophers’ ideas are still being used throughout the economy today. From Montesquieu’s idea of the separation of powers, to Voltaire’s idea of the freedom of speech, these philosophies are what influenced America’s governmental foundation. The American government was hugely influenced by the ideas birthed during the Enlightenment.

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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.

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I believe that the Enlightenment Thinkers would have the most impact on future governments because. Voltaire believed in freedom of thought, freedom of religion, and freedom of expression. Locke believed in natural rights, including life, liberty, and owning property. Montesquieu believed that one person should not have power.

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During the Enlightenment new ideas were created that greatly impacted society. The new ideas created during the Enlightenment impacted society so much that many of the ideas were utilized when forming the government of the United States. Three European men Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Rousseau each had their own unique views of what would be best for society. Each philosopher had ideas that would make today 's society more ideal and with hard work are possible to achieve.

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The National assembly was able to win and abolish the feudal privileges of the nobility and the clergy. Enlightenment has helped create a new era for the French of liberty, equality, and fraternity (The French Revolution

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The Enlightenment was the period in European history when people used reason to understand and improve society. In fact, the Enlightenment is also referred as “The Age of Reason”. This was a very important period of time because of philosophers that encouraged new ideas and use of reason. Enlightenment philosophers believed that society could be improved by using purpose and natural law. They believed that governments receive their authority from the people and not from god.

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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

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“Without debate, without criticism, no administration can succeed and no republic can survive” -John F. Kennedy. The Age of Enlightenment was the intellectual and philosophical movement that occurred in Europe in the 17th and the 18th centuries. The Age of Enlightenment happened because of all the different kinds of revolutions and different protests. This quote talks about how important the government was and how important it was to have a stable and non-corrupt government. Freedom of Speech, Women’s rights, abolishment of cruel punishments were all major Enlightenment ideas that had big effects on our current world.

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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

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The intellectuals of the Enlightenment were called philosophes, but they were not all philosophers, they could be any literary person. Charles de Secondat was a philosophe from the French nobility, and wrote many books. His biggest contribution to this time was his The Spirit of the Laws which used the scientific method to create “natural laws” about social and political relationships between people; but the most important parts of this book were his distinguishment of the three basic types of government, republics, monarchies, and despotism, and the mentions of the importance of separation of power. He would use England as an example of a successful system with separation of the executive, legislative and judicial powers, this would not only be a major contribution to the Enlightenment, but also be critical in the creation of the United States Constitution in the future. François-Marie Arouet is considered one of the greatest figures of the Enlightenment due to his contributions toward religious toleration.

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