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How enlightenment influenced american government
Influence of enlightenment on america
Influence of enlightenment on america
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Andrea Guardado Mrs. Saleh World History October 4th, 2016 The Intelligence Era The Enlightenment lasted from the 1600s to the 1700s. It was a time when being intelligent was appraised. Wise people had different thoughts during the time of knowledge. Not all of them agreed on each other’s ideas, but they all mostly had the same vision of how different people should be treated equally (Background Essay).
The Enlightenment had a big impact on the creation of the U.S. Constitution in view of the Social Contract, Montesquieu’s idea to have a separation of powers, and Locke’s idea of natural rights. The Social Contract had a big effect on the U.S. Constitution because it gave citizens more freedom. Citizens had the right to criticize or even rebel, (protest, remove, vote out of office) against the government if it was not living up to its end of the contract. The deal of the contract was that people give up some of their freedom to the government and the government protects them and guarantees their rights. Ideas from the Social Contract can be seen in the first Amendment of the Constitution, the rules about Habeas Corpus and the 14th Amendment.
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.
Locke proposed in the "Second Treatise of Government" that transparency in government and a central democratic system, which allows for interaction between officials and the public, are keys to success. John Locke’s ideas about the purpose of the government inspired the American Revolution and influenced the creation of the Declaration of Independence. Many believed that Locke’s ideas were noble and right, and they wanted the spirit of equal rights and freedom to permeate the new government being created in America. Modern democracy evolved from the fundamental beliefs that Locke held. In his writings, Locke supported representative government and a system of checks and balances to prevent to government from possessing absolute power.
The first way the enlightenment ideas influenced the United States Government was when the Declaration of Independence was written. The Declaration of Independence has the main task of basically protecting our natural rights. The natural rights idea came from Locke and was later transformed into the Declaration of Independence. Natural rights are basically Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. The second main idea that influenced our U.S Government to me is the federal system.
John Locke, an English philosopher, was an essential inspiration for the American Revolution. Locke believed that people are born with natural rights to life, liberty, and property and that government exists to protect those rights. Furthermore, he argued that when a government fails to protect these rights, the people have the right to overthrow that government. These ideas were central to the American Revolution, which was fought to secure independence and individual rights. Locke was so impactful his thoughts and beliefs were agreed upon by all the founding fathers, and you can see a direct correlation between his ideas and the early framework for the American
The Influential Enlightenment Age of Colonial America Although the enlightenment started in Europe it didn't end there many of the ideas and events from the enlightenment spurred out to other parts of the world most particularly the American colonies, this helped them to discover themselves and build on their nation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their happiness. Thomas Hobbes book “Leviathan” is one of the ideas that made it to the American colonies and they most definitely took it into consideration since the parts of their government are based on these matters. Another major idea was the “English Bill Of Rights”. Yes America copied England even though America hated England they couldn’t pass up good intellect when they see it.
America, as we know it, is founded upon the democratic underpinnings of the government as a representation of the people, based on what they collectively express. Our system of checks and balances incorporated into the three branches of power known as executive, legislative and judicial, not only creates an important, distinct type of government separating us from the rest of the world, but is a present day, working example of the political contributions from an infinite number of philosophers, whether ancient or modern. The impact of John Locke, one such philosopher, can currently be seen in examples like the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution, both of which “…read like a book report of [Locke’s] Second Treatise” (Snyder, “Lecture
Locke ideas came before the American Revolution and were the foundation for the U.S Constitution and partly reasons for the revolution. Though these men were not able to live through or the start of their notions, the people took a hold of them impacting government systems. Niccolo Machiavelli was an
European political thinkers such as John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau influenced the structure of the United States of America through their political views that were a new and revolutionary way of thinking, also known as the enlightenment. The enlightenment is a movement in the 17th and 18th century that emphasized reason and analyzation rather than the traditional way of thought. The American revolution and the ideas that came along with it, such as the constitution, continues to affect the country today by the government’s use of these ideas and developments. Traditionally, people are very devout and base life on specific principles such as the bible.
John Locke was an English Philosopher whose belief on government and the people challenged the long-established ways of thinking about society and government, but influenced the founding fathers especially Thomas Jefferson who to put Locke’s ideas into his own document about the foundation of the United States. The Glorious Revolution in England during the late 1600s that John Locke witnessed, compelled him to write the Two Treatise of Government, integrating his beliefs that “the state of nature has the law of nature to govern it … all men are equal” in his work of political philosophy (Locke 1). Locke suggests that humans are not inferior to each other even though Absolutism was the traditional way of ruling. He believed that the human government should not be based off of divine right, but should be based off of human nature.
There were many philosophers in the 17th and 18th century that influenced and inspired the founders of our country. For instance, John Locke believed that life, liberty, and property should be our natural rights as humans and if the government could not secure these rights then the people could get rid of them. That idea impacted Thomas Jefferson when he wrote the Declaration of Independence. This was the perfect time to develop different theories and contradictions because this was right around the time of the printing press and protestant reformation where people started to question the catholic church. Other philosophers like Thomas Hobbes, Voltaire, Montesquieu, and Rousseau impacted founders like George Washington and James Madison who have positively affected this country in many different ways.
The Influence of Enlightenment Ideas in The Declaration of Independence The Enlightenment era, of all of the eras in America, perhaps has been the very first era where the people of America actually started to change their way of thinking. I mean let's face the truth, the Pilgrims and Puritans didn't have some revolutionary thought, their act and way of thinking were heavily determined based on the Bible they read (though they already defied the customary law simply by reading the Bible). Of course they also had some kind of idealism. We could see it by the Mayflower compact (in which the essence of the compact was the dream of the people in creating a nation with their own system, and still respected the Ruler of the Great Britain) [2] however
When the United States was being founded, the men charged with the creation of this novel system of government drew inspiration from a number of well-known English political philosophers. One of the most overt influences, not merely on the Constitution, but even the Declaration of Independence, was John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government. His depiction of both the State of Nature and its transition into civil society served as the mirror to the American notion and understanding of the purposes of government. Another less discussed but no less intrinsic influence on the founding document came from Thomas Hobbes in his work, Leviathan.
During the 17th century, many philosophers expressed their ideas towards politics and the way our government should distribute power throughout higher authority. Among the many philosophers of the 17th century, John Locke was most known for his work in creating a form of government that people still practice today, a limited liberal government. Through his suggestions and theories, Locke helped shape the ideas of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity by implementing practices such as freedom of religion. Previous to Locke, states would require citizens to practice a set religion
