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How Did The Enlightenment Influence American Society

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The Enlightenment became the era in history where traditional beliefs started to be questioned and people started to think logically. In the period between 1700s and 1800s, the Enlightenment appeared to be a period of intellectual reasoning in the thirteen American colonies. This period influenced the American government; thanks to John Locke, a British philosopher who believed in natural rights in which all men are born free. Another would be Montesquieu, a French philosopher who thought that the separation of powers influenced greatly a good function for a government. Lastly would be Voltaire, an outspoken French philosopher who believed in freedom of speech and freedom of religion. These highly educated philosophers thought thoroughly about specific aspects of life. They influenced American society positively and persuaded individuals to understand the basic principles; which led them to the American Revolution and their independence. …show more content…

Later, however, such Americans as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison made their own important contributions to Enlightenment thought” . In 1689, John Locke wrote a letter about the tolerance of religions; he gave two arguments that support tolerance as necessary. The first was of a religious nature: tolerance is "in conformity with the gospel of Jesus Christ": indeed, Christianity asks to be concerned about its only salvation that of others does not concern us. The second argument was of a rational nature: tolerance was in conformity with "the common sense of men": all men are endowed with reason and can, by this faculty, realize the necessity of tolerance without which we would fall back into endless wars of

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The Age Of Enlightenment was a period in the 18th century where change in philosophy, beliefs, and cultural life took place in Europe and in the Americas. There were many historical figures that helped shaped everything that took place during this era. Two very important historical figures I will be talking about are John Adams and Samuel Adams. The two were influenced by the Age Of Enlightenment. They had very similar visions but their different actions spoke louder more than anything.

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The American identity has evolved over time. During the 1700’s, the Enlightenment, also known as the Age of Reason, occurred. It spread rapidly across Europe, and then to North America. This revolutionary way of thinking was crucial to the development of the American identity. The Enlightenment was the period for cultivation of science and human reason.

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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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The Enlightenment was a period of time in which revolutions are bound to take place. When new thinking arises within a population, sooner or later people will begin to question authority and make their own decisions on government, laws, religion, and the way life is lived in general. As soon as influential thinkers such as Montesquieu Rousseau, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Thomas Jefferson, and many others began spreading their new ways of thinking with the rest of the people under British control, the American Revolution was born. Enlightenment thinkers such as these used their work to influence colonists to break away from Britain’s control and create a new form of American government. New ideas of government and thoughts of rebellion were

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Without the Enlightenment, the United States of America would not have had the same Democratic government that it does today. This is because the United States government was strongly based upon the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was the period of western culture, stretching from the the seventeenth century through the eighteenth century, by dramatic revolutions in science, philosophy, society and politics. The Philosophers main idea was to improve the modern world by people granting individuals freedom in areas of social, government, and economic improvements. First of all, the philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft wanted to modernize social living.

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Montesquieu believed in separation of power. All of the philosophers ideas had a great impact, but some had a greater impact than others. John Locke is an english physician known to be the most influential to the enlightenment. His ideas are based off of the education/educating others. He had a significant impact on the development

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Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, even the our very own Founding Fathers here in the United States where greatly impacted by one single individual whose work to present day we as nation can still find verbatim in declaration of our independence. The individual, the great philosopher John Locke if not the most influential one of the most influential thinkers of the Enlightenment era. The thinking of Locke brought the influence to future thinkers from his time to the point where sects such as the Catholic Church banned the thinking of those philosophers whose thought and mindset pronounced that of a threat to their beliefs due to the views of John Lock still in existence. The work of John Locke the philosopher has greatly

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The American Enlightenment brought much impact on colonial society in America on political ideas of colonists to receive independence from Great Britain. John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau had beliefs that individuals deserve freedom and human rights to life, liberty, and property. People deserve to have their own opinion, natural rights, and decisions. “The Enlightenment was a progress with the people in the Western world thought about themselves and the societies in which they lived.” (Schultz, p. 69, 2009)

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The English philosopher and political theorist John Locke (1632-1704) laid a great part of the foundation for the Enlightenment and made focal commitments to the advancement of liberalism. Trained in medicine, he was a key promoter of the empirical approaches of the Scientific Revolution. His political theory of government by the assent of the governed as a way to secure "life, liberty and estate" profoundly impacted the United States' founding documents. His articles on religious tolerance gave an early model to the partition of chapel and state.

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The Influential Ideas of John Locke John Locke’s positive views on human nature, as well as his beliefs about the rights all humans are born with, are formidable and educated, as proven today by how important people take them to be true. His ideas affect many lives today through movements caused by him and people today who rely on them. Locke was born well-off and went to great schools, enabling him to excel in thinking (Sommerville). He was offered positions of power, which showed his knowledgeable character (Sommerville). Locke’s ideas consisted of all people having the right to life, liberty, and property, as well as the belief that there should be self-government (Beck).

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The enlightenment period was a time where philosophers in the 17th century and 18th century stood up against the government. They went on to do stuff with their lives, that will change our world. They refused to listen and make people think on their own. They are the forefathers of our governments. Thomas Hobbes was born in 1588, When he grew older he became a philosopher and political theorist.

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In 1665 his book leviathan it made a social contract theory of the most later western political philosophy. He develops European liberal thoughts such as the right of the individual the natural equality of all man and the artificial character of the political order he was a really good man. Benjamin Franklin was one of the founding fathers of the United States he pretty much introduce America to enlightenment stage. Franklin announced in 1743 that it was time for colonists to start improving the bottom of the humankind through collaborative inquiry. From franklin's ideas put together the American philosophical society and th e association headquartered in Philadelphia.

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Influence of Enlightenment Philosophy There comes a time where man must not mindlessly follow their current government and way of thinking. The time arises were men must create change and birth innovative ideas on how their society and government should function, the Enlightenment was one of such times. The Enlightenment was a period of time where man began to question his government, and to try to reform it. The Enlightenment gave rise to great philosophers who can be considered as trailblazers, going ahead of the Framers and laying out the basis for a new kind of government. The Framers drew heavily on the ideals of the enlightenment when drafting the U.S Constitution.

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The enlightenment in the early eighteenth century was incredibly impactful. The age of enlightenment also known as the age of reason is based on questioning authority. The most inspirational revolutions being the American revolution and the French revolution whom have set an example to the rest of the world. First off, the literatures, such as the declaration of independence challenged ideas such as the mandate of heaven and basic human rights. The declaration of independence was originally inspired by the Manga Carta.

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The Enlightenment was the period after the Renaissance and Reformation. It showed that reason and logic might be able to explain the world and what was in it. The seven philosophers of the Enlightenment were Rene Descartes, Isaac

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