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How Did Voltaire Influence The French Revolution

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Voltaire was a crude, satirical, controversial, and slightly rebellious writer of the 17th century. His love of reason and acknowledgement of corruption leaked from his writings into the minds of the common folk readers of France. Leading to furthering the Enlightenment of France. Voltaire was one of the greatest enlightenment thinkers, renowned in all of France. However, like most genius figures of history, he was wasn’t born the great philosopher. He was born in the winter of 1694, in the City of Lights: Paris, France. Voltaire was his alias, his true name was a more common name, François-Marie Arouet. He grew up as the youngest sibling of a wealthy family of five. His way of thinking catalyzed when his mother died. This led his thinking …show more content…

He had intended for his son to become a lawyer there. This, in all honesty, completely failed. Once in Caen, Voltaire did however, fall for a young french-refugee named, Catherine Olympe Dunoyer. They were soon engaged, but the marriage was forced to stop, and Voltaire went on writing. He wrote mainly against people of great power. In 1717, it eventually, it caught up with him. Voltaire landed himself exiled for the first time, and ended up imprisoned in Bastille. Why? Of course, for writing negatively towards people of great …show more content…

One of the more controversial and widely known of his philosophies went against the Catholic Church. Although, he did believe in God, there was little respect for religion due to their lack of esteem for the natural sciences. His writings against the church sparked the spread of Atheism. His basic opinion on the matter of a creator is that people were created by some form of God, but the creator did not continuously intervene after the creation. His dislike for the bible was also apparent in his writings. To put his beliefs into one word, Voltaire was a:

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Because of the Reformation, many religious wars were occurring, and monarchs like Philip II “… believed that it was his duty to defend Catholicism against the Muslims of the Ottoman Empire and the Protestants of Europe.” (Pg. 591) Philosopher Voltaire argued for many freedoms. Many of them included the freedom of religion, he said, “… Christians should tolerate each other” (Doc 7). He also fought for other rights as well, Voltaire also fought for freedom of speech and press.

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Two particular enlightenment thinkers were Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Paine’s main focus in his works was that self-government is possible. He really spoke to the colonists in a way they could understand because he was just like them, meaning he was not well-educated but was able to express his thoughts in a persuasive way that impacted the colonists daily lives. The most important pamphlet he ever wrote was called Common Sense and was read by many people, and was even referenced at the Second Continental Congress. Thomas Jefferson was greatly influenced by the ideas of the Enlightenment while he was writing the Declaration of Independence, along with many other of the Founding Fathers as well.

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Lastly, in an excerpt from the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, the influence the Enlightenment had on the French Revolution was shown by the Enlightenment ideas put into the declaration (Doc 8). The ideas that all men should be equal, the duty of a government was to protect the rights of the people, and free communication are all examples of Enlightenment ways of thinking. The declaration, an embodiment of the beliefs of the French Revolution, showed that many of the ideas in the Enlightenment and the

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Voltaire wrote poems, novels, essays, plays, and more than 20,000 personal letters. Voltaire's idea of a better society, was freedom in religion. The Royal Exchange in London was where the representatives of all nations meet and try to profess the same religion. But Volaire states that “if there is one religion, then it would be a arbitrary, and if there was two, people would kill one and others, but if there was a multitude of religions, there would be peace and happiness”(Doc 2). Voltaire's idea is similar to John Locke's idea.

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Voltaire certainly believed in freedom of religious expression, which he actually found pivotal to the propagation of religion and its very realm of existence. He did not believe in circumscribing the way that individuals expressed their religious conviction. More importantly, perhaps, Voltaire also held firm in the conviction that there should be a distinction between church and state. This notion has proved fairly controversial throughout the course of Westernization; one of the reasons that Voltaire maintained this conviction was because he was aware of the tendency of ecclesiastical powers to surmount reason in governing due to the unrestrained sort of influence the church could

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He said, “If one religion only were allowed in England, the government would very possibly become arbitrary; if there were two, the people would cut one another’s throats; but as there are such a multitude, they all live happy and in peace,” (Document B). Voltaire believed that it was important to have a multitude of religions so that people would have more than one option to choose from, giving them a chance to have a voice and be heard. Religion is an very important and sensitive topic, and having the ability to choose whether you are a part of a religion or not is a choice in which everyone should be able to make, it’s an characteristic of

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Voltaire François-Marie Arouet(Voltaire)was born on November 21, 1694. He was a french engliment writer. Voltaire was best known for his attacks to the church and for supporting what is called freedom of expression and the separation of church and state. He is remembered for his couraged to fight for the civil rights. Volataire wrote about a total of 2,000 books and pamphlets and 20,000 letters.

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Which brings me to the next Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire. Voltaire had a very big impact on society as he encouraged people to start having their own ideas. In Voltaire 's time period people were constantly punished for not agreeing with the church or the government. Voltaire believed that society would be much better off if there was freedom to have your own ideas. Voltaire believed that diversity was the key to success for society as he stated in The Philosophical Dictionary, "To be a good patriot is to wish that one 's city may be enriched by trade, and be powerful by arms"(Voltaire).

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After three centuries of colonial rule, Spanish and Portuguese America got independence. Between 1808 and 1826 all of Latin America except the Spanish colonies of Cuba and Puerto Rico remained under Spanish rule. This was the result of a combination of long-building tensions in colonial rule and a series of external events. The reforms imposed by the Spanish in the 18th century provoked great instability in the relations between the rulers and their colonial subjects in the Americas. Many Creoles felt Bourbon policy to be an unfair attack on their wealth, political power, and social status.

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The French Revolution best reflected Enlightenment ideas of freedom of speech; life, liberty, property; and equal death through the acts of robespierre's speeches, storming of the bastille, and the use of the guillotine respectively. Freedom of speech was first primarily demonstrated by a man named Maximilien Robespierre. Robespierre was one of the main influential figures in the french revolution. He used his right to free speech which was provided by voltaire to speak his mind to the population of france.

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Voltaire is one of the greatest and most famous authors in French literature. He was widely known as a playwright, poet, novelist, essayist and philosopher in the eighteenth century age of enlightenment in Europe. He was known for his advocacy of freedom of religion and other civil liberties. During the long life of Voltaire, he produced many works such as his famous satirical short novel Candide. It was derived from Voltaire’s interest in philosophy and human nature.

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Voltaire was the youngest of five children, two of which died in infancy. When he was seven years had his mother had passed away. In 1704, Voltaire received an education at the Collège Louis-le-Grand, a Jesuit secondary school in Paris, France. After his education he grew an admiration for

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He was a French philosopher who wrote the Age of Enlightenment about freedom, and democracy. Much of his writing made the aristocracy and monarchies furious because he was going against them. His ideas influenced people in the American Revolution and even the French Revolution. Thomas Paine was influenced by Voltaire in writing the Common Sense pamphlet. The ideas in his writing influenced the line in the second paragraph “all men are created equal” and also the 1st amendment about religion and freedom in the Declaration of Independence (Unknown 4).

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The Enlightenment was a time where people were beginning to find out that they could speak out against their oppressive leaders and bring to light many of the wrongdoings happening within the many institutions at the time. Two main philosophes who argued for the Enlightenment and its benefits to society in the 18th century were Immanuel Kant and Voltaire, also known as Francois Marie Arouet. These two prominent thinkers criticized the current social, political, and religious systems in place at the time. While both philosophers argue that the Enlightenment is essential to human growth, they both use different ideas and criticisms to prove their point. Both Kant and Voltaire argued that Enlightenment is important in mankind’s growth as a whole

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The French Revolution was undoubtedly influenced by the political theorists of the Enlightenment. The ideas of two French political theorists in particular are easily seen throughout the French Revolution, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Baron Montesquieu. Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s thoughts and texts, such as the Social Contract, instilled the entitlement of basic human rights to all men. Rousseau’s concepts on rights combined with Baron Montesquieu’s ideas on government provided the backbone of a radical movement in the French Revolution known as the Terror. When one delves into the beginnings of the French Revolution, the motives and actions of the National Assembly, and the Terror of the French Revolution, one can obviously see the influence of two Enlightenment political theorists, Rousseau and Montesquieu.

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