The Enlightenment Dbq Essay

The Enlightenment was created in France in the 1700’s. It was a movement in Europe that was about applying reason to all aspects of life. During this movement, Philosophers used five concepts that they built upon to create the Enlightenment; reason, nature, happiness, progress, and an envy for England's glorious revolution and their bill of rights. The Enlightenment was a European movement that sparked and challenged new ideas about the relationship of common people to their governments. Over a period of time Enlightenment ideas spread outside of Europe and created a change of governments around the globe.
An outcome of the Enlightenment were philosophers who challenged the government created their own ways of how they believe the government

Some people like Thomas Hobbes believed that they needed an absolute monarchy or else there would be chaos, every man vs. every man in a fight over selfishness. Hobbes believed that there needed to be a monarch to scare the people for obedience and order. Another who believed this was Catherine the Great, she stated “Not to deprive people of their natural liberty; but to correct their actions, in order to attain the supreme good” (Doc 2). Then there were people like John Locke who believed that the people can govern themselves and the only laws that were needed were laws to protect a man's natural rights; life, liberty and property. Locke believed that natural rights were given to you by god and no one could break or take them away. It is stated in the encyclopedia that, “natural reason alone has established among men, or to put it better, which god has engraved them in our hearts [and] neither law nor custom can contrive it (Doc 1). After these two theories of government people started to combat their government. For example, Voltaire targeted the government through the use of humor and insulted the government. Rousseau who believed there should be a government that is free in the state of nature but civilized and formed by the people. With all of these ideas of government made, they were bound to be applied to a country to

After the French and Indian war, Britain needed money to cover the cost of the war. So they issued the Stamp Act, without asking the colonists or taking a vote in the colonies. The colonists protested the stamp act and eventually it was removed. Then Britain put more taxes on things like tea and other british goods. But this time instead of protesting, the Americans used violence, such as the Boston tea party, where they acted out by throwing chests of British tea into the boston harbor. Eventually, these protests and acts led to the Revolutionary War. The colonists were led by George Washington in the fight against Britain. To rally troops and support for the war against England, Colonists would put up what were known as “Liberty Poles” in towns and villages (Doc 5). These poles became a symbol of the Enlightenment spirit. They also served purposes as when the flags were raised that meant there was a meeting to plan for the