The Enlightenment Dbq Essay

During the 18th Century, the Enlightenment was introduced in Europe. This new movement brought about modernization of thinking about government and individualism, and reevaluated previous beliefs. The Enlightenment had many new Philosophers who helped spread their views on government. Philosophers were similar in ideas about the rights of citizens and people’s choice of which government they want, however they differed on the reason government existed and governmental power. Overall, the ideas were a substantial departure from previous ideas about human equality, absolute rulers, and the court system. Two Philosophers had similar ideas that the government should protect citizens’ rights. John Locke believed that governments only duty

Thomas Hobbes wrote a famous book, The Leviathan, that explained how he thought humans were selfish and needed the government to keep order. He supported an absolute monarchy that could not be overthrown. Baron de Montesquieu said, “ Again, there is no liberty if the power of judging be not separated from the Legislative and Executive powers,” (Doc. 4). This displays how he wanted Separation of Powers, government division to keep one individual from rising to power. John Locke also went against Hobbes’ ideas by saying that government can be overthrown. These ideas all show different viewpoints, that government should have all the power, and that it should be split up to keep them from having all the

Before the Enlightenment, absolute rulers such as King Louis XIV, Charles V, and Philip II had complete power over their countries and made all the choices on their own of how to run their countries. Many rulers, such as Ivan the Terrible who went crazy and killed his own son, abused their powers. Montesquieu brought forth the new idea of Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances that kept the government from gaining too much power over the people. This was a change because Separation of Powers did not allow the government to gain too much power and run the country solely, which all the absolute rulers