The Enlightenment Dbq Essay

The European Enlightenment (also known as the Age of Reason) took place before 1750 and was shaped by the principles of the Scientific Revolution that embraced human reason. Enlightenment thinkers believed that principles of reason and nature should be applied to the governance of a country (popular sovereignty), people’s natural rights, social contract, and societal structure. These theorists of the Enlightenment challenged accepted and traditional thinking (monarchial governments, aristocratic power) and established politics and society based on the laws of reason and nature. Nevertheless, these Enlightenment ideas motivated and influenced feminist movements and the Atlantic Revolutions. Although conservatives sought to preserve the traditional

The Germans liberated the Jewish people, and this is due to the emphasized Enlightenment equality. Zunz elaborates that educational establishments and freedom will increasingly intensify unification as a “wonderful mix.” He pushes for accepting different religious sects so that equality can bring them together (Doc 2). The Enlightenment did influence equality among divided nations due to its concept that all men were created equal. People became more accepting of one another and the present differences in religion (as occurred between the Jews and Germans) and recognized the importance of human dignity that the Enlightenment stressed. Thomas Jefferson, one of the forerunners of Enlightenment thought during the American Revolution, would be a good source to address a valid point because he held the unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, which were enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, and he believed that all people are born equal. Jefferson advocated for ideals that strengthened equality, gave more men political rights in the government, and freed North America from British imperial authority. Yukichi Fukuzawa, a Japanese writer and scholar, stressed the importance of acquiring Enlightenment thought in

These conservatives wanted to keep traditional order, aristocracy, and monarchy; they were anti-Enlightenment. Edmund Burke, a member of the British parliament, speaks to the British population in a pamphlet declaring that they should preserve traditional British ideas and values of Christianity and hierarchy to maintain a stable society. He says that Enlightenment thought turned away from the Church, and he emphasized the importance of God and religion to persist. He talks about how the Enlightenment influenced the French Revolution and caused much violence and instability (Doc 1). By publishing this in a pamphlet to Britain, Burke means to let people see the violence that can occur due to Enlightenment changes. He does this by referencing the French Revolution, which occurred a year before he published this. He intended to persuade Britain’s society to keep their traditional ways so they would not experience a “political/social disaster” from change. The reality of a major social change that could occur due to Enlightenment thought threatened authorities as they feared losing their power. On the cover page of a French satirical magazine, Hubertine Auclerc, a French journalist and woman suffrage activist, is shown leading other women in an attack. It shows women attacking the Bastille of Men, which is symbolic since the Bastille of Men (stormed by men 100 years