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How Did The Enlightenment Influence The Government

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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. This essay will highlight the influence the Enlightenment and its philosophers had on the creation of the U.S Constitution. …show more content…

During the Enlightenment, there were many uprisings, rebellions, and revolutions as people began to question divine right and reform their government. According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “We owe to this period the basic model of government founded upon the consent of the governed; the articulation of the political ideals of freedom and equality and the theory of their institutional realization; the articulation of a list of basic individual human rights to be respected and realized by any legitimate political system; the articulation and promotion of toleration of religious diversity as a virtue to be respected in a well ordered society; the conception of the basic political powers as organized in a system of checks and balances; and other now-familiar features of western democracies.” Had it not been for the Enlightenment and its ideals, the U.S Constitution and America's government would not be the way it is

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Throughout the American Revolution the colonists in America wrote many documents to declare their independence and establish the United States as a sovereign country. Despite the fact that they are all great, the US Constitution is the most influenced by the Enlightenment. The Constitution had countless ideas that express this. For instance in the first three articles (I- Legislative, II-Executive, III-Judiciary) the Founding Fathers made sure that the new government had separation of powers.

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The Enlightenment is a period of time during the 17th and 18th century that brought forth many new, revolutionary ideas regarding social, political, and economic issues. Such ideas aided the founding fathers in their creation of a new government that would soon be the United States of America. Two of these founders, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, differed in their political reasoning. For example, while Jefferson believes that the people “can be trusted with their own government,” Hamilton argues that the people “seldom judge or determine right.” Hamilton favored a type of government that would put a select few (the rich) in charge of the people, while Jefferson favored a government that would put the people in total control.

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The Enlightenment was a European movement that emphasized reason and respect for humanity. Enlightenment thinkers thought reason could solve humanity’s problems and the literature created by these Europeans greatly influenced educated Americans, including founding fathers such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Much of Enlightenment thought surrounded politics and how a proper political system should be structured. John Locke was an Englishman would argued that the state was obligated to grant natural, human rights to the people it governed. He wrote in his Two Treatises on Government that these rights included “life, liberty, and property.”

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Essential Questions: It seems almost impossible to think what the world would be today without the enlightenment thinkers, they are responsible for some of the most important documents today. I think John Locke had the most impact on the writers of the constitution John Locke: Who: John Locke

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During the Enlightenment many new ideas inspired the government and the people to come together to better society. People such as John Locke, Beccaria and many others had different ideas of how to reform the government during the Enlightenment period, which lasted from 1685-1815. The ideas created by the philosophers of this time included new beliefs and new laws. This ultimately leads to new relations forming between the government and the people. The propositions proposed by the Enlightenment altered the association between government and society by uniting the ideas of the government and the people, promoting the tolerance of all religions, and giving justice to the people.

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The Enlightenment had a big impact on the creation of the U.S. Constitution in view of the Social Contract, Montesquieu’s idea to have a separation of powers, and Locke’s idea of natural rights. The Social Contract had a big effect on the U.S. Constitution because it gave citizens more freedom. Citizens had the right to criticize or even rebel, (protest, remove, vote out of office) against the government if it was not living up to its end of the contract. The deal of the contract was that people give up some of their freedom to the government and the government protects them and guarantees their rights. Ideas from the Social Contract can be seen in the first Amendment of the Constitution, the rules about Habeas Corpus and the 14th Amendment.

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Enlightenment philosophy has a great influence on the American colonists lives and beliefs during the American revolution. When the British government purposely infringed on the rights of the colonists, our Founding Fathers was able to apply Enlightenment philosophy to claim independence and support the democratic government. This crisis led the colonists stood up in the American Revolution against the Kingdom of Great Britain for not only their own rights but this event also has a huge impacted later in American future. Throughout the Seven Years' War, Great Britain defeated France and its Indian allies in America, but Great Britain was deeply in an enormous debt afterwards (more than 150 million pounds) (Give Me Liberty, p.141).

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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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Enlightenment was a concept that inspired a new way of thinking of the people. In the newly formed United States of America, enlightenment shaped the way the new government was run. Scientific reasoning was applied to politics, religion, and science. Enlightenment saved music, art, and literature programs in colleges. Enlightenment in Europe led to drastically altered views on philosophy, politics, and communications.

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During the Enlightenment new ideas were created that greatly impacted society. The new ideas created during the Enlightenment impacted society so much that many of the ideas were utilized when forming the government of the United States. Three European men Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Rousseau each had their own unique views of what would be best for society. Each philosopher had ideas that would make today 's society more ideal and with hard work are possible to achieve.

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Enlightenment was created by the English philosopher John Locke. The ideas that were influenced by enlightenment were life, liberty, and property. This also gave to the idea of natural right. Enlightenment influenced the way people finally realized that divine right wasn’t right and start to doubt it. Throughout time enlightenment has influenced a lot of important events in history.

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Different factors had a part to play in starting or even propelling ‘the Age of Enlightenment’, including the rule of the Church and State which experienced a power struggle among them, in addition to the Western discovery of latest societies with noticeably exclusive cultural traditions and norms. Many intellectuals felt unhappy with the fixed social styles amongst their very own collectives, and angry at their governments' refusal to provide non-public rights. The lasting political effect of the Enlightenment can't be overstated. At the least three fundamental political revolutions came about throughout this time period in Britain, America, and France.

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The Intellectual movement known as the Enlightenment occupies an important position in the growth of Western civilization. How it totally affected society, especially French society is a subject of debate, from the beginning of the Revolution to today. In fact, two schools of interpretation are involved. The first school is the conservative school, Edmund Burke is the best example.

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The Enlightenment began in Europe during the late 1600’s after the restore from the dark ages. This was a time of reason when philosophers gathered in salons to discuss ways of learning and challenging new ideas. Philosophers, like Voltaire,created the idea of freedom of speech and Baron de Montesquieu developed the idea of separation of powers in governments. It was the philosophers goals to improve to society by creating new concepts and solutions to solve problems and influence future generations. John Locke introduced the Idea of “Natural Rights”, giving everyone life.

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The Enlightenment gave people power to make the changes they wanted for independence and politics using intellect and reason, their natural right. The norm of a society that is modelled today became reason over

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