The Enlightenment Research Paper

The Age of Enlightenment brings light to the dark age. The Enlightenment is also known as the age of reason. It is a period that covers the late 17th century to the early 18th century. This is when many scientists, philosophers, and thinkers brought forward new ideas that were based on reason. This time period caused the power of the absolute monarchs and the church to decline. This time period encouraged people to have more independence in their own thoughts. The Enlightenment times influenced our modern day times in terms of the American government and modern day science. Many of the different Enlightenment thinkers had powerful and influential ideas. These ideas helped to form different documents we have today such as the Declaration of

This influenced the U. S. Declaration of Independence. Another influential idea that came from the same person is the right to rebel. This greatly influenced the U. S. Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution. He also created ideas like a social contract. Another influential thinker from the Enlightenment times was from Montesquieu. He created the idea of separation of powers. This influenced France, United States, and Latin American nations to use separation of powers in new constitutions. Voltaire came up with the idea of freedom of thought and expression. This was very influential when making the U.S. Bill of Rights. This idea also caused European Monarchs to reduce censorship. He also created the idea of Religious Freedom. This is now Guaranteed in U.S. Bill of Rights. Beccaria came up with the idea of abolishment of torture. This is now guaranteed in U.S. Bill of Rights. This also caused torture to be outlawed or reduced in nations of Europe and the Americas. Wollstonecraft came up with the idea of Women’s equality. This caused many different women's rights groups to form in both Europe and North

This was because people were very skeptical of all of the things that they had been hearing from the church. People were curious and wanted the natural laws of the world to be exposed. During the scientific process there were new discoveries and advances in the field of science. In this time period the geocentric model of the universe was rejected. An example of a natural law is Newtons Law of Gravity. From these new discoveries many different centers of learning began to open, such as the Academy of Sciences in