enlightenment ideas and philosophers

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Enlightenment Ideas and Enlightenment Ideas and PhilosophersPhilosophers

The Age of Reason and it’s Influence on the Founding of the United States

of America

The Age of Reason and it’s Influence on the Founding of the United States

of America

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The EnlightenmentThe Enlightenment

Also known as The Age of Reason

Individuals began to examine the standardsby which rulers governed. The principles of this time held that everything, including government, was worth examination and scrutiny. These principles spread to our early political scientists.

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Enlightenment IdeasEnlightenment Ideas

These new liberal ideas stated that individuals had natural rights and that government was an agreement or contract between the people and their ruler. In this governmental contract both the ruler and the citizen had rights and responsibilities.

GDO1

GDO1 Natural (or human) rights: those rights one has simply by virtue of being human; those rights all persons have; generally, these are rights like freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the right to assemble, etc. These are known in law as "civil liberties." By contrast, not all persons have what are known as "civil rights": those rights one has by virtue of being a citizen, such as the right to vote or run for office.Gerald O'Connor, 8/25/2006

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Constitutionalism was the belief that the government contract should be written down, making clear what powers were given to whom.

Power needed to be separated and balancedso that individuals or groups did not become corrupt through those powers.

The people wanted a change from absolutism and the divine right of kings toconstitutionalism.

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The philosophers believed that the government "contract" and its supporting laws needed to reflect the "general will" of the people. Laws should be agreed upon by both the ruler and those governed. Assemblies of citizens should be formed with real power to influence the government and judge whether rulers acted properly.

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Enlightenment IdeasEnlightenment Ideas Rulers and governments that

abused their power and did not protect the rights of the citizens were corrupt and the people had a right to rebel and replace the ruler. The ruler also had the right to expect that the citizens would respect the government and laws that were just.

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Enlightenment thinkers believed that science and reason led to progress, that knowledge was attainable by man (not just a revelation by God), and that man wanted to free himself from the existing religious worldview through scientific understanding.

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Enlightenment PhilosophersEnlightenment Philosophers

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John Locke, 1632John Locke, 1632--17041704

wrote wrote Two Treatises of Two Treatises of GovernmentGovernment his ideas were used by Jefferson in the his ideas were used by Jefferson in the Declaration of Declaration of

IndependenceIndependence believed all individuals had believed all individuals had natural rightsnatural rights which which

include include ““life, liberty, and life, liberty, and propertyproperty”” state should protect state should protect individual rightsindividual rights citizens should citizens should rebel againstrebel against unjust governmentsunjust governments believed in religious believed in religious freedomfreedom supported supported women'swomen's rightsrights

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Baron de Montesquieu, Baron de Montesquieu, 16891689--17551755

wrote wrote On the Spirit of LawsOn the Spirit of Laws argued for a argued for a threethree--partpart government government ---- legislativelegislative, ,

executiveexecutive, and , and judicialjudicial believed in the separation of believed in the separation of governmental powersgovernmental powers U.S. government is based on his suggested U.S. government is based on his suggested

structurestructure Believed in the rights of Believed in the rights of the individualthe individual influenced the writing of influenced the writing of constitutionsconstitutions of many of many

countries including the United Statescountries including the United States

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Jean Jacques Rousseau, Jean Jacques Rousseau, 17121712--17881788 wrote wrote The Social ContractThe Social Contract he is considered an he is considered an opponentopponent of the of the

EnlightenmentEnlightenment’’s emphasis on s emphasis on reason alonereason alone believed politics and morality are believed politics and morality are not separatenot separate believed people should rely more on believed people should rely more on instinctinstinct and and

emotionemotion state is created to state is created to preserve freedompreserve freedom government is a contract between the government is a contract between the ruler and ruler and

citizenscitizens

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Thomas PaineThomas Paine

Born in England and arrived in America only in 1774, was one of the first to grasp that America could mean a “sanctuary of freedom for humanity.” His pamphlet “Common Sense” stands as the most widely read and most influential. It persuaded George Washington to stop supporting the King of England, and some allege that it inspired Thomas Jefferson as he wrote the Declaration of Independence.

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Thomas PaineThomas Paine

When Thomas Paine wrote that “we have it in our power to begin the world over again,” he both captured the imaginations of colonists who yearned for freedom and sensed that the American Revolution could be an event of historical importance that could inspire future generations. Paine’s words established that devotion to freedom formed the essence of American nationalism --- a concept that lasts to the present day.

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Thomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson considered the Declaration of Independence his greatest achievement. It remains the best example of Enlightenment thought, and it marked the beginning of self-government in America. But the Declaration was a personalachievement for Jefferson as well, a masterpiece of eloquence that still inspires us today.

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Thomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson

Near the end of his life, Jefferson explained his goal in writing the Declaration of Independence:

Not to find out new principles, or new arguments, never before thought of, not merely to say things which had never been said before; but to place before mankind the common sense of the subject, in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent... Neither aiming at originality of principle or sentiment, nor yet copied from any particular or previous writing, it was intended to be an expression of the American mind, and to give to that expression the proper tone and spirit called for by the occasion.

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Jefferson and MasonJefferson and Mason

It is the “tone and spirit” of Jefferson's writing that make the Declaration of Independence something more than a statement of political principles. To see this, let’s compare Jefferson's words to those of another Virginian, George Mason, whose “Declaration of Rights” was adopted by the Virginia assembly on June 12, 1776, while Jefferson was still working on his first draft of his Declaration.

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George MasonGeorge Mason’’s s Declaration of Declaration of

RightsRights All men are by nature

equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienablerights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuitof happiness...

JeffersonJefferson’’s s Declaration of Declaration of IndependenceIndependence

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