Unit 1 Notes 1:

The Enlightenment Philosophers

What was the Enlightenment?
An 18
th
century (1700s)
European movement in
which thinkers applied the
principles of reason and
scientific method to society
They questioned the role of
government, who our
leaders were, and what
rights we should have
Who are the major Enlightenment Philosophers?
John
Charles
Jean-Jacque
Thomas

John Locke
Locke stated that all human
beings had, by nature, the
right to life, liberty, and
property
These were called Natural
Rights
He also stated that people
had the absolute right and
duty to overthrow any
government that did not
protect these natural rights
John Locke
Going against popular belief,
Locke said that the power of
the government comes from
the people, not from God
Lockes ideas can be credited
with much of the ideas put
forth in the US Declaration of
Independence and US Bill of
Rights

Charles Montesquieu
Any person in power will try
to increase their power
Liberty could best be
protected with separation of
powers
Charles Montesquieu
Separation of powers
included the Judicial,
Legislative, and
Executive branch
Judicial (interpret the
law)
Executive (enforce the
law)
Legislative (create the
law)

Jean-Jacque Rousseau
Government exists to
respond to the will of the
people
The only government that
was legitimate came from
the consent of the people
Thought people should vote
for what benefitted the
community over personal
gains
Voltaire
Believed that government
should be tolerant with
their people
Introduced the ideas of
freedom of speech and
freedom of religion
Thomas Hobbes
Believed that people were, by
nature, selfish and ambitious
Said that in order to control
man, there must be a king with
absolute power (Absolute
Monarchy)
He called this a Social
Contract; that people give up
some of their freedoms to a
dominant leader to prevent
chaos

Table Discussion
The picture below shows the execution of a very unpopular
king during the time of the Enlightenment. Do you think the
enlightenment thinkers would approve of this act? Why? Use
evidence.

Influence of the Enlightenment:
American Revolution
Course of the War
The American Revolution was a war fought by the
13 colonies for independence from Great Britain.
The war began in 1775 in Concord and Lexington
and ended in 1781 with the battle of Yorktown.
A formal peace treaty was signed in 1783. This was
known as the Treaty of Paris
In 1776 the colonies declared their
independence from Great Britain
The document, primarily written by Thomas
Jefferson, outlined the reasons for the United
States to declare independence, as well as listing
several crimes against the British monarchy
The Declaration of Independence has served as
an inspirational document for democracy in
countries all over the world
Declaration of Independence
Articles of Confederation
Now that the US was free from British rule, it
set out to create its own government
Their main goal was to avoid creating a new
monarchy in the Untied States
In 1781, the Articles of Confederation was
signed into law.
Articles of Confederation
The articles made the
individual state
governments very strong


and the Federal
Government very weak
Problems With the New Government
States could sign individual
treaties
Every state has an equal vote
regardless of size
No executive branch
States could ignore the
congress
Each state had different
currency
Changes need unanimous
vote
No Federal power to tax
No money to pay debts, no
money to maintain a military

Ratifying a New Constitution
In 1787 the states got together to form a new
constitution
Many states had different demands they wanted
placed into the new document
As a result many compromises had to be made

Connecticut Compromise
One of the great debates was over whether states should have
equal votes in congress
Small states wanted equal representation, larger states wanted
representation based on population
The solution was to create two houses of congress, one based
on population (House of Representatives) and one with equal
membership (Senate)
This became known as the Great Compromise
Compromises over Slavery
3/5 Compromise
The South wanted slaves to count toward their
population numbers (even though slaves couldnt
vote and werent considered citizens)
The North said slaves should only count toward
taxes and not toward population
The result was that slaves were counted as 3/5 of a
person
Slave trade could exist until 1808

Bill of Rights
In 1791, a Bill of Rights were added to the
constitution which limited the power of the
government and guaranteed certain basic
individual rights for the people.
The Bill of Rights make up the first 10
amendments of the US Constitution