PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS AND FOUNDATIONS OF AMERICAN GOVERNMENT

The Enlightenment

Locke Montesquieu Rousseau

THE AGE OF REASON (c. 17th and 18th centuries)

The Enlightenment

A cultural movement of intellectuals, a philosophical revolution centered in France and spreading throughout Europe and the colonies during the 1600s and 1700s.

What was it?

Why? Advances in scientific discovery and

understanding (Scientific Revolution) led to a transformation of thought and interpretation of the world.

Other triggers:

  Absolutist monarchies of England, France, and Spain   Corruption and powerful influence of the Church   Economic changes bringing the emergence of a new

class of merchants and artisans – demand for hard work and individualism and more power and influence in society and government (emerging middle class)

  Urbanization of European society   Europe was changing; the monarchies and Church

were not keeping pace

Enlightenment Thinkers

John Locke

Baruch Spinoza

Sir Isaac Newton

Pierre Bayle Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Denis Diderot

baron de Montesquieu

Thomas Jefferson

Benjamin Franklin

Thomas Hobbes

Basic Enlightenment Ideas

  Reason rather than emotion should guide decision-making; leads to absence of intolerance and can help solve social problems.

  Natural laws regulate human society   Social progress is inevitable   Liberty is the natural state of mankind; attempts to

limit liberty are violations of natural law   Emphasis on tolerance, opposed superstition and

bigotry; argued for full religious tolerance

1632-1704

John Locke

Key Arguments

  People are born with natural rights (“life, liberty, and property”)

  People form governments to preserve their rights   Government is based on the consent of the people   Government is a contract with the people to uphold

their rights   If government does not uphold such a contract, the

people can alter or abolish the government

1689-1755

Charles-Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu

Key Arguments

  The ideal government is based on a separation of powers

  Powers are divided among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches

  Separation of powers protects the rights of the people by preventing one branch from gaining control of society

1712-1778

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Key Arguments

  The ruler of a state does not have sovereign power   The general will of an entire community is the source

of power   Rulers are the servants of the community   Failure to carry out the people’s will is grounds for

removal   All communities live according to a social contract

that looks out for the rights of the whole as well as the individual

*All pictures come from wikipedia.org