2. John Locke One of the great philosophers of the late
seventeenth and early eighteenth century. An Oxford scholar,
medical researcher and physician, political operative, economist
and ideologue According to Locke, we can know with certainty that
God exists. We can also know about morality with the same precision
we know about mathematics, because we are the creators of moral and
political ideas. He gives us the theory of natural law and natural
rights which he uses to distinguish between legitimate and
illegitimate civil governments. 2
3. Upper Classes In the eighteenth-century, an American upper
class had emerged and had begun to mimic their counterparts in
England. This new socio-political elite was built largely on the
growing trans-Atlantic commerce. During this same period, however,
ordinary Americans made increased demands for In 1705, Governor
Joseph English liberties in the faceDudley personified the reason
many common Americans of aristocratic privilege and challenged
established power. authority. 3
4. Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Edwards was the most famous and
influential of Americas revivalist theologians. Expressive of two
ideas: the ultimate power and majesty of God Gods amazing holiness.
Edwards synthesized traditional Protestantism with Newtons physics,
Lockes psychology, Shaftsburys aesthetics, and Malebranches moral
philosophy. He led the fervid religious revivalist movement that
was dubbed the Great Awakening. 4
5. The Great Awakening Started among Presbyterians in
Pennsylvania and New Jersey. It was a reaction against the
formality of the established congregational churches. It led to the
founding of a number of academies and colleges. It was the first
common experience shared by large numbers of Americans and fostered
the development of the American identity. The movement also led to
a fissure within American Protestantism between traditionalists who
insisted on ritual and doctrine and the new revivalists who
stressed an intensely passionate commitment to religion. 5
6. Benjamin Franklin Franklins "" was one of the first serious
studies of demography. Franklin held to a belief that no man in
America needed to long remain a laborer for others. Despite the
doubling of the population in every twenty years or so, America
remained a land of opportunity, where wages remained high and even
slaves were expensive. Franklins essay uses sophisticated use of
social science data to convince the British ministry to alter its
colonial policies. Franklin also pleads that America be maintained
as an entirely Anglo-Saxon society. 6
7. Scientific Inquiry The Scientific Revolution led to a
fundamental shift in Western thought and drastically altered
previous views of the universe. A modern scientific world-view
emerged as a popular among the educated in the Western world.
Benjamin Franklin was deeply interested in scientific inquiry. He
invented the lightning rod, the glass harmonica, the Franklin
stove, and bifocal glasses. Franklin established the American
Philosophical Society to foster scientific discovery and the
dissemination of ideas. 7
8. Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant was a Prussian scholar who left
a lasting impact on the Romantic and Idealist philosophies of the
19th Century. Kant asserted that human beings have innate
properties within their minds in order to make sense of the raw
data delivered by the senses. Kant published his most important
work in 1781, the Critique of Pure Reason, one of the most
important books in the history of Western philosophy. 8
9. Adam Smith Adam Smith was a Scottish moral philosopher. He
was the leading pioneer in the science of political economics and
the major influence on the development of a theory of capitalism.
Smith was passionate about liberty, reason and free speech. An
Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776)
was unquestionably Smiths most lasting contribution to western
thought and the Enlightenment. 9
10. The Wealth of Nations Thoroughly examined the development
of European industry and commerce. Adam Smith made a convincing
attack on the doctrine of mercantilism. Smith argued that expanding
trade and opening new markets for a nations surplus goods would
actually produce more wealth and economic success than mercantilist
practices. Smith insisted that labor was most important and that
the division of labor would greatly increase both efficiency and
production. His invisible hand theory stated that the basic
market-mechanisms of supply and demand regulate the economy and
that government interference was detrimental to economic success.
10
11. Thomas Paine Thomas Paine was a revolutionary, radical
intellectual, and deist. Paines works drastically changed the
political and social climate of the 18th century. During the
Revolution, Paine joined the Continental Army. In response to
English criticism of the French Revolution, Paine wrote The Rights
of Man (1791-92). Paine was the most successful pamphleteer of the
Enlightenment. 11
12. Common Sense Paines pamphlet Common Sense was the most
influential to American politics. It sold 150,000 copies in the
first year of its publication. It demanded total separation from
Britain and establishment of a strong federal union. It was a
powerful attack on the idea of monarchy and hereditary privilege.
Common Sense convinced many colonists, including George Washington
and John Adams, support the independence movement and join the
revolution. 12
