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Summary Enlightenment Influence on American Government
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  • American History
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  • Junior / 11th Grade

This paper strives to note the importance of the Enlightenment and how its influence has shaped the American government. It covers the philosophies themselves, and how those philosophies show up in documents such as the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

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  • September 8, 2024
  • 10
  • 2023/2024
  • Summary

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  • Junior / 11th grade
  • American History
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The Constitution: Under Locke and Key

The Enlightenment was a philosophical movement that shifted the way people thought

about issues such as liberty, right, equality, democracy, etc…Today, those ideas and way of

thinking serve as the cornerstone of the founding of American democracy. Throughout all of

history, there have been instances where the standards of normal life are challenged, for example:

Martin Luther challenging the beliefs of the Catholic church and the scientific revolutions of

Kepler, Newton, Galilei, Bacon, and more.

One of the most radical upheavals throughout history is Martin Luther’s rebelling against

the beliefs of the Catholic church. Originally, Luther was a Catholic monk, but in his studies,

found discrepancies in the teachings of the Catholic church (namely having to do with

indulgences and the doctrine of salvation alone). “Luther urged reform of the Roman Catholic

Church…and in 1517 he distributed to the archbishop of Mainz and several friends his

Ninety-five Theses…the theses questioned Roman Catholic teaching and called for reform”

(Britannica). Eventually he was excommunicated from the Catholic church, translated the Latin

Vulgate into German (for the common man), and his teachings soon became the foundation for

what would later become the Lutheran denomination.

There was also a radical change in thought regarding scientific development between

1600-1700. Some of the most famous minds and discoveries of science are found during this

time period. This time period ushers in discoveries such as Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion,

Newton’s Laws of Motion, Galilei and Copernicus’ astronomical discoveries, and Bacon’s

creation of the scientific method.

, “The Scientific Revolution was characterized by an emphasis on abstract

reasoning, quantitative thought, an understanding of how nature works, the view of

nature as a machine, and the development of an experimental scientific method”

(Britannica).

All of this new thought essentially took God out of the equation; it brought in a focus on

rationale and celebrated reason. This made way for Enlightenment thinkers to take the stage.

One of the most prominent, guiding figures of the Enlightenment was the philosopher

John Locke, whose philosophies were evidently guided by his own personal religious

convictions. In his political thought, he opposed the common theory of the divine right of kings

(that is, that they can play God), and believed that all people have rights to life and to liberty,and

rulers who attempt to deny or oppose those rights should be removed from power (Britannica).

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they

are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life,

Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are

instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the

governed,—That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends,

it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government,

laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to

them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness” (Declaration of

Independence).

Locke’s philosophy is practically seen word for word in one of the first documents

America produced. The founding fathers, like Washington, Jefferson, and Madison, would have

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