How did enlightenment ideas influence democracy?
The ideas of the enlightenment was question authority, challenge the powers of the time, the church and absolutism. The enlightenment put science first. Challenge religion and practices of the time. Democracy in America comes from the enlightenment, the founding fathers wanted a government that treated all me equal. The bill of rights and the decloration of independance states mans rights.
How did Enlightenment ideas influence the development of democracy in the United States?
John Locke --- Read what he wrote. He basically wrote our entire constitution for the founding fathers. Our economy and everything is based on stuff from the age of enlightenment. Separation of Church and State -- His idea Life liberty and Property -- His Idea Also, check out Thomas Hobbs another pretty influential guy. Social contract -- His Idea And BTW --- The US is not a Democracy by any stretch of the imagination. The United States is a confederation of 50 separate republics united under the direction of a centralized Federal Republic. Makes for a big fat mess, really.
How did the Enlightenment influence the American Revolution?
The period of enlightenment was a period when people started to reason and question the order of things. everything was questioned even down right to religion. one of the most important Philosophes whose writing influenced the American revolution was John Locke. one of the ideas of John Locke- the idea of Natural rights (life, liberty and property) was fundamental to the American declaration of independence, which stated that “…all men… are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness;…”. Hence when king George III started imposing taxes on them and punishing those who went against the various Acts , they saw it as an attack on their human rights.Also Locke and Rousseau’s ideas on social contract helped shape the minds of the leaders of the American revolution thereby affecting the revolution itself. in Rousseau’s social contract he argued that the only good government was the one freely formed by the people and guided by the “general will” of the society. John Locke in the Two treatises of government also argued that government should rule based on the consent of the governed. These ideas of John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau formed the basis for the American revolutionary movement of popular sovereignty.Locke furthermore said in the two treatises of government that the citizens had a right to revolt against whatever government failed to protect their rights. It could be said that Thomas Paine an American who wrote the pamphlet titled “Common Sense” in 1776 drew his idea from Locke. He attacked the monarchy in his pamphlet and insisted that common Americans had the ability to be their own kings and were far more deserving of leadership posts than those who had worn English crowns. this idea was also reflected in the declaration of independence document wrote by Thomas Jefferson “…that whenever any form of government becomes destructive … it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it…” Hence the Americans felt the need for a revolution to “abolish” the government that had become “destructive”.
How did the Great Awakening and the Enlightenment influence the American Revolution?
The Enlightenment was important America because it provided the philosophical basis of the American Revolution. The Revolution was more than just a protest against English authority; as it turned out, the American Revolution provided a blueprint for the organization of a democratic society. And while imperfectly done, for it did not address the terrible problem of slavery, the American Revolution was an enlightened concept of government whose most profound documents may have been the American Declaration of Independence and United States Constitution. To feel the full impact of the Enlightenment on America one needs only to look at the first inaugural address of Thomas Jefferson, who, along with Benjamin Franklin, is considered to be the American most touched by the ideas of the Enlightenment. Jefferson wrote: If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it. While the locus of the Enlightenment thinking is generally considered to have been the salons in Paris and Berlin, the practical application of those ideas was carried out most vividly in the American colonies. (http://www.academicamerican.com/colonial/topics/enlighten.htm) The Great Awakening A complete dissolving of the theocracy occurred. The establishment in Virginia and North Carolina began to fall apart. Ministers could no longer control the direction of religious life. It had been democratized and made accessible by people. One of the major results of the Great Awakening was to unify 4/5ths of Americans in a common understanding of the Christian faith and life. Americans--North and South--shared a common evangelical view of life. (http://www.wfu.edu/~matthetl/perspectives/four.html) In other words, the great awakening began to break down barriers in the colonies that allowed them to have greater inner-colony relations.
How did democracy greece and roman republic influenced western civilization?
The ideas of ancient Greece and Rome have had a lasting impact on modern society, most notably in the realm of politics. The ancient Athenians gave us the ideal of democracy, in which citizens participate in their own government. Athenian citizens created their laws and sat in judgment of those who broke those laws. The Roman Republic gave us the concept of republican government, in which the leaders of government are elected by, and accountable to, the citizens. These two ideals of democracy and republicanism became a great influence on the Western world during the 18th-century movement known as the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was a time of great learning and intellectual development. Thinkers began exploring and challenging concepts that had previously been accepted as undisputed fact. What is the nature of being human? How should society be structured? What is the best form of government? The founders of the United States were part of this movement. Grounded in a classical education, they were inspired by their understanding of the ancient Greek and Roman world when building the foundations of this nation. They held many of the values of these ancient civilizations in great esteem, but they were also aware of the limitations of ancient Greek and Roman governments. When creating the structure of the United States, they drew on the strengths of ancient Greece and Rome—namely, democracy and republican government—while making changes to improve the weaknesses of those ancient governments. For example, the founders expanded the definition of citizenship, so that the citizenry included a larger group of adult men. (They did not, however, extend citizenship to women or African Americans.) They also created more checks and balances in the political system to ensure that no single branch of government would become too powerful.