How did the scientific revolution influence the american revolution?
As people started becoming more intelligent or enlightened, they began to question a higher power and their own existence. Who did we belong to? The king? Or God? Science showed not everything was so cut and dry. Things did not pop into existence, something unseen was happening. People began to think more about purpose philosophically, which science was a lot of philosophy back then. Philosophy and the philosophy of freedom and work and ownership were called into question. Why was it wrong to prevent people from farming? Why did the people only get some land while the kings had never ending abundance? Science was again connected to philosophy and people had to use their noggins for these things. Then it became about more. It expounded and affected ather areas like morality of government and what government even was. The founders were educated men in science, government, philosophy, mathematics and history. The enlightenment was in every area, not just one and like evrything else in the humanities, they are all intertwined in the big picture.
How did the enlightenment influence the american revolution?
"John E" has the right idea above. Here's some further evidence of Enlightenment ideas which influenced America at the time of the revolution (from an answer I just wrote a day or two ago) We (Americans) borrowed from French and British Enlightenment writers. From Montesquieu (French) we borrowed the idea of separation of powers. This was the origin of our three branches of government and the 'checks and balances' in our constitution "Liberty is best secured by a separation of powers." (Montesquieu) From John Locke (Britain) - "All humans had a natural right to life, liberty, and the fruit of their labor." Thomas Jefferson changed this to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness in the Declaration of Independence. He was thinking of writing it as Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Property - but that may have sounded too crass. Also from Locke - "Government is an instrument of the people’s will, and the people have the right to rebel if the government proves to be tyrannical or defective." Many revolutions have used this ideology to justify revolt. One idea we did not adopt was one from Frenchman Jean Jacques Rousseau - "The institution of personal property is the origin of injustice." Americans have always been for private property.
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 Enlightenment influence revolutions?
The American Enlightenment is a term sometimes employed to describe the intellectual culture of the British North American colonies and the early United States (as they became known following the American Revolution). It was a part of a larger intellectual movement known as the Age of Enlightenment. Influenced by the scientific revolution of the 17th century, the Enlightenment took scientific reasoning and applied it to human nature, society and religion. Politically the age is distinguished by an emphasis upon liberty, democracy, republicanism and religious tolerance – culminating in the drafting of the United States Declaration of Independence. Attempts to reconcile science and religion resulted in a widespread rejection of prophecy, miracle and revealed religion in preference for Deism – especially by Thomas Paine in "The Age of Reason" and by Thomas Jefferson in his short Jefferson Bible – from which all supernatural aspects were removed.
How is the scientific revolution related to the enlightenment?
To quote Wikipedia:The principal goals of Enlightenment thinkers were liberty, progress, reason, tolerance, fraternity, and ending the abuses of the church and state.while The Scientific Revolution:... refers to historical changes in thought & belief, to changes in social & institutional organization, that unfolded in Europe between roughly 1550-1700; beginning with Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543), who asserted a heliocentric (sun-centered) cosmos, it ended with Isaac Newton (1642-1727), who proposed universal laws and a Mechanical Universe.Essentially the Scientific Revolution contributed to the progress, reason, and fraternal aspects of the Enlightenment. Through providing the philosophical tools necessary to debunk long held superstitious / religious beliefs, producing a secular body of reasoned work, and by creating a network of fraternal Scientific Societies, who not only collaborated in theoretical fields, but in the application of the new discoveries to practical and commercial purposes eg. the later Lunar Society of Birmingham.
How did the ideas of the Enlightenment influence the American Revolution, and the formation of the American government?
The Age of Enlightenment in 18th century set the stage for the American Revolution and establishment of the government. During this period, the rights of man were addressed, and people were being recognized as having intrinsic worth. Freedom and independence were becoming important.The American Revolution is an outgrowth of this movement that gave the individual worth and respect. The rights of man were not issued by people but God. The tyranny of monarchies and despotic rulers from whom all power came was being replaced by an age of reason and fundamental rights of people over a single ruler. Thus, taxation without representation became the cry for emancipating subjects from their rulers.Colonists were excluded from English government and had no representation. George III was the supreme ruler. Colonists protested an unfair condition—one heretofore the norm. This ultimately resulted ion the Declaration of Independence, which embodies the thinking of the Age of Enlightenment in its text. From there it was revolt and establishment of the first Constitutional republic that was governed by the people through election of representatives. As the Declaration stated, the right of man come from God. The United States was a logical culmination of enlightened thinking of the time. That makes its a unique experience.
How did the Enlightenment influence the French Revolution?
The Enlightenment influenced the French Revolution in some major areas. First, it transformed the monarchy. It ushered in the new concept of the Republic. ... TheEnlightenment philosophers began to contest the dogma of the Catholic Church, which considered earthly life to be a simple passage towards eternal life.In the Enlightenment, people had new ideas about government. This gave the French the perfect way to have their country work well.John Locke, an Enlightenment thinker, said that no king should have absolute power. He believed in a constitutional monarchy, which basically meant he thought that any ruler should have rules to follow too. He also believed in a social contract: people give a little of their freedom to their ruler, but he/she cannot take away their natural rights, the rights that they are born with, and they have the right to get rid of him/her if he/she is a bad ruler. The French liked these ideas.Baron de Montesquieu believed in a separation of powers into three branches (executive, legislative, and judicial). He said they should hold equal power so it did not become a despotism (tyranny). His ideas were influential in many countries, including America.Voltaire, an Enlightenment writer, thought that people should have the right to free speech and religious freedom, which they did not really have. This idea became an important part of all Enlightenment thinking and many governments.Cesare Beccaria thought people should be allowed a fair and speedy trial with no torture and no "cruel and unusual punishments," an idea prized in many countries that had poor legal systems. He also disagreed with capital punishment (execution).Mary Wollstonecraft and Olympe de Gouges believed in equal rights for everyone, including women. De Gouges, a French woman, was executed for her beliefs.The French believed in the ideas of these thinkers, as well as other popular Enlightenment ideas, so they tried to overthrow their government. The revolution was, unfortunately, very poorly planned and resulted in chaos, the opposite of what they aimed for. It turned into a bloodbath, many people were guillotined. A very harsh tyrant, Napolean Bonaparte was put in charge of the country.klscakds · 9 years ago
How did the discoveries of the Scientific Revolution contribute to the philosophy of the Enlightenment & the..?
Profoundly. No enlightenment, no revolution. The church, previous to the Renaissance, Protestant Revolution and in the end the Enlightenment, was the excellent authority in deciding upon the proper to political energy: "the divine rights of the Kings, and so forth.". With the evolution of the above three cultural alterations, the underprivileged masses of society begin to "think"; and thus to wondered the legitimacy of the centered order. With out this alteration in mental outlook, the French Revolution do not have been imaginable, so much less enacted and eventually positive. Alberich
How did the enlightment influence a revolution?
The Age of Enlightenment was preceded by and closely associated with the scientific revolution. Earlier philosophers whose work influenced the Enlightenment included Francis Bacon, Descartes, Locke, and Spinoza.The major figures of the Enlightenment included Cesare Beccaria, Voltaire, Denis Diderot, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, David Hume, Adam Smith, and Immanuel Kant. Some European rulers, including Catherine II of Russia, Joseph II of Austria and Frederick II of Prussia, tried to apply Enlightenment thought on religious and political tolerance, which became known as enlightened absolutism. The Americans Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson came to Europe during the period and contributed actively to the scientific and political debate, and the ideals of the Enlightenment were incorporated into the United States Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States.The causes of the French Revolution are complex and are still debated among historians. Following the Seven Years' War and the American Revolutionary War, the French government was deeply in debt and attempted to restore its financial status through unpopular taxation schemes. Years of bad harvests leading up to the Revolution also inflamed popular resentment of the privileges enjoyed by the clergy and the aristocracy. Demands for change were formulated in terms of Enlightenment ideals and contributed to the convocation of the Estates-General in May 1789.