The emergence of revolutions throughout the transatlantic area are the products of Enlightenment ideals. The center of Enlightenment thought was Europe. The spread of the Enlightenment can be contributed by public intellectuals known as the philosophes. The philosophes held large meetings where they discussed, debated, and lectured on the ideals of the Enlightenment. Through these meetings, the ideals of freedom, equality, and sovereignty gained popularity throughout the region. In the Enlightenment age, three major ideologies prevailed: government by consent by John Locke, separation of sowers by Montesquieu, and liberty, fraternity, and equality by Rousseau. Many advocates of Enlightenment ideas embraced these ideals and began to question …show more content…
The ideas of Enlightenment made its way to the new colonies as they were formed. Based on the early history of the colonies, they readily adopted the ideals of the Enlightenment. The colonies were founded by joint-stock companies, which meant individuals put up the money to finance expeditions to America and retained a lot of control over the colonies’ affairs. “Although English colonies were always subject to royal authority, for example, they also maintained their own assemblies and influenced the choice of royal governors” (543). The colonies started out with more rights than the standard imperial colony of the time period. In the beginning, colonists had a lot of say in their government, and Great Britain acted like a regulatory power. Over the years, the North American colonists became accustomed to a degree of autonomy with Great Britain due to the geographic distance separating England and the colonies. Great Britain tried to reinvigorate imperial control over the colonies after accumulating financial difficulties from the Seven Years’ War. Parliament began to exert more imperial control by passing legislation to increase taxation. The new laws taxed molasses, publications, tea, and on a wide variety of imported items. Parliament also passed the Quartering Act of 1765, which required colonists to provide housing and accommodations to British troops (640). Growing tensions caused …show more content…
The French witnessed the success of their American counterparts and decided to create a similar republic. For years, France had been the center of Enlightenment thought, but the Americans were the first to put the ideas into action. The French Revolution began under different circumstances than the American Revolution. At this time the government was an absolute monarchy ruled entirely by King Louis XIV on the basis of divine right. The king was known for spending huge amounts of money on lavish clothes and castles, which contributed substantially to the national debt. French society was categorized into three estates. The first estate consisted of the clergy and accounted for less than 1% of the total population. The second estate was the nobility and made up 2% of the population of France. Lastly, the third estate contained the remaining 97% of the population that consisted of skill workers, peasants and laborers (643). The third estate was very disgruntled that they only had one vote in the Estates General but represented the majority of the country. The French Revolution seeds of rebellion sprouted in 1789 when the Estates General met with King Louis XIV. The disagreement over shared power, wealth, and the success of the Americans against the British encouraged the French to embrace the political thought of Montesquieu’s theory of separation of powers. After weeks of unproductive debate,
When the colonies were being formed, many colonists came from England to escape the restrictions placed upon them by the crown. Britain had laws for regulating trade and collecting taxes, but they were generally not enforced. The colonists had gotten used to being able to govern themselves. However, Britain sooned changed it’s colonial policy because of the piling debt due to four wars the British got into with the French and the Spanish. The most notable of these, the French and Indian War (or the Seven Years’ War), had immediate effects on the relationship between the colonies and Great Britain, leading to the concept of no taxation without representation becoming the motivating force for the American revolutionary movement and a great symbol for democracy amongst the colonies, as Britain tried to tighten their hold on the colonies through various acts and measures.
The British policies having to do with the American colonies that passed between 1763 and 1776 were an attempt by Britain to have the colonists pay for the French and Indian War and an attempt to keep the colonies subservient to British rule. However these policies backfired and cause the colonist’s to resist British authority and strengthened their commitment to republican values in government. The policies implemented new taxes in order to raise funds and caused what the colonists believed to be injustices to go unchecked by the government, as well as causing the colonists to turn to republican ways of self-governing. The colonists felt as if they were not being properly represented in the British parliament, which led to them turning towards
Without colonial consent, the British started their bid to raise revenue with the Sugar Act of 1764 which increased duties colonists would have to pay on imports into America. When the Sugar Act failed, the Stamp Act of 1765 which required a stamp to be purchased with colonial products was enacted. This act angered the colonists to no limit and with these acts, the British Empire poked at the up to now very civil colonists. The passing of the oppressive Intolerable Acts that took away the colonists’ right to elected officials and Townshend Acts which taxed imports and allowed British troops without warrants to search colonist ships received a more aggravated response from the colonist that would end in a Revolution.
By the time the colonists had settled into their new land they had established some order such as small governments to keep the colonies in line. The ocean separating England and the colonies made it difficult though for England to guide the colonists successfully the way they had wanted. The main thing the British tried was implementing taxes, but they also went so far as letting the colonies on their own for awhile and using military to keep them in place. On the other hand, the colonists saw that the British were stalling their attempts at self-governing so they worked together to disregard any British policies. By the eve of the Revolution, colonists had developed a sense of their identity and unity as Americans that was brought about by the British parliament. Exasperated by British efforts to hinder their growing self-reliance, colonists began pushing them away by doing various things such as rioting, boycotting, or voicing their opinions on paper.
During the Enlightenment, it was a time when educated intellectuals came together to discuss political, religious, economic, and social questions. From these discussions some people questioned the types of monarchies and which would be better for the society. These people were revolutionary thinkers that became known as philosophes, or philosophers, who brought new ideas on how to better understand and improve their society. They were all modern thinkers who had the best interest in society. Although each philosopher had their own individual ideas, they all focused on one common theme, which was equality and human rights.
For a colony of the British government to rebel against the large, wealthy English country needed to take an extreme amount of resentment towards that group. The British themselves caused this resentment towards the English government. Act passes by the government caused this feeling; these acts began with the quartering acts of 1765. The quartering act of 1765 confirmed the colonist’s need for an independent, free nation because of subjugation of the colonists by the English government. This subjugation spurred a movement that ended in revolution.
Some people like Emmanuel Sieyès, middle-class writer who was taken by the Enlightenment ideas, believed that all of French Society lay on the backs of the third estate. On the contrary, Robespierre, the monarch at the time, believed that the third estate did not have the power to do anything important to society. The third estate had to pay taxes like the Gabelle and Taille while the first and seconds estates did not have to pay any taxes to the king. Also, the third estates had less of a representation in voting. The first and second estate could outvote the third estate every time and this was a huge inequality. The condition of the third estate was horrible but a good portion of this third estate was the bourgeoisie. The bourgeoisie had some wealth and social class, so they influenced the rest of the third estate about their rights, while also inspiring some lower clergies and provincial nobles and thus led to a group of rebellious people to fight the monarchy. This fight for political representation and political rights was only one cause of the French Revolution. Another causes lies in the French Monarchs: Louis XlV, Louis XV, and Louis XVl. When Louis XlV was ruling, the monarchy had unlimited power and was known as a
A new era was dawning on the American colonies and its mother country Britain, an era of revolution. The American colonists were subjected to many cruel acts of the British Parliament in order to benefit England itself. These British policies were forcing the Americans to rebellious feelings as their rights were constantly being violated by the British Crown. The colonies wanted to have an independent government and economy so they could create their own laws and stipulations. The British imperial policies affected the colonies economic, political, and geographic situation which intensified colonists’ resistance to British rule and intensified commitment to their republican values.
There are many different ways in which the Enlightenment affected the Declaration of Independence and the U.S Constitution. One way was the by the idea of a Social Contract; an agreement by which human beings are said to have abandoned the "state of nature" in order to form the society in which they now live. HOBBES, LOCKE, and J.J. ROUSSEAU each developed differing versions of the social contract, but all agreed that certain freedoms had been surrendered for society's protection and that the government has definite responsibilities to its citizens. Locke believed that governments were formed to protect the natural rights of men, and that overthrowing a government that did not protect these rights was not only a right, but also an obligation. His thoughts influenced many revolutionary pamphlets and documents, including the Virginia Constitution of 1776, and the Declaration of Independence. The Bill of Rights was created as a listing of the rights granted to citizens, the Bill of Rights serves to protect the people from a too powerful government. These civil rights granted to U.S. Citizens are included in the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Additionally, Locke’s ideas about checks and balances and the division of church and state were later embodied in the U.S. Constitution as well. The Constitution replaced a more weakly organized system of government as outlined under the Articles of Confederation.
The church’s robust grip on religious expression shattered as medieval society transitioned into a period known as the Reformation. Characterized by the rejection of common ideology, the Reformation sparked religious curiosity. Reformers such as John Calvin and Martin Luther offered interpretations of the Bible in direct opposition to the Catholic Church’s teachings, forcing Europeans to examine and formulate their own beliefs. This style of thinking was foreign to European society because up to this point in history Europeans were passive absorbers of Catholic Church ideology. Hence, it was natural that an era considered the Age of Enlightenment followed the period of rejection and questioning known as the Reformation. The Age of Enlightenment did not merely confine itself to religious expression, but spread throughout natural and social science. Thus, the Age of Enlightenment marked the beginning of academic and religious philosophy and allowed great minds to think free from restriction and condemnation of established institution. As the perception of natural
First, the French Revolution was a result of the failed estate system and the extreme economic and social inequality it led to. Under the rule of Louis XVI, the people of France were divided into three main social classes or estates as they are called. The First Estate featured wealthy members of the Church such as Bishops and Priests who held great political power due to their influence on government affairs. The Second Estate was a class comprised of the wealthy nobles and
Prior to the revolution, King Louis XVI was at the top of the ancien régime, the social, economic, and political structure in France, which means he had absolute power. When he received the throne in 1774, it came along with insoluble problems. The people were split into three estates which divided social class. The first estate consisted of 100,000 tax exempt nobles who owned 20% of the land. The second estate consisted of the 300,000 tax exempt clergy who owned 10% of the land. The third estate consisted of the remaining 23.5 million French people who were 90% peasants. The third estate was the only estate that paid taxes. Their taxes ensured the financial well-being of the clergy, state, and nobles (French Revolution Overview 6).
The Scientific revolution in the 16th and 17th centuries changed the way that people views the world. Scientific philosophers such as Galileo and Descartes threw out the old teachings of the church and challenged them with new ways of thinking. These men sought to prove that rational thought could prove the existence of God. They also challenged that it was an understanding of a series of rational thoughts, not faith, would bring understanding of how the world worked. Traditional ways of thinking were ultimately challenged by logical and sensible rationale.
The first underlying cause of the French Revolution was the Old Regime. The people of France were divided into three estates. The first estate was composed of the highest church officials. They held about ten percent of all the land in France. They paid no direct taxes to the royal government. The second estate was made up of nobles. They were only two percent of France’s population, but owned twenty percent of the land. They paid no taxes (Krieger 483). The third estate accounted for ninety-eight percent of France’s population. The third estate was divided into three groups; the middle class, known as the bourgeoisie, the urban lower classes, and the peasant farmers. The third estate lost about half their income in taxes. They paid feudal dues, royal taxes, and also owed the corvee, a form of tax paid with work (Krieger 484).
Advancement from Enlightenment As the 1900's rolled around, many changes were to come. New leaders, government styles, and new ideas were just the start. The main focus of the Enlightenment era was based on reason, rationalism, and the idea of "Inevitable Progress. " Enlightenment was pushed forward by great people such as Kant, Bulgaria, Thomas Jefferson, Isaac Newton, Francois-Marie Ardouet de Voltaire, Thomas Hobbes, to name a few.