The Enlightenment was a pivotal period beginning in the 17th century that emphasized reason, natural rights, and equality, challenging traditional authority and leading to significant societal changes, including the advocacy for women's rights. Key philosophers like John Locke and Voltaire promoted ideas about government, freedom of speech, and social contracts, which contributed to foundational democratic documents such as the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of the Rights of Man. This intellectual revolution encouraged individuals to think critically, question established norms, and seek a fair and just society.

1. The Enlightenment Period
The Enlightenment period was an extremely impactful revolution which caused changes in
societies around the world. It began in 1651, people across the country took a stand against their
unfair rights. In order to have a peaceful society, everyone must be treated with equality which can
only occur if there is a fair government system in place. If people have to fight and kill to have their
natural rights granted, something has to be done about it. The enlightenment period encouraged the
people to share their ideas when before they felt they had no say. When the people come together to
fight for something they believe in many good and bad outcomes can take place. This time period
led to many changes that have drastic effects on history. As people joined multiple documents were
created showing the impact of this time period. A couple of these influential documents was the
English Bill of Rights, U.S constitution, and the Haitian Constitution. Many new ideas sprouted
following the enlightenment period, but one of the dominant new ideals was women 's rights.
Women do just as much if not more work than men, but are continued to be treated poorly. In order
for a society to be in peace, everyone, including women should have the power to express their wants
and needs. With women having equal rights it creates a better their society. Mary Wollstonecraft was
a philosopher supporting the cause for women 's rights. During this time she made a huge impact on
many women giving them hope
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2. Essay about European Enlightenment
Enlightenment
The enlightenment was the growth of thought of European thinkers in the 1600's. The spread of
enlightenment was a result of the Scientific Revolution during the 1500's and 1600's. It resulted as
a need to use reason to distribute human laws. It also came about from a need to solve social,
political and economic problems.
Joseph Priestley and Antoine Lavoisier built the framework for modern chemistry during the
enlightenment. Edward Jenner built a vaccine against smallpox, a deadly disease. These sort of
scientific successes prompted European thinkers to use reason to find laws to govern the physical
world, which they called natural laws. Natural laws are laws that govern human nature.
Two prominent "thinkers" during...show more content...
A social contract is an agreement by which they gave up the state of nature for an organized society.
John Locke had more optimistic views that Thomas Hobbes. Locke said people were basically
reasonable and moral. They had certain rights, called natural rights, which belonged to a person at
birth. These rights were life, liberty and property. In his writings, Two treatises of government, he
argued that people form government to protect their own natural rights. He believed the best type of
government is that of which had limited authority. Thus, he rejected Absolute Monarchy. Locke then
said that if the government fails its' obligations or violates people's rights, people should be able to
overthrow the government.
Baron de Montesquieu studied governments of Europe. He published the spirit of the laws. He felt
that the separation of the powers of the government was the best way to protect liberty. He felt that
each branch of government should be able to serve as a checks and balances.
In france the enlightenment thinkers were called philosophes, meaning lovers of wisdom. The most
famous of the philosophes was Voltaire. He battled inequality and injustices, with his pen. He is
famous for saying "My trade is saying what I think."
Another philosophe was Denis Diderot. He produced a 28 volume encyclopedia. This encyclopedia
helped spread Enlightenment ideas throughout Europe and across the Atlantic to the Americas.
The most controversial philosophe was Jean–Jacques
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3. Essay on The Enlightenment
The Enlightenment Throughout Europe and the new American colonies in the 18th century there
was a great movement in thought. This trend that preceded the French Revolution is known as the
Enlightenment. Revolutionary writers and thinkers thought that the past held only darkness and
ignorance, they began to question everything. Enlightened thought entered, or intruded, into all
aspects of life in the 1700s. Governments were drastically reformed, art and literature changed in
scope, religion was threatened, the study of science spread, nature was seen in a new light, and
humanity evolved greatly. This new way of thinking was propelled by curiosity and observations of
society and nature. The Enlightenment was a desire for human...show more content...
Never the less, this time period sparked many important changes in thought. In countries such as
France, where the Enlightenment thrived, the Catholic Church felt very threatened by the
philosophes and their new age thinking. Through the teachings of the Bible, religion has attempted
to appease people's natural curiosities. In Genesis 1:1–31, the Story of Creation is told to satisfy
people's desire to know how they came to be. Throughout history, the Church has explained tragedies
such as the plague and miracles such as rain and harvests as divine intervention. When philosophes
of the Eighteenth Century began observing natural phenomena themselves and questioning long
accepted ideas, the Church began to worry. A country built around religion cannot survive if its
subjects lose their faith. Prior to this era, people questioned nothing that was explained by their
church. Farmers accepted bad seasons because their minister told them that they were being
punished. No one looked at nature as its own force. In fact, people feared nature because God
controlled it. People were inferior to God and the Church and had no confidence in free thought.
During the Enlightenment, people actually began looking to nature for answers; religion took a back
seat. Through this revolution of thought and the study of nature, people for the first time gained
confidence in themselves
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4. Dbq: the Enlightenment Essay
Parmveer Ratth October 11, 2012 DBQ: The Enlightenment The Enlightenment known by many as
the Age of Reason was a turning point in history. Man people believe that without the Enlightenment,
many of the laws, and rules would exist. For example the United States Declaration of Independence
and the Constitution were greatly influenced by the Enlightenment. For example, John Locke, an
Enlightenment thinker highly influenced the Declaration of Independence by stating that the natural
rights of people include life, liberty and property except the founding fathers changed it by stating
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The...show more content...
Another idea used to challenge an absolute monarchy was in Document # 2. Voltaire, who was a
French author and philosopher, states "...I may disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to
the death your right to say it... The best government seems to be that in which all ranks of men are
equally protected by the laws..." This statement challenged absolute monarchies because Voltaire
believed that freedom of speech should be a right for each person. He believed that people should
be able to express their thoughts and feelings. Freedom of speech is a very important right today,
and it is used every day by people who express their thoughts. Also in Document # 3 Jean–Jacques
Rousseau, who was a French philosopher states "Man is born free; and everywhere he is in
chains." Rousseau is saying that despite the fact that man is born free, he is still tortures, still abused
and has all of those free liberties taken away from him. For example, even though people in France
prior to the revolution were all human, only the third estate had to pay taxes. The Enlightenment also
had a large impact on both government and society. For example in Document # 5 English
philosopher Locke states "Man being... by nature all free, equal, and independent no one can be...
subjected to the political power of another without his own consent... To protect natural rights
governments are established... Since man hope to preserve their
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5. The Enlightenment Essay
Newton's publication of Principia Mathematica in 1677, as well as the Glorious Revolution, paved
the way for the beginning of the Age of Enlightenment. Promoting critical thinking about the world
and about humankind, the Enlightenment based itself primarily on scientific questioning and
empirical analysis. Scientists and philosophers of the eighteenth century questioned the traditional
ideas about the universe, society, and culture, and rejected the Aristotelian worldview, skeptical
because of its lack of verifiable evidence. Denouncing God as the creator of the universe inspired the
thinkers of the time to apply the newly founded scientific method in discovering the origin of all
existence, leading to the scientific achievements of Copernicus,...show more content...
The Enlightenment's secularized emphasis on rationality, rather than religion, fueled artists' renewed
interests in classical antiquity, as the geometric harmony of classical art and architecture seemed to
embody Enlightenment ideals (Gardner 847). At the same time, the excavations of Pompeii and
Herculaneum in the mid–eighteenth century turned men's thoughts to Antiquity (Praeger 382). In
1764, Winkelmann wrote his well–known History of Ancient Art, in which he contrasted the "noble
simplicity and calm grandeur" of Ancient Greece with the "irresponsibility, extravagance, and
impertinent fire" of the Baroque period (Cumming 250). During the French Revolution, even
Napoleon Bonaparte took advantage of the stylistic potentialities inherent in the Classical Revival,
and enhanced the effect to produce the so–called Empirical style (Praeger 382). Thus the Greek
Revival became by infiltration the style of the Court (Praeger 382). Architects of the Neoclassical
period turned away from the theatricality and ostentation of Baroque and Rococo design and instead
embraced a more streamlined classicism by incorporating Romanesque themes into works, such as
blank walls except for a repeated garland motif near the top, columns, and domes. One could say that
the
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6. Essay On Enlightenment
The Enlightenment was a period of time when several ideas were spreading around Europe. And
many of them made change to people's way of thinking, some important ideas were: Natural Rights,
the belief that people have the right to life, liberty, and to own property. The next one is the Social
Contract, the Social Contract was an unwritten agreement to follow the law of the country and in
turn, get protection from the country. With the introduction of the idea of Equal Rights,
Enlightenment ideas were really starting to make sense. Some documents, such as the US Bill of
Rights, The Declaration of the Rights of Man, and the Haitian Constitution will prove the importance
of Natural Rights. The US Bill of Rights had mentioned the rights of the...show more content...
There was a document that told the reader of the fundamental rights that the citizen had that was
called The Declaration of the Rights of Man, and that is one of the holders of the meaning of natural
rights. Article 2 says that, "[the] aim of all political association is the preservation of the natural and
[unalienable] rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression",
which means that the rights given to man, that can't be taken away, are the rights to liberty, the right
to own property, national protection, and resistance to tyranny. Sometime during 1801, the Haitian
Constitution was made, and this document took an extraordinary amount of Enlightenment ideals
into consideration, as it says in Art V, "no other distinctions exist than those of virtues and talents,
nor any other superiority than that granted by the law in the exercise of a public charge. The law is
the same for all, whether it punishes or protects", and that's what it is. So, law is equal for everyone.
So, with the evidence from three great documents/sources, I can conclude that the idea of Natural
Rights is the most important. To clarify, the US Bill of Rights, the Declaration of the Rights of Man,
and the Haitian Constitution of 1801, three essential building blocks of several important
governments, emphasize the importance of natural rights. And that's why the Enlightenment is still
important, especially
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7. Enlightenment Essay example
Enlightenment
Do we at present live in enlightened age?
What is enlightenment? Immanuel Kant attempts to clarify the meaning of enlightenment while
composing the essay, "What is Enlightenment?". The goal of Kant's essay was to discuss what the
nature of enlightenment was. It also taught one how enlightenment can be brought about in the
general public.
Kant explains that, "enlightenment is man's release from his self–incurred immaturity". Immaturity
is man's incompetence to have direction for oneself. In other words, enlightenment is the progress of
a society through the free activity of rational thought and scholarly critique. Kant feels that if we are
going to liberate ourselves from immaturity then we must be able to use our...show more content...
Kant uses many examples of the difference between the public and private use of reasoning. If
soldiers refused to follow commands then there would be no military. So, one solider may follow
commands in which he disagrees with, but will later critique what he believes. This means that he
will follow the commands as his private use of reasoning and then will speak out his complaints as
his public use of reasoning.
In his essay Kant clearly explains the difference between and enlightened age and an age of
enlightenment. In an enlightened age we would all be religious without clergymen because we
would know to which things we should be obedient or disobedient. In this age there would be
elimination of self–incurred immaturity. During the age of enlightenment we are making the
progress towards using both kinds of reasoning. Incompetence is not using pubic and private use of
reason in balance with one another. Competence is the balance of both public and private use of
reason. We must know how to determine when it is right to obey and right to argue. In terms of
government obedience it is often necessary, but any effort to hinder the public's free use of reason
should be forbidden. In Kant's essay "What is Enlightenment?," he shows the transition for the age
of enlightenment to the enlightened age. It enables the people to become more like the guardian and
managers of their own freedom.
Do we at present live in enlightened age? No, Man still doesn't know to which
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