Enlightenment philosophers that influenced American Democracy

1. THE ENLIGHTENMENT
And its influence on the American Revolution

2. Enlightenment:
• New ideas about government, law, society, and peoples’
rights
• Enlightenment thinking: God created an orderly universe. The
laws that make this orderly universe work can be discovered
through the use of human reason.
THE 3 ENLIGHTENMENT PHILOSOPHERS YOU NEED TO
REMEMBER ARE….

3. 1) John Locke
• All people are born free and equal
• All people possess natural rights-
i.e. life, liberty, property
• If the government tried to deny or
take away people’s natural rights, it
would be breaking The Social
Contract

4. 2) Jean Jacques Rousseau
• Writes The Social Contract
• “Man is born free, yet everywhere
he is in chains”
• All people have the right to
determine HOW they want to be
governed, and WHO should govern
them

5. 3) Baron de Montesquieu
• Promotes the idea of dividing government
into branches
• Within those branches there should be Checks
and Balances so that no one branch ever
becomes more powerful than another
• If one branch of government were to become
too powerful- that would threaten individual
natural rights and The Social Contract

6. 4. Adam Smith
• Credited as being the “Father of Economics” and the
“Father of Capitalism”
• His book, The Wealth of Nations is considered the first
work of classical economics
• Created the metaphor of the Invisible Hand and the Free
Market
• Adam Smith believed that people will always act out of
self-interest, and therefore the market will run itself
without government intervention because people are
driven to make money and cover their basic needs and
wants

7. Enlightenment Big Idea
Adam Smith’s free market
+
a little bit of government regulation
= United Stated Capitalism, our economy

8. Enlightenment Big Idea:
John Locke- Natural Rights
+
Jean Jacques Rousseau- The Social Contract
+
Baron de Montesquieu- Branches of Government
=
The cornerstones of American founding documents
Declaration of Independence
U.S. Constitution