The document summarizes several Enlightenment thinkers and their beliefs about government. Thomas Hobbes believed governments should have complete control to prevent selfish behavior, likening the ideal government to a powerful Leviathan. John Locke believed the best government was run by the people and that individuals had natural rights to life, liberty, and property. Enlightenment philosophers like Voltaire and Montesquieu spread ideas about separating government powers and recognizing individual rights that influenced governments globally.

1. Enlightenment
Thinkers

2. Thomas Hobbes
O People are greedy and
selfish by nature.
O Believed that the best
government has
complete control.
O Governments exist to
prevent people from
doing bad things.

3. Thomas Hobbes
O Government should
be as powerful as a
Leviathan.

4. John Locke
OBelieved that the best
government is one run by
the people.
OPeople were born with a
blank slate, experience
makes you who you are.
OGovernments exist
because people allow
them to.

5. John Locke
OEveryone has natural
rights:
O Life, liberty, and the
pursuit…
OYou have the “right” to
rebel…
OInfluenced the
Declaration of
Independence

6. Isaac Newton
O“World Machine” The natural
world worked like a giant
machine.
OA universal moral law that, like
physical laws, could be
understood by applying reason.
OThe search for the “natural”
government.

7. Philosphes
O Philosphes: intellectuals during the
Enlightenment
O Mainly French writers, professors,
journalists, reformers.
O Ideas spread to England and the rest of
Europe

8. Montesquieu
O 3 Types of Governments
O Republic: small
O Despotism: large
O Monarchies: medium
O Best governments separate
their powers.

9. The Philosophes

10. Voltaire
O Critical of Christianity
O “all men are brothers under
God”
O Champion of Free Speech
O Deism: Clock Model

11. Voltaire’s Clock Model
OUniverse = Clock
OGod = Clock
Manager
O“God created the
clock, set in motion,
and then stepped
away.

12. Denis Diderot
O Attacked religion as
“superstition”
O Called for religious
tolerance
O Encyclopedia
O Knowledge is power.

13. Mary Wollstonecraft
O Traditional view: the nature of
women made them naturally
inferior
O Government based on arbitrary
power doesn’t make sense
O Enlightenment of all human
beings

14. Which seems like they can
contribute to society more?

15. Cesare Beccaria
O On Crimes and
Punishments (1764)
O Remove barbaric
laws as punishment
O Opposed capital
punishment.

16. US Constitution Amendment 8
O Excessive bail shall not be required, nor
excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and
unusual punishments inflicted.

17. John Jacques Rousseau
O Laws & Government was in place to keep
private property.
O People have become enslaved to their
government.
O Social Contract: society agrees to be
governed by its general will.

18. Summary
Thinkers during the Enlightenment brought many
political changes. They started to think that
individuals/citizens have rights and that it was the
government’s job to protect them. This set up a
launching pad for America’s “radical” form of
government.