How did the Enlightment ideas and philosophers influence the world, specifically America?

Question

How did the Enlightment ideas and philosophers influence the world, specifically America?

Answer 1

First, the simple answer. The most significant Enlightenment ideas to affect both thought and events, esp. in 18th century America, were John Locke's arguments about "natural rights" and the "social contract" theory of government. Echoes of these can be seen in political pamphlets of the mid-18th century and in the prologue to the Declaration of Independence.

BUT there is much misunderstanding of how and how much Enlightenment ideas affected our founding fathers, esp. their thinking related to the American Revolution. A big part of the problem is that people have been given a simple abstract list of ideas that were expounded by folks like John Locke, but taught nothing about the HISTORICAL context of those ideas -- the events going on before, during and after Locke wrote, how some of those ideas were not so very new, and what OTHER ideas were involved.

In other words, Enlightenment ideas did NOT stand alone and were not entirely new. They were not even necessarily the most important ideas to influence the founders.

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A key example of the ROLE of Enlightenment ideas being real but overblown may be seen in the Declaration of Independence. Some try to label it an "Enlightenment document", pretty much ignoring other influences.

But in fact, if you look at the specific ideas and FORMS of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution you will find MUCH that continues long-developing British traditions. For example, language and arguments from the "English Bill of Rights of 1689" are echoed in the Declaration (not too surprising since that document ALSO was a public justification [by Parliament] of rejecting the rule of a British king), as well as in the Bill of Rights later incorporated in the U.S. Constitution.

We find that their ideas about their proper political rights as Englishmen had LONG roots. Locke may have helped them develop SOME of the arguments for the NATURE of these rights and WHY they existed, but the foundations rested on other traditions, and elements of their own (English) history. Indeed, throughout the 17th century, BEFORE any influence from Locke, colonists (esp in New England) had written up their understanding of the RIGHTS that were theirs as Englishmen.

In other words, Locke shaped SOME of the terms and arguments they used (e.g., "the right to life, liberty and property), and provided some of the arguments they used to support these ideas. But when they came to write documents like the various Declaration-S of independence (including the many state declarations that preceded th national one), they drew MUCH of the language and the whole shape of the DECLARATION with its list of grievances from traditional historical forms that preceded Locke.

You might wish to take a look at the English Bill of Rights see
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/england.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_of_Rights_1689

Look closely and you'll find that Enlightenment LANGUAGE (esp Locke's) helped shape the way the Declaration's PROLOGUE was worded (not the rest of the document), and so helped solidify the argument it made on ONE key point. But even this idea (of a 'right of revolution' BECAUSE government was based on 'the consent of the governed') and this act of revolution was not all Locke/Enlightenment, and the STEP they were taking had many non-Lockean roots.

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On the larger question of how Enlightenment IDEAS came together with MANY OTHER ideas in 18th century thought and esp. that leading up to the American Revolution I can think of no better work than the groundbreaking book by Bernard Bailyn, *The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution* (Harvard University Press, 1967).

The book began as a long (and BRILLIANT!) essay to introduce his study of the political pamphlets of the period leading up to the Revolution. Bailyn examined the VARIOUS sources and traditions that came together to shape the thinking expressed in these pamphlets, and later in the key founding documents of the U.S.

Here is the cluster of important traditions he recognized:

1) Works from classical antiquity (esp the political history of Rome)
2) Enlightenment ideas on government and natural rights (mainly Locke)
3) Traditions/the history of English Common Law, esp. as expounded by 17th century British authors.
4) Political and social theories of New England Puritanism, esp. ideas associated with covenant theology
5) The radical political and social thought of the English Civil War and Commonwealth period up to the Glorious Revolution -- that is 'opposition' authors of the late 17th and early 18th century

If you read the chapter in which Bailyn lays these out, he seems almost to suggest that these are listed in order of increasing importance (which would suggest that the role of Enlightenment ideas was not quite as critical as commonly thought). At any rate, it was not all about abstract ideas of Locke, et.al., but of the historical coming together of these ideas was crucial. (This, by the way, helps us understand the DIFFERENCES in thought and results of the American and French Revolutions.) In particular, Bailyn highlights the key role of source #5 in shaping and bringing together these various (and sometimes conflicting) traditions, and the rest of his book shows how that took place.

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One other key area to note. Enlightenment thought is frequently associated with a high view of what can be known by human REASON. It DID espouse such a view, and it made some contributions in this area. But the basic viewpoint and valuing of human reason was not something brand new with Locke & company! (Nor, as some others think, did it begin with the Italian Renaissance or with Galileo)

Can't go into detail on THIS point -- but there are many who are utterly mistaken about Enlightenment thought, who seem to think it arose in a vacuum or that it was a reaction, OPPOSED to most previous thought (esp. religious thought and teaching of the church). But, quite the contrary, ideas of human reason and scientific inquiry, had been developing for centuries. And this happened largely took place WITHIN the "university system" developed in the later Middle Ages founded by deeply religious men and rooted in Christian views (e.g., that God had created a world that was orderly and COULD be understood, and had made men in his own image to be ABLE to think, search and discover the truth about the natural world).

The notion that the scientific revolution and Enlightenment thinking were all about breaking with 'benighted, anti-scientific medieval thinking' is based on a LATER view of history which has been promoted by key anti-church and sometimes anti-Christian 'evangelists' (from Voltaire to the Huxleys to Dawkins). But it doesn't fit the facts! The notion of the importance and ability of human REASON, then, came LONG before "Enlightenment" philosophers.

(For more on this whole question of the relationship of the medieval Church and Christian ideas to the beginnings of the university, the 'scientific revolution', etc. a great place to start is social historian Rodney Stark's *For the Glory of God*. For a smaller chunk check this article: http://www.taemag.com/issues/articleid.17713/article_detail.asp)

Answer 2

Some of the basic ideas are found in the Declaration of Independence - The right to overthrow a tyrannical government and the idea that men have basic unalienable rights.

Much influenced by John Locke, English philosopher, wrote two Treatise on Government....I have yet to finish the second one..


To give you an idea of the topics on which he wrote:

"Paternal, Political, and Despotical Power," "Tyranny," "Usurption," and "the Dissolution of Government."



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Answer 3

Here are 2 good ones.

Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson were both considered part of the Enlightened movement. Ben via his ideas in France (and late night visits to the parlors) spurned the movement to get America French help during the revolution. Meanwhile, Jefferson via his Enlightened cooresponance sent out Lewis & Clark to search for fossils, plants, and oh yeah a way to the Pacific and to map the Lousiana Purchase.

Answer 4

free enterprise - open markets - seperation of church and state - representation - freedom of speech - abolition of slavery -