Admin Which group was most inspired by the ideas of the Enlightenment?
The American and French Revolutions were directly inspired by Enlightenment ideals and respectively marked the peak of its influence and the beginning of its decline. The Enlightenment ultimately gave way to 19th-century Romanticism.
Who used Enlightenment ideas to reform their societies?
– Enlightenment ideas were applied by Thomas Jefferson in the American Declaration of Independence. The Declaration recognized the existence of natural rights such as the right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It stated that the purpose of government was to protect these rights.
Who were the main people in the Enlightenment period?
Some of the major figures of the Enlightenment included Cesare Beccaria, Denis Diderot, David Hume, Immanuel Kant, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, John Locke, Montesquieu, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Adam Smith, Hugo Grotius, Baruch Spinoza, and Voltaire.
In which group of countries did the Enlightenment influence the development of political revolutions during the 18th-century?
The ideas of the Enlightenment played a major role in inspiring the French Revolution, which began in 1789 and emphasized the rights of common men as opposed to the exclusive rights of the elites. As such, they laid the foundation for modern, rational, democratic societies.
Who were some of the main contributors of the Enlightenment within the colonies?
Four American Enlightenment Thinkers. What follows are brief accounts of how four significant thinkers contributed to the eighteenth-century American Enlightenment: Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and John Adams.
What was the Enlightenment and why was it important?
The Enlightenment was a period of history from 1715 to 1789. What took place was a revolutionary intellectual movement, where new ideas centred on reason became prominent, and old ideas were challenged.
When did the American Enlightenment start and end?
Although there is no consensus about the exact span of time that corresponds to the American Enlightenment, it is safe to say that it occurred during the eighteenth century among thinkers in British North America and the early United States and was inspired by the ideas of the British and French Enlightenments.
Who were the foremost representatives of the American Enlightenment?
Among the foremost representatives of the American Enlightenment were presidents of colleges, including Puritan religious leaders Jonathan Edwards, Thomas Clap, and Ezra Stiles, and Anglican moral philosophers Samuel Johnson and William Smith. The leading political thinkers were John Adams, James Madison,…
What are some ideas central to American Enlightenment thinking?
Another idea central to American Enlightenment thinking is liberalism, that is, the notion that humans have natural rights and that government authority is not absolute, but based on the will and consent of the governed.