Enlightenment Essay

            The Enlightenment encouraged several revolutions and helped governments. It influenced the American Revolution and then the French revolutions. The Enlightenment was an 18th century European movement in which thinkers attempted to apply the principals of reason and scientific method to all aspects of society. It influenced the Declaration of Independence and the Declaration of the rights of man and of the Citizen. These political, economic, and social changes from the Enlightenment influenced the Documents.
             John Locke advocated the three natural rights of man, which influenced many of the Enlightenment's changes and revolution. These rights are the basis that Thomas Jefferson made for our Declaration of Independence. Locke made the three natural rights that state that everyone is able to have life, Liberty and the right to own property. Locke also stated that if the Government did not protect these rights, that the citizens had the right to overthrow it or remove it from being in office. These three rights changed France's government by turning it from an absolute Monarchy to a Representative Democracy and other countries as well. Thomas Jefferson took these three rights and put them in the first part of the declaration, stating that they can have Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. .
             Around 1650 the Social Contract was born. Thomas Hobbes said, "If everyone gave up their rights to a strong ruler, that in return then would receive law and order."(pg.171) That was the definition of his social contract. Many philosophers fought over it. Hobbes defined the Contract as an agreement between society and its government, and Rousseau disagreed. He described it as an agreement between free individuals to create a society and a government. Social Changes occurred along with the meaning of the Social Contract. France had three estates, the first, second and third. The First Estate consisted of the clergy.