The powerful Enlightenment ideas of the eighteenth century, concerning reason and natural law, spread widely throughout Europe and its colonies and gave hope to many people for future progress and reform. As England gained control over the colonies in America, many colonists felt victimized by the unfair treatment they were receiving from their mother country. They used the ideas of Enlightenment thinkers, or Philosophes, in their aim for independence and liberties. The Enlightenment ideas also spurred the discontented French to revolt against their unfair ruling class. Both, the Americans and the French, were "enlightened" by the new, liberal and logical thoughts, and these encouraged them to demand change in the social order and unjust authorities they were subjected to.
The ideas of the Enlightenment were spread through the writings of many Philosophes, through different intellectual gatherings, and through travelling. For example, when the price was lowered on Diderot's "Encyclopedia," it became available to more people of different classes. It was used as a weapon against the old French society and encouraged tolerance, reasoning, and improvement of society. There were also gatherings in which the people would discuss new ideas for reform. Salons were rooms in which these intellectuals would converse and inevitably spread their ideas further. Furthermore, when Napoleon was in control of France and took over other lands, his soldiers spread much revolutionary ideology over these territories.
One reason the American Revolution came about was because many Americans were unhappy with the popular mercantilist theory. This meant that the colonies would supply the raw materials for their mother country, who would then send the manufactured goods back to its colonies. This caused much dependence on the mother country, in this case England, since the colonies were unable to trade with any other countries.