The Enlightenment philosophers had a belief in the rights of humankind, they fought for what they believed in and in a way influenced our freedom and rights today. These four Enlightenment philosophers had different ideas, like the equality for women, freedom of religion, freedom from economics, and freedom of government. The main idea of these philosophers is that, as a person we have a right to be treated equally and have a voice in what we believe in or, what we want to do with our life. All the Enlightenment philosophers took part in defending our rights and later shaping our society for the better.
John Locke emphasized that, we should all have natural rights to life, liberty, and property in order to have a strong good working government. Locke stated, "for society can never lose native [natural] and original right it has to preserve itself, which can only be done by a settled legislative, and a fair and impartial execution of the laws made by it."(Doc A) This quote shows how individual freedom in government will help our government in an effective way so he she could last a long time without rebellion from a lot of people. Also, this show that if we have freedom of government, we won't be at eachothers throats and less violence will have the outcome of a civil society. .
Voltaire stated that, the freedom of religion will favor the government, in the way that there would be less people against him her and the government will have his/ her power for a long time. Voltaire said, "if one religion only were allowed in England, the government would very possibly become arbitrary; if there were but two, people would cut one another's throats; but as there are such multitude, they all live happy in peace." (Doc B) This quote shows that there is a need for the freedom of being able to believe in any religion that we personally favor and not have one enforced because, then people would not revolt against the government .
