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Thomas Hobbes
“Hobbes began Leviathan by describing the “state of nature” where all individuals were naturally equal. Every person was free to do what he or she needed to do to survive. As a result, everyone suffered from “continued fear and danger of violent death; and the life of man [was] solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” -
Thomas Hobbes 2
Tom Hobbes' viewpoint was strongly influenced by the English Civil War. As a result, he devised a political philosophy based Humanity's natural state. His worldview is extremely innovative, and it is still relevant in today's politics. His main focus is the issue of social and political order: how humans can coexist peacefully and avoid the risk and fear of civil war. -
John Locke
“ Locke argued that natural rights such as life, liberty, and property existed in the state of nature and could never be taken away or even voluntarily given up by individuals. These rights were “inalienable” (impossible to surrender). Locke also disagreed with Hobbes about the social contract. For him, it was not just an agreement among the people, but between them and the sovereign (preferably a king).” -
John Locke 2
John Locke argued that rulers who fail to protect the rights of the people may be removed by force, by force if necessary. In political theory, or political philosophy, John Locke refuted the theory of the divine right of kings and argued that all persons are endowed with natural rights to life, liberty and property.John Locke was an English philosopher and political theorist. He is recognized as the founder of British empiricism and the author of political liberalism. Locke was born in 1632. -
John Locke 3
in Wrington, Somerset, England, and died in 1704 in High Laver, Essex. -
Thesis
The Enlightenment philosophers influenced the American Revolution with the ideas of natural rights, the social contract, and the right to overthrow the government, resulting in no revolution and no American Government without the ideas of the Enlightenment philosophers. -
Baron de Montesquieu
“Montesquieu believed that in the state of nature individuals were so fearful that they avoided violence and war. The need for food, Montesquieu said, caused the timid humans to associate with others and seek to live in a society. “As soon as man enters into a state of society,” Montesquieu wrote, “he loses the sense of his weakness, equality ceases, and then commences the state of war.” -
Baron de Montesquieu 2
Montesquieu came to the conclusion that the best form of government was one in which the legislative, executive, and judicial branches were all independent and held each other in check to avoid any one branch from becoming too dominant. He feared that bringing these powers together, as in Louis XIV's monarchy, would lead to despotism.Montesquieu, full name Charles-Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu, was a French political philosopher who lived from January 18, 1689, -
Baron de Montesquieu 3
in Château La Brède, near Bordeaux, France, to February 10, 1755, in Paris. His most famous work, The Spirit of Laws, was a major contribution to political theory. -
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Rousseau “His fresh view that man was naturally good and was corrupted by society made him a celebrity in the French salons where artists, scientists, and writers gathered to discuss the latest ideas.” -
Jean-Jacques Rousseau 2
Rousseau felt that contemporary man's captivity to his own demands was to blame for a wide range of social problems, including exploitation and dominance of others, as well as low self-esteem and melancholy. Rousseau felt that the most important goal of good governance is to ensure the freedom of all citizens. Montesquieu was a French lawyer, poet, and political philosopher during the Age of Enlightenment. His contributions to political philosophy, particularly the concept of separation of, -
Jean-Jacques Rousseau 3
powers, created modern democratic government. -
Stamp act
“After the Stamp Act came the introduction of Townshend Duties in 1767 and 1768 – a series of acts that imposed new forms of indirect taxation of goods such as glass, paint, paper, lead and tea.” The colonies planned to start manufacturing their own commodities rather than paying import charges, according to Benjamin Franklin's letter to the British Parliament. Townshend chose these commodities for taxation because he believed they would be difficult for the colonists to produce on their own. -
Boston Tea Party
“Rather than attempting to appease the rebels, the Boston Tea Party was met with the passing of the Intolerable Acts in 1774 by the British Crown. These punitive measures included the forced closure of Boston port and an order of compensation to the East India Company for damaged property. Town meetings were now also banned, and the authority of the royal governor was increased.” -
boston Tea party 2
After the British Parliament established the Tea Act in 1773, forcing colonists to buy their tea from the British East India Company, Samuel Adams organized a group of Bostonians to stop the tea shipments. The end goal was to protest the British Parliament's tax on tea. "No taxation without representation." -
The American war of independence
“The American War of Independence (1775-1783) served as a harsh lesson to the British Empire that the dominions they controlled, if treated improperly, would always be susceptible to revolution." Some of the leaders of the American Revolution were influenced by Enlightenment ideas such as freedom of speech, equality, freedom of the press, and religious freedom. American colonists did not have these rights, so they rebelled against England for independence. -
13 Colonies Breakaway
"The British did not wish to see the thirteen colonies break away from their realm, yet their colonial policies in the late-18th century proved consistently disastrous, demonstrating a complete lack of empathy or common understanding with the American population." -
13 Colonies Break Away 2
Many colonists felt that they should not pay these taxes, because they were passed in England by Parliament, not by their own colonial governments. They protested, saying that these taxes violated their rights as British citizens.
Taxes were imposed on the colonies to help pay for the French and Indian War. The King and Parliament believed they had the right to tax the colonies, so decided to impose a number of different kinds of taxes on them. -
Work Sited
Work Cited -https://www.historyhit.com/causes-of-american-revolution/
https://www.crf-usa.org/bill-of-rights-in-action/bria-20-2-c-hobbes-locke-montesquieu-and-rousseau-on-government.html
“6 Key Causes of the American Revolution.” History Hit, https://www.historyhit.com/causes-of-american-revolution/. Accessed 17 Feb. 2022.
Constitutional Rights Foundation. https://www.crf-usa.org/bill-of-rights-in-action/bria-20-2-c-hobbes-locke-montesquieu-and-rousseau-on-government.html. Accessed 17 Feb. 2022
