Viewing the past thinkers had allowed our Enlightenment thinkers to use that information to establish a country of what we are on today.
By Dalton.Kowal
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John Locke
John Locke is where America was more looking towards. When people started to really question what was right and what was wrong. The American started believe they need their rights Life, Liberty, and property. The British were slowly taking all those rights away. British wrongfully taking people's property by living in it then they start taxing the people. All this led up to a Revolution. -
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Questioning
People were focused on Thomas Hobbes which many people believed that they needed a Monarch but now they start getting these other Enlightenment thinkers such as Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, and Voltaire. They all had a lean towards Democracy. Though America more focused on John Locke's believed they all played a role. -
Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine was a English born political activist. He had come to America to support the colonies on taking on the British. He was one of our thinkers upon the Founding Fathers. He was one America's thinkers. He had a great influence upon the common citizens. -
Fear of Military Ruling
Many Revolutions had started from this but this was a main concern to the colonies. When the colonies started to rebel the Military had become more and more strict. "Many saw it as oppression, the use of a threat of violence to make the colonies ‘obedient’ again; others saw it as an insult, the kind of measure that might be taken in a colony in rebellion" (Alpha History). The British were removing one of our rights which was Liberty. They were trespassing and killing innocent people. -
The Boston Massacre
As we look at our Enlightenment thinkers, we wanted the government to protect us and our rights. Having our rights revoked then to have people fired upon had fueled the people to keep and starting to rebel the British. Rousseau had believed if the government did not keep their promise they had the right to rebel. "The Boston ‘Massacre’, although it was probably the fault of the Americans and resulted in the death of just five people,(Alpha History)." People feared of the British to be murderers. -
John Adams
John Adams is the one we can remember by finally bringing peace between the United States and Great Britain. After years over war and dispute. John Adams had insisted on writing the Deceleration of Independence in 1776. One thing that did hurt was he took several Government loans. John Adams believed that we need several branches of government such as Montesquieu. -
The Boston Tea Party
With the government not giving our rights the people had to started to rebel with the Boston Tea Party. This made the British furious for rebelling but the people used their rights on looking at the thinkers and taking their quotes to make it right. -
The Quebec Act
The Quebec act gave rights to the Roman Catholic religion which many in America had feared at the time. It had allowed the French to take property and colonize which is known as Canada now. This had pushed the Revolutionary war to happen because we were focusing on our Enlightenment thinkers at the time and Voltaire believed religion should be separate from office. This act was passed to Roman Catholic people could hold office. This insisted the British and the French not the people. -
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin was one of America's Enlightenment thinkers. He had made a major difference within the people and science. He was considered a post-master General. Benjamin had made discoveries with electricity. He discovered the positive and negative currents in electricity. He was the one who would show the world of Britain's cruel acts to America. -
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American Revolution
When the Revolutionary war had started and when it ended. -
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson had used John Locke's statement of three main rights which were Life, Liberty, and property. Which Thomas Jefferson used that to write the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson had called them your Natural Rights. -
James Madision
James Madison was one of our Continental Congress men. He was a good to Thomas Jefferson. James Madison had helped write the Articles of Confederation. He had political battles with both of his good friends Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton but they all could agree on one thing. They all wanted a strong Central Government. -
WORK CITED
“Voices of the Revolution: Two Great Thinkers.” Constitution Facts - Official U.S. Constitution Website, www.constitutionfacts.com/us-declaration-of-independence/two-great-thinkers/. Costly, Andrew. “Natural Rights.” Constitutional Rights Foundation, 2018, www.crf-usa.org/foundations-of-our-constitution/natural-rights.html. Ralston, Shane J. “American Enlightenment Thought.” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosphy, www.iep.utm.edu/amer-enl/. -
WORK CITED
“How Did Benjamin Franklin Change the World?How Would the World Be Different without His Discovery?” Enotes.com, Enotes.com, www.enotes.com/homework-help/how-did-benjamin-franklin-change-world-389716. Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Quebec Act.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 12 July 2016, www.britannica.com/event/Quebec-Act. “American Revolution Ideas.” Weimar Republic, 25 Oct. 2015, alphahistory.com/americanrevolution/american-revolution-ideas/.
