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The impact of the enlightenment in America
The impact of the enlightenment in America
Analysis of Thomas Paine
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The American Enlightenment was in the thirteen American colonies in the period 1714–1818. The Enlightenment was influenced by the European and American philosophy. The american Enlightenment applied scientific reasoning to politics, science, and religion, promoted religious tolerance, and restored literature, the arts, and music as important disciplines and professions worthy of study in colleges. The american thinker were Thomas Paine, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin.There are six key ideas that can from the american enlightenment thinkers: deism, liberalism, republicanism, conservatism, toleration and scientific progress. These six key ideas were first used in the European Enlightenment and some of these ideas were adapted by the American thinkers One of the first key ideas that can from the enlightenment was Deism. The European enlightenment thinkers conceived tradition, custom and prejudice as ways of gaining knowledge of the universal laws of nature. Deism is understanding God’s existence as divorced from the holy books. And divine providence, Toleration was a major theme in the American Enlightenment. They believed that hate or fear towards other races and faiths interfered with the economic trade, freedom of thoughts and expression, eroded the basis for friendships among other nations. This led to war and persecution. The American calvinists helped to create open, friendly and tolerant institutions such as the secular public school and democratically organized religion. They also believed the civil government should protect liberty of conscience to worship as one chooses. That they should not establish an official state sanctioned church. The american founders,persons of every faith or no faith could settle and thrive peacefully and without fear of persecution by government or fellow citizens. The scientific Progress was directly related to the growth
The Enlightenment had the most immediate impact on the founding fathers who were framers of the United States Constitution. Europeans often called the Enlightenment century as the Age of Reason. The Enlightenment is a period of uproar in America’s thirteen colonies in the early eighteenth century. It provoked a cry for a new government with a Constitution to assure liberty. It influenced the founding fathers because we needed structure such as human rights, civil rights and separation of church and state. The Enlightenment thinker’s affected the new nation. During this period, the Enlightenment began the revolution of change in thinking.
Before the American Revolution there was the Enlightenment and Great Awakening period. The Enlightenment and Great Awakening period were different from each other but in similarities they both challenged the way society thoughts of situations in life. They both had a big impact leading towards the American Revolution and how the colonist were thinking differently from before. They were able to think outside the box and become more of a personality than a group. The Enlightenment was a philosophical, social movement that challenged the ideals of reality. They wanted reasons over faith, to establish an authoritative system. The Enlightenment gave a way for a new perspective into the world and take a scientific approach to questioning situations.
The Awakening shaped the way we view religion today, it helped people to view society as a whole instead of the separate religious groups divided by different faiths and beliefs. But the Enlightenment shaped society as a whole by introducing the core values that today still serve as the foundation of the United States government. The belief that all people are created equal and have a right to be treated as such. Those rights not only serve to protect us, but the rights of our neighbors as well, by assuring that we are all in this together. It is our duty to serve ourselves, and our country.
The Enlightenment period in Europe was a shift in the way that society thought about power and liberty. The ideals of this period helped to inspire the revolutions of the 18th century. The American colonies desired liberty from foreign rule, the French wanted to increase the power of the people in their class structure, and the Haitians fought for representation for the millions of slaves on their island. While the ideas of the enlightenment were not fully employed in each of these revolutions, they brought the nations closer to a fully representative government, rather than one of absolute power.
The Enlightenment itself ignited the changes in perspective that were needed to provoke improvement in society and set new standards for our future. These standards spread rather rapidly across Europe and eventually to America and challenged the old order. These ideas of rational thinking over religion and authority delivered a vast political change throughout the world which can still be felt today. These revolutionary thoughts of rationalism brought on freedom of speech and the demand for equality in society. This was not only the igniter to the French revolution but was also, how many governments including the United States based their modern
When Paine constructed The Age of Reason he innovated a spiritual idea known as Deism. This belief attacked the very nature of organized religion that was practiced by the Puritans. It was to Paine’s belief that the churches were constructed in order to scare and subjugate all of mankind, while exercising power and gaining profits. This type of thinking was probably appalling to the American people of that time, whom held strong, traditional, religious beliefs. However, Paine’s philosophies fascinated the many Americans whom were immersed in the wisdom of the Enlightenment period and struggled to follow the Puritan ways.
The Enlightenment philosophers helped influence the American Revolution and the formation of the American government by all having their own opinions and beliefs and fought for them. Some examples are John Locke and how he believed we are all born with natural rights or Voltaire and how he fought for our freedom of speech and religion.
The Enlightenment period can be accredited to having an impact on the radicalism of the American Revolution. “During the eighteenth century, many educated Americans began to be influenced by the outlook of the European Enlightenment.” Enlightenment thinkers were particularly fond of rationalism and reasoning as a government of human life. John Locke, a philosopher and author of this period, brought up in Two Treatises on Government the idea that the government and the governed should have a mutual agreement. This agreement, known as Locke’s “social contract” held that men should surrender themselves to be governed, and in turn, the government would recognize the natural rights of men. Life, liberty, an...
Americans in the 18th century had become disconnected from their fellow countrymen in the years before the First Great Awakening and the Enlightenment due to the lack of unifying events in their lives and country. During the 1800th century, the Enlightenment and the First Great Awakening contributed to the increase of American unification and unrest towards their rulers. These events came to be because of the European Enlightenment and apathetic church goers, which eventually caused the American Revolution.
The Enlightenment period, also known as The Age of Reason, was a period of social, religious, and political revolution throughout the 18th century which changed the thoughts of man during this “awakening” time. It was a liberation of ignorant thoughts, ideas, and actions that had broken away from the ignorant perception of how society was to be kept and obeyed thus giving little room for new ideas about the world. Puritan society found these new ideas of thought to be extremely radical in comparison to what they believed which was a belief of strong rational religion and morality. Enlightened society believed that the use of reason would be a catalyst of social change and had a demand of political representation thus resulting in a time in history where individualism was widely accepted amongst the new world. Puritan society believed strongly in myth, magic, and religious superstitions that was immensely used by the Puritans before democracy, capitalism, and the scientific revolution gave rise from the Enlightenment period.
Lehner (2016) defines enlightenment as the sprawling social, cultural, philosophical and intellectual movement in the 1700s that spread through Germany, France, England and other parts of Europe. The movement was enabled by the scientific revolution that started in 1500. The enlightenment acted as a representation of departure from the Middle Age in Europe. The enlightenment also stressed the importance of reason in investigation and analysis. The movement led to the reappraisal of social institutions and ideas as well as how they could be improved or changed using reason. Enlightenment and scientific revolution opened ways for independent though in various fields such as medicine, philosophy, economics, politics, physics, astronomy, and mathematics. The amount of knowledge during the movement was staggering. The enlightenment movement opened the western countries into self-aware civilization and intelligent. The movement also inspired U.S to create the first great democracy.
The enlightenment was crucial in determining many aspects of Colonial America, especially in terms of politics, government, personal beliefs, and religion. Without the core ideas of the enlightenment thinkers, which include America’s founding fathers, America would lack the basis for creating stepping stones for a strong, United Nation such as the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. Without the central ideas and figures of the enlightenment, the United States would be drastically different since these concepts shaped the country.
The Ideas of the Enlightenment where revolutionary because they influenced how our government functions today, including how the constitution was written. One example of a revolutionary idea that an enlightenment philosopher thought of was that the punishment for a crime should fit the crime. This idea was thought up by Caesare Beccaria. In document H it states "Is the death penalty really useful and necessary for the security and good order of society?" . Mr.Beccaria is saying that the death penalty does not help to correct or fix a thief nor does it help the society as a whole. This statement is able to be seen in use in todays government in the eighth amendment of the constitution. The next idea that an enlightenment philosopher has come
Deism has been called the Religion of the Enlightenment. According to Thomas Paine "(Deism) is free from all those invented and torturing articles that shock our reason or injure our humanity, and with which the Christian religion abounds. Its creed is pure, and sublimely simple. It believes in God, and there it rests.
One of the ideas was that the earth was the center of the universe. Another one was that humans use power to understand the universe and improve their own condition. One of the many beliefs that appealed to most political figures of the time, was deism. Deism is the belief that God created the universe so that no divine intervention was needed for its continual functioning. Most thinkers of the time believed that humans were essentially great people.