How Did The Enlightenment Thinkers Influence Government

Enlightenment thinkers have a large influence on society and government. Enlightenment thinker’s ideas have caused revolutions and the birth of governments. Many societies have these thinkers to thank for all of the rights they now have. Without these thinkers putting the ideas of the rights of the people in the heads of the people suffering from tyranny, there may not have been change in people’s rights.

Locke has greatly influenced society and government. He is the one who thought up the idea of natural rights. Locke believed the everyone deserved the right to life, liberty, and property. All but one of these natural rights are stated in the Declaration of Independence. These natural rights were changed to life, liberty and the pursuit

of happiness. Without these natural rights, we may not have the same privileges. People may be able to get away with murder without these rights.

Montesquieu created the basis of separation of powers and checks and balances. Montesquieu’s idea of separation of powers has a huge influence on our government. The purpose of separation of powers was to keep on person or group from gaining too much power. Separation of powers helps prevent tyranny.

We see Voltaire’s ideas every single day. You see his idea of freedom of speech everywhere like online, in a book, in a newspaper and on the television. This idea greatly influences society because without this right society would be very restricted. People couldn’t express how they feel about topics that upset them. annoy them, etc. Voltaire’s idea of freedom of religion has greatly influenced the way people live their lives. If people couldn’t choose their religion coming to America would have been pointless because people came to America to have a better life where they could practice the religion they wanted. Voltaire’s idea of equality has a rather large influence on society. The idea of equality has brought many problems to the government and society. People are constantly arguing about equality. People argue about racial equality and equality between men and women everyday.

Rousseau thought that government figures should be freely elected. We see campaigns for government positions once a year.