The Enlightenment Era Dbq

Imagine that the only way for an individual to pass high school is to get a 5.0 GPA, and those who do not achieve this standard would be homeless for the rest of their lives. Obviously, this is nearly impossible to do since everyone would have to take all AP courses. However, even if this is the required standard for people, not everyone will succeed, and there will be many homeless people. If there are many people that are homeless, then they will start to rebel so they don’t have to be homeless anymore. It is natural for an individual to rebel since they do not want to live a life that they dislike, and this current situation is similar to the Enlightenment period. During the 1700s, the Enlightenment period took place, and this was where

Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a Catholic priest, declared Mexico’s independence from Spain by giving a speech known as “El Grito de Dolores.” In his speech, he explains how everyone has been taxed heavily, and he tries to convince everyone to join him in the Mexican Revolution (Document F). This is significant because Hidalgo’s speech was a catalyst for many people living in Mexico to stand up for themselves and gain their individual freedom. He was able to inspire many people to join him because many people living in Mexico were at the bottom of the social hierarchy, and they lived in poverty for many generations. Similarly, two of the Mirabal sisters, Minerva and María Teresa Mirabal, and the other revolutionaries were facing injustices while they were locked up in prison. When the chief warden, Little Razor, announced that hymn singing and crucifixes were not allowed anymore, Minerva tried to rebel by “kicking and swinging her arms. [...] Bloody Juan got a bloody nose when he tried to intervene. [...] Then everyone was beating on the bars, calling out, ¡Viva la Mariposa!” (Document D). Minerva and Mate (María Teresa) being locked up in prison exemplifies how Trujillo is afraid of their uprising against his own rule. The fact that Minerva was “kicking and swinging her arms” shows how she was very committed to rebel against anything she thinks is unfair for herself. In addition, all the other revolutionaries were shouting “¡Viva la Mariposa!”, which indicates that she is able to not only stand up for herself, but also convince her fellow prisoners to join her in the coming revolution. Clearly, the prisoners were oppressed by the officials, and they stood up for themselves to fight for their rights. Hidalgo created a movement to motivate his people into rebellion by enlightening them about how having a monarchy is