The Enlightenment

• Intellectual revolutions occur when people discover new ideas and explore new inventions.
• Revolutions in France were reactions to absolute monarchs.
• French monarchs imposed heavy taxes on the people to fund their lavish lifestyles.
• Encyclopedias were compilations of collected information/data and printed books.
• Enlightened philosophers were called philosophes.
• Philosophes gathered in private homes called salons.
• Philosophes developed new religions.
• Deists sought to prove God's existence through facts and science.
• They used samples of nature to show that God was alive.

Key Figures of the Era

• John Wesley founded the Methodist religion.

John Locke

• Locke was an English philosophe.
• He wrote Second Treatise on Civil Government.
• Locke believed government exists only through a social contract with the people.
• According to him, people could withdraw consent and establish a new government if the contract was broken

Baron de Montesquieu

• Montesquieu wrote Spirit of Laws, advocating for democratic government
• He proposed new governments run by a system of checks and balances.
• This system would prevent any one branch from becoming too powerful and ensure the people's wishes were heard.
• The branches of government are:
  • Executive: Enforces laws
  • Legislative: Writes laws
  • Judicial: Interprets laws

Jean Jacques Rousseau

• Rousseau shared Locke's belief in a social contract between the people and the government.
• In his book Emile, he argued that children should have the freedom to develop their natural talents.
• He thought people would be happier living closer to nature.
• His theories were rejected by French monarchs.

Adam Smith

• Smith was a Scottish professor in Edinburgh.
• Author of The Wealth of Nations.
• He argued that a nation's wealth lies in its people and their products.
• He believed government should stay out of industry, advocating for Laissez-faire economics.
• According to him, the government would benefit from taxes, and the people would benefit from trade and prices.

Voltaire

• Voltaire believed in freedom of thought and religion.
• He lived in France, Russia, and Prussia (Germany).

Results of the Enlightenment Period

• The Enlightenment Period ended with the French Revolution, transitioning into the Romantic Period.
• Some monarchs embraced enlightened ideas and granted more freedom.
• Many countries began establishing legislative bodies within their governments.
• The intellectual revolution sparked the Industrial Revolution, the American Revolution, the Latin American Revolution, and the French Revolution.

The Enlightenment was an intellectual movement centered in France, where thinkers known as the philosophes gathered and developed new ideas related to governance and religion. Key figures included John Locke, who conceptualized government as a social contract, and Montesquieu.