The American And French Revolutions - 1549 Words

The Enlightenment was a period of great thinkers trying to solve the world’s mistakes with logic. Their ideas eventually affected later Revolutions. The American and French Revolutions were very inspiring around the world. Enlightenment had an impact on the American and French Revolution in many ways. There were 3 main Enlightenment thinkers who affected the revolutions the most. John Locke believed people were reasonable and moral. He also thought we should have natural rights instead of a powerful government. This idea would eventually lead to the creation of a democratic government instead of a monarchy. The best way to protect liberty, Montesquieu believed, was to divide the power and jobs of government to 3 areas or branches: the†¦show more content†¦Thomas Jefferson, the head author of the Declaration of Independence, wrote a document that expressed John Locke’s ideas of government’s commitment to protect the people’s natural rights to †Å"life, liberty, and property.† Some other ideas reflected in the Declaration of Independence were individual freedom and a government by the people, which were both ideas that came from the Enlightenment era. The Bill of Rights, like the Constitution, put the philosophes’ Enlightenment ideas into practice. When the Articles of Confederation had proven to be weak, the American leaders gathered together to fix the weaknesses. The leaders had studied history including the ideas of Locke, Montesquieu, and Rousseau. The Constitution created a federal republic which separated the ruler from having all the power and creating a monarchy. The main feature of the new federal government was the power being separated into the legislative, executive, and judicial branches which were taken from the ideas of Montesquieu. The Bill of Rights recognized the idea that people had rights the government must protect such as freedom, speech, and press, suggesting the ideas of natural rights from Locke. Since the French were involved in the American Revolution by fighting against their old enemy, Britain, along side the Americans, they picked up some ideas that were eventually taken back to France. The people liked the ideas of a new government where the people ruled