Enlightenment
Philosophers
Objective: Describe the main
ideas of the Enlightenment
philosophers.
European Philosophers
Essential Question: How did European
philosophers use reason to criticize social and
political institutions?
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Enlightenment ideas led to…
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Individual Right to Life, Liberty, & Property
Social Contract = agreement between
government and people
Freedom of Speech = 1st Amendment
Separation of Powers = Judiciary, Legislature,
Executive
John Locke
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English Philosopher
Power of government came from the
people
Natural Rights: Rights to life, liberty,
and property that people are born with
The role of government is to protect it’s
citizen’s natural right
Author of “Two Treaties on Government”
Voltaire
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French philosopher
Religious tolerance
Freedom of speech
“I may not agree with
what you say, but I will
defend to the death your
right to say it.”
Author of “Candide”
Montesquieu
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Separation of powers:
Government should be
divided into three separate
branches
Checks and balances:
Each branch would keep the
other in check
Judiciary (Courts),
Legislature (Laws),
Executive (President)
Author of “The Spirit of
Laws”
Rousseau
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Government should be decided
by the people
Democracy was the best form
of government
Opposed absolute monarchs
Believed all people are created
equal
Wrote “The Social Contract”
Mary Wollstonecraft
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English writer
Women would help
create enlightened
families and should have
equal rights as men
Championed for women
to be educated
Wrote “A Vindication of
the Rights of Woman”
Thomas Hobbes
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English philosopher
People are evil by
nature and need
government
Absolute sovereignty
Wrote “Leviathan”
American Founders
Essential Question: How did American founders
use Enlightenment ideas?
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Thomas Jefferson
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Used John
Locke’s ideas in
the Declaration of
Independence
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Declaration of Independence
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We hold these truths to be self-evident, that
all men are created equal, that they are
endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable Rights, that among these are Life,
Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness; that to
secure these rights, Governments are
instituted among Men, deriving their just
powers from the consent of the governed;
that whenever any Form of Government
becomes destructive of these ends, it is the
Right of the People to alter or to abolish it,
and to institute new Government.
The Magna Carta
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King John of England was
forced to sign the Magna
Carta in 1215
This document was the
beginning of
democratic
government
Gave basic political rights
to nobles and showed no
one, not even the king,
was above the law
Original purpose: To
limit the power of the
king
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Gave English citizens
rights to…
 Jury Trial
 Protection of the Law
 No Taxation without
Representation
 (Benjamin Franklin
later used this
principle to argue
for the 13 colonies)