Global History
Daily Document # 6
Enlightenment
In the wake of the Scientific Revolution, new ways of thinking prompted, scholars and
philosophers began to reevaluate old notions about other aspects of society. They sought
new insights into the underlying beliefs regarding government, religion, economics, and
education. Their efforts inspired the Enlightenment, a new intellectual movement that
stressed reason and thought and the power of individuals to solve problems. Known also
as the Age of Reason, the movement reached its height in the mid-1700s and brought
great change to many aspects of Western civilization.
Source: Beck, Black et. al.,Modern World History, Patterns of Interaction,
McDougal Littell, 2007.
1. What movement inspired Enlightenment?
Answer Here:
2. What was the Enlightenment (or Age of Reason)?
Answer Here:
3. Comprehension: How did the Scientific Revolution help lead to the Enlightenment?
Answer Here:
4. Comprehension: What did scholars and philosophers of the Enlightenment seek to
understand?
Answer Here:
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All men are naturally born in a state of perfect freedom. They are equal and independent, and can act how
they want to. This state of nature is governed by a law of nature. The law of nature says that no one
should harm another person in his natural rights to life, liberty, and property (possessions).
To maintain (keep) this natural state of freedom and equality, men agree to join together into a
community to live comfortable, peaceful lives, and also to have security against any people that might
desire to harm them and take away their nature rights. When every individual in a community has agreed
to join together, the community has made a government.
Men agree to enter into society to preserve (keep) their natural rights to life, liberty, and property.
Because of this, when the government tries to take away or destroy the life, liberty, or property of the
people, the government puts itself in a state of war with the people. At this point, the people do not need
to obey the government anymore
Source: John Locke, “The Second Treatise of Government” published 1689
1. Sourcing: Is this a primary or secondary source? How can you tell?
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2. Comprehension: According to John Locke, what are the “natural rights” of all men?
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3. Comprehension: According to John Locke, why do people unite to form communities and governments?
When should people disobey or rebel against the government?
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4. Evaluation: What type of government do you think John Locke would want? Explain, and BE
SPECIFIC.
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5. Analysis: Locke is writing in 1689. How did his ideas influence Western political thought?
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Answer Key:
1. Primary. The date is helpful in identifying it as a source written around the Enlightenment Era. The author is
John Locke… an enlightenment philosopher.
2. Life, Liberty and Property (possessions)
3. People unite to form a government to protect their natural rights – or “to have security against any people that
might desire to harm them and take away their nature rights.” If the government attempts to take away the
people’s natural rights, the government has put itself “at war” with the people, and at this point, the people no
longer need to obey it.
4. Locke didn’t actually envision a democracy, but if students respond in that way, tease out what aspect of a
democracy he would have envisioned (ie. Liberal rights, legal protection for the natural rights of the people,
etc.). Locke actually envisioned a Limited Monarchy of some sort (which is not really important), but the
government must NOT violate the natural rights of man, and ideally, should safeguard them.
5. Hopefully students recognize that Locke’s philosophies had a large impact on the founding fathers of the
USA. The ideas the founding fathers placed in the Declaration of Independence were lifted largely from Locke
(inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – instead of property).
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In every government there are three sorts of power; the legislative; the executive, in respect to
things dependent on the law of nations; and the executive, in regard to things that depend on the
civil law.
When the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person, or in the same body of
magistrates, there can be no liberty; because apprehensions may arise, lest the same monarch or
senate should enact tyrannical laws, to execute them in a tyrannical manner.
Again, there is no liberty, if the power of judging be not separated from the legislative and
executive powers. Were it joined with the legislative, the life and liberty of the subject would be
exposed to arbitrary control, for the judge would then be the legislator. Were it joined to the
executive power, the judge might behave with all the violence of an oppressor.
Source: Charles-Louis de Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws, 1748.
1. Sourcing: Is this a primary or secondary source? How can you tell?
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2. Comprehension: According to Montesquieu, what are the three powers of government?
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3. Comprehension: According to Montesquieu, why is it problematic when the legislative and executive
powers held by the same person?
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4. Comprehension: According to Montesquieu, why is it problematic when the judicial power Over
is not separated
from the legislative or executive power?
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5. Conclusion: Based on this excerpt from The Spirit of the Laws, what does Montesquieu suggest is most
important in maintaining liberty?
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Answer Key:
1. Primary. The date is helpful in placing the excerpt in the Enlightenment era, but the author (Montesquieu) is
one of the Enlightenment philosophers.
2. This is actually a tricky question… students will readily identify Legislative & Executive powers, but the
third power, Judicial, is not really explicitly described until the third paragraph where he discusses the power of
judging (and its necessary separation from legislative and executive power).
3. When the Executive (king) has all the legislative power, he can make tyrannical laws, or execute them in a
tyrannical manner.
4. When the Executive has judicial power, Montesquieu suggests the Executive can easily become an
“oppressor” or tyrant. When Legislative power is joined to judicial, any manner of law can be passed and
implemented as the legislator chose… thus putting in jeopardy the life and liberty of the subjects.
5. The obvious answer is “Separation of Executive, Legislative and Judicial Powers” in order to ensure the
liberty of the people. Implied in there is the idea of “balance of powers”… without checks on the power of other
branches, one branch, conceivably, could seize the powers of one of the others.
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Government . . is wrongly confused with the sovereign [king], whose agent it is. What then is
government? It is an intermediary body established between the subjects and the sovereign to
keep them in touch with each other. It is charged with executing the laws and maintaining
both civil and political liberty.... The only will dominating government ... should be the
general will or the law. The government's power is only the public power vested in it.
Once the public interest has ceased to be the principal concern of citizens, once they prefer to
serve State with money rather than with their persons, the State will be approaching ruin. Is it
necessary to march into combat? They will pay some troops and stay at home. Is it necessary
to go to meetings? They will name some deputies and stay at home. Laziness and money
finally leave them with soldiers to enslave their fatherland and representatives to sell it....
Sovereignty cannot be represented.... Essentially, it consists of the general will, and a will is
not represented: either we have it itself, or it is something else; there is no other possibility.
The deputies of the people thus are not and cannot be its representatives. They are only the
people's agents and are not able to come to final decisions at all. Any law that the people have
not ratified in person is void, it is not a law at all.
Source: Excerpt of Jean Jacques Rousseau’s Social Contract (1762) from Kevin Reilly’s
Worlds of History, A Comparative Reader, 2013.
1. Sourcing: Is this a primary or secondary source? How can you tell?
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2. Comprehension: According to the excerpt, what is the role of government? And where does it power come
from?
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Over
3. Comprehension: Would Rousseau prefer a direct or representative democracy? What is his reasoning for
this preference?
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4. Inferencing: Rousseau speaks often of the “general will”. What does he mean by this?
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Answer Key:
1. Primary. The excerpt comes from Rousseau’s Social Contract… it was found in a World History reader.
2. The job of government is to execute (make) the laws and maintain civil and political liberty. The government
gets its power from the people. He says “The government's power is only the public power vested in it.”
3. Direct. He suggests once people pay others to represent their interests, the State will be approaching ruin. He
also suggests that sovereignty and the “general will” CANNOT be represented. And since the “general will”
cannot be represented, any laws passed by representatives is void, and is no law at all.
4. The “general will” appears to be the collective will of the people (as a collective body). Each person may
have their own “individual will”, but when citizens come together and act as a group, their collective decision
seemingly represents the “general will”.
Global History
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Enlightenment ideas spread in many ways. As the number of people who could
read and write increased in the 1700s, more newspapers and journals were
published. Learned societies published reports and held public lectures to let people
know about new ideas. In addition, middle-class men met in coffee houses to
discuss the latest discoveries in science or recent political news. In working-class
neighborhoods, popular songs and political pamphlets spread new ideas.
Source: Beers, Burton F., World History, Patterns of Civilization, 1993.
1. Comprehension: Why did Enlightenment ideas spread?
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2. Comprehension: How did Enlightenment ideas spread?
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3. Analysis/Prediction: What might be some of the social and political effects of the spread of Enlightenment
ideas?
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Answer Key:
1. More people could read and write, and more printed material containing Enlightenment ideas was published.
2. They spread through printed material (journals, newspapers, reports, pamphlets), through word of mouth (in
coffee shops and lectures), and through songs.
3. Answers will vary… But students should identify that the ideas of the Enlightenment are new, and in some
cases, in radical opposition to the existing social and political order. While many will embrace the new ideas
and their implications, many others will oppose them. So, social and political conflict is one pretty good
prediction. People will begin to demand more political rights (since many philosophers speak about “natural
rights” of all men), and many lower and middle class people will begin to demand greater social equality.