Unit: Age of Revolution 1750 – 1914
Lesson: The age of Enlightenment
Core Content:
SS-HS-1.1.1 Students will compare and contrast (purposes, sources of power) various
forms of government in the world (e.g., monarchy, democracy, republic, dictatorship) and
evaluate how effective they have been in establishing order, providing security and
accomplishing common goals. DOK 3
SS-HS-1.1.2 Students will explain and give examples of how democratic governments
preserve and protect the rights and liberties of their constituents through different sources
(e.g., U.N. Charter, Declaration of the Rights of Man, U.N. Declaration of Human Rights,
U.S. Constitution). DOK 2
SS-HS-1.3.2 Students will explain how the rights of an individual (e.g., Freedom of
information Act, privacy) may, at times, be in conflict with the responsibility of the
government to protect the "common good" (e.g., homeland security issues, environmental
regulations, censorship, search and seizure). DOK 2
SS-HS-1.3.3 Students will evaluate the impact citizens have on the functioning of a
democratic government by assuming responsibilities (e.g., seeking and assuming
leadership positions, voting) and duties (e.g., serving as jurors, paying taxes, complying
with local, state and federal laws, serving in the armed forces). DOK 3
SS-HS-2.1.1 Students will explain how belief systems, knowledge, technology and
behavior patterns define cultures and help to explain historical perspectives and events in
the modern world (1500 A.D. to present) and United States (Reconstruction to present).
DOK 2
SS-HS-2.3.1 Students will explain the reasons why conflict and competition (e.g.,
violence, difference of opinion, stereotypes, prejudice, discrimination, genocide) may
develop as cultures emerge in the modern world (1500 A.D. to present) and the United
States (Reconstruction to present). DOK 2
SS-HS-5.1.1 Students will use a variety of tools (e.g., primary and secondary sources,
data, artifacts) to analyze perceptions and perspectives (e.g., gender, race, region, ethnic
group, nationality, age, economic status, religion, politics, geographic factors) of people
and historical events in the modern world (1500 A.D. to present) and United States
History (Reconstruction to present). DOK 3
SS-HS-5.1.2 Students will analyze how history is a series of connected events shaped by
multiple cause and effect relationships, tying past to present. DOK 3
SS-HS-5.3.3 Students will analyze how an Age of Revolution brought about changes in
science, thought, government and industry (e.g., Newtonian physics, free trade principles,
rise of democratic principles, development of the modern state) that shaped the modern
world, and evaluate the long range impact of these changes on the modern world. DOK 3
Objectives:
1. Analyze the development of the Enlightenment philosophy.
2.Describe the causes and results of agitation for the extension of democratic rights and
national self-determination in Europe and the American Colonies
Essential Question
What roles did the Enlightenment thought and folk cultures play in the making of the
eighteenth century revolutions?
Procedures:
1. Read pages 541-547
2. What are your basic rights as human beings?
3. Do you think those rights are a privilege to have or a god given rights?
4. Have you ever felt like your rights are oppressed? Why
5. Research the period during the late 18th century. Study how certain individuals
believed that the government and church was oppressing their rights and societies right to
advance. During the late 1700’s small band of scholars applied the scientific method to
the ideas of society, government, and economics. They came to the conclusion that
absolute rule was preventing society from advancing by denying humans their natural
rights. These enlighten scholars began a movement spread through newspapers,
pamphlets, and word of mouth that stemmed from the Reformation and began a new age
the age of Revolution.
Assessment
See Below
Create your Political Philosophy
Prompt:
Creating a political philosophy is based upon one’s personal beliefs. Do you believe in a
strong government that plays a part in business, culture, and local government, do you
believe in a government that has no role in economics and social issues, or do you believe
in a government that is somewhere in between? That is your task; to create a political
philosophy you think best fits your country.
Directions - Part 1
Answer all questions in paragraph form
1. Choose one of the following for a base: John Locke: Thomas Hobbs and Explain your
choice’s political philosophy and the reasoning behind it.
2. Why do your beliefs parallel this philosopher?
3. Explain why you think this philosopher was popular. Give multiple examples to
support your answer.
4. Explain why you think this philosopher’s beliefs are relevant today. Give multiple
examples to support your answer.
Directions - Part 2
Answer all questions in paragraph form
1. Choose a political philosopher from the list and explain why the philosopher chosen
best represents your view on government.
2. Give multiple examples from the time period of the philosopher to support your
explanation.
Directions - Part 3
Answer all questions in paragraph form
1. Choose a modern day political philosopher from the list given and explain why the
philosopher chosen best represents your view on government.
2. Give multiple modern day examples to support your explanation.
Directions - Part 4
Answer all questions in paragraph form
1. Explain how politics has changed stayed the same, or both since 1750.
2. In what way has the age of the enlightenment shaped modern day politics?
Rubric:
Each part must be fully completed in order to get credit.
Part 1 – 10 pts
Part 2 – 10 pts
Part 3 – 10 pts
Part 4 – 10 pts
Citations – 10 pts (Includes Bibliography and footnotes)
Total – 50 pts
Enlightenment Age Political
philosophers
Benjamin Franklin
Voltaire
Thomas Jefferson
Denis Diderot
Thomas Payne
Baron de Montesquieu
Adam Smith
David Hume
Abigail Adams
Cesare Beccaria
Gotthold Lessing
John Adams
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Immanuel Kant
François Marie Arouet
Marie-Therese Geoffrin
Edward Gibbon
Alexander Hamilton
Mary Wollstonecraft
Mary Astell
James Madison
Aaron Burr
George Washington
John Hancock
Samuel Adams
Richard Henry Lee
Fredrick the Great
Catherine the Great
Abraham Lincoln
You may choose a
person not on this
list
Modern Political philosophers
Karl Marx
Barrack Obama
George Bush
John McCain
Glenn Beck
Nancy Pelosi
Bill Clinton
Hillary Clinton
Sarah Palin
Karl Rove
Rush Limbaugh
Rudolf Giuliani
John F. Kennedy
Richard Nixon
Adolf Hitler
Vladimir Lenin
Joseph Stalin
Tony Blair
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Winston Churchill
Edward Kennedy
John Kerry
Mike Huckabee
Oprah Winfrey
You may choose a
person not on this list