The Enlightenment
Overview
During the 1600s and 1700s, belief in the
power of reason grew. Writers of the
time sought to reform government and
bring about a more just society.
Despite opposition from government and Church
leaders, Enlightenment ideas spread, and helped to
form the concepts of democracy and nationhood.
The Enlightenment
Enlightenment – The period in the 1700s
in which people rejected traditional
ideas and supported a belief in human
reason.
Natural Laws – According to some
philosophers, rules that govern human nature.
Thinkers:
• Thomas Hobbes
• John Locke
• Montesquieu
• Voltaire
• Denis Diderot
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau
• Mary Wollstonecraft
• Adam Smith
Wrote: Leviathan
Thomas Hobbes believed that
people were greedy and selfish,
and that only a powerful
government could create a
peaceful, orderly society.
Thomas Hobbs
Social Contract – An agreement
by which people give up a
state of nature for an organized
society.
Hobbes came to this view
during the English Civil War, and
favored absolute monarch,
which could impose order and
compel obedience.
Thomas Hobbs
Wrote: Two Treatises of
Government
Like Hobbes, John Locke was
also an English thinker of the
late 1600s, but he rejected
absolute monarchy and had a
more optimistic view of human
nature. Locke believed that
people were basically moral
and that all people possess
natural rights, such as the right
to life, liberty, and property.
Natural Rights – Rights that
belong to all humans from birth.
John Locke
John Locke
Locke argued that people
form governments to protect
their natural rights.
Locke also said that if the
government does not protect
these natural rights, then the
people have the right to
overthrow it.
This idea of a right to revolution
was radical at that time.
Locke’s ideas about natural
rights and revolution later
influenced Thomas Jefferson’s
writing of the Declaration of
Independence and the French
Revolutionaries.
John Locke
Wrote: The Spirit of the Laws
Wealthy French thinker Charles Louis
de Secondat (the Baron de
Montesquieu) studied ancient
history and the governments of
Europe. In his book he spoke well of
Britain’s limited monarchy.
He wrote that the powers of
government should be separated
into three branches: legislative,
executive, and judicial. The
separation of powers would
prevent tyranny by creating what
is called checks and balances.
Each branch could keep the other
two from gaining too much
power.
The Baron de
Montesquieu
President
Enforces
the Law
Supreme Court
Interprets the Law
Congress
Makes the Law
Voltaire
Philosophes – Member of a
group of the Enlightenment
who tried to apply the
methods of science to the
improvement of society.
Voltaire was a French thinker
of the 1700s, and probably
the most famous philosophe.
Voltaire believed in free
speech, and used his sharp
wit to criticize the French
government and the
Catholic Church for their
failure to permit religious
toleration and intellectual
freedom.
Voltaire
Voltaire wrote many books
and pamphlets in which he
defended freedom of
thought, and detested the
slave trade.
Because of his criticisms
Voltaire offended the French
government and the
Catholic Church, and was
imprisoned and forced into
exile.
Denis Diderot
Wrote: Encyclopedia
Another philosophe, Diderot
labored 25 years to produce his
28-volume Encyclopedia, which
was a collection of articles by
such Enlightenment thinkers as
Montesquieu and Voltaire.
In the articles the philosophes
denounced slavery, praised
freedom of expression, and
advocated education for all.
They attacked divine right
theory and traditional religions.
Denis Diderot
The Catholic Church threatened
to excommunicate anyone who
bought or read the
Encyclopedia, and the French
government said that it was an
attack on public morals.
Despite these efforts to ban the
Encyclopedia, the book sold
thousands of copies and helped
Enlightenment ideas spread
throughout Europe.
Jean-Jacques
Rousseau
Wrote: The Social Contract
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was
another 1700s French
philosophe. He believed that
people were naturally good but
were corrupted by the evils of
society, such as the unequal
distribution of property.
He also believed that
government should not be too
powerful and must be freely
elected. Rousseau believed in
the will of the majority, which he
called the “general will,” and
that the majority should always
work for the common good.
Jean-Jacques
Rousseau
Unlike many Enlightenment
thinkers who put the individual
first, Rousseau felt that the
individual should be
subordinate to the good of the
community.
Rousseau’s hatred of all forms
of political and economic
oppression would lead
revolutionaries in the years to
come.
Mary
Wollstonecraft
Wrote: A Vindication of the
Rights of Women
Mary Wollstonecraft was a wellknown British social critic who
believed that although a
woman’s first duty was to be a
good mother, a woman should
also be able to decide what is
best for her, and not be
completely dependant upon her
husband.
In her book, Wollstonecraft
called for equal education for
girls and boys. She believed that
education could give women
the tools to compete with men in
public life.
Wrote: The Wealth of Nations
Adam
Smith
Physiocrats – Enlightenment
thinkers who searched for
natural laws to explain
economics.
Adam Smith was a British
economist who believed that
the free market should be
allowed to regulate business
activity. Smith was a strong
supporter of Laissez faire
economics.
Laissez Faire – Policy allowing
business to operate with little or
no government interference.
Adam
Smith
Smith believed that all
economic growth was linked
to the market forces of supply
and demand. Smith believed
that whenever there was a
demand for goods or services
suppliers would seek to meet it.
They do so because of the
profits they can get from
fulfilling the demand.
Smith’s ideas would gain great
popularity, and would help to
shape immensely productive
economies in the 1800s and
1900s.
Impact of the Enlightenment
The Enlightenment had a profound impact
throughout Europe in the 1700s.
• Greater numbers of people began to
question established beliefs and customs.
• Enlightenment beliefs affected leaders
and the development of nations.
•Many writers, such as Voltaire, were thrown into prison,
and their books were banned and burned.
•Many government and Church leaders worked to
defend the established systems (censorship).
Impact of the Enlightenment
Censorship – A restriction on access to
ideas and information.
Salons – Informal social
gathering at which
writers, artists, and
philosophers exchanged
ideas; originated in
France in the 1600s.
Impact of the Enlightenment
Some monarchs accepted Enlightenment
ideas, and they were known as
enlightened despots.
Enlightened Despot – An absolute ruler who
used his or her power to reform society and
bring about political or social change.
• Maria Theresa – Forced nobles and clergy to pay taxes
and not just peasants, and also improved education.
• Joseph II – (Maria’s son) Legal reforms, religious
toleration, ended censorship, and abolished serfdom.
• Catherine the Great – Asked for advice from nobles,
free peasants, and townspeople (unprecedented in
Russia), built schools and hospitals, promoted women’s
education, and religious tolerance.
Impact of the Enlightenment
Democracy
Enlightenment ideas
inspired a sense of
individualism, a belief in
personal freedom, and a
sense of the basic
equality of human
beings. These concepts,
along with challenges to
traditional authority,
became important in the
growth of democracy.
Impact of the Enlightenment
Nationalism
Nationalism also grew. As people
in a country drew together to
fight for a democratic
government, strong feelings of
nationalism arose. In the late
1700s, Enlightenment ideas would
contribute to an age of
Revolution.
Summary
The thinkers of the Enlightenment
emphasized reason to suggest
reforms in government and
society. Many Europeans,
including several monarchs,
were influenced by these ideas
and sought to change the old
order. These changes had an
impact on all of Europe as
democratic and nationalistic
ideas grew and contributed to
revolutions, such as the
revolutions in America and
France.