Enlightenment

(This is just a glimpse!)

Vocabulary
Freedom of Speech- The right to
express yourself with limits.
Freedom of Religion- The right to
practice the religion of your choice.
Womens Speech- Rights that promote
equality between men and women.
Natural Rights- Life, Liberty and
Property.

Vocabulary
Enlightenment- a period during the 1600s
and 1700s in which educated Europeans
changed their outlook on life by seeing
reason as the key to human progress.

Philosopher- a scholar or thinker

Reason- Using logical thinking, not
superstition

The Enlightenment grew out of the

Renaissance, Reformation, and the Scientific
Revolution.

Enlightenment thinkers rejected authority and

upheld the freedom of individuals to think for
themselves.

Why
is
it
important?
Many of our own ideas about government,

such as the Declaration of Independence and

the American Constitution got their ideas
directly from the Enlightenment.

In fact, many of Americas founding fathers

studied the ideas of the Enlightenment
thinkers during the American Revolution.

Enlightenment thinkers criticized accepted

ideas about government. Some questioned
the medieval belief in the divine right of
kings [the idea that God chose a countrys
king, and that the king got his authority from
God.]

 Many Enlightenment thinkers stressed

individual rights that governments must
respect.

Enlightenment thinkers also felt that

people should have a say in their
government.

John Locke
Natural Rights
Life, Liberty and Property
People CAN improve themselves

Believes in democracy.

People can govern themselves and their society.

The Mind is a blank piece of paper

Montesquieu
Charles Louis de Secondat, the Baron de
Montesquieu- French Philosopher.

Believed women were unfit to be in charge of

the house and SHOULD govern all people.
Three part government
Legislative
Executive
Judicial
Believed in the rights of the individual

Voltaire
Published over 70 books, wrote letters and many
other publications.
Frequently vocalized his opinions and had many
enemies.
Freedom of Expression
Against Democracy

I do not believe in a word you say but will

defend you to the death your right to say it.

Jacques
Rousseau
SocialJean
Contractpeople being
governed and
government come together to create a
contract for society.

Good Governments are ONLY formed by

the people and guided by general will

Direct Democracy- where everyone votes

and there are NO representatives.
Human beings are inherently good, but
are corrupted by the evils of society.

Thomas Hobbes
Learned about Galileo and other scientists and
was interested in their new thought processes.
He did not like science but wanted to see how
the new thought processes worked in politics
Believed in monarchs
Need a leader for direction.
If men are not naturally in a state of war,
why do they always carry arms and why do
they have keys to lock their doors?

Mary Wollstonecraft
Self-Educated woman.
Was born into a middle class family in England.
Mary was not the first woman to know women were not
equal to men. She would become the most famous though.

Mary believed education for men and women needed to be

equal.

People need to be judged on individual merit not gender.

Womens rights
Women were completely controlled by men

Cleaning the house

Cooking
Child Raising
Poorer families had women worked in the fields.
No matter what most women were kept inside,
hidden.

Women who were not the ideal perfection to

guys would be thrown away.
Women were treated like property not equals.

Womens Rights
When others started to think while
using logic and reason theorist realized
gender roles did not make sense.

Women are still discriminated in the

world today.