The Enlightenment 's Influence On The French Revolution

The Enlightenment was a European intellectual movement of the late 17th and 18th centuries emphasizing reason and individualism rather than tradition. The French Revolution gave rise to Enlightenment ideas as for it gave people a language to articulate injustices. During the time of the French Revolution, there were many social conflicts that cause individuals to question the ideas of the Enlightenment and present their views and thoughts of the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was initially seen as positive effect; however, the social conflicts and the amount of violence and events that occurred within the French Revolution resulted in people challenging the Enlightenment views of society, politics, and human nature. Documents two, three, four, five, six, ten, and eleven are representations of how the social conflicts caused people to seek freedom and better privileges, and uses their view of Enlightenment to achieve their goal.

The French Revolution of 1789 was inarguably a significant turning point in the history of Europe. However, there have been historical debates over the major contributing factor that had caused the French Revolution. Many historians have argued that the French Revolution was sparked by the emerging new age ideas of Enlightenment in the 18th century, which encouraged people to think logically and critically about their society. Many notable writers such as Diderot and Voltaire began to publicly criticise the social structure and the governance of France. (Darlington et al., 2004, p.25) But other historians argue that ideas affected the way people saw

The Enlightenment, also called the Age of Reason, influenced the rest of the world during the late eighteenth century. There were several revolutions taking place at this time, but the American Revolution was at the forefront of them all. The

The great nation of north America would not be the same if not for is glorious fight nearly three hundred years ago. The American Revolution and the French Revolution are considered to be two of the greatest fights for independence in history. The American Revolution was one of the main influences of the French revolution because of their similar circumstances. The ideas of the Enlightenment have strongly influenced the government and society of the United States and many other nations such as France. During the Enlightenment, political thinkers such as John Locke, Baron Montesquieu, and Mary Wollstonecraft tried to use reason to improve the government.

The fast paced spread of knowledge in France due to the Enlightenment, help set stage for the French revolution. Enlightenment thinkers were able to spread their ideas through books, and other publishing. When these theories and ideas reached the mass majority of the French people, the common desire for equality, amongst the people in France grew. The main goals of the enlightenment thinkers were to “transform human thought and use reason to transform the world” (traditions, 516). By transforming the thoughts of the French people, France as a country was able to be transformed.

The enlightenment was an intellectual movement throughout the 17th and 18th centuries involving the natural and social sciences. Four ideas that emerged from the enlightenment were reason, liberty, happiness, and progress. During this movement all areas of scientific thought were challenged. The view of astronomy changed after Copernicus came up with the Heliocentric Theory (the sun was the center of the universe). Before this theory, everyone believed the earth was the center. Also, the law of gravity and three laws of motions were brought about by Newton. The enlightenment thinkers believed in human perfection and human reason. They distrusted monarchy institutions and the church. The criticized religious customs and disliked tradition. The enlightenment had a big impact on the view of the British and French development. It is one of the influences in the French and American revolutions. The enlightenment definitely impacted the view of the

This essay discusses the enlightenment which was a time of great philosophical and intellectual ideas that swept Europe off its feet in the 18th century. During this time people doubted the existence of God and what the Church has to say about the laws and such. Older dogmatic suggestions were changed in America at this time as the colonies were no longer constrained by England. The attitudes in the colonies also changed political views through these ideas. These political ideas include John Locke’s view on why monarchs that don’t protect the lives liberty and property of the people. Or Jean-Jacques Rousseau stated that the general will of the people should be

To what extent did the ideas of the Enlightenment play a role in the French Revolution?

The common understanding taught in American schools of the French Revolution is one of a downtrodden peasant class being inspired by the Enlightenment philosophes to rise up and overthrown the despotic monarch. This understanding correlates with American values of freedom, anti-tyranny, and success of the “underdog.” By constructing such a narrative, the French Revolution is given American values. However, as asserted by Darnton in the aforementioned quotation, the French Revolution’s spark did not begin with the teeming masses of neglected commoners. Instead, Enlightenment thought permeated the upper echelons of society for two key reasons: cost and literacy. Compilations of Enlightenment thoughts were distilled and included into the relatively

To begin with, the Enlightenment played a key role in the French Revolution by challenging the French Monarchy, and the wealthiest class. The first phase of the revolution one can say derived from the dominant ideas of Montesquieu who believed that a liberal constitutional monarchy was the best form of

Enlightenment philosophers, like Voltaire, railed against organized theocracies and argued that religion prevented rational inquiry while it endorsed repression, tyranny and war. The philosophy of Immanuel Kant, who sought, “liberation of the human mind from the dogmatic state of ignorance,” had a major impact on the future ideology of revolutionaries.4 It was Enlightenment ideas which challenged people to question religious orthodoxy and use their own intelligence to draw conclusions about the legitimacy of traditional authority. These philosophies were the foundation of modern, egalitarian, democratic societies which would later replace Louis XVI’s absolutist monarchy. Enlightenment ideals had profound effects upon the politics of the early and mid-nineteenth century. However, a severe backlash against rationalism and liberal ideologies in France caused the return of church-state power; while conversely, in the state of Prussia, Enlightenment ideals inspired a suppression of the church’s power.5 Whether or not Enlightenment ideals and values were able to root themselves permanently in society, the introduction and widespread acceptance of secular ideas created major changes across Europe.

“Liberty, Equality, Fraternity,” was the motto of the French Revolution. This radical movement in France began in 1789, and lasted until 1799. Though it might seem like a sudden change to some, it was a storm that spent many years brewing. The problem was the “Ancien Regime,” which meant the class system, led by a monarch. The upper class, known as the nobility and clergy, brought on several political, social, and economic problems which the lower classes sought to change. Their efforts against these regulations of the Ancien Regime began the French Revolution.

The French Revolution of 1789 changed the meaning of the word “revolution.” Prior to this year, revolution meant restoring a previous form of government that had been taken away. Since then, revolution has meant creating a new institution of government that did not previously exist. This required that a constitution be drafted. After a series of four mini-revolutions from May to July, the “Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen” was released on the twenty-sixth of August, 1789. When the French revolutionaries drew up the Declaration, they wanted to end the traditions surrounding hereditary monarchy and establish new institutions based on the principles of the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment

The period between 1685 and 1815 is known as the Age of Enlightenment. This period brought new ideas and beliefs to Europe. The new ideas would help people at the time question what was going on in Europe for over one hundred years. The ideas that came from the enlightenment would still be changing people’s minds well into the 21st century. These ideas and beliefs would cause a revolution in France, causing the French Revolution (1789 to 1799). “The French Revolution actualized the Enlightenment's greatest intellectual breakthrough: detaching the political from the theocratic” (Mishra 3). By the peasants realizing things were unfair with Nobles, Kings, and other high social figures at the time were getting there way, like not having to pay taxes. The Enlightenment is what fueled the French Revolution, by people having new ideas about social justice.

Let’s go back to 1789, the year that citizens decided to take matters by their own hands and wrote a new history, the year that was considered a huge leap towards democracy of humanity, and the year that was the beginning of the “French revolution”. This event is indeed a significant milestone of the modern world. It was an emergence of French people who dare to fight for their freedom and equality even though the oppositions were the sacred monarchy, holy religion and the centuries-old social system. The period of the event was from 1789 to 1799. Up to now, what was the origin of the French revolution remains ambiguous. Nevertheless, many historians tried to wrap up the causes of the incident into four aspects; the absolute monarchy, the enlightenment, the social inequality, and economic problems.