How did Enlightenment Ideas Create Revolutions in America and
France?
Enlightenment Ideas





Natural rights - John Locke is well-known for claiming every human has certain rights not given to
them by the law or society. Things such as freedom, privacy, life etc.
Social Contract - Again Locke, but also prominent in Jean-Jaques Rousseau's writings. A political
philosophy which claims that the government and people are bound under a contract, the
government protects the people's natural rights and, in return, the people allow the government to
rule.
Balance of Power – As Baron de Montesquieu wrote, the government should be divided into separate
branches. This separation of power helps keep power fair, which is called “checks and balances.”
These branches are known as executive (a leader such as a prime minister or president and their
cabinet of advisors), legislative (elected officials that represent the different regions of the country)
and judicial (judges who rule on laws)
Revolution - If the government fails to protect the people's natural rights, Locke argued that it is
essentially obligatory for the people to revolt.
Reason/Religion/Church - The ideas of the enlightenment are supported by reason, differing from
previous eras which relied on supernatural and spiritual justifications. There is belief in God, but it
must remain separate from the government to ensure that all people are treated equally.
The American Revolution
Throughout the Declaration of Independence, the influence of the enlightenment ideas is made clear. Take
this famous quote for example:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by
their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of
Happiness.
These "unalienable rights" are the natural rights Locke talks about. The founding fathers emphasized
the need for rights to the people of the colonies, who were being misrepresented/mistreated by England.
Another quote reveals the influence of the social contract on the country's founders:
That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the
People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government
The "ends" the government destroys are the natural rights of the people. The Declaration of Independence
echoes Locke's ideas that such destruction justifies a revolution.
The Social Contract is validated in the Constitution that was written after the Revolutionary War, which
states that fair elections will be held to select leaders as government representatives. There is also a right
to fire/impeach government leaders, such as the president.
The final enlightenment concept that was adopted by the Enlightenment thinkers is Separation of Church
and State. The Constitution’s Bill of Rights declares that all people have the freedom of religion and that
the government will not promote any religion over another.
The French Revolution
The Enlightenment influenced the French Revolution in some major areas.
First, the concepts of John Locke and natural rights were popular in France. The concept of “Liberte,
Egalite, Fraternite” (In English this translates to Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity) became the motto of
the revolution, and expressed a need for freedom, equality, and a government that worked for the people
united together, not against them. The new political and social values in society. Since Enlightenment
thinkers declared that the government must uphold the social contract, they created the Declaration of the
Rights of Man and of the Citizen document to protect rights of the people.
Second, the Enlightenment transformed the monarchy. It ushered in the new concept of the Republic.
This was huge for that time. Although it did not happen in France for many years, the desire for
representatives was greater than the desire for a king and queen
Third, the French society was divided into three estates. The nobles (kings and his council) and clergy
(priests and other religious people) were less than 5% of the population. Everyone else was the third
estate (commoners, doctors, lawyers, merchants, farmers, etc.) who wanted there to be more of a balance
of power. This is partially due to the king spending too much money on himself or wars, and the third
estate people were starving and poor. The enlightenment thinkers were clearly against these ideas as it is
a misuse of power.
Fourth, the religion and the Church. The Enlightenment philosophers began to contest the ideas of the
Catholic Church, which considered earthly life to be a simple passage towards eternal life. They challenged
the teaching of the priests and Church traditions. The existence of one God, Creator of the Universe, was
accepted, but His intervention in the history of humanity was rejected. “Creation submits only to the laws
of nature” - is the concept known as ‘deism’. Basically, people of Enlightenment believed in God and the
Church, but they thought God created everything and that people should be allowed to govern their land
without God’s influence.