I N F O R M A T I O N
M A S T E R a
Reading Activity Directions
Follow these steps with your group as you learn about five influential
Enlightenment thinkers.
1. Get an Enlightenment Thinker Card from your teacher.
2. Read the section of your book listed on the card. Then complete the
corresponding section of Reading Notes.
3. Go to the wall of the classroom and read the quotations from the various Enlightenment
thinkers. Use your Reading Notes and your knowledge of the thinker’s ideas to determine
which one is the thinker you just read about.
4. In your Reading Notes, record the letter shown on the top left of the posted handout,
above the Enlightenment thinker’s head. Then record his quotation in the space provided.
5. Get a new Enlightenment Thinker card from your teacher and repeat
these steps.
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The Englightenment 1
I N F O R M A T I O N
M A S T E R b
Head of Enlightenment Thinker
A
“I detest what you write, but I would give my life to make
it possible for you to continue to write.”
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I N F O R M A T I O N
M A S T E R b
Head of Enlightenment Thinker
B
“For a punishment to be just it should consist of
only such gradations of intensity as suffice to deter men
from committing crimes.”
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I N F O R M A T I O N
M A S T E R b
Head of Enlightenment Thinker
C
“The condition of man . . . is a condition of war
of everyone against everyone.”
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I N F O R M A T I O N
M A S T E R b
Head of Enlightenment Thinker
D
“When the legislative and executive powers are united
in the same person, or in the same body of magistrates,
there can be no liberty.”
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I N F O R M A T I O N
M A S T E R b
Head of Enlightenment Thinker
E
“Man . . . hath by nature a power . . . to preserve his
property—that is, his life, liberty, and estate—against
the injuries and attempts of other men.”
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I N F O R M A T I O N
M A S T E R c
“Whose Idea Was This, Anyway?” Game Directions
Follow the steps below to analyze excerpts from famous historical documents and match them
to Enlightenment thinkers whose idea the excerpts represent.
Step 1: Before the first round of the game, select a Presenter for your group. Rotate this role to a
different group member for each round of the game.
Step 2: Your teacher will project and read an excerpt from an important historical document,
such as the Declaration of Independence.
Step 3: In your group, carefully analyze the excerpt and review your Reading Notes to identify
which Enlightenment thinker’s idea you think is represented in the excerpt. Make sure you
have evidence from your Reading Notes to support your selection.
Step 4: When your teacher tells you, send your Presenter to the wall of the
classroom to stand in front of the Enlightenment thinker whose idea you think
is represented in the excerpt. If your teacher calls on your group’s Presenter, he or she must
explain why your group believes this thinker’s idea is represented in
the excerpt.
Step 5: At the end of each round, the teacher will reveal the answer and award one point to
each team that selected the correct thinker.
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The Englightenment 7
I N F O R M A T I O N
M A S T E R d
Excerpts from Enlightenment Documents
As your teacher reveals each excerpt, identify the Enlightenment thinker whose idea you think is
represented in the excerpt.
Round 1
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.
—American Declaration of Independence, 1776
Round 2
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and
public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed.
—U.S. Bill of Rights, 1791
Round 3
The free communication of ideas and opinions is one of the most precious of the rights of man. Every citizen may thus speak, write, and print with freedom, but shall be responsible for such abuses
of this freedom as shall be defined by law.
—French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, 1789
Round 4
All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall
consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.
The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.
The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one supreme court,
and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain
and establish.
—U.S. Constitution, 1787
Answers
Round 1: Locke
Round 2: Beccaria
Round 3: Voltaire
Round 4: Montesquieu
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I N F O R M A T I O N
M A S T E R d
Excerpts from Enlightenment Documents
Round 5
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof.
—U.S. Bill of Rights, 1791
Round 6
As all persons are held innocent until they have been declared guilty, if arrest is considered essential, all harshness not necessary for the securing of the person shall be severely repressed by law.
—French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, 1789
Round 7
Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the
consent of the governed . . . 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.
—American Declaration of Independence, 1776
Round 8
Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it
become a law, be presented to the President of the United States; if he approve he shall sign it, but if
not he shall return it, with his objections to that house in which it shall have originated, who shall .
. . proceed to reconsider it. If after such reconsideration two thirds of that house shall agree to pass
the bill, it shall be sent . . . to the other house, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that house, it shall become a law.
—U.S. Constitution, 1787
Answers
Round 5: Voltaire
Round 6: Beccaria
Round 7: Locke
Round 8: Montesquieu
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