The Age Of The Enlightenment: The Real American Revolution

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The age of the enlightenment was a period of time were new ideas, philosophies, and reason arose, and were for the first time the world was seen from a different perspective. Years after years went by, when finally the ideals of the enlightenment reached the American colonies and made an incredible impact on them. With the influence of the enlightenment, America made a political, economical, and social change for the better of the nation. This movement is what caused the real American Revolution before the war commence. The people who migrated from Europe to the American colonies were doing it in search of liberty, happiness, progress, nature and reason. The same principal the enlightenment lived by, the enlightenment is the basic thought…show more content…
Thomas Hobbs’ philosophy was that the people were wicked and evil, so they needed to give all of their power to a ruler for the exchange of protection, this was know as the social contract. However, John Lock believed that people could learn for experience and improve themselves by making mistakes and learning from them. Lock also believed that all people are born free and equal and that people themselves should have the power to govern their own country. This philosophy quickly spread through out the colonies and created a dispute between the Britain monarchy and the American colonies because by its very own nature, republicanism was opposed to hierarchical and authoritarian institutions such as aristocracy and monarchy. In addition, what created a political dispute between America and Britain were the ideas of the ‘radical wigs’. The wigs feared the treat to liberty posed by the arbitrary power of the monarch and his ministers relative to elect representatives in parliament. The wigs warn the citizens against the corruption and told…show more content…
When the French left American territory, the colonist felt more secure, more independent, but most important they felt that now they could do anything they put their mind and hearts to. On the other hand, the British did not even wanted to recognize them for fighting in the war; this created a gargantuan social conflict between the Americans and the British. By this time Americans were getting very irritated, and when parliament passed out the Quartering Act, obligating citizens to shelter the arrogant British soldiers under their roof, the colonist exploded. Once again, the philosophy of Voltaire emerges, with the ideal of never stop fighting for tolerance, reason, and freedoms of belief, speech and natural rights. When the American colonies started to demand their natural rights, Britain slapped them in the face by ignoring them. This caused a major social
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