CS 10.2.1 The
Enlightenment and Democratic Revolution
Specific Objective:
Compare the major ideas of philosophers and their effects on the democratic
revolutions in England, the United States, France, and Latin America.
The Enlightenment,
an intellectual movement that spread from Europe to America in the 1700s,
helped inspired democratic revolutions in Europe, the Unted States, and
Latin America. Key enlightemnment writes includded Locke, Montesquieu,
and Rousseau.
John Locke (England)
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People have natural rights
to life, liberty, and the ownership of property.
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People form governments
to protect these rights. Therefore, a government gets its authority
from the people and should refelct their will.
Influence:
Locke's ideas influenced Thomas Jefferson, the main author of the
Declaration of Independence, the basis of the American Revolution.
It states that people have natural "unalienable rights" and that a government
derives its power from the people.
Charles-Louis Montesquieu
(France)
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Government
should be kept under control through separation of powers - division
into independent parts so that no part has too much power.
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A ways to guarantee balance
is to have three branches of government
a legislative branch to make laws:
an executive branch to carry out and enforce laws;
a judicial branch to interpret laws.
Influence: Montesquieu's
indeas influenced James Madison, sometimes called the father of
the US Constitution because of his many contributions at the 1787
Constitutional Convention. The constitution separates government
powers into three branches.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
(France)
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A social contract
exists between citizens and their government. In this contract, citizens
accept certain rights and responsibilties, and grant the government the
power to uphold those rights and responsbilities.
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Influence: The ideas
of Locke and Rousseau influenced Latin-American revolutionary leader Simon
Bolivar. Bolivar fount to liberate his country, pressent-day
Venezuela, from Spanish rule. He also led movements for independence
and democracy in what are now the nations of Bolivia, Colombia,
Ecuador, Panama, and Peru.