FREE ESSAY ON AFFECTS OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT

AFFECTS OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT

Many men and women had significant impacts on the historical period known as the
Enlightenment. Three men that had such an impact on the Enlightenment were Thomas Hobbes,
John Locke, and Montesquieu. Each of these men had different theories and ideas about
what type of government there should be. This resulted in many people having different
opinions on how the government should rule their country. Due to this, the Enlightenment
was a very chaotic and opinionated period.
During the seventeenth century, England was on the verge of a civil war. It was split
between an absolute monarchy and a self governed society. One man who
believed in absolute monarchy was Thomas Hobbes. He believed in totalitarianism, which is
when the government controls every aspect of your life. He believed this because he said
that people could not have a self governed society because people are naturally corrupt
and that a self governed society would cause chaos. Hobbes also supported absolutism
because there was a non-educated population, and if that population governed itself,
there would be craziness. He advocated that an absolute monarchy would protect the people
and bring peace throughout the society. To share his ideas with the rest of the world, he
published a book called Leuathon. This book shared his beliefs about absolutism. Hobbes
felt very strong about his beliefs and he had many supporters. But there were other
enlightened thinkers who disagreed with him.
John Locke was also an enlightened thinker but disagreed with Hobbes. Locke believed in a
limited government. He believed in this because a limited government was established to
protect the people and their rights. Locke stated that the people had a right to
overthrow the government if it violated their natural rights. The natural rights were
liberty, life, and property. Property was one of the rights because land equals wealth.
Locke based his theories on natural law and social contracts. A social contract is when
people create a government to protect their natural rights, and if the government fails
to protect these rights, or violates them, then the people have the right to rebel. Locke
also published a book called Two Treatises of Government. He called it this because there
were two sides of government that people were fighting for.
Montesquieu was an enlightened thinker who believed in Locke's theories more than Hobbes.
He believed in separation of powers within a government. This is where there is a
legislative, executive and judicial branch within the government. The legislative branch
would make the laws, the executive branch would enforce the laws, and the judicial branch
would interpret the laws. His social views were very similar to Locks. He believed in pro
individual rights. This is where the people have freedom of speech, economic equality,
social equality, and freedom of publication. He too published his own book called The
Spirit of Laws in1748.
The Enlightenment was a very different period because of all these different ideas about
how the government should be run.This sparked people to start thinking about the
government on their own and having their own opinions. The Enlightenment was a type of
revolution because it changed the way people thought and how people
viewed their own government. Even though these three men were very influential, there
were many other great speakers and leaders who affected the people and the government.