CORE ENLIGHTENMENT PRINCIPLES
Rights that all people possess simply by being human, not granted by the government. John Locke identified these as life, liberty, and property. No government should take these away.
What are Natural Rights
An intellectual revolution that changed how people thought about government, rights, and human freedom
What was the Enlightenment
Argued that all humans are born with three natural rights: life, liberty, and property. Governments exist only to protect these rights.
Who is John Locke
French philosopher; wrote The Spirit of the Laws (1748), one of the most influential political books of the Enlightenment
Who was MONTESQUIEU
British writer and philosopher; wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), the first major work of feminist political philosophy
Who was Mary Wollstonecraft
The rule states no government should impose a single religion on its people or punish citizens for their beliefs. People have the right to freedom of conscience.
What is Religious Tolerance
Believed that one person was in charge and his power was given by God
What was the divine right of kings
blank slate
What is tabula rasa
Greatly inspired the Founding Fathers of the United States when they drafted the U.S. Constitution.
How did Montesquieu's beliefs play a role in the US government
argues women deserve the same education and moral respect as men
What is A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
Ultimate political authority rests with the people. Government exists to serve the people's interests, not the reverse.
What is Popular Sovereignty
challenged centuries-old traditions, rejected the idea that kings ruled by divine right, and argued instead that all people possess natural rights simply by being human.
Who were philosophers
His ideas on natural rights and government by consent heavily shaped Thomas Jefferson and the U.S. Declaration of Independence
What is John Locke's connection to the Declaration of Independence
Montesquieu argued that tyranny results when power is concentrated
What did Montesquieu believe in speration of powers
French philosopher who developed the concept of the general will—the idea that government should reflect what the majority of the people want.
Who was Rousseau
People have the right to overthrow a government that repeatedly violates the social contract and denies them their natural rights.
What is the Right of Revolution
Each branch of government has the power to limit the others, preventing any one branch from becoming too powerful and creating tyranny.
What is Checks and balances
the political idea that a government's legitimacy and moral right to use power is only valid when approved or agreed upon by the people over which that political power is exercised
What is consent of the governed
French philosopher and writer who relentlessly criticized religious intolerance, censorship, and arbitrary authority.
Who was Voltaire
a political concept from Jean-Jacques Rousseau that represents the collective desire of a community directed toward the common good
What is general will
Government exists by agreement between the people and the government. The government's authority comes from the consent of the governed. If a government violates the social contract by destroying natural rights, the people have the right to alter or abolish it.
What is the Social Contract
Rule states that Government should be divided into separate branches—legislative (makes laws), executive (enforces laws), and judicial (interprets laws) so that no single person or group can hold all power.
What is the Separation of Powers
argues kings do not have a divine right to rule and that government power comes from the people.
What is the Two Treatises of Government (1689)
foundational human rights that protect an individual's internal beliefs and their outward communication.
What were freedom of conscience and freedom of expression
was an 1848 manifesto demanding equal rights for women, famously modeled after the U.S. Declaration of Independence.
What is the declaration of sentiments