The Enlightenment Movement
This historical period preceding the Enlightenment laid the groundwork for questioning established norms and applying rigorous, fact-based methodologies.
What is the Scientific Revolution?
According to John Locke, these three fundamental rights are inalienable and belong to all individuals.
What are life, liberty, and the pursuit of property?
Montesquieu is famous for promoting this idea, which ensures that governmental power is not concentrated in a single place.
What is the balance of powers / separation of power?
This highly significant pamphlet written by Thomas Paine played a monumental role in prompting the American colonies to declare independence.
What is "Common Sense"?
This term is defined as a set of universal, fundamental, and inalienable rights not dependent on any culture or government's laws.
What are natural rights?
The primary goal of this seventeenth and eighteenth-century intellectual movement was to fundamentally improve society.
What was the Enlightenment?
Locke argued that these fundamental rights are "inalienable," which means they cannot be this.
What is surrendered or taken away?
Montesquieu's structural concept of separated power directly shaped this three-branch framework of the United States government.
What is the three-branch framework?
According to Thomas Paine, these are the two fundamental purposes of government.
What are setting necessary limits on society and protecting natural rights?
This political and religious doctrine claims that a monarch's right to rule comes directly from God, rather than the people.
What is divine right?
Enlightenment thinkers chose to rely on this rather than traditional religious teachings or customs to advance human civilization.
What is fact-based reason and inquiry?
Before Locke's ideas gained influence, this was the prevailing belief about society's "natural order."
What is that some were born to rule and others were born to serve?
Montesquieu argued that separating power is necessary to protect citizen rights and prevent any single entity from gaining this.
What is absolute control? (Dictatorship, etc)
Rather than remaining British colonies, Paine explicitly envisioned a new future where the colonies became this.
What is an independent nation that could justly and fairly govern itself?
This is an implicit agreement among members of a society to give up some individual freedoms in exchange for state protection.
What is a social contract?
According to Adam Smith's economic ideas, countries become richer when they do this with products they are not best at producing.
What is import them?
Today, John Locke’s concepts form the core foundation for this modern, widely held belief about human beings.
What is that all people are entitled to equal rights?
This form of government, also called pure democracy, allows the electorate to decide on policies directly without utilizing representatives.
What is direct democracy?
Paine argued that if the colonies sent an official document to foreign governments outlining these, it would help gain support.
What are British abuses (mistreatment) and the colonies' failed attempts to peaceably fix them?
This principle states that the people are the source of all political power and legitimacy, and that government exists only by their consent.
What is popular sovereignty?
This economic system promoted by Adam Smith advocates for minimal to no government interference in the market.
What is free-market (Laissez-Faire) capitalism?
Locke's philosophy of natural freedom and inalienable rights directly challenged this traditional doctrine, which claimed a monarch's power came directly from God.
What is the divine right (of kings)?
In this political system (also called indirect democracy), citizens vote for representatives to handle legislation and rule on their behalf.
What is representative democracy?
Paine asserted that the colonies must not be seen as British rebels, but rather as this, in order to secure foreign aid.
What is a completely different people (people who are not part of Great Britain) seeking independence?
According to Adam Smith's economic theory, this is the driving force that leads individuals to fulfill their own needs, which ultimately benefits society as a whole.
What is self-interest?