Enlightenment Thinkers

The Enlightenment was a very significant time period. It was when the people were tired

of absolute rulers and wanted equality and individual freedom. The Americans were tired of

being ruled by Britain unfairly, so that sparked the American Revolution. During this revolution,

three very important documents were formed, all because of the influence of three Enlightenment

thinkers: John Locke, Voltaire, and Montesquieu. Locke believed in natural rights, which you can

see in the Declaration of Independence; Voltaire believed in freedom of speech, which you can

see in the Bill of Rights; Montesquieu believed in separation of powers which you can see in the

U.S. Constitution.

John Locke helped to influence the creation of the Declaration of Independence. John

Locke was an enlightened thinker who came up with the natural rights. The natural rights theory

is that all men are guaranteed life, liberty, and property. Thomas Jefferson, who created the

declaration, later changed property to the pursuit of happiness. So, in the Declaration it says

“life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. John Locke was a good man, he believed everyone

was born free and equal. He liked the idea of the consent of the governed which means, all

citizens have the right to vote for their leaders. This voting idea is something we can find in the

Declaration.

Voltaire helped influence the creation of the Bill of Rights. Voltaire liked to use satire, or

in other words, the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's

stupidity. He believed in religious freedom, and other types of freedom, such as, freedom of

speech. A famous quote came from Voltaire, it says “ I do not agree with a word you say but I

will defend you to the death to say it”. The Bill of Rights consists of many amendments, some of
these were based off of the ideas of Voltaire.

Montesquieu helped to influence the creation of the U.S. Constitution. He is best known

for the separation of powers. The separation of powers was to prevent monarchies, Montesquieu

really cared about this topic. Three branches were made: the Legislative, the Judicial, and the

Executive; these branches all do seperate things to keep all the power away from a single person.

He truly believed that there should be different parts of the Government. You can find the idea

of “separation of powers” in the U.S. Constitution.

Many concepts and ideas that we pertain today wouldn’t be the same without these

Enlightenment thinkers. We might not be able to vote or even have the freedoms we have today

without them. They influenced the basis of three of the most important documents in U.S.

history. John Locke, Voltaire, and Montesquieu have all made a huge impact on America’s

government.