The Enlightenment can be defined as the intellectual movements that took place in Europe between the 17th and 18th century regarding the ideology on Man, nature, God and as well as thinking. The intellectual movements provoked the revolution developments in Europe ranging from politics, philosophy to arts. The central thing to the enlightenment was regarded to be the application of reason. The changes that came with the enlightenment brought the Industrial Revolution; the American and French revolutions. The Enlightenment was characterized by the rise of capitalism and the presence of printed material, therefore, serving as a major ideological foundation for the American War for Independence.
The Enlightenment thinkers, widely referred to as philosophers, made great achievements and published their reasoning. Their philosophical publications evoked the way people thought. People started to think even more logically and freely. As reasoning became a central part of their being, they began to ignore unfounded and selfish ideas by the Catholic Church. This led to the war of independence in America causing the downfall of the monarchy system in Europe. The enlightenment influenced the colonialism era. It caused the United States of America to rebel from the Great Britain and hence the American Revolution. Hyland believes the American War of Independence originated from the tension between the Britain and its American colonies (328). The tension was brought about by the radical ideas that were published in the Enlightenment works of philosophers; becoming explosive, and hence the new way of thinking about the human society and history (Hyland 328).
In the year 1776, one of the philosophers, Thomas Paine, published the book that was known as ‘Common Sense’ which backed up the independence ideology. After its publication, the Congress in the United States of America ruled the implementation of a ‘Declaration of Independence’ (Hyland 329). Jean Jacques Rousseau and John Locke thoughts impacted on the founding fathers of the United States. Their thoughts shaped the claims as well as the directing principles of creating a new nation. According to the John Lockean ideas regarding ‘self evident’ equality among all people as well as the pursuit of happiness and liberty formed the argument for the declaration of Independence.
The focus on philosophy and its ideological fervor as well as the social conflict combined with materialism conflict characterized the American war of independence. Benjamin Franklin, an American diplomat, facilitated the enlightenment flow of ideas between Europe and America. Thomas Jefferson, an American author, was the owner of the Declaration of Independence which whose roots are the political enlightenment ideas. Towards the end of the 18th century, several towns especially in Massachusetts felt the republicanism as a result of Thomas Pane’s idea of a democratic nation. The republicanism was in the form of meetings as well as elections in the towns aimed at ending the Britain’s system of monarchy government.
The influence of the independence war widened and now focused social reforms which included issues such as the slavery, religion, voting rights as well as the women’s rights (Hyland 332). The moral wrong associated with slavery was notably highlighted even though the founding fathers such as Thomas Jefferson and George Washington themselves held slaves. Slavery was abolished by all the North America states as laws were enacted to stop racism especially the racism directed towards the African Americans. The independence war as a result of the enlightenment formed the basis for the coming generations to fight for equal rights especially for women. The enlightenment rationality and its thinkers gave way to the present revolution in form of modernism.
Work Cited
Hyland, Paul. "Radicalism and Revolution." The Enlightenment : a Sourcebook and Reader. 1st ed. New York, U.S.A: Routledge, 2003. 328-350. Print.
