Students will understand the characteristics of the Enlightenment by Examining the contributions of Enlightenment era thinkers Examining the parallels between Enlightenment thought and the U.S. Constitution
Most famous for his Encyclopedia collected the Enlightenment ideas in one text Attacked superstition (put religion in same category as witchcraft) Got past Church censors by putting more radical views in endnotes
These are the bounds which [ ] society, and the law of God and Nature, have set First, they are to govern by [ ] established laws, not to be varied in particular cases, but to have one rule for the rich and poor Secondly, these laws ought to be designed for no other end [ ] but the good of the people. Whenever the legislators [lawmakers] endeavor to take away and destroy the property of the people, or to reduce them to slavery, [ ] they put themselves in a state of war with the people. 1.How does Locke believe that people should be treated by their government? 2.Why do laws exist, according to Locke? I m baaaaack. - John Locke, Second Treatise on Civil Government (1690)
Uses the scientific method to understand social and political relationships Develops the separation of the powers of government 3 Branches of gov t (executive, legislative, and judicial), each with different powers Prevents one group from gaining too much power The basis for U.S. Constitution
When the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person, or in the same body of magistrates, there can be no liberty; because apprehensions may arise, lest the same monarch or senate [lawmakers] should enact tyrannical laws, to execute them in a tyrannical manner. Again, there is no liberty, if the power of judging be not separated from the legislative and executive powers. Were it joined with the legislative, the life and liberty of the subject would be exposed to arbitrary* control, for the judge would then be the legislator. Were it joined to the executive power, the judge might behave with all the violence of an oppressor. - Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws (1748) 3. Why does Montesquieu believe that it is necessary to divide government powers?
Deism religious philosophy based on reason and natural law The Divine Clockmaker: God created the world and natural laws, and then set them into motion. God doesn t interfere in the way that the world works He was highly critical of Christianity
It does not require great art, or magnificently trained eloquence, to prove that Christians should tolerate each other. I, however, am going further: I say that we should regard all men as our brothers. What? The Turk my brother? The Chinaman my brother? The Jew? The Siam? Yes, without doubt; are we not all children of the same father and creatures of the same God? - Voltaire, A Treatise on Toleration (1763) 4. What is Voltaire encouraging in A Treatise on Toleration? 5. How is this different form previous attitudes throughout Europe and the world?
Discourse on the Origins of the Inequality of Mankind mankind became enslaved by gov t The Social Contract: man should be governed by its general will Children should be emotionally nurtured as well as intellectually educated
The social contract's terms, when they are well understood, can be reduced to a single requirement: the individual member [gives] himself totally to the whole community with all of his rights. This is first because conditions will be the same for everyone when each individual gives himself totally, and secondly, because no one will be tempted to make that condition of shared equality worse for other men... Once [the people are] united this way into a body, an offense against one of its members is an offense against the body politic*. It would be even less possible to injure the body without its members feeling it. - Jean Jacques Rousseau, Social Contract (1763) 6. According to Rousseau, when individuals agree to the social contract, what happens to their rights? 7. Do you believe that the structure of Rousseau s society will benefit people overall? Provide an example.
On Crimes and Punishments Argued against torture and executions Sought equal punishments for crimes (rule of law) Gov t has no right to kill its citizens The 8 th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is pretty similar to this
What many of right can men attribute to themselves to slaughter their fellow beings? [ ] Was there ever a man who can have wished to leave to other men the choice of killing him? [ ] The punishment of death, therefore, is not a right, but it is the war of a nation against a citizen whose destruction it judges to be necessary or useful. It seems to me absurd that the laws, which are an expression of the public will, which detest and punish homicide, should themselves commit, and that to deter citizens from murder, they order a public one - Cesare Beccaria, On Crimes and Punishments (1764) 8. According to Beccaria, why shouldn t the government have the right to punish citizen by death?
Wrote Wealth of Nations Argued against mercantilism laissez-faire economics gov t should keep its hands off of the economy invisible hand of the free market Gov ts should provide: Protection from invasion Justice Public works
The prosperity of a nation is linked to its supply of gold and silver And it s all directly controlled by the government. Nations set up colonies as sources of raw materials and new markets for trade Nations need a favorable balance of trade in order to be successful
Nations must export more goods than they import Should only import raw materials, so they can produce their own goods Prevented importation of finished products by heavily taxing them
Economy was run completely by the government No competitors were allowed to enter the markets Directly controlled prices, wages for workers, what citizens could buy People did not have the freedom to act as they chose
Enlightenment thinker and the father of modern Economics Argued against the mercantilist system Strong proponent of laissez-faire economics The government should keep its hands off of the economy Literally translates to let them do
[The government] seems to imagine that it can arrange the different members of a great society with as much ease as the hand arranges the different pieces upon a chess-board. It believes that the pieces upon the chess-board have no other principle of motion except which the hand of the government chooses. But that, in the great chess-board of human society, every single piece has a principle of motion of its own, altogether different from that which the government might choose to impress upon it. If those two principles coincide and act in the same direction, the game of human society will go on easily and harmoniously, and is very likely to be happy and successful. If they are opposite or different, the game will go on miserably, and the society must be at all times in the highest degree of disorder. Adam Smith
Government should keep its hands off of the economy, and should only focus on protecting the people, upholding justice, and maintaining public works Huge incentives to maximize profits Cheap consumer goods Increase in foreign trade Increase in number of jobs available Allows for private monopolies to develop Poor working conditions, low wages No social welfare mass inequality Less revenue for the government
Would control the economy on its own, without the need for the government to interfere People are self-interested and want to make the highest profits they can They will work to create the best product for the cheapest price Competition forces a business to make a better product, for a cheaper price Consumers are able to buy lots of cheap goods More jobs = a peaceful civil society More demand for goods means more jobs
Businesses would be more productive if each worker focused on mastering one job in the production process Henry Ford and the Assembly Line Allowed for cheaper labor since fewer skills were needed