The Enlightenment

Context  Caffeine and the Printing Press  A new “public sphere” – understanding that individuals were part of a larger “imagined community”

Thomas Hobbes  Born 1588  Wrote Leviathan  Thought humans were “naturally in a state of war” with one another  Favored a strong monarch  To control people

Queen Elizabeth and King Louis XIV  Both favored monarchy – rule by king or queen  Both believed monarch’s power came for god – divine right

John locke  Born: 1632  Wrote Two Treatises of Government  Thought humans had ability to reason  That government’s got their power from the people (not God)  That people can replace their government if it doesn’t protect their life liberty and propety  Inspired Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence

Charles de Montesquieu  Born in France 1689  Wrote On the Spirit of Laws  Believed that governments should contain a separation of powers to keep any one branch from getting too much power  Influence the U.S. Constitution

Jean Jaques Rousseau  Born 1712  Wrote The Social Contract – an agreement between the people  Believed humans were naturally good and compassionate  Believed in direct democracy

Mary Wolstonecraft  Born in 1759  Wrote Vindication of the Rights of Women  Believed in the equality between men and women as long as women had the same rights (right to education)  “Society will not whole until the last king is strangled with the guts of the last priest.”

Cesare Beccaria  Born in 1738  Wrote On Crimes and Punishment  Influenced the 7 th and 8 th Amendments right to trial and protection against cruel and unusual punishment  Believed criminal punishments should fit the crime and not be done for revenge but to prevent further crime

Voltaire  Born 1694  Wrote On God and Human Beings  Believed in freedom of speech and religion  Influenced the first amendment to the U.S. Constitution