Historical+Influence

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Historical Influence
Preceding the Age of Enlightenment, Europe had suffered through many religious wars. With these, the earlier [|Protestant Reformation], and previous issues with the government, many people turned to entirely new ways of thinking. [|Skepticism], [|Ethics], other types of protestantism, [|atheism], and [|agnosticism] were becomming apparent. During the Enlightenment era, however the countries were relatively at peace. England had just restructured their government through the [|Glorious Revolution], which unsually did not witness any bloodshed. The [|Peace of Westphalia] ended the Thirty Years' War and served as another landmark in the struggle for the freedom of religion. It also allowed the Holy Roman Empire and the Dutch Republic to settle. This era greatly emphasized on the separation of Church and state.



Throughout the Enlightenment, peace was treasured so that the intellectual elite and the wealthy could discuss these new ideas. Essentially, the lower classes did not take part in this movement, as they were still preoccupied with their daily life tasks. Without this time of peace, the people would have been too distracted with war, revolution, disease epidemics, food shortages, etcetera to concentrate on these highly intellectual ideals.

Politically, many new ideas began to circulate. People wanted a strong nation-state that would be united completely. The question of __what the role of the head of state or government should be__, was also largely debated. The most well-known beliefs are those of [|Rousseau], [|Montesquieu], [|Hume], [|Locke], and [|Jefferson]. Overtime, two main ideas were continually repeated: divine right and natural law. Divine right refers to the older ideas of absolutism and kingship, while natural law refered to the new ideas of liberty. These ideas also applied to God and how he ruled man. [|Catherine the Great] and [|Frederick the Great] were the two largest political supporters of the Enlightenment. They listened and responded to the new ideas with government reform through the economic and social changes. //From left to right: Jean-Jaques Rosseau, Montesquieu, and Hume.//

After the Age of Enlightenment, the philosophers and their followers wanted to see these ideas applied. The American and French Revolutions are direct results of the want of liberalism. People started to believe they could govern themselves, and an absolutist kingship may not be the only method for regulation of a state. We see the struggle for control after these ideas arose.



Philosophical Movements

Artistic Influence