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Period: Jan 1, 1550 to
Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment Period
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Thomas Hobbes Birth
Thomas Hobbes is perhaps one of the greatest philosphers to ever grace this earth. he was born in Westport England. He was known for his veiws on how people could thrive in peace while avoiding the fear of social conflict. -
John Locke Birth Date
Locke was born Wrington / Somerset England in 1632. He wrote about topics such as political philosophy, epistemology, and education. -
Publication of Thomas Hobbes book, Leviathan
Hobbes book Leviathan addresses the structure of society, and the need for an authoritative power.His Social Contract theory states that in order to move away from the State of Nature, two things must happen. First, there must be a desire to create a society. Next, there must be a person or a group that enforces the rules of the contract. Hobbes early ideas has transformed into what our government looks like today. -
Montesquieu's Birth
Montesquieu was born in Bordeaux France in 1689. He was a French Philospher and satirist (writer who used sarcasm to communicate his message.) -
Publication of John Locke's Second Treatise Concerning Civil Goverment
John's book expressed a very radical view that the goverment is only there to serve us. That they are only there to protect our natural rights of life,liberty, and property. He wrote that the goverment should have to go through a series of checks and balences to limit their power. He insisted that when a goverment goes against our individual rights, we as a people may rebel.His writings did much to stimulate the American Revolution. Without him we may not have ever freed ourselves from tyranny. -
Volitaires Birth Date
Volitaire was born in Paris France in 1694. He was one of the brightest minds and contributed greatly to the Enlightenment -
Rousseau's Birth date
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was thought ofas one of the most influential thinkers during the European Enlightenment Period. He was born Geneva Switzerland in 1712. -
George Washingtons Birth Date
George Washington was the first president of the Untied States after being the Commander-in-Cheif of the Continental Army. He was born in Westmoreland County, VA in 1732. We find that George cherished the ideas of the British liberalsim which mainly comes from John Locke. He believed in Lockes theory that the government is only there to conserve our natural rights of life, liberty, ansd property. and if the government violates that we have a right to rebel. -
John Adams Birth Date
John Adams was born in Braintree, MA. He was on the commitee to draft the Declaration of Independence, and later became the first Vice-President of the United States of America. Adams believed that the goal of government is to help the people fina happiness. This mainly derives from John Lockes theroy of life, liberty, and property. Which John took to heart. -
Thomas Jeffersons Birth Date
Thomas Jefferson was born in Shadwell, VA. He was a delegate of the Second Continental Congress, and was chosen to be part of a commitee that would draft the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson had the same theroies as Rousseau in his book, The Social Contract. He believed that indivduals should join together to form a collective body that fights for all people. When writing the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson and other delegates used this theroy to create our voting process. -
Charles Montesquieu's publication of The Spirit of the Laws
In Montesquieu's book The Spirit of the Laws, he strongly argues for a constitutional system of government. He also advocates for the seperation of powers and the ending of slavery. He theorizes that the three branches of government, executive, legislative, and judicial should be assigned to different groups. Todays American government is designed off his theory. -
Rousseau writes the Second Discourse
Rousseau believed that the State of Nature was a peaceful time where every basic need was met due to the abundance of resources. As the population grew, society evolved. He believed that the creation of private property was the turning point in history, leading to greed, competition and the beginnings of social classes. His naturalized review of the social contract believes that the contract, which is supposed to create equality for all, really protects the rich. -
Publication of Volaires novel Candide
In Voltaires short novel Candide, he harshely criticized the philosophers who thought they were living in the best of times. He is criticalof the practices performed by the church and the French government. He was one of the first people to encourage ideas like freedom of speech, religion, the right to a fair trail, and seperation of church and state. His ideas our the fondation to the American Constitution. -
Publication of The Social Contract by Rousseau
In Rousseau's book The Social Contract, he seeks the answer to the question: how can we be free and live together? You see in his book the very early formation of the idea of democracy. He argues for individuals joining together to form a collective body that fights for the good of all people. This early concept was taken by our Founding Fathers and formed into our modern day voting process. -
Boston Tea Party
The Americans were angry and frustrated on the new tax on tea, colonists who called themselves the Sons of Liberty dressed up as indians. they then boarded three british ships and dumped 342 crates of tea into the Boston Harbor.Most of John Lckes writings did much to stimulate the American Revalution and these acts of defience. He insistes that the govenment is only there to serve us and if they go against our rights we as a people may rebel against them. Most colonists read this and felt -
Begining of the Revalutionary war at Lexington and Concord
This is a battle that took place between British troops and the Patriot colonists as the British tried to seige the colonists military storage. The British were defeated and the war had begun.In the spirit of Locke, the colonists were persuing their natural rights of life, liberty, and property by defending themselves against the british. -
Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence is a document that was signed on July 4th by the Continental Congress that announced that the thirteen colonies were now 13 states, independent from the British Empire. Thomas Jefferson got the main ideas for the Declaration of independence from John Locke, such as, "The third 'Natural Law' should be the right to property." -
The Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation were an early form of the Constitution, but with many faults such as: 9 out of 13 states had to approve a law, there was no Presidnet, and there were no courts. Though in its early form it lacked many things, it was a slate of rules for people to follow. It evolves from Hobbes Social Contract Theory that society needs some form of government to function without mass chaos. -
Northwest Ordinance
The Northwest Ordinance was an act of Congress that created the Northwest Territory. The Northwest Territorey was the frst organized territory past the Applachian Moutains. It set up new evenly divided territores. -
The Federalist and Anti Federalist debates
Federalist and Anti Federalsts strongly disagreed on the new Constitution. Anti Federalists like Centinel, and Brutus believed thet the new Constitution would cause the state governments to dissolve and limit self- government. Federalist like James Madison believed that a solid government was in the best interest for the people. They new from Hobbes Social Contract Theory that without a government there would be mass chaos and people would fight. From Hobbes idea came our government. -
The Constitution
The constitution is a document of principals that every state in the United Stated is to go by or to follow. It was signed at the Constitutional Convention by 38 out of 41 Delegates in 1787. the Constitution includes many of the great philosphers ideas and theorys. In it you have Voltaires ideas of freedom of speech and religion and Lockes and Rousseaus ideas that every humn is intitled to natural rights. Lastly you have Montesquieus theory of three branches of government to seperate the power. -
Bill of Rights
The first tenamendments are commonly known as the bill of rights. They protect the basic rights of the US citizens and were mainly derived from Voltaires idea of freedom of speech, religion, and the right to a fair trial.
