The French Revolution was assisted by ideas of Enlightenment thinkers

John Locke thought of many things but the idea he was most famously known for was that all human beings were born with three natural rights. These natural rights were the rights of life, freedom, and property. His idea was present throughout the whole revolution and afterwards. The common phrase of the revolution was Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. These words would stand to test time because even after the revolution these ideals were of most importance (Alpha History).

Montesquieu had the idea that the powers of government should be separated between people. This idea was present in the French revolution when Louis XVI was overthrown, arrested, tried, and executed. The Monarch was replaced by the first republic in France, which separated the power equally. This lead to a new government who thought everyone was the enemy of the republic (Black and Beck 553).

Rousseau was another Enlightenment thinker that the influence of his ideas affected the French. Rousseau belied in what he called the social contract, with the social contract if one party broke the rules the other party could brake away. In the French Revolution they made a constitution that is a contract between the people and the government (Black and Beck 553).

Voltaire was an enlightenment thinker that believed the power of the church should be separate from the government. His ideas are true when it comes to the French Revolution, the French citizens were paying taxes to the government and the church. When the citizens overthrew the government they separated the church by the idea of popular sovereignty. This idea challenged the common belief that kings got there power directly from god, but instead got their power by the people (Voltaire Biography).

This is very important because when the french were forming their government they used Voltaire's ideology and applied it to there new government. The way they applied it was an idea called Popular Sovereignty. This idea was that the government was formed by the people to serve the people, the principal before this was divine right monarch. This is the idea that kings were chosen by god to rule to people (Voltaire Biography).

One of the major reasons why the revolution started was because the king was unfair and he held his people under unfair imprisonment. The King would tax the poor heavily and not tax the rich at all. The King Louis XVI would not tax his friends, this was unfair and the people disagreed with this. This started rebellion and civil unrest (Alpha History).

This was another major point of the revolution because the Ancien Régime also known as the french government were very unfair. This lead to an uproar with the people, the government would unlawful arrest people among other issues. This also lead to more equality when they formed their government (Alpha History).

The French created a new government, the first republic in France. This form of government had many different changes than the former government, the monarch. This republic first had the people vote for the representatives that would represent the people. This government also had the new idea that the government is for the people and by the people (Alpha History).

Fraternité is french for brotherhood and this illustrates the bond that citizens devolved with each other. This was vital for the uprising and aftermath of the revolution because with out unity they would not be able to survive. This "brotherhood" was not completely successful, this idea was the result of the early form of the republic. This government also made important decrees like the August Decree (Alpha History).

The Constitution is one of the most important and valuable tools that was used after the french revolution. The French looked at the American Constitution and drafted their own. This was important because with the constitution people thought that they would be protected from the horrors of the first republic. After the revolution an area of fear came into France, they executed everyone they thought was an enemy of the republic (Alpha History).

Work Cited Anderson, Marge. “Marge Anderson.” Big Site of History – History of Civilization, 9 June 2008, bigsiteofhistory.com/the-first-republic-the-french-revolution/. “Archives & Research Collections.” 1780s: Pre-Revolutionary France Archives & Research Collections, arc.library.carleton.ca/exhibits/french-revolution-arc/1792-1799-beginning-first-french-republic.