This document discusses several Enlightenment thinkers and their ideas, including John Locke, Charles-Louis Montesquieu, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Adam Smith. It focuses on their ideas about government, including natural rights, separation of powers, social contract theory, and laissez-faire economics. The objective is to explain the effect of Enlightenment ideas on society and government, such as increased calls for democracy, reforms to education and government, and questioning the divine right of kings to rule.

1. Bell Ringer 3/15/16
a. Idea that men must forfeit some
personal freedoms for the benefit of
having a strong ruler who maintains a
peaceful and orderly society.
b. Blank slate theory, natural rights and
the idea that man has the right to
overthrow a ruler who does not
protect those rights.
c. tolerance; freedom of speech and
religion.
d. separation of government, checks and
balances.
e. Noble Savage, ideas on education,
social contract, the General Will.
f. capitalism, the invisible hand
g. women’s rights
1. Voltaire
2. Thomas Hobbes
3. Mary Wollstonecraft
4. Adam Smith
5. Rousseau
6. Montesquieu
7. John Locke

2. OBJECTIVE
• I can explain the effect the new Enlightenment
ideas had on society and government.
• 7.62 Describe the accomplishments of major
Enlightenment thinkers, including Locke and
Charles-Louis Montesquieu.

3. • In the 1600s and 1700s kings, queens, and
emperors ruled Europe.
• Look at the map on page 617- Which
European monarch ruled the largest country?
• Many of these believed they ruled through
divine right. What do you think this means?

4. • King Louis XIV held the most power and he
believed he was the entire government. He
declared ‘”L’etat, c’est, moi!” or “I am the state”.
• Although he had a ton of power other groups in
society had privileges..nobles paid few taxes and
held the highest positions in the army.
• The French clergy paid no taxes at all. However,
most of the French people (the commoners) were
poor, paid high taxes and had no role in the
government.

5. • People began to question do these kings have
the right to rule??

6. • Outside of France, some monarchs began to
change their ideas about their government.
• They began to apply Enlightenment ideas to
their government. These rulers became
known as the enlightened despots.
Despot – rule with
absolute power

7. • A despot is a ruler with absolute power. The
enlightenment despots tried to make life better for
the commoners. They also believed they could
make the country stronger if the commoners were
happier. What are your thoughts on this- think
about it and create a response in your composition
book.
• Emperor Catherine the Great and Fredrick II of
Prussia felt government and education should be
reformed- they began to consider the need for
democracy
– What is democracy?

8. What’s He Talkin’ About??
“As to the having and possessing of things, teach
them to part with what they have, easily and
freely to their friends, and let them find by
experience, that the most liberal has always the
most plenty…This I imagine, will makes brothers
and sisters kinder and civiller to one another, and
consequently to others, than twenty rules about
good manners…” - John Locke

9. Which Enlightenment
Thinker??
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all
men are created equal, that they are endowed
by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,
that among these are Life, Liberty, and the
pursuit of Happiness.”
JOHN LOCKE

10. Which Enlightenment
Thinker??
CHARLES-LOUIS MONTESQUIEU

11. Which Enlightenment
Thinker??
“Governments are instituted among Men, deriving
their just powers from the consent of the
governed.”
JEAN-JACQUES
ROUSSEAU

12. Thinking on the Government…
• Of the Enlightenment thinkers we’ve discussed,
three had the greatest influence on government!
– John Locke – gov. power limited; people have natural
rights
– Charles Montesquieu – gov. powers should be
separated into branches
– Jean-Jacques Rousseau – gov. should express will of
people; social contract

13. Defending Locke!!
• John Locke spent years, from 1683 to 1689, in
Holland to avoid arrest by the British government.
– He believed the right of common people to think and
worship as they pleased and to own property
• Based on what we’ve discussed about John
Locke’s ideas, write a letter to the editor of a
newspaper defending Locke and his views and
state logical reasons why the government should
let him live in peace.