American Enlightenment Research Paper

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The American Enlightenment In the 17th and 18th century, European communication, science, philosophy and politics were changed significantly during the Age of Reason. The philosophers in countries such as Great Britain and France criticized the traditional authority and adopted the idea that humanity was enhanced via rational thinking (Schmidt, 31). The Enlightenment generated many scholarly works such as scientific discoveries, books, essays, laws, and revolutions (Hanley and McMahon, p. 2). In this respect, the Enlightenment ideas directly influenced the French and Americans Revolutions. The American Enlightenment took place between 1714 and 1818 and greatly influenced the creation of the Republic. The European Enlightenment and American…show more content…
The period prior to revolutionary years, the Americans experienced unfair laws such as in taxations and exploitative agenda from the colonial government (Marsden, 67). An English man Thomas Paine, however, opposed abuses in the American Colonies by the English powers. In addition, the period after revolutionary wars, Americans philosophers created a new government based on republican and liberal ideologies (Mennell, 56). In this regard, they produced crucial documents such as the United States…show more content…
In addition, the American Enlightenment mirrored the similar occurrences during the European scientific revolution (Mennell, 66). The scientific revolution in Europe, witnessed the application of scientific reasoning to study concepts such as human religion, society and nature (Hanley and McMahon, p. 39). The scientists during enlightenment applied the scientific reasoning and experimentations to invent and learn the principles of nature such as natural laws, gravity and planets and understand philosophical principles (Zafirovski, 16). Moreover, the intellectuals criticized the mainstream authorities and beliefs. The determination to combine religion and science led to elimination of miracles, prophecy, exposed religion and produced rational thinking of
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