How Did The Enlightenment Influence The French Revolution

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The eighteenth century enlightenment was a movement of the Intellectuals whop dared to change how Europe saw the world. Some ideas of the enlightenment included liberty, progress, reason, equality, tolerance, fraternity, and ending the abuses of church and state. Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, and many more contributed to the spread of these ideas. Further spread came when the American Revolution showed how a government should be organized. American revolutionaries, and French troops who served as anti-British mercenaries in North America, also helped spread ideas to the French. These ideas of the enlightenment influenced the course of the French Revolution economically, politically, and socially. The enlightenment has long been called the foundation…show more content…
These social groups affected the course of the revolution in different ways at different times. The First Estate was against the ideas of the enlightenment and the revolution because they brought in new, non-Catholic ideas, putting danger to their faith and very lives. The Second Estate’s opinion varied from case to case. The nobles were often instrumental for their respective causes as a result of their wealth and influence. The Third Estate was incredibly diverse with their attitudes toward the revolution. When the Estates General met in 1789, the representatives from the Third Estate demanded all three estates have an equal vote; when the king refused, the Third estate formed the National Assembly. After a while, Louis XVI wanted all three estates to meet together, but divisions came when some wanted to protect their rights, and others wanted to establish a limited, constitutional monarchy. When taxes and wages showed no change, and rumors flew about Louis going against the National Assembly, people got scared for their well beings. The citizens of Paris stormed the Bastille, marking the first, of many, revolts leading up to the

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