AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT

THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT

• Also called the "Age of Reason"
• Lasted from the mid-1600s to the 1700s
• The goal of this time was to educate people
• Educated people would be smarter and more efficient
• If people were efficient, their lives would be easier

BACON & DESCARTES

• Francis Bacon and René Descartes
• They are considered the "Fathers of Enlightenment"
• Bacon felt that knowing science would benefit people
• Descartes invented analytic geometry

DEMOCRACY

• The Age of Enlightenment led to the idea of democracy
• People no longer wanted an absolute ruler
• The people wanted to be able to choose their rulers
• Without this idea, the U.S might not be a democracy today!

RIGHTS

• John Locke and Voltaire were philoposhers
• They wanted people to be able to have certain rights
• Freedom of the press
• The right to own property
• Freedom of speech, etc.

CHURCH & STATE

• All philosophers wanted separation of Church & State
• They realized that having them combined would never work
• Montesquieu thought of 3 branches of government
• They are Legislative, Judicial, and Executive
• These are also used today by the United States!

SO WHAT??

• Without the Age of Enlightenment, life today would be very different!
• Many of the things we study and use today came from this time
• We might still have an absolute ruler today, if not for the idea of democracy
• We would not have our knowledge of math and science
• Chemistry, electricity, and biology were also results of the Age of Reason

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