Ramon Valdivia

WC Enlightenment DBQ
Main Ideas of the Enlightenment
Imagine youre a lower-class man down on his luck in the 18th century. The monarch has taken your land,
your money, your property, and left you to rot in a dungeon without a trial without a single word spoken to
the public. Would you want to be in this situation? Neither would I!
In this age, the opinion of absolutism was declining fast. Some monarchs were going too far with
their actions. So people started to speak up. They didnt want any of this trouble to do with them. Artists,
specifically authors, starting sharing their opinion through writing. But what were they going to write
about? To figure this out, we need to look at four key terms: Government, Religion, Economics, and
Equality.
The first term to investigate is Government. Monarchs ruled almost every aspect of the
government in these days, and they wanted to make sure that they kept an iron grip on society. However,
John Locke, an english writer, had a different perspective on absolutism. His argument was that such a
government would fail over time, however if the remnants of the citizens united together, theyd create a
much better government that allowed more freedom among the people.
The second term is Religion. Religion was very important back then, as it would decide many
things, from as small as someone hating you or as big as whether or not a government would imprison
you from you simply stepping foot on their land. Some monarchs tried to keep people of different religions
out of their countries, an example is the Italians, forcing their Jewish population into lower quality housing
areas called ghettos. Voltaire disagreed on this, through his writing he said that he wanted people of
different religions to drop the prejudice, the grudges, and work together. Through this they can unite to
solve issues in their own countries with help from others.
The next term is Economics. Monarchs, of course were almost always wealthy, and would be
called out if they suddenly werent. To avoid this, Monarchs controlled most of the industry in their
countries, to maintain their wealth. Of course, this means taking out most of the profit for these
companies. However, a Scottish philosopher, Adam Smith, disapproved of this highly. He thought that the
monarch should keep out of economic affairs so instead of money going to the monarchies, they can go
to the people so the quality of life improves for them, and others. Plus, it goes to the economy, as more
goods are purchased and sold.
The fourth and final term is Equality. This refers to how women were treated in the 17 - 19
centuries, and how it was common for them to be denied an education, whether by the parents, or by the
educators themselves. Mary Wollstonecraft, an English writer, thought this wasnt fair, so she argued in
several published works that women deserve the same education as men, so they could also become
productive members of society.
Although they faced heavy censorship and punishment, these authors managed to strike a tone
with oppressed lower-class citizens. Soon, these ideas also influenced the forefathers of the USA, but
still, what was their main idea? Most of it shows they were attempting to improve society for the citizens.
This sparked a revolution of US Colonies, and with that, it caused a ripple effect, causing many colonies
to rebel from their country to gain their own independence. These writers set out to create a better world
for the next generation, and one could say theyve succeeded.