How Did The Enlightenment Dbq

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Between the 17th and 18th century, Enlightenment ideas that originated from France spread to other parts of Europe. Prior to the Enlightenment, absolute monarchs ruled most of Europe. Over time, citizens began to question the monarch’s power with ideas from philosophes such as Voltaire and John Locke. The philosophers concluded that society’s problems could be solved using a method of logic and reason. Also known as the Age of Reason, the Enlightenment inspired societal change and evolution. Through the use of logic and reason, enlightened despots of the 18th century were influenced by the social, political, and economic ideas of the Enlightenment.
The Enlightenment impacted the social development of Europe by introducing the importance of individual rights and freedom. John Locke, a philosopher who lived during the English monarchy, opposed the general belief that people are subjects to a monarch with absolute power, instead believing that all people were born with natural rights. (Doc. 2) These natural rights included life, liberty, and the right to property, which eventually became the foundation for the American Declaration of
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Citizens began to believe that all people were born with natural rights and freedom regardless of their social positions due to Enlightenment philosophies, which later encouraged the French and American revolutions. The Age of Reason inspired political change as citizens believed that the government must gain consent from the people to rule and that division of power is necessary to prevent absolute monarchies. Philosophes influenced the economic system by creating equal taxations towards all social classes. The ideas and concepts developed during the Enlightenment will eventually become the foundation for many European revolutions in the