Enlightenment Philosophers Dbq Analysis

The daily assignment I did was a packet titled “The Enlightenment Philosophers: What was their Main Idea?” This packet is a Mini Document Based Question- also called a Mini-Q- which is used to enhance our understanding on a certain topic that we are learning. In this case, the Mini-Q provided me with information on the philosophies of some influential philosophers during the Enlightenment period. These philosophers are: John Locke, Voltaire, Adam Smith, and Mary Wollstonecraft. In the Mini-Q there were four documents with an excerpt from the writing of the aforementioned philosophers. Then there were about 4 to 5 questions regarding how a philosopher felt about government, wealth or society. This questions were to be answered to help us in writing our final essay.
These questions helped me define terms such as philosophe, natural law and social sciences. This background information gave me a general understanding of the question I was to focus on during my analyzation of the ideas of John Locke, Voltaire, Adam Smith, and Mary Wollstonecraft. After completing the questions coinciding with each document, I was ready to write my essay on what the main idea was of the philosophers during the Enlightenment Period. As a result, I learned that the main idea of the Enlightenment Philosophers was that; for society to function it’s best, individual freedom must be recognized. I learned that John Locke believed in the dangers of a government that has too much power. I learned that Voltaire believed that a government should use it’s powers to promote tolerance of other religions. I also learned that Adam Smith had greater confidence in the individual- rather than the government- when making economic decisions. Finally, I learned that Mary Wollstonecraft in the necessity of education and equal opportunities for