How Did The Enlightenment Influence The Constitution

The Constitution of the United States has been shaped and molded by the experiences of many people throughout history. When the framers drafted the Constitution at the Constitutional Convention in 1787, they included the best ideas from governments around the world, and through time. From the Ancient Greeks and Romans thousands of years ago, to the events of the previous five years, the framers incorporated the best ideas they could find. From all of these governments, the framers took the ideas of popular sovereignty, individual rights, limited government, federalism, republicanism, separation of powers, and checks and balances. The United States Constitution was influenced by the Enlightenment, Colonial Experiences, and the failures of The
The Enlightened thinkers influenced the writers of the Constitution with their ideas on the Social Contract. The Enlightenment was an Intellectual Movement from the 1650s to the 1750s in Europe where people started to base ideas off of science and logic, rather than faith and guesses. Enlightened thinkers were the first people who started to question the absolute power and divine right of their governments. Jean Jacques Rousseau and John Locke were two of these thinkers. They both believed in the idea of a social contract, a metaphorical agreement that people follow when they create a society. Since the people agree to be ruled by the government, they control the government. This idea shows the concept of popular sovereignty, because the government will only work if it has the consent of the governed, earned by the government protecting the natural rights of the people. Natural Rights are the rights to life, liberty, and property. Popular Sovereignty is shown throughout the Preamble of the Constitution. The Preamble of the Constitution shows that the right to rule comes from the people, which is the idea of popular sovereignty. Popular Sovereignty was included in the Constitution so the people can have the power to control the government. Voltaire was another great Enlightened thinker, who influenced the the Constitution with his idea of natural rights. He believed that all people should respect the beliefs and opinions of others. He also believed in the ideas of separation of church and state, and freedom of religion and speech.His ideas show individual rights, because he thought all people deserved natural rights: life, liberty, and property. Individual Rights are found in the Bill of Rights of the Constitution. They give the people unalienable rights that cannot be taken away by the government. Individual Rights were included in the Constitution so the people could have rights that the