UNIT 3.4 - Philosophical Foundations of the American Revolution

key terms/events and significance

The Enlightenment (NAT/SOC)

• Profound impact on the colonies

Deism (NAT/SOC)

• Believed in God but that God never directly intervened human’s affairs / God allows people to make choices

• Contrast with most Christians’ beliefs at that time

Rationalism (NAT/SOC)

• Emphasis on rational thoughts to understand natural world + respond to life and society’s problem —> focus more on science and human behavior

Locke, Rousseau, & the Social Contract (NAT/SOC)

• Philosophers with profound influence on the social contract idea + Americans

• Concept of agreement among people to form a government to promote liberty + equality —> sharp break from prevailing ideas of monarch’s absolute rule / power comes from “below” not “above”

Thomas Paine (NAT/SOC)

• American colonists from England / Wrote “Common Sense” - one of the most important pieces of writing (1776) / argued for colonies’ independence / reasonable + easy to understand —> largely successful —> main factor for the colonies’ distance with Britain

Explain how and why colonial attitudes about government and the individual changed in the years leading up to the Revolution

Colonies believed in the social contract, which emphasized the people’s agreement to form a government to promote quality liberty, and rational thoughts so Britain’s supreme rule didn’t sit right with them. They wanted focus on science and human behavior and also believed that power comes from the people not the rulers. Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” facilitated their want for independence and separation from Britain.