Enlightenment Thinkers and Revolutions: Key Concepts and Figures in History

John Locke

Enlightenment Thinker: Argued that all people have natural rights to life, liberty, and property. Governments must protect these rights or face being overthrown (Right to Revolution).

Natural Rights

Rights inherent to all human beings, not dependent on government, typically cited as life, liberty, and property (or the pursuit of happiness).

Social Contract

The philosophical idea that individuals willingly give up some freedom to a government in exchange for order and security.

Baron de Montesquieu

Enlightenment Thinker: Advocated for the separation of powers (dividing government into executive, legislative, and judicial branches) to prevent tyranny.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Enlightenment Thinker: Advocated for the concept of the 'General Will' and that the government's authority should come from the sovereignty of the people.

Voltaire

Enlightenment Thinker: Fierce advocate for freedom of speech, religious toleration, and the separation of church and state.

Laissez-faire

An economic doctrine promoted by Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations, arguing that the government should not interfere with the economy ('hands-off').

Declaration of Independence

Document (1776) that declared the American colonies independent from Britain, heavily influenced by Locke's philosophy of natural rights.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

Core document of the French Revolution (1789), declaring that all men are born and remain free and equal in rights (liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression).

Maximilien Robespierre

Leader of the Committee of Public Safety and the principal figure during the most radical phase of the French Revolution, known as the Reign of Terror (1793-1794).

Toussaint Louverture

The key leader of the Haitian Revolution, a former slave who led the rebels to victory over French forces.

Haitian Revolution

The only successful slave revolt in world history, resulting in the creation of the first free black republic in 1804.

Simón Bolívar

The 'Liberator' who led independence movements in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, aiming for a unified South America.

Creoles

People of Spanish descent born in the Americas. They led most of the Latin American Revolutions due to resentment over being excluded from high political office by the Peninsulares.

Peninsulares

People born in Spain (on the Iberian Peninsula) who held the highest government and church positions in the Spanish American colonies.