Topic 3.4: Philosophical Foundations of the American Revolution

Deism

• many Enlightenment thinkers in Europe and America were Deists, where they believed in God, but in one who established natural laws and did not regularly intervene in human affairs

Rationalism

• Enlightenment thinkers trusted human reason to understand the natural world and respond to the issues of life and society

• trust in reason and not just the traditional interpretations in the Bible

social contract

• the concept of an agreement among people to form a government to promote liberty and equality

• represents a sharp break from the prevailing assumption that monarchs ruled by divine right

John Locke

• an Enlightenment thinkers who emphasized the idea that power came from “below”, not from “above

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

• a French philosopher who developed John Locke’s ideas further with the concept of the social contract

Thomas Paine

• wrote the pamphlet Common Sense

• argued that it was contrary to common sense for a large continent to be ruled by a small and distant island and for people to pledge allegiance to a king whose government was corrupt and laws were unreasonable

Common Sense

• written by Thomas Paine and was published on January 1776

• here, Paine argued in clear and forceful language that the colonies should become independent states and break all political ties with the British monarchy

• spread rapidly throughout the colonies and ignited public demands for independence