5.1 The Enlightment

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The Enlightenment & New Ideas

  • Enlightenment (1600s–1700s): Focused on reason over tradition and individual rights → challenged monarchs and the Church.

  • Inspired revolutions (American 1776, French 1789) and new political ideas worldwide.

Key Thinkers & Ideas

  • Francis Bacon: Empiricism → knowledge from observation.

  • Hobbes: Strong government needed to control selfish humans.

  • Locke: Natural rights (life, liberty, property); people can overthrow bad governments.

  • Montesquieu: Separation of powers.

  • Voltaire: Free speech and religious tolerance.

  • Rousseau: General will; government should reflect the people.

  • Adam Smith: Laissez-faire capitalism; free markets.

  • Deism (Paine): God created the world but doesn’t interfere.

New Movements

  • Liberalism: Rights, voting, limited government.

  • Conservatism: Tradition and slow change.

  • Socialism: Shared ownership; better conditions for workers.

  • Feminism: Equality for women (Wollstonecraft, Seneca Falls 1848).

  • Abolitionism: End of slavery (1800s).

  • Nationalism: People demand their own nations.

AP World 5.1 SAQ Examples

(5.1 = Enlightenment & Revolutions)

SAQ 1: Enlightenment Ideas

A. Enlightenment thinkers emphasized reason and natural laws instead of tradition and religion.

B. John Locke argued people have natural rights and can overthrow unjust governments.

C. These ideas influenced the American Revolution and the Declaration of Independence (1776).

SAQ 2: Political Change

A. Montesquieu promoted separation of powers to prevent tyranny.

B. Enlightenment ideas challenged absolute monarchies in Europe.

C. The U.S. Constitution used checks and balances inspired by Enlightenment philosophy.

SAQ 3: Economic Thought

A. Adam Smith criticized mercantilism and supported free markets.

B. He believed the invisible hand would regulate the economy.

C. His ideas shaped capitalism in industrializing nations.

SAQ 4: Social Reform

A. Enlightenment beliefs in equality inspired abolitionism.

B. Feminist writers argued women deserved education and rights.

C. The Seneca Falls Convention (1848) launched the women’s rights movement.