How Did the Enlightenment Influence the French Revolution?

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Another influential role of Enlightenment on French Revolution was the freedom of speech rights and the right to free religion. From Enlightenment period philosophes this was Voltaire’s vision and became a crucial factor in the revolution. Voltaire’s Philosophical Letters “Letters on the English Nation” which were published in 1734 had a tremendous impact and made an excellent responsiveness in France. In this work, he was arguing liberty and religion, which were most preferred and discussed by Voltaire. Also another work, which showed Voltaire’s relation to church was “Crush this infamous thing”. In this work he expressed interesting ideas by arguing superstitions and simplicity. In his opinion “The less superstitions, the less fanaticism; and the less fanaticism, the less misery”. ("Western Civilizations - Their History & Their “ p 554 ) In this work he also argued the simplicity of laws and religion. His principles had the most influence on religious and freedom of speech related changings through revolution years. The article ten in the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen” is showing the allowance of this right of French citizens. It states that "No one should be disturbed on account of his opinions, even religious, provided their manifestation does not upset the public order established by law." ("Declaration Of The Rights Of Man And The Citizen") In French history, people for the first time could choose and believe what they want without any obligations. This was a beneficial change for people living in France as now no one was forced to change religion because of his living place. Moreover, Article 11 of the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and of Citizen” states "The free communication of ideas and opinions is one of the most precious of the rights of man; every citizen can then freely speak, write, and print, subject to responsibility for the abuse of this freedom in the cases is determined by law". ("Declaration Of The Rights Of Man And The Citizen") With this statement, revolution and liberal new thinking now people were able to express their thoughts and views without fear.

To sum up, the Enlightenment and all the philosophes of that time had a remarkable role in the French Revolution. Moreover, the developments in science and thinking of that time affected not only the French Revolution but also are used in governmental, legislative and in social approaches till these days. As it was mentioned, the ideals of the Enlightenment had an impact on crucial features for the country, such as the changing of government type from monarchy to republic. Moreover, the church lost its control during that period, because the morals regarding the Church during the Enlightenment period were appeared and influenced to whole populations thinking. The freedom of speech and religion impacted to new events and new changes. The Enlightenment thinkers were concerned about same topics, the matters in which the problems were easy to see. France in that century had an economical and governmental issue, which was the reason for philosophes to think and develop new ideas. All of them were anxious about government, religion, and liberty. As it is seen, each new ideal and each event contributed to creation of another adjustment. This changes lasted through years and at the end became to a French Revolution. The Enlightenment was one of the main forces and moving engines for The French Revolution, and this movement reformed the history of France.

References:

"Civil Constitution Of The Clergy | France". Encyclopedia Britannica. N.p., 2017. Web.

"Declaration Of The Rights Of Man And The Citizen". Historyguide.org. N.p., 2017. Web.

Rousseau, J-J (1755) A Discourse on Political Economy. Available as part of The Social Contract and Discourses, London: Everyman/Dent.

"The Political Theories Of Jean Jacques Rousseau On JSTOR". Jstor.org. N.p., 2017. Web.

"Western Civilizations - Their History & Their Culture (18Th Ed)(Combined Volume)(Gnv64)". Scribd. N.p., 2017. Web.