The Enlightenment In America

The Enlightenment shaped philosophical mindsets that remain the foundation of our understanding of freedom and equality . The philosophers explored not only politics, but began to discover the human condition, asking questions about morality and equality that no one had ever dared to look at with a scientific view. A society was born from the political thinking that originated in this period, and this society remains close to these ideals today. America is free because of these European thinkers. The ideas of the Enlightenment shaped vital facets of America’s groundwork, such as capitalism, the American Revolution, and the Bill Of Rights. America began as an experiment governed by these ideals, and took shape into what it is today. John Locke, …show more content…
Adam Smith was a Scottish moral philosopher, who found logic in economic selfishness. He introduced capitalism, an economy driven by self-interest, which remains the basis of our economy today. It is a political and social system where the trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the government. Adam Smith reasoned this with his metaphor of an invisible hand, which is described as the unintentional positive effects on the economy and society as a result of an individual working for his own gain. This invisible hand would keep up the market without government intervention, supporting Locke’s idea that the government existed only to protect the rights of the people, not to intervene with economy. He promoted the idea of reasonable self-interest, which is the foundation of our economy, including our stock market. This self interest is the driver that keeps up the economy, when everyone is looking out for only their personal gain. Despite some objections to capitalism in America, such as that it benefits the privileged few and discourages local production, capitalism has remained the base of our economy, albeit a turbulent one. Ultimately, capitalism has founded the typical “American dream”, starting from humble beginnings and working hard to make it big, and this enabler of the American dream was huge turning point in economic philosophy. It impacted our culture, our identity, and our …show more content…
His ideal of government was that each, separate branch of government limit the power of the other two, and no branch could limit the freedom of the people. This was known as separation of powers. It was his belief, as a lawyer, that all things were made up of laws that never changed, and his exploration of the nature of these laws that lead him to imagine the democratic principles that govern our society as it is today. He wrote, “When the lawmaking and law-enforcement powers are united in the same person...there can be no liberty.” As a Frenchman, which was a monarchy, the only place he could look to as an example of his principle of Separation of powers was England, which was divided between the king, Parliament, and judicial system. This same balancing system of government is reflected deeply in the foundations of America’s branches of government, which are legislative, executive, and judicial. These are the branches any law has to be passed through, and each branch can veto the decisions of the others, so no one group, nor person, has absolute power like in a monarchy or oligarchy. This principle has guided our government through countless decisions that have altered the political, moral, economic, and social landscape of our