Although the French Revolution was at the heart of the Enlightenment, similar ideas served as driving forces of the American, Haitian, and Latin American Revolutions as well. The revolutionaries agreed that life, liberty, and property should be considered natural rights, emphasizing property as a main source of inequality among man, and constructed new governments based ... on popularized Enlightenment ideas. French revolutionary Jean-Jacques Rousseau introduced this idea of natural rights and inspired other countries to evaluate the nature of man and origins of inequality1. American revolut...

• Word Count: 540
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Graduate

... than its basis in religion or tradition. Hobbes's pragmatic view of government, which stressed the equality of individuals, opened the way to free criticism of government and the right to revolution, ideas that Hobbes himself opposed. An influential early liberal was the English philosopher John Locke. In his political writings, which deeply influenced the framers of the U.S. Constitution, he argued for ... people's spiritual salvation, but to serve its citizens and to guarantee their life, liberty, and property under a constitution. Much of Locke's philosophy is reflected in the writin...

• Word Count: 788
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Graduate