Therefore, a lot of Americans agreed with the Enlightenment ideas of Adam Smith, who said, "Nothing. can be more absurd than this whole doctrine of the balance of trade. which is forced by means of bounties and monopolies. and is commonly disadvantageous to the country- (Smith, 47) Similarly, Quensay and the Physiocrats believed in natural economic laws including the idea of supply and demand, which is what the American economy is primarily based on. When America became independent, it not only abandoned mercantilism, but also became a free t!.
rade zone for the rest of the world.
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Furthermore, when the Americans declared their independence, they informed Great Britain that "all men are created equal. endowed by their Creator certain unalienable rights. life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness Governments are instituted. deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." (DOI, 63) These ideas were derived from the writings of John Locke: "Men being. by nature all free, equal, and independent, no one can be. subjected to the political power of another without his own consent." (Locke, 31) His words proved importance as a justification for the American revolution. "Whensoever. the legislative shall transgress. the people. have a right to resume their original liberty and provide for their own safety and security- (Locke, 33).
The writers of the Constitution incorporated the thoughts of many Enlightenment thinkers, as they wrote the supreme law of the land. They followed the ideas of Philisophes, such as Fontenelle and Voltaire, who highly promoted religious tolerance. Fontonelle had grown skeptical of the church and considered it an obstacle to future intellectual growth. Similarly, the United States favored the separation of church and state and established the first ammendment to the Constitution: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.