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American Enlightenment Thought

American Enlightenment Thought. Skeptical and optimistic attitudes about human nature, religion and politics. Misrule of King George III, the unfairness of Parliament & exploitative treatment at the hands of a colonial power. Thomas Paine The Rights of Man. Federalist Papers.

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American Enlightenment Thought

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  1. American Enlightenment Thought

  2. Skeptical and optimistic attitudes about human nature, religion and politics

  3. Misrule of King George III, the unfairness of Parliament & exploitative treatment at the hands of a colonial power Thomas Paine The Rights of Man Federalist Papers

  4. Four themes recur in both European and American Enlightenment texts: modernization skepticism reason liberty

  5. Democracy and the Social Contract

  6. Six Key Ideas • deism • liberalism • republicanism • conservatism • toleration • scientific progress

  7. DeismTradition, custom and prejudice barriers to gaining true knowledge of the universal laws of nature

  8. LiberalismHumans have natural rights and that government authority is not absolute, but based on the will and consent of the governed

  9. RepublicanismNation ought to be ruled as a republic, in which selection of the state’s highest public official is determined by a general election, rather than through a claim to hereditary right

  10. ConservatismAgainst frequent appeals to democratic publics on constitutional questions because they threatened to undermine political stability and substitute popular passion for the “enlightened reason” of elected representatives. .

  11. TolerationHatred or fear of other races and creeds interfered with economic trade, extinguished freedom of thought and expression, eroded the basis for friendship among nations and led to persecution and war

  12. Scientific ProgressScientific knowledge removed the need for a constantly intervening God

  13. Human rationality can and should be made to serve ethical and humanistic ends

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