The Enlightenment and America
Updated May 18, 2006
A significant portion of the history of the intellectual development of the United States can be traced to the ideas of the European enlightenment. Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson were the most touched by those ideas, but they were not alone in being strongly influenced by the ideas of men such as Diderot, Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Rousseau. It can easily be claimed that the most significant outcome of the Enlightenment was the American Revolution, and the records of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 clearly show evidence of Enlightenment-inspired thinking among those gathered in Philadelphia.
This project will require some outside reading and should be of interest to those of you who want to learn more about the intellectual history of United States, and the philosophical origins of the American Revolution. The keystone works in history and American Revolution where John Locke's Second Treatise on government. Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws, the writings of David Hume, Adam Smith, and William Blackstone's commentaries on the law.
One place to begin would be the recommended reading list for my American Revolution course. The best way to do this project would be to take one book from this list and read all or part of it, then report on what you learned. If you want a suggestion or recommendation, let me know.
Here are a few links to check out: