John Locke, an important person of the Enlightenment during the American revolution.
Every revolution has begun because of common people who are unhappy with what they have. Those unhappy people begin to think about their situation, and from those thoughts comes enlightenment, and from Enlightenment comes revolution, whether it be against a government or a problem in society. The first revolution and example of the Enlightenment comes from the American revolution and “John Locke, a 17th century Englishman who redefined the nature of government” (ushistory.org). According to Locke, the government’s duty is to protect the people’s natural rights such as life, liberty, and property. If the government didn’t follow this, the people would have the right to overthrow the government. This idea influenced the Jefferson as he was writing the Declaration of Independence. These ideas also persuaded people to advance the revolution based on the ignoring of people’s rights and representation and also into revising the government and creating a better standard of control. The French Revolution followed the same philosophies and Enlightenment as the American revolution since the common people suffered and starved while the rich and royalty spent money and ate lavishly. The enlightenment allowed the poor to gain power and take over the government, using the new ideas to form their own republic. This republic was short-lived due to the common use of the guillotine and the invasion of Napoleon several years later, but the Enlightenment was responsible for it. The Mexican revolution was very similar to the French Revolution since the leading faction in Mexico was the rich and those directly from Spain. This system is very similar to how an oligarchy or monarchy would work. Those directly from Spain are similar to the monarchs because they have authority due to their birth, or where they were born. The rich are more similar to the oligarchs, since they control the money, and by extension, they control everything. The philosophers of the Enlightenment thought of new ideas on how governments should work, and just how foolish the idea of ruling as a birthright is. In Zimbabwe, President Robert Mugabe had been preparing to pass the presidency over to his wife, Grace Mugabe, which is very reminiscent of the way monarchies would pass leadership over to spouses or children as they died. The philosophers of the Enlightenment realized and communicated the idea that monarchy/oligarchy was not the best method of government. This idea affected the revolution because the “oligarchy” was the few rich politicians doing whatever they felt like, and the poor suffered on the side.