Enlightenment And The French Revolution Essay

The Enlightenment was a time period of demystification and the birth of many new ideas. Thinkers of the Enlightenment such as John Locke, Voltaire and Rousseau believed in governments that were based on the interests of the people, and not obtaining too much power. Global politics in the 17th and 18th century, including France, Venezuela and Mexico were impacted greatly by the ideas of the enlightenment.

The French Revolution was born from the ideas of the enlightenment, including John Locke’s ideas of Natural Rights and Montesquieu’s ideas of separation of power. Before the French Revolution, France was ruled by a Monarchy. The king of the time was Louis XIV. Louis XIV was a terrible and weak leader who did nothing to help the suffering people of his nation. Marie Antoinette was selfish and obsessed with extravagance, draining the country’s funds for events at versaille. The king and queen stood for the exact opposite of what
The slaves in haiti where the fuel for the revolution. They had no rights, no liberty, no property, which blatantly went against the ideas of John Locke and his belief that government should serve to protect these things for its people. With the introduction of that idea to the world, and the anger against the french, the slaves of haiti led them into a revolution against France that was ironically inspired by the French. Toussaint l'OUverture led the slaves into rebelling against the planters. The Haitians managed to fend off French and British reinforcements and l’Overture expanded the revolution to the colony of Santo Domingo. He abolished slavery and declared himself Governor-General over the entire island of Hispaniola. L'OUverture was captured by Napoleon's general, but one of L'OUverture's generals led Haiti to victory over the french, declaring them independant and creating a