The Enlightenment In The 1700s

The Enlightenment is the era in Europe and America during the 1700s when mankind was developing from centuries of unawareness into a new age of progression by reason, science, and reverence for civilization. People of the Enlightenment were influenced by human reason, learned the natural laws of the universe, and defined the natural rights of mankind resulting in a growth in knowledge, official achievement, and moral values would be recognized. This new way of thinking led to the increase of a new religious thought known as Deism (belief in God as a great creator or architect who had generated the universe then permitted it to function like a machine or clock without divine interference).
Benevolence toward less fortunate people, humanitarianism,
The newly wealthy tradesman and merchant class demanded a share of the social and political power formally held only by the nobility. As a result of the political and economic changes during the eighteenth century, there were major social changes as well. The former rigid class system based on inherited positions of nobility and wealth became far less secure. There were also major religious changes during the 1700s. There was a significant decline in church power and prestige, which resulted primarily from peoples no longer believing in Gods daily involvement in their human affairs. Prior to the Enlightenment, before the discovery of natural laws, people had believed that every event that occurred, no matter how major or minor, was a direct result of Gods intervention. Once scientists discovered that natural laws caused these occurrences, mankind feared God less, and as a result, religious obligations were no longer the primary concern of many people. Rather than focusing on God and the church, people of the Enlightenment focused on man. Alexander Pope, a famous English poet, wrote a rhyming couplet (two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme) that describes well the attitude of the time: Know then thyself; presume not God to