The Philosophies Of The American Revolution
With the end of the Middlemiddle Agesages in England and it’s unreasonable schools of thought, came many respected philosophers, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Francis Bacon to name a few, that we still know, read and practice today. Remarkably these philosophers broke away from the nearly impenetrable dogma of their time, a feat which exemplifies scientific progress. However, what is perhaps even more remarkable is how receptive the public was to their new philosophies. The philosophies that were developed by these philosophers such as the Social Contract were vastly woven into the constant political revolutions of that time. These revolutions and constant political turmoil had to do in a large part with the immense and growing poor population.
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For example, in England’s 1600’s the bottom 40% of the population in term of income spent 69.2% of their expenditures on food alone (Real Inequality in Europe since 1500). If 70% of your expenses are devoted to food you will not have any money left for your living conditions of your clothes. Moreover, 18.5% of the same peoples expenditures were devoted to clothing. Thus the poor could only spend 10% of their measly income on housing, furniture, or other things. In fact their, homes could be described as “very small and crowded”, furthermore, “most of the poor lived in huts of 2 or 3 rooms. Some families lived in just one room.’(Lambert). The conditions described above are miserable at best. Additionally the “mass of the population” were “craftsmen, tenant farmers and laborers”(Lambert) who had no chance of changing their lifestyle because they spent all of their money on food and clothing. To recap, the majority of England was in poverty and the people of poverty lived in shambles, spending practically all of their money on food alone. This is why when they heard of the philosophies developed in the Enlightenment, which stressed equality of men and personal freedoms, they embraced them with open …show more content…
Many of John Locke’s theories revolved around the relationship between a government and its subjects. Locke asserted that it was“the right of a people to change a government that did not protect the natural rights of life, liberty and property"(Impact of Enlightenment on
For example, in England’s 1600’s the bottom 40% of the population in term of income spent 69.2% of their expenditures on food alone (Real Inequality in Europe since 1500). If 70% of your expenses are devoted to food you will not have any money left for your living conditions of your clothes. Moreover, 18.5% of the same peoples expenditures were devoted to clothing. Thus the poor could only spend 10% of their measly income on housing, furniture, or other things. In fact their, homes could be described as “very small and crowded”, furthermore, “most of the poor lived in huts of 2 or 3 rooms. Some families lived in just one room.’(Lambert). The conditions described above are miserable at best. Additionally the “mass of the population” were “craftsmen, tenant farmers and laborers”(Lambert) who had no chance of changing their lifestyle because they spent all of their money on food and clothing. To recap, the majority of England was in poverty and the people of poverty lived in shambles, spending practically all of their money on food alone. This is why when they heard of the philosophies developed in the Enlightenment, which stressed equality of men and personal freedoms, they embraced them with open …show more content…
Many of John Locke’s theories revolved around the relationship between a government and its subjects. Locke asserted that it was“the right of a people to change a government that did not protect the natural rights of life, liberty and property"(Impact of Enlightenment on