Enlightenment

Separation of Powers

The division of power among three distinct branches of government.

Denis Diderot

Wrote the first Encyclopedia

enlightened absolutism

a system in which rulers tried to govern by Enlightenment principles while maintaining their full royal powers

Enlightenment

A movement in the 18th century that advocated the use of reason in the reappraisal of accepted ideas and social institutions.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

In his work "Social Contract" he explained an ideal society where each community member gives up individual freedom for the protection of their rights.

John Locke

He said government was created in order to protect the natural rights of life, liberty, and property.

Voltaire

(1694-1778) French philosopher. He believed that freedom of speech was the best weapon against bad government. He also spoke out against the corruption of the French government, and the intolerance of the Catholic Church.

federal system

A government that divides the powers of government between the national government and state or provincial governments

laissez-faire

Idea that government should play as small a role as possible in economic affairs.

deism

A popular Enlightenment era belief that there is a God, but that God isn't involved in people's lives or in revealing truths to prophets.

Social Contract

An agreement between the people and their government signifying their consent to be governed

Baron de Montesquieu

Believed government should have separation of powers between executive, legislative and judicial branches.

Cesare Beccaria

Believed that punishment should fit the crime, in speedy and public trials, and that capital punishment should be done away with completely

Mary Wollstonecraft

British feminist of the eighteenth century who argued for women's equality with men, even in voting, in her 1792 "Vindication of the Rights of Women."

Thomas Hobbes

English philosopher and political theorist best known for his book Leviathan (1651), in which he argues that the only way to secure civil society is through universal submission to the absolute authority of a monarch.

Rene Descartes

Father of modern philosophy. Famous for saying "I think therefore I am."