Written by Joanna W.
Introduction
The aim of this essay is to consider the extent to which the Enlightenment Movement influenced the American Revolution. The Enlightenment Movement, also known as the Age of Reason or the Age of Enlightenment, was an intellectual and philosophical movement that originated in Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.[1] The movement introduced new social ideas, like knowledge acquired through rational enquiry, and political ideals, such as liberty, natural law, progress, fraternity, toleration, constitutional government, and the separation of church and state.[2] The American Revolution began as an insurrection carried out by thirteen of Britain’s colonies in North America in 1775 and ended in 1783 with a peace treaty that won the colony's political independence from Britain. These colonies then went on to form the United States of America.[3]
The ideas of the Enlightenment Movement had a significant role in influencing the political trajectory of the American Revolution, with many Patriot Leaders, such as Thomas Jefferson, expressing support for Enlightenment philosophies.[4] On the other hand, the increasing demand for religious freedom, economic pressures, and classical thought also influenced the beginnings and trajectory of the American Revolution.
The following paragraphs will discuss the extent to which the Enlightenment Movement influenced the American Revolution, exploring how the Boston Tea Party and events surrounding it were informed by Enlightenment ideas, and other, alternative factors that contributed to it. Once both these topics have been discussed, conclusions will be presented on this topic.
Influence of the Enlightenment Movement on the Revolution
The philosophers who led the Enlightenment Movement emphasised that all people had some basic rights. These rights were described by the British philosopher John Locke as the right to “life, liberty, and property.”[5] Followers of the Enlightenment Movement believed that human formed societies on condition of an agreement they called a “social contract.” On this condition, people gave power to their government so they could enjoy peace and prosperity.[6] However, if these rights were threatened, the social contract was broken. In such instances, the people had the right to create a new government.[7]
The principles of the Enlightenment were supported and promoted by many leaders of the American Revolution. For example, both Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin were considered leaders of Enlightenment thought. Also, Enlightenment ideas informed the contents of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States.[8] For example, in 1780 Franklin wrote to his friend, the English scientist Joseph Priestley, marvelling in “The rapid Progress true Science now makes…occasions my regretting sometimes that I was born so soon.”[9]
The character of the Enlightenment Movement in England and Scotland was clearly associated with the development of radical political ideas which later became linked to the American Revolution.[10] Jefferson, Franklin, and other key players in the American War of Independence, including Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, all largely accepted the political thought of the English, Scottish, and French Enlightenment thinkers as all sought political stability by balancing competing economic interests in a relatively classless society.[11]
Perhaps the most obvious example of how the ideas of the Enlightenment contributed to the American Revolution was the events preceding, during, and after the Boston Tea Party. The Boston Tea Party took place on 16 December 1773. It was a political and mercantile protest organised by the Sons of Liberty in Boston against the Tea Act enacted on 10 May 1773, which let the East India Company sell tea from China in the American colonies without paying taxes, apart from those mandated under the Townshend Acts.[12] The Townshend Acts were passed in 1767 to help pay the expenses involved in governing the American colonies by charging tax on goods like glass, paint, lead, tea, and paper. They were also passed to assert British authority over the colonies.[13] These taxes were strongly opposed by the Sons of Liberty, as they believed they violated their rights. This led the group, some disguised as Native Americans, to destroy an entire shipment of tea shipped to North America by the East India Company.[14] Famously, the chests of tea were thrown into Boston Harbour.
The British government viewed the actions of the Sons of Liberty as an act of treason, inspiring them to impose harsh penalties on the North American colonies.[15] As a result, the situation escalated and resulted in the American Revolution. The opposition to the Tea Act by the Sons of Liberty shows that it was the application of Enlightenment ideas that led directly to revolution. Opposition arose based on the argument that North American colonists could not be taxed without their consent or representation in parliament.[16] This was a new concept that had a strong basis in Enlightenment ideas. One view the Boston Tea Party reflected was the Enlightenment philosophy of the “consent of the governed”, outlined by John Locke in his work Two Treatises on Government (1689). In that text, Locke says that the power of government can only be sanctioned by man, who also gives government the right to rule. If the government does not adhere to this, the people have the right to abolish it. Although the British government was willing to compromise on the issue of taxes, it still instated on applying the principle of parliamentary sovereignty.[17] However, inspired by Locke and Enlightenment thought, America was not willing to accept these terms, leading to revolution.
Other Factors
It is important to acknowledge that the emergence of Enlightenment thought in North America did not just inform the American Revolution; it also influenced an eighteenth-century religious revival, spurred on by a belief in the right to the freedom of religious thought.[18] Michael Corbett and others propose that the large evangelical element in America’s population was crucial in spurring both revolutionary fervour and a desire for religious freedom. This was America’s so-called “Great Awakening” and contributed to the revolution in several crucial ways. First, the pietism of the movement gave people a sense of personal religious power. This feeling of religious empowerment then led to a desire for freedom and agency in other areas of life and increased support for more democratic political practices.[19] By clashing with the traditional religious establishment, the evangelicals aimed to achieve religious freedom. This, in turn, led them to support initiatives for political freedom, ultimately leading to American independence from both Great Britain and the Anglican church.[20] Finally, those who accepted the Millennialism of the movement—the belief that progress would be made through human effort to achieve God’s kingdom on earth—wanted to bring about a better social order, so also supported the revolution.[21] The pietism and religious fervour of the Great Awakening therefore supplied most of the energy and motivation for the American Revolution.
There is also some suggestion that classical thought, alongside new enlightenment ideas informed the American Revolution. Many historians focus on the Enlightenment or modern thinkers who informed the architects of the American Revolution, such as Locke, Samuel von Pufendorf, and Hugo Grotius. The ideas of these philosophers and others are seen retrospectively as inspiration for the Revolution’s attitudes and emphasis. However, there was a strong classical influence on American revolutionary thought as well. Notably, the architects of the revolution are known to have read classical texts such as Xenophon, Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero, as well as the above-named modern philosophers.[22] Historian Peter Gay observes that leading figures in the revolution were also informed by an American emphasis on practicality, acquired via the Enlightenment emphasis on ancient classical texts. For example, the revolutionaries saw Cicero as the model of the thoughtful statesman.[23] Also, John Adams’s Defence of the Constitution of the United States (1787-1788) adheres to the tradition of classical republicanism and is inspired by the ideas of Classical thinkers such as Polybius and Aristotle.[24] Similarly, classical thought informed many of the defining attitudes of the American constitutional order.[25] These examples show that classical scholarship also influenced the ideas of the American Revolutionaries and also had a part to play in informing the trajectory of the American Revolution.
Conclusion
When considering the extent to which the Enlightenment Movement contributed to the American Revolution, the underlying principles and intellectual rationale for the revolution undoubtedly came from the Enlightenment Movement. However, other forces also influenced and informed the American Age of Revolution. One key example is the religious Great Awakening that took place in mid-eighteenth-century North America. This movement, by securing freedom of religious thought, also encouraged its adherents to seek political freedom as well. Classical thought, as well as the principles of the Enlightenment, also contributed to the American Revolution, as it is apparent that revolutionaries like John Adams were influenced by classical thought as much as more recent Enlightenment ideas.
However, it is apparent that the Enlightenment was overwhelmingly the intellectual impetus for the revolution, although other forces clearly also spurred on revolutionary spirit and encouraged individuals living in the original thirteen states to seek independence from Great Britain. This is proven by the example of the Boston Tea Party and the Enlightenment ideas, such as Locke’s “consent of the governed”, that informed American opposition to the British-imposed Tea Tax.
Bibliography
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Corbett, Michael, Julia Corbett-Hemeyer, and J. Matthew Wilson, Politics and Religion in the United States, 2nd Ed. (Abingdon: Routledge, 2014).
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[1] Sebastian Conrad, ‘Enlightenment in Global History: A Historiographical Critique.’ The American Historical Review, 117 (4), (2012), p.999.
[2] Milan Zafirovski, The Enlightenment and its Effects on Modern Society. (New York: Springer, 2011), p.144.
[3] Willard M. Wallace, ‘American Revolution.’ Britannica, (July 3, 2024).
[4] Dale Anderson, Leaders of the American Revolution. (Milwaukee: World Almanac Library, 2006), p.6
[5] Dale Anderson, Leaders of the American Revolution, p.6
[6] Dale Anderson, Leaders of the American Revolution, p.6
[7] Dale Anderson, Leaders of the American Revolution, p.6
[8] Harvard University, ‘Enlightenment and Revolution.’ The Pluralism Project: Harvard University, (2020).
[9] Peter Gay, ‘Enlightenment Thought and the American Revolution,’ in John R. Howe, ed. The Role of Ideology in the American Revolution. (New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1970), p.46.
[10] Martin Fitzpatrick, ‘Toleration and the Enlightenment Movement,’ in Ole Peter Grell & Roy Porter, eds. Toleration in Enlightenment Europe. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), p.25
[11] B.A. Shiriayev & Richard Alan Ryerson, ‘John Adams During the Struggle of the American Colonies for Independence,’ in Gordon S. Wood and Louise G. Wood, eds. Russian-American Dialogue on the American Revolution. (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1995), pp.101-102.
[12] George Smith, ‘The Boston Tea Party.’ Libertarianism.org. (January 17, 2012).
[13] Britannica, ‘Townshend Acts Great Britain [1767].’ (June 8, 2024).
[14] Anna Suranyi, The Atlantic Connection: A History of the Atlantic World, 1450-1900. (Abingdon: Routledge, 2015), p.139.
[15] Jack M. Sosin, ‘The Massachusetts Acts of 1774: Coercive of Preventative.’ Huntington Library Quarterly, 26 (3) (2022), p.235.
[16] Anna Suranyi, The Atlantic Connection, p.139.
[17] Anna Suranyi, The Atlantic Connection, p.139.
[18] Mark A. Noll, ‘The American Revolution and Protestant Evangelism.’ The Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 23 (3), (1993), pp.615-616.
[19] Michael Corbett, Julia Corbett-Hemeyer, & J. Matthew Wilson, Politics and Religion in the United States, 2nd Ed. (Abingdon: Routledge, 2014), p.37
[20] Michael Corbett et al., Politics and Religion in the United States, pp.37-38.
[21] Michael Corbett et al., Politics and Religion in the United States, p.38
[22] Paul R. DeHart, Uncovering the Constitution’s Moral Design. (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2007), p.21.
[23] Peter Gay, ‘Enlightenment Thought and the American Revolution,’ p.45
[24] B.A. Shiriayev & Richard Alan Ryerson, ‘John Adams,’ p.102.
[25] William M. Wiecek, The Birth of the Modern Constitution: The United States Supreme Court, 1941-1953. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), p.22.
