A democracy is when the common people are considered as the primary source of political power. Although democracy and absolutism had advantages and disadvantages, democracy was a more effective type of government for it limited royal power and protected the rights of the people socially, politically, and economically. Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, tension arose between the two different types of governments, the democracy and absolute monarchs.
The enlightenment was a great period of establishment of democracy. Throughout the enlightenment there were philosophes who believed greatly in a democratic government. Some of the most familiar philosophes were Voltaire, John Locke, Montesquieu, and Rousseau. Each one of these philosophes were humanists and believed in natural rights. John Locke quotes an example of natural rights in document 5. Locke states in this document that all men are born with the natural rights of life liberty, and property, the government......
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Approximate Word Count: 735
Approximate Pages: 3 (260 words per double-spaced page) |