introduction

While the men who created our country were brilliant, they did not think of everything themselves. The philosophies of our nation were heavily influenced by European thinkers in the Enlightenment. Being learned men, it is likely the Founding Fathers were well-read on the philosophers of the day, and thus they influenced their thinking.

The Enlightenment was a period of deep thinking on humanity that took place from roughly 1650 to roughly 1790. Some notable thinkers were John Locke, Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Astell, and Voltaire.