Founding Fathers

Freedom and Liberty to the Founding Fathers

The founding fathers of the United States of America were a product of the Enlightenment. The "Enlightenment" was the 18th century's attempt to break out of the self-imposed restrictions of society and create something better. (Rosner 2000, 251-253) Beginning with the writings of John Locke in the mid-1600's, a new idea had begun to take root: that man could, through his reason, create better social structures. In other words, man had the ability to create a more perfect form of government, one more in line with the rights of the people. This idea, by its very nature, is an attempt to transfer authority over society from a select few, to the masses of people. The idea of taking power away from Kings, and other rulers, and creating governmental system that would be created and responsible to the people is what the...
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