28 - Missing Enlightenment Assessments
Did Enlightenment ideas influence thinking before, during, and after the American Revolution? To what degree were these “new-to-the-world” ideas incorporated into the new American governments? To what degree were ancient “pre-enlightenment” ideas incorporated? Unfortunately, there is a serious shortage of books and essays addressing these questions or assessing the realities that followed.
Of course, speculation is involved in the following observations. Different information and views from readers will be very much appreciated.
For example, what did the following words from the Declaration of Independence mean to those that adopted it? “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” To develop an understanding of the “founders-of-America” thinking is it necessary to cobble together fragments of available information?
Is it possible “all-men-are-created-equal” meant there was not to be an American aristocracy like the one in the United Kingdom then and today? Did “men” mean only white males, not men of any other race, or any women regardless of race? Did the words mean that only these same men were free to pursue life, liberty, and happiness?
Did Section Two of the U.S. Constitution recognize the legality of slavery? It states that each free person counted as a whole person while “all other persons,” will be counted with three fifths of a person in a census. “Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.”
Is it possible that the United States of America would never exist if the 1789 Constitution did not recognized slavery? Slavery of humans, contrary of enlightenment ideas, had been an integral part of the colonial economy for 170 years, starting in 1619. Was Benjamin Franklin right when he stated, “Either we hang together or we will hang together.”? What might have happen to the American “founding fathers” if American Revolution had failed? Would they have been disarmed and massacred like several hundred surrendered Irish rebels in 1798? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibbet_Rath_executions
And how were Enlightenment ideas incorporated into northern states such as Massachusetts? The Ken Burns historic documentary titled The Pilgrims reports on the separatist Puritans that settled around the historic Plymouth Rock. But his documentary does not report that Massachusetts formed a rigid theocracy that physically punished citizens that violated government-enforced religious restrictions. Government applied a variety of corporal punishments, including whippings (up to 40 lashes), branding, cutting off ears, piercing tongue with hot iron, and hanging. https://www.huskyhistory.com/uploads/8/0/0/2/8002320/puritan_punishments.pdf The state Rhode Island was formed based on forced banishment of Massachusetts citizens identified as “heretics.”
Is it reasonable to say that some Enlightenment ideas were partially incorporated into the federal constitution and state constitutions? Has there been a steady increase of Enlightenment ideas being incorporated during the years after the adoption of the US Constitution in 1789?
If the following states our national goal, what have been the factors that have slowed our progress toward achieving it? “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all women and men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness.”
Again, different information and views from readers will be very much appreciated. It is assumed that ideas expressed in these messages are different from conventual thinking either liberal or conservative. What do you think?
Joseph L. Bass, 12/17/2025