Speaker 1: The American colonists are proud subjects of Great Britain and King George III. Speaker 2: Members of the British Par
liament act as representatives for all British citizens, including those in the American colonies. Speaker 3: The American colonists have had their natural rights violated by the British government. Speaker 4: The British monarchy should reform itself to better represent colonial interests. Which speaker would most agree with Enlightenment ideas as expressed in the Declaration of Independence?
The Enlightenment philoshophers such as Locke, Monstequieu or Rosseau developed ideas and principles which challenged and ended up tumbling the power structures of the Old Regime.
They promoted democratic principles, such as the definitions of bills of citizens' rights, universal suffrage, social contract (<u>citizens electing political representatives to form a goverment through suffrage, in opposition to the prevailing absolut monarchies</u>), and the division of the powers of the state in order to avoid excessive power accumulation in certain sectors, and therefore authoritarist risks.
<u>These ideas challenged the status quo, such as the non-elected British goverments in American territories. </u>
Jefferson has been called "the most democratic of the Founding fathers". The Jeffersonians advocated a narrow interpretation of the Constitution's Article I provisions granting powers to the federal government. They strenuously opposed the Federalist Party, led by Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton.
