<span>The american political process in which citizens elect individuals to represent them in the legislature was inspired by the "Enlightenment," since this period of thinking in Europe stressed the natural rights of citizens regarding their role in their own governance. </span>
Locke believed in a state of nature( no government) people would be unsafe and no one would be peaceful to each other. Hobbes was the opposite of that and believed everyone would help one another and be kind.
It was not quite a 100 years old yet but your close