The Founding Fathers cited the literary ideas of natural rights, and inherent freedoms. Taking a look at figures such as Locke, you can see where the citations came from. The colonies of the European powers certainly had scholars who heard of and found ideas such as Lockean liberalism appealing to them. However, Europe’s refusal to grant their requests resulted in Revolutions.
The Enlightenment was good because the philosophers such as Locke and Voltaire were the source of inspiration for the writing of our own Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Which while flawed, is still a great”flawed” way to run a government.
The Enlightenment was problematic specifically because, as you said, it was also an age of warfare. Nationalism grew to fruition. Secularism and Enlightenment Philosophy did little or nothing to steady the tide of this warfare between powers, or colonial exploitation.
I would argue that throughout the Enlightenment, and at least Two World Wars Nationalism became a major world religion.
This is not directed at you, but it is a distortion to claim Locke was an “Enlightment” thinker. He was a Christian of an arminian stripe who learned his political theory from his Puritan father and uncle, both of whom served in Cromwell’s New Model Army. All of the political theory that true Americans cherish was the work of the Reformation. The “Enlightenment” did enthrone Nationalism, but it also was infested with socialists and totalitarians of all stripes. Rousseau, not Locke, is the political voice of the Enlightenment, and Rousseau is pure evil.