America's version of Enlightenment was the Scottish version...a belief in commerce and "getting along" with others despite their imperfections, while French enlightenment wanted the "perfect" being (the intellectual) to rule.
"America's version of Enlightenment was the Scottish version...a belief in commerce and "getting along" with others despite their imperfections, while French enlightenment wanted the "perfect" being (the intellectual) to rule."
The french enlightenment philosophers did contribute a lot of very immportant concepts used by American Founding Fathers. Look up Montesquieu:
"Montesquieu advocated constitutionalism, the preservation of civil liberties, the abolition of slavery, gradualism, moderation, peace, internationalism, social and economic justice with due respect to national and local tradition. He believed in justice and the rule of law; detested all forms of extremism and fanaticism; put his faith in the balance of power and the division of authority as a weapon against despotic rule by individuals or groups or majorities; and approved of social equality, but not the point which it threatened individual liberty; and out of liberty, but not to the point where it threatened to disrupt orderly government."
He is credited as the intellectual co-founder of the American Constitution, along with Englishman John Locke