When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
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.
Good grief, we couldn't have stuff like that, now could we?
Pretty much, but that was a result in response to "the bad old days" of living under the British crown and the theocratic dogma of the Church of England, which a lot of people came to this country to escape.
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.I think Coyoteman was thinking of the earlier Darker Ages when theologians were doing the thinking. Not the time of the English Enlightenment.
Many of the Founding Fathers of the United States were also influenced by Enlightenment-era ideas, especially the views of John Locke on the duties and role of government for the people.The DoI pretty much follows The Second Treatise on Civil Government of John Locke. The ultimate conclusion of which is
when by the miscarriages of those in authority, it is forfeited; upon the forfeiture, or at the determination of the time set, it reverts to the society, and the people have a right to act as supreme, and continue the legislative in themselves; or erect a new form, or under the old form place it in new hands, as they think good.John Locke's Empiricism arose from the Age of ReasonFINIS.
17th century philosophy in the Western world is generally regarded as being the start of modern philosophy, and a departure from the medieval approach, especially Scholasticism.And that started with Francis Bacon, who had something to do with freeing science from the cold dead hands of the Scholastics.
Western Philosophy had three good centuries before succumbing to Romanticism and post-modernism. Perhaps that's all any civilization can expect