If you’re like me, the last time you gave any serious consideration to The Enlightenment was when you were in college. Even then, it seemed to me that it was a bunch of old men in powdered wigs sitting around saying painfully obvious things like, “I think, therefore I am”.
The more I learn about the American Revolution, the more I’ve come to realize that The Enlightenment was not the irrelevant philosophical exercise that I thought it was. It is, in fact, the basis for most modern social, political, and economic thought.
OK, What Exactly Was The Enlightenment?
It was an intellectual movement that began principally in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries. It emphasized reason, science, liberty, and skepticism of inherited authority. Some of the smartest people in Europe reexamined everything they thought they knew. They questioned the nature of God, the foundations of knowledge, the rights of individuals and how they related to the purpose of government, and the relationships between the people with power and those without. Underneath it all was the core belief in the possibility of human progress.
Elements of the Enlightenment
There are several key elements that define The Enlightenment. Probably the most important was an almost religious devotion to the supremacy of reason. Prior to this, most Europeans accepted that the ultimate authorities in the world were the church and the monarchy. Enlightenment thinkers were the first to question those authorities. They argued that a human mind with its ability for observation, logic, and evaluation of evidence could discover the truth without having it dictated by the church or the king. They didn’t necessarily reject religion, but they questioned superstition, intolerance, and blind obedience. They thought that reason gave people the power to understand the universe and improve the human condition.
Closely related to this was their belief in empiricism and the scientific method. The Enlightenment came soon after the Scientific Revolution and was influenced by figures such as Isaac Newton who demonstrated that nature operated according to principles that could be discovered and understood and that true understanding came from observable experience rather than from inherited doctrine. René Descartes, whom I quoted somewhat cavalierly in my opening paragraph, is sometimes recognized as the philosophical godfather of the Enlightenment. His landmark work Discourse on the Method, published in 1637, gave rise to the practice of rejecting any belief that couldn’t be verified by rigorous inquiry.
Another central element is the belief in the natural rights of humanity. They believed that all people possess certain rights bestowed by nature. These include life, liberty, property, and security and that all people possess these rights simply because they live. Central to this is the idea that no government had granted those rights and therefore no government can legitimately revoke them. They viewed this as an implicit social contract between rulers and the people and not a gift of a sovereign. The key element of this idea is that the people could, at any time, withdraw their consent and reconstitute the government.
Other key elements of the Enlightenment included skepticism towards authority, and a questioning of the scripture as the final word on nature. They disputed the divine rights of kings. They also stressed religious toleration and proposed the conscience should not be coerced by the state. They had a strong belief in the ability of civilization to progress through education, science, and political reform. While all enlightenment thinkers did not have the exact same specific beliefs, they believed in the core element of the value of the improvement of humanity.
Who’s Who in The Enlightenment and the Revolution
There were many writers, scientists, and philosophers associated with The Enlightenment. They range from Adam Smith and his economic theories to Voltaire and his theories of tolerance and free thought. In an essay such as this it would be impossible for me to do justice to all these great thinkers. I’m going to focus on the two I believe had the greatest impact on the American Revolution: John Locke and Charles- Louise de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu.
Locke was a physician, philosopher and political theorist and his works probably had a greater influence on revolutionary thought than those of anyone else. His central argument was that all individuals have a natural right to life, liberty and property and that those rights exist independent of any government and that no government possesses the right to violate them.
Montesquieu was a French judge and political philosopher whom many view as the architect of separation of powers. He wrote that tyranny is best prevented by dividing governmental authority among distinct branches—executive, legislative, and judicial—and that each will check the power of the other.
Likewise, almost every central player in the American Revolution was familiar with the works of The Enlightenment writers. I’m going to focus on the two whose work, I believe, most obviously reflects the thoughts of The Enlightenment, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.
Jefferson, Locke, and the Declaration of Independence
Thomas Jefferson is, arguably, the member of the revolutionary generation most identified with the philosophy of John Locke. Other colonial writers such as George Mason in his June1776 Virginia Declaration of Rights and Samuel Adams in his 1772 The Rights of the Colonists, clearly reflected Lockean principles. In fact, Adams specifically mentioned Locke in his treatise. But it is Jefferson in his Declaration of Independence whose relationship to John Locke is most familiar to the American people.
Locke argued that all individuals possess natural rights that include life, liberty, and property and that governments exist solely to protect those rights. Jefferson incorporated Locke’s ideas almost in verbatim into the Declaration’s most famous passage excepting that he substituted “the pursuit of happiness” for Locke’s “property”. Jefferson likely intended to broaden the appeal of his arguments beyond just protection of wealthy landowners to include more universal human rights. The Declaration also included other elements that reflected Locke’s thoughts such as a listing of violations by the British government that caused it to forfeit its legitimate authority. Jefferson had turned Locke’s social contract theory into a statement of grievances against the British monarchy.
I think it’s also important to note that not all historians agree that John Locke was the sole or even principal influence on Jefferson’s thinking in the Declaration. Other enlightenment philosophers thought to have influenced Jefferson include Francis Hutchinson, Montesquieu, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Jefferson himself identified the ancient philosophers Aristotle and Cicero as being intellectual sources.
Some historians have proposed that the inclusion of Locke’s ideas in the Declaration of Independence was less the result of a deep philosophical study on the part of Jefferson then a recognition that Locke’s ideas had become widely accepted in the colonies by the 1770s. Jefferson himself later wrote that the declaration wasn’t meant to be a new philosophy but to reflect the “common sense of the subject”. Regardless of whether the influence was direct or indirect, I find it difficult not to see the ideas of John Locke throughout the Declaration of Independence.
James Madison, Montesquieu, and the Constitution
Montesquieu laid out his ideas for the separation of powers in his 1748 treatise The Spirit of the Laws. He was concerned that whoever holds power will tend to abuse it. He believed that the best protection for liberty is dividing governmental power among three co-equal groups: those who make the law (legislative), those who carry out the law (executive), and those who judge disputes (judicial). He further believed that if one of these groups held excessive power, freedom would be endangered because the same person could write laws to their own benefit, then enforce those laws as they saw fit and then render judgments in their own favor.
James Madison has often been called the “father of the Constitution”. I’ve never thought that was a very accurate description, mainly because I’m not sure what it means. There was no single author of the Constitution, it was a group effort that was based on compromise, debate, bargaining, threats, and endless rewriting.
I would call Madison the architect of the Constitution. While he didn’t come up with the idea of the three branches of government, it had been in wide circulation in the colonies for several years, he showed up at the Constitutional Convention with a plan. As a result, the convention wound up debating his plan as the basis for a new constitution. Madison’s “Virginia Plan” underwent extensive revisions at the hands of the convention, but its basic structure of three coequal branches of government, reflecting Montesquieu’s ideas, remained intact.
The Legacy of the Enlightenment
The Enlightenment had a profound effect on both political and intellectual thought in the western world. It influenced not only the American Revolution but later the French Revolution. Though largely unrecognized by other revolutionaries at the time, its philosophy influenced democratic movements around the world.
The ideas of constitutional government with its principles of freedom of speech, religious liberty, and human rights all trace directly back to Enlightenment ideas. The Enlightenment did have its own problems. Many of the thinkers, reflecting the social and political mores of the 17th and 18th centuries, excluded women, enslaved Africans, indigenous people, and the lower social and economic classes from their ideas of political and social equality. Perhaps ironically, their emphasis on reason and human progress eventually began to bring these other groups into full membership in democratic society.
Unfortunately, many of the Enlightenment principles that underpin our system of government are currently under attack by politicians and oligarchs attempting to consolidate their own power and wealth.
Image generated by author using ChatGPT.
Sources
Britannica: The Enlightenment
Wikipedia: Enlightenment Philosophy
Wikipedia: Age of Enlightenment
World History Encyclopedia: 12 Key Enlightenment Philosophers
Britannica: Key Figures of the Enlightenment
Britannica: John Locke
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Locke’s Political Philosophy
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: John Locke
History Hit: Heroes of the Enlightenment
U.S. Army: Impact of the Enlightenment on the American Revolution
usconstitution.net: Enlightenment’s Impact on U.S. Democracy
Albert.io: The Enlightenment and the American Revolution
Vaia: Philosophy of the Declaration of Independence
UGA Press: Montesquieu and the American Constitution
Wikipedia: Influence of the American Revolution on the French Revolution
America at 250: A Revolution Remembered, Forgotten — or Rewritten?
By John Turley
On June 1, 2026
In Commentary, History
I’m old enough to remember the 200th anniversary of the American Revolution. Bicentennial symbols were everywhere — Liberty Bells, eagles, and that ubiquitous red, white, and blue stylized five-point star logo slapped on hats, T-shirts, socks, soft drink cups, beer cans, and even a special “Spirit of ’76” edition of the Ford Mustang II. Commemorative events were springing up everywhere, and people had full-blown bicentennial fever.
The 250th anniversary is a different animal entirely. Even the official name — Semiquincentennial — sounds like something you’d need a medical degree to pronounce. But the tongue-twisting label is the least of its problems.
The bicentennial came after a decade of national trauma: Vietnam, Watergate, and the civil rights struggles had left the country battered. By 1976, most Americans were ready to feel good about themselves again, and the bicentennial became a giant, colorful celebration of “American resilience.” The 250th arrives in a different kind of trauma — one that is arguably more confusing because it comes dressed as patriotism.
A Celebration Gets Complicated
While the 250th is being marked by numerous events, commemorations, and official proclamations, it has not yet captured the national imagination the way 1976 did. The official nonpartisan U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission, established by Congress in 2016 and supported by both George W. Bush and Barack Obama as Honorary Co-Chairs, has been working toward what it calls the “largest and most inclusive” anniversary celebration in American history. But its efforts have increasingly been overshadowed — and, critics argue, undermined — by a parallel White House effort with a very different philosophy about what American history should look like.
Shortly after taking office in January 2025, President Trump signed an executive order titled “Celebrating America’s 250th Birthday,” creating his own body — Task Force 250 — to coordinate anniversary plans and promising “a grand celebration worthy of the momentous occasion.” A full year of festivities was planned, beginning on Memorial Day 2025 and running through July 4, 2026. On paper, more attention on the anniversary sounds like good news. In practice, the story is more complicated.
When “Restoring History” Means Removing It
Two months after launching his anniversary task force, Trump signed a second executive order — this one titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” — directing Vice President Vance to eliminate what the order calls “divisive race-centered ideology” from Smithsonian museums, educational and research centers, and the National Zoo (the Zoo??). The Smithsonian, one of the world’s great repositories of American history, was accused by the president of having come “under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology” that portrayed “American and Western values as inherently harmful and oppressive.”
That executive order set off a chain of events that has complicated the 250th anniversary in ways the founding fathers would have found darkly ironic, given that the Revolution was, at its core, a fight against the arbitrary exercise of executive power.
At Philadelphia’s Independence National Historical Park — one of the most historically significant sites in the country — National Park Service employees abruptly removed exhibits about the nine people George Washington held in slavery while Philadelphia served as the nation’s capital. Passersby reportedly heard an employee repeating, “I’m just following orders” as the displays came down. The city of Philadelphia promptly sued the federal government, arguing that the removal violated a cooperative agreement for the site’s development.
This wasn’t an isolated incident. According to reporting from Poynter and PEN America, National Park Service employees were ordered to survey all signage and interpretive materials across the nation’s 400-plus parks and monuments, flagging anything “negative about either past or living Americans.” Exhibits about slavery, Indigenous history, women’s rights, and climate change were all swept into the review. At Fort Sumter in South Carolina — where the Civil War began — even a sign explaining the risks the site faces from rising sea levels was removed.
The Interior Department issued a November 2025 memo ordering National Park Service gift shops to remove items promoting DEI or “gender expression.” Free admission days that had previously honored Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth were dropped; June 14 — Flag Day and President Trump’s birthday (does anyone thinks that’s a coincidence?) — was added instead.
Meanwhile, a proposed commemorative dollar coin design featured President Trump on the obverse and the words “Fight! Fight! Fight!” on the reverse — evoking the imagery from the July 2024 assassination attempt. The Commission of Fine Arts, whose members Trump dismissed in October 2025 and replaced with his own appointees, subsequently recommended the design.
The Money Problem
The nonpartisan America250 Commission hasn’t just faced ideological headwinds. It has also faced financial ones. By early 2026, the Commission had received only $25 million of its congressionally appropriated $150 million, with the remainder at risk of being redirected to Trump-aligned Freedom 250’s “Freedom Trucks” — six state-of-the-art mobile museums traveling the country telling a version of American history that aligns with the administration’s vision. Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman raised concerns about the funding diversion, though the Commission stated it had enough to continue its core programming.
What Actually Happened at Lexington and Concord
Against this backdrop, the 250th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 2025, became a preview of what the full anniversary might look like. The battle reenactments drew large crowds, along with protesters carrying signs reading “No Kings” and “Resist Like It’s 1775,” explicitly drawing parallels between opposition to King George III and what they saw as autocratic tendencies in current leadership.
Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey told the crowd at the North Bridge ceremony that “we see things that would be familiar to our Revolutionary predecessors — the silencing of critics, the disappearing people from our streets, demands for unquestioned fealty.” Whether one agrees with that characterization or not, the spectacle of Americans invoking the Revolution to oppose their own government at a Revolution commemoration is at minimum historically interesting — and arguably points to the enduring vitality of Revolutionary ideals.
Historians have noted that the Revolution itself was messier and more ambiguous than either side of today’s debate wants to acknowledge. As University of South Carolina professor Woody Holton observed, most colonists in April 1775 weren’t seeking independence — they wanted better treatment within the British Empire and a return to pre-1763 arrangements. The revolution was improvised, contentious, and full of people who disagreed about its meaning even while it was happening. Sound familiar?
The Founding Fathers Were Not a Monolith
Here is what is genuinely troubling about selectively sanitizing Revolutionary history: the founders themselves would not have recognized the sanitized version. George Washington, the hero of the Revolution, held people in slavery, including at the presidential residence in Philadelphia — the very site where exhibits were just torn down. Benjamin Franklin, who helped draft the Declaration of Independence, owned enslaved people and only became an abolitionist late in his life. Thomas Jefferson wrote “all men are created equal” while holding more than 600 people in bondage over his lifetime.
Removing this history doesn’t honor the founders. It patronizes them by pretending their contradictions didn’t exist — and it patronizes us by suggesting we can’t handle the full truth. Even they recognized the contradictions. The founders were brilliant, flawed, and human. That’s what makes the Revolution worth studying.
Resistance in the Courts and in the Institutions
It’s worth noting that the administration’s efforts have met significant resistance. Federal courts have blocked some removals. Scholars, activists, and historians have pushed back forcefully. A coalition of groups filed suit in February 2026 arguing that the Interior Department’s mandate to strip historical information from national parks violated the Administrative Procedure Act. Philadelphia’s lawsuit over the Washington slavery exhibit is ongoing.
Northwestern University historian Leslie M. Harris, author of five books on American slavery, has said that no previous presidential administration has interfered with historic sites in this way, and warned of a potential long-term consequence: public distrust of government-maintained historical sites, or outright avoidance of them.
What We Can Do
I wrote earlier about a friend on the West Virginia 250th committee who told me their initial meeting accomplished nothing and, almost two years later, they’ve had not had a further meeting. They have only just in the past few weeks announced their plans for America 250. That’s disappointing, but in some ways, it underscores the larger point: the commemoration of this anniversary is going to be shaped by whoever shows up.
Here in West Virginia, we showed what’s possible when citizens take the lead. In October 2024, without any state or national organizational or financial help, the City of Point Pleasant and the West Virginia Sons of the American Revolution organized a commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Point Pleasant — a battle many consider a precursor to the Revolution. It worked. People came. History was honored.
We can do more of that. We don’t need to live in Massachusetts to commemorate Lexington and Concord. We don’t need federal approval to mark the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the Battle of Saratoga, or the crossing of the Delaware. We don’t need the government’s permission to tell complete history — including the parts about who was left out and who fought to be included anyway.
All across the country, individuals and small groups are working to recognize the revolution. In West Virginia, we’ve organized commemorations of the Boston Tea Party, the 250th anniversary of the founding of the Continental Navy and the Continental Marines, George Washington’s Birthday, and a special America 250 Memorial Day service at the West Virginia Veterans Memorial, all without any governmental support or funding. There have been presentations at local libraries and civic groups about the lives of average people during the time of the revolution, the origin of the American flag and even demonstrations of cooking and foods from the time of the revolution. If we had waited for state or national support these activities never would have happened. Just because your event may be small doesn’t mean it’s unimportant.
The Revolution, after all, was not a government program. It was a citizen uprising.
The Stakes
The American Revolution matters to world history precisely because it planted ideas — self-governance, the rule of law, the consent of the governed, the equality of all people before the law — that were genuinely radical ideas in 1776 and remain contested in much of the world today. Those ideas were aspirational when they were written. They remain aspirational now. The gap between the ideal and the reality is not a reason to hide the history; it is the history.
If the 250th anniversary is remembered primarily as a moment when the federal government selectively curated which parts of the founding era the public was allowed to encounter, that will itself become a significant historical footnote — and not a flattering one.
It will be our great shame if we allow the commemoration of an event so significant in both American and world history to be used — by anyone, of any political stripe — to divide us rather than to strengthen our common bond. The Revolution was imperfect, contentious, and incomplete. So is the republic it created. That is not a cause for despair. It is a call to engagement and improvement.
We the people. Still the operative phrase.
Illustration generated by author using ChatGPT.
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Sources