Analyze the influence of puritan Christianity and Enlightenment thought on the ideas of the founding fathers of the USA.

mistakes.  The basic notion of the independence of the United States is that all men are created equal and every man is given equal and undivided rights before God including life, freedom and the right to pursue happiness.  This idea is originally from the thoughts in the Enlightenment and there were more doctrines which were inspired by the thinkers in the period.  For examples, many well-educated representatives who were involved in making the constitution were very aware of the modern trend of the political thinking in the Enlightenment and they were also profoundly influenced by Locke and Montesquieu.  In Locke’s theory, if any forms of government violate the given rights of man, the government can be replaced rationally and the founders of America have believed in similar things.  They agreed that the people of the country are under the protection of the constitution and the system of government is democratic and it’s also based on its people.  Moreover, the power of government is limited and people have their rights to speak freely, to believe in any religions they want to and to have their own privacy.  This is the first time in the western history that the political system is separated from the religion.  As for Montesquieu’s theory of political system, the constitution of the United States has adopted part of its thinking to set up a government that has three major streams of independent power which are administration, legislation and judiciary.  He considered the meaning of the political freedom to be no absolute authority but divided control and holding up the government together.  The Declaration of Independence was written by Thomas Jefferson in 1776 and the basic notion was from Aristotle, Locke and Christianity.  At that time, the American society was deeply rooted on the beliefs of puritan Christianity and the people thought that the dignity and equality was given by God and they could not life alone without God.  This general idea was what bound the morality of the society at that time and it was also the foundation of the political system that religion is separated from politics.  This is why Alexis de Tocquevelle, a famous French political thinker, once said, “the United States of America is a country that has religious spirit” when he visited the USA after its independence.  In addition, Jefferson himself explained that his mission was not inventing new ideas but his purpose was to express the soul of America and this idea was also shared by Adams.  Adams was the child of a farmer in a puritan family and he was honest, wise and knowledgeable.  He was the first one among the founders of America to advocate independence and he was also the first one to set up the body of the constitution.  Jefferson and he pushed religious freedom for the first time in the western world that politics should be separated from religion.  They have the same sense of value, board vision and strong faith and the influence they made is everlasting.  The United States used religious beliefs as its basis rocks to build the country and was greatly inspired by puritan Christianity.  The religious thinking has made it a balance between the rationalism of the Enlightenment and made an excellent combination.