CKHG Unit 3: The Enlightenment
NOTE: The resources for this unit are in the first part of The Enlightenment, The French Revolution and Romanticism.
Focus:
This unit introduces students to the Enlightenment, also known as the Age of Reason.
Students explore the ideas of influential writers, scientists, and philosophers in Western Europe from the late 1600s through the 1700s. These Enlightenment thinkers, with their emphasis on intellectual freedom and natural rights, ushered in the modern age. Students also explore how the ideas of Europe’s Enlightenment thinkers are echoed within the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, as Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, and others embraced these revolutionary ideas.
Number of Lessons: 6
Instruction Time:
45 minutes (Each lesson may be divided into shorter segments.)
Additional Search Terms:
social studies • geography • map skills • nonfiction • informational text • Isaac Newton • René Descartes • Thomas Hobbes • John Locke • Voltaire • Baron de Montesquieu • scientific revolution • reason • “divine right of kings” • philosophy • monarchy • Parliament • social contract • natural rights • separation of powers
