Society became more conservative and many saw the answer to lie in the legal protection of a single state Church, in the curbing of the press, in the exclusion of social inferiors from the franchise and in the barring of religious dissenters from holding political office. In this new climate, Atheism and anticlericalism could no longer be seen as legitimate topics for learned debate or lighthearted repartee. They were henceforth seen as politically subversive as well as heretical.
Catholics throughout the world were urged to seek direct guidance from the Vatican and to support the authority of the Pope against that of individual national bishops. This culminated in the First Vatican Council of 1869-70 declaring papal infallibility to be a tenet of the Catholic faith. The Catholic Church sought to prove the truth of its claims by the recognition and proclamation of new miracles and visions which in pre-Revolutionary times would have been ridiculed as relics of a superstitious past.
The Enlightenment was brought to an end with a new wave of fervent piety that provided security to the ruling classes and the Churches. Nevertheless, expectations of tolerance and benevolence that arose with the Enlightenment were not entirely extinguished, and the nineteenth century saw many of the ideas of the Enlightenment bring about legal and political reform.
Police power
The enlightenment concept that was represented by John Locke was that government should have limited powers. He did believe that the government should protect natural rights.
That they could change their government if it did not protect their rights
John Locke believed that citizens have the right to rebel against a tyrannical government if it violates their natural rights to life, liberty, and property. He argued that government exists to protect these rights, and if it fails to do so, citizens have the right to overthrow it.
The Bill of Rights reflects a key enlightenment idea because it limits what government can do and it does so in order to protect the rights of the people.
John Locke, an Enlightenment thinker, argued that the purpose of government is to protect the natural rights of life, liberty, and property of its citizens. Locke believed that people are born with these inherent rights, and that government exists to preserve and protect them.
The Bill of Rights reflects a key enlightenment idea because it limits what government can do and it does so in order to protect the rights of the people.
John Locke was an English philosopher and Enlightenment thinker who wrote about the government's job to protect the natural rights of life liberty and property.
to be by the people for the people, in other words; to protect the citizens' rights
To protect against tyranny
The purpose of these bills is to protect those rights against infringement by the government.
Enlightenment philosophers believed that governments should protect the natural rights of individuals, promote the general welfare of society, and uphold the rule of law. They emphasized the importance of a social contract between the government and the people, where the power of the government is derived from the consent of the governed.