Numerous ideas of the French and American Revolutions originated
from the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was an intellectual revolution centered on natural law, freedom, hope, rationality, and secularism. The Enlightenment was not the only cause of the French and American Revolutions. The leaders of these revolutions were motivated by philosophers and writers of the Enlightenment such as Voltaire, Rousseau, and Montesquieu. The ordinary person also reacted to the political and social predicaments of the era using a variety of the Enlightenment ideas (such as freedom and fairness were fought for as people attempted to put an end to their tyrannical leaders).