Freedom of expression and the enlightenment

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FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND THE ENLIGHTENMENT 
by 
Alison Guider 
A thesis submitted to the faculty of The University of Mississippi in partial fulfillment of 
the requirements of the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College. 
Oxford 
May 2015 
Approved by 
_________________________________ 
Adviser: Professor Jeffrey Watt 
_________________________________ 
Reader: Professor Marc Lerner 
_________________________________ 
Reader: Professor Molly Pasco-Pranger 

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©2015 
Alison Guider 
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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ABSTRACT 
ALISON GUIDER: Freedom of Expression and the Enlightenment 
(Under the direction of Jeffrey Watt) 
This thesis concerns Enlightenment and pre-Enlightenment views of freedom of 
expression, including topics such as toleration, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, 
and freedom of the press. It then looks at how these views shaped some of the ideas that 
emerged from the American and French Revolution. The conclusions drawn here are 
drawn from document-based research, both primary and secondary sources. The 
Enlightenment, although primarily concentrated in the eighteenth century, actually had 
what one might call precursors in the seventeenth century, including John Locke, 
Benedict de Spinoza, and Pierre Bayle. These thinkers helped set the stage for 
Enlightenment thinkers such as Voltaire, Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, 
and Karl Friedrich Bahrdt. All of these thinkers wrote on freedom of expression, but they 
did not always agree on how far this freedom should be extended, which represented a 
division between moderate and Radical Enlightenment. Both strains of the 
Enlightenment, however, were read by both the American and French Revolutionaries 
and shaped the ideas of freedom of expression that came out of these two revolutions, 
including protections of free press. Although the Enlightenment does have a bit of a 
complicated legacy, modern day protections of freedom of expression would not exist 
without it; therefore, an in-depth study of the origins of these protections is worthwhile.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 
INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………...…1 
CHAPTER I: PRECURSORS TO THE ENLIGHTENMENT…………………………....5 
CHAPTER II: ENLIGHTENMENT THINKERS……………………………………….24 
CHAPTER III: ENLIGHTENMENT INFLUENCE ON THE IDEAS OF EIGHTEENTH 
CENTURY REVOLUTIONS……………………………………………………45 
EPILOGUE………………………………..………………………………..……………62 
BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………………..66 

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