... and knowledge'. The intellectual leaders of this movement (known as the philosophes) regarded themselves as courageous and elite. The philosophes were a group of French intellectuals of the 18th century Enlightenment encouraged reason, knowledge and education as a way of overcoming superstition and ignorance such as Rousseau were seen as radical with revolutionary ideas however they themselves were far from being revolutionists. They challenged the age-old assumptions about society based upon tradition. France was unable to keep this new way of thinking out of the country with the army bringing back a strong influence with them from fighting in the American civil war and what the war stood for. The success of the Americans to overthrow British rule encouraged the French to fight for their freedom. The ideas and writings of Enlightenment thinkers like Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Rousseau became widespread. The French people were inspired to go against their king. Louis XVI ...

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