Voltaire was a French philosopher, writer and historian who is considered one of the greatest thinkers of the Age of Enlightenment. He lived from 1694 to 1778, when the American Revolution was taking place. Voltaire’s ideas about democracy and freedom of speech influenced the American Revolution. He also wrote about the corrupting influence of absolute power, which was a major issue for the colonists.
He was a critic of religious intolerance and censorship, and he supported civil liberties such as freedom of speech and freedom from arbitrary arrest. He believed in separation of church and state, or what he called “laïcité.” His views on religion are still controversial today; some scholars believe that Voltaire’s writings helped pave the way for modern atheism and agnosticism.
In fact, Voltaire’s ideas about democracy and freedom of speech were very influential on political thought in Europe during his lifetime (1694-1778). However, he did not believe that these ideas could be applied to France because he thought there was too much corruption there.
While he had no direct connection with America during his lifetime, his writings were widely read by American revolutionaries such as Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and John Adams. In fact, Jefferson owned a personal copy of Voltaire’s famous book Candide (1759), which satirized European societies by portraying them as absurdly evil places where people suffer greatly because they try so hard to be good instead of just accepting things as they are.
