Age of Enlightenment

The Enlightenment refers to an 18th-century movement in Europe that extolled the virtues of scientific knowledge and social betterment. Central to Enlightenment were rationalism and secularism, which resonated in Canada and appealed particularly to the seigneurial class and the emerging bourgeoisie. In Montreal, for example, newspapers such as La Gazette littéraire and La Gazette de Montréal praised Voltaire’s writings, thinking, and wit. Moderates within the Church of Scotland were also strongly influenced by the Enlightenment: they were broad-minded and humanistic, and latitudinarian in doctrine.