Revocation to rights, 1685--1789: The Enlightenment's role in influencing public opinion toward toleration and reform

The Enlightenment campaign for toleration emerged in the seventeenth century in reaction to policies including the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. Scholars including Bayle, Spinoza and Locke appealed to reason to promote freedom of conscience and toleration. These ideas were repeated and expanded during the Enlightenment through important texts and massive projects like the Encyclopédie which dispersed knowledge throughout Europe. Attempts to censor these writings slowed their circulation, but also encouraged the emergence of several different strategies for reform. Voltaire initiated the most successful method of reform after discovering the importance of appealing to public opinion through causes célèbres like the Calas Affair. This affair transformed Voltaire's general crusade to Écrazer l'Infâme into a focused campaign for justice and religious toleration. Voltaire provided polemics that influenced public opinion to pressure the government to adopt reforms. Most importantly, the Edict of Toleration in 1787 which guaranteed religious freedoms for Huguenots.