one of the major themes of the european enlightenment where a greater establishment of self importance. prior to the enlightenment time period, european countries were politically tied to the catholic church. with the enlightenment movement, a sense of individualism and self importance led to the separation of church and state, and later lead to an establishment of different types of government. colonists in north america took these views and began to gain their own sense of individualism. this lead not only to the build up of the american revolution, but essentially created the backbone for the united states government (esp. their established documents like the declaration of independence, etc.)