The enlightenment was a social and scientific movement, not a political movement. Enlightenment thinkers came from across the political spectrum from rational absolutists to republicans. What made them enlightened was the desire for a freer and more rational society, not necessarily a change to the political order.2012 Wont Happen said:Your great enlightenment thinkers pioneered the idea of republicanism... while ours went ahead and made a republic.
To assume that republicanism is somehow the logical end-point of the enlightenment is ridiculous Americocentrism, and I speak as a British republican. Don't forget that the European revolution achieved its high point under Napoleon, not under the National Convention, the Directorate or the Consulate.