During the 17th and 18th centuries, rulers adopted fundamental principles of the Enlightenment, such as religious tolerance, freedom of speech and press, and the right to own and maintain private property. According to Kant, in his work What is Enlightenment? of 1784, “A prince who… only prescribes to men in religious matters to give them complete freedom while renouncing the haughty name of tolerance, is himself enlightened and deserves to be esteemed by the grateful world and posterity. » Many leaders accepted these new ideas; However, when it came time to implement them, leaders were often too afraid of losing power. This, in turn, led to the idea of ​​an "enlightened despot", who reflected the principles of the Enlightenment, while continuing to exercise the fundamental ideals of despotism. In the Political Testament of Frederick II of 1752, he recognized and accepted the idea of ​​a religious religion. tolerance. He even goes so far as to say that: “If the sovereign… declares himself for one religion or another… the persecuted religion will leave the homeland, and millions of subjects will enrich our neighbors with their know-how and their industry. » Basically, Frederick believes that religious intolerance only cripples the country. In his work, Essay on the Forms of Government, Frederick attacks the luxury, pomp and debauchery perpetrated by an inadequate sovereign. He also believes that a leader must act in the name of common benefit. To top it off, Frederick lists the supposed indispensable characteristics of a devoted ruler, including: "...they must be active, hardworking, upright and honest and concentrate all their forces to worthily fulfill their function..." Almost every idea he presents in these documents the origins of the great...... middle of paper ......g to the philosophy and efforts of great men; it is compelling evidence of the improvement of the human mind. Although this quote offers compelling evidence for revolutionary ideas, it also exposes Joseph's "enlightened" country as the result of a desire to follow other European countries in their enlightening transformation. Although it is often argued that leaders such as Joseph II, Catherine II and Frederick II were motivated to establish enlightened principles; often these rulers were slaves to the ideals of despotism, whose overarching goal was to gain more power. In fact, we can legitimately say that these leaders became aware of the greatness of the ideas of the Enlightenment; However, since most of their reign was spent preserving dominance over their people, it is safe to say that these individuals may have been more dedicated to serving their own interests..