Modern thinking is the enlightenment thinking that ended the Dark Ages and ushered in Newtonian science.

FORBES: The Rabbi's Four Leadership Lessons, Part 2

Born of revolutions, America and France each established republics inspired by Enlightenment thinking, and based on freedom and individual rights.

ECONOMIST: French anti-Americanism

Otherwise, the article is a good summary of Enlightenment Era thinking on property rights.

FORBES: Are Property Rights Human Rights?

Indeed, much of the thinking behind the Enlightenment, which you credit as inspiring America's revolution, occurred in England during this period.

ECONOMIST: On France and America, churches' income, student loans, Iraq, junk food, Peoria | The