What are some of the basic principles of the Enlightenment and Scientific Revolution?

Some basic principles of the Enlightenment and Scientific Revolution are the belief in reason over superstition. This belief in reason was behind the changes in political theory and ideas of government during the Enlightenment, as philosophers and political scientists such as Locke and Rousseau believed that governments should respect personal liberty and practice tolerance. These beliefs inspired political theories such as the social contract theory, which stated that the monarch had to follow the will of the people or be removed, and the separation of powers in different branches of government to check the power of the monarch.
In addition, the belief in reason inspired the Scientific Revolution, in which empiricism, or the importance of relying on evidence to corroborate scientific theories, became a guiding principle. This belief was important in laying the evidence-based groundwork for modern science and in ending the belief in superstition or religion to govern one's scientific understanding of the world. 

What are some of the basic principles of the Enlightenment and Scientific Revolution?
Taking its cue from the blossoming Scientific Revolution's of the 16th and 17th centuries, the Age of Enlightenment set out to restructure philosophy, politics, and society on totally new foundations.
The many successes of new scientific inquiries into avenues such as astronomy and cosmology; chemistry; physics; and mathematics by thinkers such as Copernicus, Kepler, Newton, Leibniz, and Descartes had laid the foundation for a radically new and different view of the world than the one passed down from the medieval era and the middle ages.
Starting with Descartes publications of the Discourse on Method (1637) and Meditations on First Philosophy (1641) and continuing roughly through Immanuel Kant's publication of the Critique of Pure Reason (1781, 1787), Enlightenment thinkers set out to explicate these new first principles. These included the quest for scientific certainty and empirical verifiability as the foundations of truth and knowledge. Instead of accepting the arguments of faith or belief handed down to them by the State or the Church, Enlightenment thinkers sought natural explanations for how or why things occurred the way they did. 
Another major principle was the use of scientific reason and experiment as the guiding force of all inquiry; and this reason was universal. All human beings were seen as rational agents capable of achieving enlightenment. These principles did not only apply to science, but to politics and society as well. Because of their belief in universal reason, rights, and the progress of science to make a better world, Enlightenment thinkers challenged the dominant political and social orders. These orders had been based on rigid nobility and inequality which were supposedly bestowed by God (i.e., the divine right of kings), thus ushering in a new era of democratic thinking.
 

The Enlightenment started in the 18th century and was an intellectual movement that questioned old ideas and beliefs. Before the Enlightenment people took for granted what they were told by the Church and by their rulers. With the advent of the printing press and people becoming more educated these ideas were coming into question. Enlightenment thinking stressed reason, natural law, and progress in criticism to the injustices of the day. 
 
Some of the principles that came out of the Enlightenment was natural rights. This is the idea that people are born with certain rights that cannot be taken away. In the American Declaration of Independence these were called unalienable rights; life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. John Locke was the Enlightenment philosopher that believed in natural rights along with believing laws must be followed for a productive society. 
 
The Scientific Revolution helped spurn the Enlightenment period.  Scientists such as Galileo, Copernicus, and Newton began to question the science that the Church had been using for centuries. The scientific method started a revolution to examine with what has been taught in the past is correct. The Scientific Revolution used less religious and more secular ways of thinking. New technology and advancements in science helped lead to the Enlightenment era.