Download UNIT 4 - gcisd

UNIT 4:
A TIME OF
REVOLUTIONS
AND REASON
Scientific Revolution--Ch 14
Key Concept 1.1
The worldview of European intellectuals shifted from one based on ecclesiastical and classical authority
to one based primarily on inquiry and observation of the natural world.
IV. New ideas in science based on observation, experimentation, and mathematics
challenged classical views of the cosmos, nature and the human body, although folk
traditions of knowledge and the universe persisted
* New ideas and methods in astronomy led to
individuals such as Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton to
question the authority of the ancients and religion and to
develop a heliocentric view of the cosmos
*Anatomical and medical discoveries by physicians like * Paracelsus
William Harvey, presented the body as an integrated
* Andreas Vesalius
system challenged the traditional humoral theory of the
body and of disease espoused by Galen
* Bacon and Descartes defined inductive and deductive
reasoning and promoted experimentation and the use of
mathematics, which would ultimately shape the
scientific method
* Alchemy and astrology continued to appeal to elites
* Paracelsus
and some natural philosophers in part because they
* Gerolamo Cardano
shared with the new science the notion of a predictable
* Johannes Kepler
and knowable universe. In oral culture of peasants, a
* Sir Isaac Newton
belief that the cosmos was governed by divine and
demonic forces persisted
“Analyze how the development of Renaissance
humanism, the printing press, and the scientific
method contributed to the emergence of a new
theory of knowledge and conception of the
universe.”
“Account for the persistence of traditional and folk
understandings of the cosmos and causation, even
with the advent of the Scientific Revolution.”
“Explain the characteristics, practices, and beliefs
of traditional communities in preindustrial Europe
and how they were challenged by religious
reforms.”
Pre-Enlightenment--Ch 14
Key Concept 2.3
The popularization and dissemination of the Scientific Revolution and the application of its methods to political, social,
and ethical issues led to an increased, although not unchallenged, emphasis on reason in European culture.
I. Rational and empirical thought challenged traditional values and ideas
* Locke and Rousseau developed new political models
based on the concept of natural rights
“Explain the emergence, spread, and questioning of
scientific, technological, and positivist approaches
to addressing social problems.”
“Explain how a worldview based on science and
reason challenged and preserved social order and
roles, especially the role of women.”
"Analyze how the development of Renaissance
humanism, the printing press, and the scientific
method contributed to the emergence of a new
theory of knowledge and conception of the
universe."
"Analyze how and to what extent the
Enlightenment encouraged Europeans to understand
human behavior, economic activity, and politics as
governed by natural laws."
"Explain the emergence, spread, and questioning of
scientific, technological, and positivist approaches
to addressing social problems."
"Explain how new theories of government and
political ideologies attempted to provide a coherent
explanation for human behavior and the extent to
which they adhered to or diverged from traditional
explanations based on religious beliefs."
"Explain the emergence of civic humanism and
new conceptions of political authority during the
Renaissance, as well as subsequent theories and
practices that stressed the political importance and
rights of the individual."
"Analyze how new political and economic theories
from the 17th century and the Enlightenment
challenged absolutism and shaped the development
of constitutional states, parliamentary governments,
and the concept of individual rights."
"Explain the emergence of representative
government as an alternative to absolutism."
"Analyze how various movements for political and
social equality — such as feminism,
anticolonialism, and campaigns for immigrants’
rights — pressured governments and redefined
citizenship."
"Analyze how religious and secular institutions and
groups attempted to limit monarchical power by
articulating theories of resistance to absolutism, and
by taking political action."
"Evaluate the causes and consequences of persistent
tensions between women’s role and status in the
private versus the public sphere."
III. New political and economic theories challenged absolutism and mercantilism
* Political theories, such as John Locke’s, conceived of
society as composed of individuals driven by selfinterest and argued that the state originated in the
consent of the governed (i.e. a social contract) rather
than in divine right or tradition
"Assess the extent to which women participated in
and benefited from the shifting values of European
society from the 15th century onwards."
"Analyze how and to what extent the
Enlightenment encouraged Europeans to understand
human behavior, economic activity, and politics as
governed by natural laws."
"Explain how new theories of government and
political ideologies attempted to provide a coherent
explanation for human behavior and the extent to
which they adhered to or diverged from traditional
explanations based on religious beliefs."
"Explain the emergence of civic humanism and new
conceptions of political authority during the
Renaissance, as well as subsequent theories and
practices that stressed the political importance and
rights of the individual."
"Analyze how new political and economic theories
from the 17th century and the Enlightenment
challenged absolutism and shaped the development
of constitutional states, parliamentary governments,
and the concept of individual rights."
"Explain the emergence of representative
government as an alternative to absolutism."
"Analyze how religious and secular institutions and
groups attempted to limit monarchical power by
articulating theories of resistance to absolutism, and
by taking political action."
Chapter 14—New Directions in Thought and
Culture in the 16th and 17th Centuries
Key Topics
The Scientific Revolution
This term is something of a misnomer, for unlike most revolutions, the Scientific Revolution was
neither rapid nor did it involve large numbers of people. The "revolution" was the work of a few men
employing either of two major methods: the imposition of small changes on existing models of thought or the
desire to ask new kinds of questions and to use new methods of investigation.
The Scientific Revolution and the Church
Many of the major figures of this intellectual revolution had to deal with a church that resisted radical
ideas that would jeopardize theological doctrine. For years before his condemnation by the Catholic Church,
Galileo Galilei had contended that scientific theory and religious piety were compatible. Baruch Spinoza
championed freedom of thought, but also believed that everything exists in God and cannot be conceived apart
from Him. Such teaching ran the danger of portraying the world as eternal and human actions as unfree and
inevitable—divine fatalism. The limitations of science and reason were cautioned by Blaise Pascal, who
argued that reason could not in itself explain the existence of God, but that it is more reasonable to believe that
God exists and that belief results in the improvement of one’s life.
Intertwining of Rationalism and Belief
As the Scientific Revolution was changing scientific and mathematical thought, people began to use
the same foundational logic in dealing with other facets of life. Indeed, faith itself was altered by this allencompassing reason. Yet during this time people also treated others in a quite irrational manner through the
condemnation of others as witches.
The Development of Antithetical Political Theories
Hobbes’ and Locke’s theories on the social contract are truly reflective of the times in which
they were developed. Both contracts are between the ruler and the people, yet they are quite different
in terms of source of power. In Hobbes’ contract only the ruler has the authority to alter in any way
the term of the contract. In Locke’s version, the people are equal signatories with the ruler, able to
alter the contract or to end it.
CHAPTER SUMMARY
The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries witnessed one of history’s most significant intellectual
developments—a sweeping change in man’s view of the universe. A proud, earth-centered picture of the universe
gave way to one in which the earth was only one of many planets orbiting around the sun—itself only one of
millions of stars. Because their scientific view of mankind’s place in the larger scheme of things had been
transformed, men began to rethink moral and religious matters as well. The new scientific methods and concepts
were deemed so impressive that ever since, science has been the measuring stick of all knowledge.
The first figure in the new movement was Nicolaus Copernicus, a Polish astronomer in the early sixteenth
century. Copernicus was dissatisfied with the traditional, Ptolemaic astronomical system. To account for the
observable, non-circular patterns of the planets, Ptolemaic thinkers had to make many clumsy adjustments in their
systems. For the sake of mathematical elegance, Copernicus preferred to place the sun in the center of the universe.
Tycho Brahe (1571–1630) assembled astronomical data that the German Copernican Johannes Kepler
(1571–1630) used to suggest that the orbits of planets were not circular but elliptical. His contemporary, the Italian
Galileo Galilei (1564–1642), provided more support for the theory by publishing the first telescopic observations of
the heavens. Nature, said Galileo, was totally subject to mathematical laws. Francis Bacon’s (1561–1626) belief in
the authority of empirical observation and induction won prestige thanks to its use by Isaac Newton (1642–1727).
Newton explained the movement of all physical objects in the universe through mutual attraction, or gravity. His
discoveries provided a new belief for the view that the natural universe was a realm of law and regularity subject to
mathematical explanation. The new science provided a new basis for religion.
Just at a time when Europeans
were tiring of irrational wars of religion, they found grounds for believing in a rational God.
To Copernicus’s concern for mathematics, Bacon added a desire for scientific thought to conform to
empirical observation. Only an amateur scientist, Bacon decried reverence for intellectual authority and advocated
innovation, change, and a close examination of empirical evidence. Science had to have a practical purpose and
should aid the human condition. The Frenchman René Descartes (1596–1650) believed that deduction and rational
speculation could be used to explain the world fully.
The most original political philosopher of the age was Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679). An enthusiast for the
new science, Hobbes advocated a commonwealth that was tightly ruled by law and order and free from the dangers
of anarchy (Leviathan, 1651). A less original, but more influential political thinker was John Locke (1632–1704).
Locke opposed Hobbes and denied the argument that rulers were absolute in their power; man’s natural state was
one of perfect freedom and equality. If a ruler failed in his responsibilities toward his subjects, he violated the
social contract and could be replaced. Locke’s philosophy came to be embodied in the Glorious Revolution of
1688–1689.
The Scientific Revolution is reflected in the works of the great writers and philosophers of the seventeenth
century, who knew that they were living in a period of transition. Some embraced the new science completely,
some tried to straddle the two ages, and still others opposed the new developments that seemed to threaten
traditional morality and had made the universe less mysterious and the Creator less loving than before. The chapter
then gives a focused account of the lives and works of Margaret Cavendish and Maria Winkelmann, who creatively
contributed to the Scientific Revolution even though women were generally excluded from formal participation in
scientific societies and universities.
As the scientific revolution posited increasing authority in empirical observation and reasoning, tension
between the emerging sciences and the Catholic Church increased. The church regarded the scientific revolution as
a threat to its authority, resulting in a formal condemnation of Copernicanism and Galileo in 1633.
French thought can be represented by Blaise Pascal (1623–1662), a mathematician, scientist, and
philosopher. Pascal believed that faith and divine grace were more necessary for human happiness than reason and
science. According to Pascal, reason was too weak to resolve the problems of human nature and destiny. Reason
should drive those who truly heeded it to faith in God and reliance on divine grace.
The new science by no means swept away all other thought. Traditional beliefs and fears retained their
hold on popular culture and resulted in an outbreak of witch panics in the second half of the sixteenth and early
seventeenth centuries. The chapter then discusses witchcraft and witch-hunts in Early Modern Europe. An
estimated 70,000 to 100,000 people were sentenced to death for harmful magic and diabolical witchcraft. Most
(about 80%) of these victims were older women spinsters or widows who were insecure, non-productive, and rather
vulnerable to accusation. This may have been because of a general fear by men that women were beginning to
break away from their control or that women, as midwives, were responsible for the death of children and spouses
during birth. The witch-hunts were the result of a general belief in the powers of magic, a belief that died with the
rise of a more scientific worldview in the seventeenth century.
The chapter concludes with an overview of Baroque art, noting the work of Caravaggio, Rubens, and
Bernini. Baroque art came to be associated closely with both Roman Catholicism and absolutist politics. One of the
greatest monuments to Baroque art, and political absolutism, is Louis XIV’s palace at Versailles.
ID’s
People
Bacon, Francis
Kepler, Johannes
Cavendish, Margaret Locke, John
Copernicus, Nicolaus Newton, Isaac
Descartes, René
Pascal, Blaise
Galilei, Galileo
von Leeuwenhoek,
Hobbes, Thomas
Anton
Countries/Land
Time Periods/Events
Scientific Revolution
Terms
Deduction
Empiricism
Ptolemaic System
Culture and Society – Ch 15
Key Concept 1.5
European society and the experiences of everyday life were increasingly shaped by commercial and agricultural
capitalism, notwithstanding the persistence of medieval social and economic structures.
I. Economic change produced new social patterns, while traditions of hierarchy and
status persisted
* The growth of commerce produced new economic
* Gentry in England
elite, which related to traditional elites in different ways * Nobles of the robe in France
in Europe’s various geographic regions
* Town elites (bankers and
merchants
* Caballeros and hidalgos in Spain
* Hierarchy and status continued to define social power
and perceptions in rural and urban settings
II. Most Europeans derived their livelihood from agriculture and oriented their lives
around the seasons, the village, or the manor, although economic changes began to alter
rural production and power
* Subsistence agriculture was the role in most areas,
with three-crop field rotation in the north and two-crop
rotation in the Mediterranean; in many cases, famers
paid rent and labor services for their lands
* Enclosure movement
*The price revolution contributed to the
* Restricted use of the common
accumulation of capital and the expansion of the
* Free-hold tenure
market economy through the commercialization of
agriculture, which benefited large landowners in
western Europe.
* As western Europe moved toward a free peasantry
and commercial agriculture, serfdom was codified in
the east, where nobles continued to dominate
economic life on large estates.
* The attempts of landlords to increase their
revenues by restricting or abolishing the traditional
rights of peasants led to revolt.
III. Population shifts and growing commerce caused the expansion of cities, which often
“Explain the characteristics, practices, and beliefs
of traditional communities in preindustrial Europe
and how they were challenged by religious
reforms.”
“Assess how peasants across Europe were affected
by and responded to the policies of landlords,
increased taxation, and the price revolution in the
early modern period.”
“Explain the characteristics, practices, and beliefs
of traditional communities in preindustrial Europe
and how they were challenged by religious
reforms.”
“Explain the growth of commerce in manufacturing
challenged the dominance of corporate groups and
traditional estates.”
Analyze how and why Europeans have
found their traditional political and social structures stressed by the growth
* Population recovered to its pre-Great Plague level
in the 16th century, and continuing population
pressures contributed to uneven price increases;
agricultural commodities increased more sharply
than wages, reducing living standards for some.
* Sanitation problems caused by
* Migrants to the cities challenged the ability of
overpopulation
merchant elites and craft guilds to govern and
* Employment
strained resources.
* Poverty
* Crime
* Social dislocation, coupled with the weakening of
* New secular laws regulating
religious institutions during the Reformation, left city private life
governments with the task of regulating public
*Stricter codes on prostitution
morals.
and begging
* Abolishing or restricting
Carnival
* Calvin’s Geneva
IV. The family remained the primary social and economic institution of early modern
Europe and took several forms, including the nuclear family
* Rural and urban households worked as units, with men
and women engaged in separate but complementary
tasks
* The Renaissance and Reformation movements raised
* Women’s intellect and education
debates about female roles in the family, society, and the * Women as preachers
church
* La Querelle de Femmes
th
* From the 16 century forward, Europeans responded
to economic and environmental challenges, such as the
Little Ice Ages, by delaying marriage and childbearing,
which restrained population growth and ultimately
improved the economic condition of families
V. Popular culture, leisure activities, and rituals reflecting the persistence of folk ideas
reinforced and sometimes challenged communal ties and norms
marginalized certain populations (defined as
“other”) over the course of their history.”
“Analyze how cities and states have attempted to
address the problems brought about by economic
modernization, such as poverty and famine, through
regulating morals, policing marginal populations,
and improving public health.”
“Explain the growth of commerce in manufacturing
challenged the dominance of corporate groups and
traditional estates.”
“Explain the characteristics, practices, and beliefs
of traditional communities in preindustrial Europe
and how they were challenged by religious
reforms.”
“Explain how environmental conditions, the
Agricultural Revolution, and industrialization
contributed to demographic changes, the
organization of manufacturing, and alterations in
the family economy.”
“Evaluate the causes and consequences of persistent
tensions between women’s role and status in the
private versus public sphere.”
“Analyze how and why the nature and role of the
family has changed over time.”
“Explain the characteristics, practices, and beliefs
of traditional communities in preindustrial Europe
and how they were challenged by religious
reforms.”
“Evaluate the causes and consequences of persistent
tensions between women’s role and status in the
* Leisure activities continued to be organized according
to the religious calendar and the agricultural cycle and
remained communal in nature
* Local and church authorities continued to enforce
communal norms through rituals of public humiliation
* Saint’s day festivities
* Carnival
* Blood sports
* Charivari
* Stocks
* Public whipping and branding
* Reflecting folk ideas and social and economic
upheaval, accusations of witchcraft peaked between
1580 and 1650
private versus public sphere.”
“Explain the characteristics, practices, and beliefs
of traditional communities in preindustrial Europe
and how they were challenged by religious
reforms.”
“Analyze how and why Europeans have
marginalized certain populations (defined as
“other”) over the course of their history.”
Culture and Society – Period 2--Ch 15
Key Concept 2.4
The experiences of everyday life were shaped by demographic, environmental, medical, and technological changes.
I. In the 17th century, small landholdings, low-productivity agricultural practices,
poor transportation, and adverse weather limited and disrupted the food supply,
causing periodic famines. By the 18th century, Europeans began to escape from the
Malthusian imbalance between population and the food supply, resulting in steady
population growth.
* By the middle of the 18th century higher agricultural
productivity and improved transportation increased the
food supply, allowing populations to grow and reducing
the number of demographic crises (a process known as
the Agricultural Revolution)
* In the 18th century, plague disappeared as a major
epidemic disease, and inoculation reduced smallpox
mortality
II. The consumer revolution of the 18th century was shaped by a new concern for
privacy, encouraged by the purchase of new goods for homes, and created new venues for
leisure activities
Privacy:
* Homes were built to include
private retreats, such as the boudoir
"Identify the changes in agricultural production and
evaluate their impact on economic growth and the
standard of living in preindustrial Europe."
"Explain how environmental conditions, the
Agricultural Revolution, and industrialization
contributed to demographic changes, the
organization of manufacturing, and alterations in
the family economy."
“Explain how environmental conditions, the
Agricultural Revolution, and industrialization
contributed to demographic changes, the
organization of manufacturing, and alterations in
the family economy.”
* Novels encouraged a reflection on “Analyze how and why the nature and role of the
private emotions
family has changed over time.”
New Consumer Goods:
* Porcelain dishes
* Cotton and lines for home décor
* Mirrors
* Prints
“Explain how environmental conditions, the
Agricultural Revolution, and industrialization
contributed to demographic changes, the
organization of manufacturing, and alterations in
the family economy.”
Leisure Venues:
* Coffeehouses
* Taverns
* Theaters and opera houses
III. By the 18th century, family and private life reflected new demographic patterns and
the effects of the commercial revolution
* Though the rate of illegitimate births increased in
the 18th century, population growth was limited by
the European marriage pattern and, in some areas,
by the early practice of birth control.
* As infant and child mortality decreased and
commercial wealth increased, families dedicated
more space and resources to children and childrearing, as
well as private life and comfort.
“Analyze how and why the nature and role of the
family has changed over time.”
IV. Cities offered economic opportunities, which attracted increasing migration from
rural areas, transforming urban life and creating challenges for the new urbanites and
their families
* The Agricultural Revolution produced more food
using fewer workers; as a result, people migrated from
rural areas to the cities in search of work
* The growth of cities eroded traditional communal
values, and city governments strained to provide
protection and a healthy environment
* The concentration of the poor in cities led to a greater
“Assess the extent to which women participated in
and benefitted from the shifting values of European
society from the 15th century onward.”
“Analyze how and why the nature and role of the
family has changed over time.”
“Explain how environmental conditions, the
Agricultural Revolution, and industrialization
contributed to demographic changes, the
organization of manufacturing, and alterations in
the family economy.”
“Analyze how and why the nature and role of the
family has changed over time.”
“Analyze how expanding commerce and
industrialization from the 16th to the 19th centuries
led to the growth of cities and changes in the social
structure, most notably a shift from landed to a
commercial elite.”
“Assess how peasants across Europe were affected
by and responded to the policies of landlords,
increased taxation, and the price revolution in the
awareness of poverty, crime, and prostitution as social
problems, and prompted increased efforts to police
marginal groups
early modern period.”
“Analyze how cities and states have attempted to
address the problems brought about by economic
modernization, such as poverty and famine, through
regulating morals, policing marginal populations,
and improving public health.”
“Explain the growth of commerce in manufacturing
challenged the dominance of corporate groups and
traditional estates.”
“Explain the characteristics, practices, and beliefs
of traditional communities in preindustrial Europe
and how they were challenged by religious
reforms.”
Chapter 15—Society and Economy Under the
Old Regime in the 18th Century
Key Topics
Family Structure and Family Economy
A section of this chapter focuses on family structure. Most Europeans worked within the context of
the family economy. This is to say the household was the fundamental unit of production and consumption.
Family members worked together to sustain their economic life because it was almost impossible to support
oneself independently. Recent demographic investigation has revealed that the northwestern European
household was not extended, but nuclear. Children lived with their parents only until their early teens, when
they often moved away and worked in other households as servants. The family economy also established
many of the chief constraints on women in pre-industrial society. A woman’s life was devoted to the
maintenance of her parent’s household and then to assuring that she would have her own to live in as an adult.
Bearing and rearing children were often subordinate to these goals. Children too became part of the family
economy; there were many perils of early childhood, but with the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries
came a new interest in preserving the lives of abandoned children with the establishment of foundling
hospitals. The chapter also presents a section on the impact of the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions on
working women.
The Agricultural Revolution
The chapter emphasizes the importance of the agricultural innovations of this period. Jethro Tull, for
example, introduced the iron plow and “Turnip” Townsend introduced the three-field-system of crop rotation.
Such innovations required large blocks of land, and landlords enclosed common land throughout the
countryside, which brought about social turmoil, but did not depopulate the rural areas as is sometimes
claimed.
The Industrial Revolution
As in agriculture, Britain took the lead in the industrial revolution, favored as it was by rich deposits of
coal and iron ore, a stable political structure, consumer demand from the colonies, a law tax structure, and
relative social mobility. The chapter details such innovations as the flying shuttle, spinning-jenny, and water
frame in the textile industry and the development of the steam engine. Important as these changes were, their
full economic and social ramifications were not really felt until the nineteenth century.
The Aristocracy
Before 1789, the aristocracy was still the wealthiest and most influential sector of the population in all
countries, although it differed from place to place. Britain’s nobility was Europe’s smallest, wealthiest, and
most socially responsible; France’s aristocracy was larger and more complex and benefitted from more legal
privileges, especially tax exemption. The chapter discusses in further detail the aristocracies in Poland, Prussia
(Junkers), and Russia. Squeezed between absolutist monarchs and the growing commercial classes, Europe’s
nobles tried to reassert their power throughout the century, a movement termed the “aristocratic resurgence.”
CHAPTER SUMMARY
This chapter surveys the life and institutions of eighteenth-century Europe before 1789. They are known
as the Old Regime (ancien regime) to separate them from the great innovations that followed the French Revolution.
Politically, the term stood for absolute monarchies, large bureaucracies, and armies led by aristocrats.
Economically, the Old Regime was marked by a scarcity of food, agrarian economy, slow transport, little iron
production, unsophisticated finances, and sometimes commercial overseas empire. The society of pre-revolutionary
Europe was traditional and hierarchical. It ranged from governing aristocratic elite to an urban middle class and
labor force divided into guilds to a rural peasantry living at the edge of poverty. Society was also corporate and
privileged, for men were more conscious of their communal associations and group rights than of individual
liberties. The Old Regime was marked by great contrasts between different classes and regions, especially between
western Europe and the countries east of the Elbe River. Finally, although the character of the old regime was very
distinct, it was not static. Society itself fostered a number of developments that eventually led to change:
revolutions in agriculture and industry, the creation of new products and wealth, population expansion, and tension
among monarchs, nobles, and the middle class.
The economy of the eighteenth century depended on the land. In the west, most of those who lived in the
countryside were free peasants; in the east, most were serfs. The landowners subjected both of these groups to
feudal dues, services, and strict control, which often resulted in peasant discontent and rebellion. The most dramatic
revolt was Pugachev’s rebellion of 1773–1775, which involved all of southern Russia. One of the clearest examples
of aristocratic domination and control was the English game laws. English landowners reserved the exclusive right
to hunt game animals for themselves. The game laws are a prime example of legislation designed to maintain
economic and social status.
The chapter continues with a study of family structures and the family economy. In preindustrial Europe,
the household was the basic unit of production and consumption. In northwestern Europe, the household most was
most often made up of a married couple, their children, and few household servants. Children lived in their parents’
households only until their early teens, at which time they entered the work force. Eastern European households
were generally larger, consisting of perhaps several generations.
Most family members worked within the family economy to support the household. Women devoted their
lives to maintaining either their parents’ household or that of their husbands if they married. As long as they were
productive to the household, they could live at home. If a girl’s labor were unneeded on the family farm, she might
find employment on another farm, or move to a nearby town or city. The text offers a close study of the various
avenues open, and closed, to a woman in preindustrial Europe.
Childbearing and the raising of children were challenging ventures. An increase in illegitimate births and
unwanted pregnancies led to infanticide and child abandonment. Foundling hospitals were established to deal with
the alarming numbers of abandoned and unwanted children.
The text continues with a treatment of the Agricultural Revolution. A steady rise in the price of Europe’s
food staple, grain, because of population growth, encouraged a revolution in agriculture, leading to greater
productivity. Famous agricultural innovators included Jethro Tull, Charles Townsend, and Robert Bakewell. The
enclosure system was a controversial innovation that commercialized agriculture, leaving peasants at a
disadvantage.
Improvements in grain production further spurred population growth: in 1700, the population of Europe
had been 100–120 million; by 1800, it was about 190 million; and by 1850, the population had reached
approximately 260 million. The population explosion placed new demands and pressures on eighteenth-century
society—as did the incipient industrial revolution in the second half of the century that facilitated sustained
economic growth that has continued almost without interruption ever since. The Industrial Revolution might also be
seen as a revolution in consumption. The desire for consumer goods and a higher standard of living fueled the
engines of the Industrial Revolution. New methods of textile production, the invention and the steam engine, and
innovations in iron production are each noted in the chapter.
The transformation of agriculture and industry led to changes that diminished the importance and the role
of women already in the work force. Women, displaced from farming or spinning thread, turned to cottage
industries, and thousands became domestic servants of commercial families. The work and workplaces of men and
women were becoming increasingly separate.
Europe’s cities grew considerably during the century, although even in urbanized Britain and France, they
seem to have contained less than twenty percent of the population. The cities were not industrial centers, but market
towns, commerce and financial centers, or capital cities. A small group of nobles, rich merchants, bankers,
financiers, clergy, and officials ruled the cities. Below them was the prosperous middle class (bourgeoisie), a
dynamic element increasingly resentful of aristocratic monopoly of power and prestige. The largest and poorest
group in the city was made up of shopkeepers, artisans, and wage earners who were generally organized into guilds.
Even before the French Revolution, members of this lower class often expressed their political grievances by
rioting.
The chapter ends with an evaluation of Jewish life in Europe during the eighteenth century. Jews dwelled
in most nations without enjoying the rights and privileges of other subjects. They were regarded as a kind of
resident alien whose status might be temporary or changed at the whim of local rulers or the monarchical
government. Jews under the Old Regime lived apart from non-Jews in distinct urban districts called ghettos or in
Jewish villages in the countryside. Although “court Jews” helped finance the wars of major rulers and received
privileges, the vast majority of the Jewish population of Europe lived in poverty. Under the Old Regime,
discrimination was not based on race, but on religious separateness. Those Jews who remained loyal to their faith
were subject to various religious, civil, and social disabilities. The end of the Old Regime brought major changes in
the lives of these Jews and in their relationship to a larger culture.
By the end of the eighteenth century, many of the facets of the Old Regime had been changed in
fundamental ways. Europe stood on the brink of a new era.
ID’s
People
Arkwright, Richard
Bourgeoisie
Serf
Townsend, Charles “Turnip”
Watt, James
Countries/Land
Foundling hospitals
Ghettos
Time Periods/Events
Agricultural Revolution
Ancien Regime
Enclosure Movement
Industrial Revolution
Pugachev’s Rebellion
Terms
Banalities
Consumptuary laws
Corvée
Taille
Expansion of European commercial and economic network--Ch 16
Key Concept 2.2
The expansion of European commerce accelerated the growth of a worldwide economic network.
I. Early modern Europe developed a market economy that provided the foundation for
its global role
* Labor and trade in commodities were increasingly
* Market-driven wages and prices
freed from traditional restrictions imposed by
* Le Chapelier laws
governments and corporate entities
* The Agricultural Revolution raised productivity and
increased the supply of food and other agricultural
products
* The putting-out system, or cottage industry, expanded
as increasing numbers of laborers in homes or
workshops produced for markets through merchant
intermediaries or workshop owners
* The development of the market economy led to new
* Insurance
financial practices and institutions
* Banking institutions for turning
private savings into venture capital
* New definitions of property rights
and protections against confiscation
* Bank of England
II. The European-dominated worldwide economic network contributed to the
agricultural, industrial, and consumer revolution in Europe
* European states followed mercantilistic policies by
exploiting colonies in the New World and elsewhere
* The transatlantic slave-labor system expanded in the
* Middle Passage
17th and 18th centuries as demand for New World
* Triangle Trade
products increased
* Plantation economies in the
Americas
* Overseas products and influences contributed to the
* Sugar
development of a consumer culture in Europe
* Tea
* Silks and other fabrics
* Tobacco
* Rum
* Coffee
“Explain the growth of commerce in manufacturing
challenged the dominance of corporate groups and
traditional estates.”
“Identify the changes in agricultural production and
evaluate their impact on economic growth and the
standard of living in preindustrial Europe.”
“Explain how environmental conditions, the
Agricultural Revolution, and industrialization
contributed to demographic changes, the
organization of manufacturing, and alterations in
the family economy.” (2.2 – putting out system)
“Identify the changes in agricultural production and
evaluate their impact on economic growth and the
standard of living in preindustrial Europe.”
“Assess the relative influence of economic,
religious, and political motives in prompting
exploration and colonization”
“Assess the role of colonization, the Industrial
Revolution, total warfare, and economic
depressions in altering the government’s
relationship to the economy, both in overseeing
economic activity and in addressing its social
impact.”
* The importation and transplantation of agricultural
products from the Americas contributed to an increase in
the food supply in Europe
* Foreign lands provided raw materials, finished goods,
laborers, and markets for the commercial and industrial
enterprises in Europe
“Assess the role of European contact on overseas
territories through the introduction of disease,
participation in the slave trade and slavery, effects
on agricultural and manufacturing patterns, and
global conflict.”
“Analyze how European states established and
administered overseas commercial and territorial
empires.”
“Analyze how non-European peoples increased
European social and cultural diversity and affected
attitudes toward race.”
“Evaluate how identities such as ethnicity, race, and
class have defined the individual in relationship to
society.”
“Evaluate the impact of the Columbian Exchange –
the global exchange of goods, plants, animals, and
microbes – on Europe’s economy, society, and
culture.”
III. Commercial rivalries influenced diplomacy and warfare among European states in
the early modern era
* European sea powers vied for Atlantic influence
throughout the 18th century
* Portuguese, Dutch, French, and British rivalries in
Asia culminated in British domination in India and
Dutch control of the East Indies
“Assess the role of overseas trade, labor, and
technology in making Europe part of a global
economic network and encouraging the
development of new economic theories and state
policies.”
“Assess the relative influence of economic,
religious, and political motives in prompting
exploration and colonization”
“Analyze how European states established and
administered overseas commercial and territorial
empires.”
17th and 18th Century Warfare--Ch 16
Key Concept 2.1
Different models of political sovereignty affected the relationship among states and between states and individuals.
III. After 1648, dynastic and state interests, along with Europe’s expanding colonial
empires, influenced the diplomacy of European states and frequently led to war
* Maria Theresa of Austria
* As a result of the Holy Roman Empire’s limitation
* Frederick William I of Prussia
of sovereignty in the Peace of Westphalia, Prussia
* Frederick II of Prussia
rose to power and the Habsburgs, centered in
Austria, shifted their empire eastward.
* After the Austrian defeat of the Turks in 1683 at the
Battle of Vienna, the Ottomans ceased their
westward expansion.
* Dutch War
* Louis XIV’s nearly continuous wars, pursuing both
* Nine Years’ War
dynastic and state interests, provoked a coalition of
* War of the Spanish Succession
European powers opposing him.
* Rivalry between Britain and France resulted in
world wars fought both in Europe and in the
colonies, with Britain supplanting France as the
greatest European power.
“Analyze how European states established and
administered overseas commercial and territorial
empires.”
“Explain how European expansion and colonization
brought non-European societies into global
economic, diplomatic, military, and cultural
networks.”
Chapter 16—The Transatlantic Economy, Trade
Wars, and Colonial Rebellion
Key Topics
Mercantilism and Its Impact
This economic theory emphasized a favorable balance of trade and dictated that colonies existed for
the benefit of the mother nation. Mercantilist ideas, however, worked far better in theory than in practice.
Colonists of different countries often found it more profitable to trade with each other than with the home
country, a situation that made the eighteenth century the “golden age of smugglers.” Traders from one nation
continually tried to break the monopoly with another. Britain and France, in particular, preyed upon Spanish
markets, which resulted in distrust and Spanish retaliation.
The understanding of this economic theory and its political and social ramifications is essential in
dealing with Europe in the 18th century. Prior to this time, European conflict was focused on religious issues, a
remnant of the Reformation. 18th century European nations created empires and, thus, came into conflict with
each other over them and the right to trade with each other’s colonies. As well, as European nations sought to
achieve balance of power, alliances were made, broken, and remade with other nations. These conflicts had a
tremendous impact on developments in the New World. Britain and France, especially, would see their
European conflicts spill over into their American colonies.
African Slave Trade
Slavery is one of the oldest of human institutions and virtually every pre-modern state in history
depended on it to some extent. The African slave trade must be seen as part of the large commercial system of
Atlantic trade between Europe and the colonies in North and South America and the Caribbean. The system
was directed to exploitation of the New World and thus colonial economic needs. The major sources for
slaves were the Kong-Angola region and the Guinea coast. Well over twelve million persons were lost to
Africa through the Atlantic trade. Taken as a whole, the slave trade varied in extent quite sharply from period
to period—with its peak in the eighteenth century and its demise in the nineteenth. The effects of the slave
trade on Africa are not easy to assess. It appears that slavery was a result, not a cause of regional instability
and change; increased warfare meant the slave trade produced Africa’s major diaspora, which was also one of
the major migrations of global history. From an American perspective, it was an important element in the
formation of our modern society.
CHAPTER SUMMARY
This chapter discusses the European rivalries of the middle-eighteenth century. Since the Renaissance,
European contacts with the rest of the world have gone through four distinct stages: 1) discovery, exploration, initial
conquest and settlement of the New World (to 1700); 2) colonial trade rivalry among Spain, France and Britain (ca.
1700–1820); 3) European imperialism in Africa and Asia (nineteenth century); 4) decolonization of peoples
previously under European rule (twentieth century).
The European powers administered their eighteenth-century empires according to the theory of
mercantilism. The colonies were to provide markets and natural resources for the industries of the mother country.
In turn, the latter was to furnish military security and the instruments of government. To protect its investment from
competitors, each home country tried to keep a tight monopoly on trade with its colonies. The chapter then focuses
on the organization and administration of the Spanish Empire. A key section in this chapter concerns an extensive
study of African slavery, the Plantation System, and the experience of slavery.
Competition for foreign markets was intense among Britain, France, and Spain. In North America,
colonists quarreled endlessly over the territory, fishing rights, fur trade, and relationships with the Indians. In India,
each power hoped to expel the other. Above all, they clashed over the West Indies, the lucrative producers of
coffee, tobacco and especially sugar, and ready purchases of African slaves. Men with economic interests in the
West Indies formed significant pressure groups in each of the three powerful European colonial nations. In
England, the “West Indian Interest” was able in 1739 to drive the country into war with Spain (War of Jenkins’s
Ear). By aiding Spain, France’s leader, Fleury, hoped to capture Britain’s existing commercial advantages in the
Spanish Empire for his own country. However, the aggressive actions of the Prussian king, Frederick II, upset his
policy.
The chapter goes on to detail the mid-century conflicts of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748) and the
Seven Years’ War (1756–1763), and the shifting alliances among the European powers called the “Diplomatic
Revolution” of 1756. Such conflict required great sums of money, and Britain, though victorious, was especially
hard-pressed. The government, believing that the colonists themselves should bear part of the cost of their
protection and administration, levied new taxes on America. The Sugar and Stamp Acts of 1764, the Townshend
Acts of 1767, the Boston Massacre of 1770, and the Intolerable Acts of 1774 helped drive the colonists into
rebellion. With the support of Britain’s old enemies, France and Spain, the Americans won the Revolutionary War
(1776–1783).
The colonists had shown how to establish revolutionary, but orderly, political bodies that would function
outside the existing political framework. European writers sensed that a new era was dawning—one of constituent
assemblies, constitutions, and declarations of rights.
ID’s
People
Pitt, William (the Elder)
Countries/Land
Low Countries
Time Periods/Events
7 Years’ War
Atlantic Passage
Columbian Exchange
Enlightened absolutism
Old Regime
War of the Austrian Succession
Terms
Balance of power
Bullion
Flota system
Mercantilism
Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle
Treaty of Utrecht
Triangle trade
Enlightenment--Ch 17
Key Concept 2.3
The popularization and dissemination of the Scientific Revolution and the application of its methods to political, social,
and ethical issues led to an increased, although not unchallenged, emphasis on reason in European culture.
I. Rational and empirical thought challenged traditional values and ideas
* Intellectuals such as Voltaire and Diderot began to
* Montesquieu’s The Spirit of the
apply the principles of the Scientific Revolution to
Laws
society and human institutions
* Cesare Beccaria’s On Crimes and
Punishments
* Locke and Rousseau developed new political models
based on the concept of natural rights
* Despite the principles of equality espoused by the
* Mary Wollstonecraft
Enlightenment and the French Revolution, intellectuals
* Olympe de Gouges
such as Rousseau offered new arguments for the
* Marquis de Condorcet
exclusion of women from political life, which did not go
unchallenged
“Explain the emergence, spread, and questioning of
scientific, technological, and positivist approaches
to addressing social problems.”
“Explain how a worldview based on science and
reason challenged and preserved social order and
roles, especially the role of women.”
"Analyze how the development of Renaissance
humanism, the printing press, and the scientific
method contributed to the emergence of a new
theory of knowledge and conception of the
universe."
"Analyze how and to what extent the
Enlightenment encouraged Europeans to understand
human behavior, economic activity, and politics as
governed by natural laws."
"Explain the emergence, spread, and questioning of
scientific, technological, and positivist approaches
to addressing social problems."
"Explain how new theories of government and
political ideologies attempted to provide a coherent
explanation for human behavior and the extent to
which they adhered to or diverged from traditional
explanations based on religious beliefs."
"Explain the emergence of civic humanism and
new conceptions of political authority during the
Renaissance, as well as subsequent theories and
practices that stressed the political importance and
rights of the individual."
"Analyze how new political and economic theories
from the 17th century and the Enlightenment
challenged absolutism and shaped the development
of constitutional states, parliamentary governments,
and the concept of individual rights."
"Explain the emergence of representative
government as an alternative to absolutism."
"Analyze how various movements for political and
social equality — such as feminism,
anticolonialism, and campaigns for immigrants’
rights — pressured governments and redefined
citizenship."
"Analyze how religious and secular institutions and
groups attempted to limit monarchical power by
articulating theories of resistance to absolutism, and
by taking political action."
"Evaluate the causes and consequences of persistent
tensions between women’s role and status in the
private versus the public sphere."
II. New public venues and print media popularized Enlightenment ideas
* A variety of institutions, such as salons, explored and
* Coffeehouses
disseminated Enlightenment culture
* Academies
* Lending libraries
* Masonic lodges
"Assess the extent to which women participated in
and benefited from the shifting values of European
society from the 15th century onwards."
"Analyze how religious reform in the 16th and 17th
centuries, the expansion of printing, and the
emergence of civic venues such as salons and
coffeehouses challenged the control of the church
over the creation and dissemination of knowledge."
* Despite censorship, increasingly numerous and varied
printed materials served a growing literate public and
led to the development of public opinion
* Newspapers
* Periodicals
* Books
* Pamphlets
* The Encyclopedie
* Natural sciences, literature, and popular culture
increasingly exposed Europeans to representations of
peoples outside Europe
"Analyze how the development of Renaissance
humanism, the printing press, and the scientific
method contributed to the emergence of a new
theory of knowledge and conception of the
universe."
"Explain how European exploration and
colonization was facilitated by the development of
the scientific method and led to a re-examination of
cultural norms."
"Explain the emergence, spread, and questioning of
scientific, technological, and positivist approaches
to addressing social problems."
"Trace the ways in which new technologies, from
the printing press to the Internet, have shaped the
development of civil society and enhanced the role
of public opinion."
"Assess the role of civic institutions in shaping the
development of representative and democratic
forms of government."
"Evaluate the role of technology, from the printing
press to modern transportation and
telecommunications, in forming and transforming
society."
III. New political and economic theories challenged absolutism and mercantilism
* Political theories, such as John Locke’s, conceived of
society as composed of individuals driven by selfinterest and argued that the state originated in the
consent of the governed (i.e. a social contract) rather
than in divine right or tradition
"Assess the extent to which women participated in
and benefited from the shifting values of European
society from the 15th century onwards."
"Analyze how and to what extent the
Enlightenment encouraged Europeans to understand
human behavior, economic activity, and politics as
governed by natural laws."
* Mercantilist theory and practice were challenged by
new economic ideas, such as Adam Smith’s, espousing
free trade and a free market
* Physiocrats
* Francois Quesnay
*Anne Robert Jacques Turgot
"Explain how new theories of government and
political ideologies attempted to provide a coherent
explanation for human behavior and the extent to
which they adhered to or diverged from traditional
explanations based on religious beliefs."
"Explain the emergence of civic humanism and new
conceptions of political authority during the
Renaissance, as well as subsequent theories and
practices that stressed the political importance and
rights of the individual."
"Analyze how new political and economic theories
from the 17th century and the Enlightenment
challenged absolutism and shaped the development
of constitutional states, parliamentary governments,
and the concept of individual rights."
"Explain the emergence of representative
government as an alternative to absolutism."
IV. During the Enlightenment, the rational analysis of religious practices led to natural
religion and the demand for religious toleration
* Intellectuals, including Voltaire and Diderot,
* David Hume
developed new philosophies of deism, skepticism, and
* Baron d’Holbach
atheism
* Religion was viewed increasingly as a matter of
private rather than public concern
* By 1800 most governments had extended
toleration to Christian minorities, and, in some
states, civil equality to Jews.
"Analyze how religious and secular institutions and
groups attempted to limit monarchical power by
articulating theories of resistance to absolutism, and
by taking political action."
"Analyze how religious reform in the 16th and 17th
centuries, the expansion of printing, and the
emergence of civic venues such as salons and
coffeehouses challenged the control of the church
over the creation and dissemination of knowledge."
"Explain how political revolution and war from the
17th century on altered the role of the church in
political and intellectual life and the response of
religious authorities and intellectuals to such
challenges."
"Explain how and why religion increasingly shifted
from a matter of public concern to one of private
belief over the course of European history."
"Trace the changing relationship between states and
ecclesiastical authority and the emergence of the
principle of religious toleration."
V. The arts moved from the celebration of religious themes and royal power to an
emphasis on private life and the public good
* Artistic movements and literature also reflected the
* Neoclassicism
outlook and values of the new Enlightenment ideals of
* Jacques Louis David
political power and citizenship
* Pantheon in Paris
* Daniel Defoe
* Samuel Richardson
* Henry Fielding
* Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
* Jane Austen
VI. While Enlightenment values dominated the world of European ideas, they were
challenged by the revival of public sentiments and feeling
* Rousseau questioned the exclusive reliance on reason
and emphasized the role of emotions in the moral
improvement of self and society
* Revolution, war, and rebellion demonstrated the
emotional power of mass politics and nationalism
* Romanticism emerge as a challenge to Enlightenment
rationality
"Analyze how various movements for political and
social equality — such as feminism,
anticolonialism, and campaigns for immigrants’
rights — pressured governments and redefined
citizenship."
"Analyze the means by which individualism,
subjectivity, and emotion came to be considered a
valid source of knowledge."
"Explain the emergence of civic humanism and new
conceptions of political authority during the
Renaissance, as well as subsequent theories and
practices that stressed the political importance and
rights of the individual."
"Analyze how and to what extent the
Enlightenment encouraged Europeans to understand
human behavior, economic activity, and politics as
governed by natural laws."
"Analyze the means by which individualism,
subjectivity, and emotion came to be considered a
valid source of knowledge."
"Analyze how artists used strong emotions to
express individuality and political theorists
encouraged emotional identification with the
nation."
Enlightened Despots--Ch 17
Key Concept 2.1
Different models of political sovereignty affected the relationship among states and between states and individuals.
I. In much of Europe, absolute monarchy was established over the course of the 17th
and 18th centuries.
* In the 18th century, a number of states in eastern and
* Frederick II of Prussia
central Europe experimented with “enlightened
* Joseph II of Austria
absolutism.”
* The inability of the Polish monarchy to consolidate
its authority over the nobility led to Poland’s
partition by Prussia, Russia, and Austria, and its
disappearance from the map of Europe.
* Peter the Great “westernized” the Russian state
and society, transforming political, religious, and
cultural institutions; Catherine the Great continued
this process.
III. After 1648, dynastic and state interests, along with Europe’s expanding colonial
empires, influenced the diplomacy of European states and frequently led to war.
* As a result of the Holy Roman Empire’s limitation of * Maria Theresa of Austria
sovereignty in the Peace of Westphalia, Prussia rose
* Frederick William I of Prussia
to power and the Habsburgs, centered in Austria,
* Frederick II of Prussia
shifted their empire eastward.
"Explain how new theories of government and
political ideologies attempted to provide a coherent
explanation for human behavior and the extent to
which they adhered to or diverged from traditional
explanations based on religious beliefs."
"Trace the changing relationship between states and
ecclesiastical authority and the emergence of the
principle of religious toleration."
"Evaluate how identities such as ethnicity, race, and
class have defined the individual in relationship to
society."
"Assess the impact of war, diplomacy, and overseas
exploration and colonization on European
diplomacy and balance of power until 1789."
Chapter 17—The Age of Enlightenment:
18th Century Thought
Key Topics
The Enlightenment
The Enlightenment was a reflection of the ideas that circulated as the principles of the Scientific
Revolution, especially its foundation of reason, collided with the changing world of the Industrial Revolution.
The leaders of the Enlightenment wrote of man’s ability through reason to comprehend his world and his faith.
Enlightened Absolutism
As the Enlightenment progressed, several rulers became interested in the possibility of using
enlightened policies to improve their countries. Although they attempted this application of enlightened ideas,
they tended to create plans, especially regarding foreign policy, that were anything but enlightened.
Enlightenment Religion
The philosophes attacked Christianity for its rejection of science, otherworldliness, and belief in man’s
depravity. Deism, their creed, advocated that God’s existence could be deduced from a contemplation of
nature. The deists believed in divine reward or retribution in the afterlife for a man’s good or bad actions on
earth.
CHAPTER SUMMARY
From the perspective of Europe’s future, perhaps the most important development of the eighteenth century
was its leading intellectual movement, the Enlightenment. Enlightenment thinkers, called philosophes, believed that
change and reform were both possible and desirable. Before 1700, a belief in innovation through rational criticism
had belonged to only a few pioneering thinkers. With the Enlightenment, it came to characterize Western society.
Despite their name, the philosophes were not so much philosophers as men who sought to apply reason and
common sense to nearly all the major institutions and mores of the day. Leading philosophes disagreed on many
issues, but they shared a basic unity of thought. They all sought reform for the sake of human liberty. They
provided a major source of ideas that could be used to undermine existing social and political structures. The
philosophes drew on three main sources for their outlook. Intellectually, they were indebted to the physics of Isaac
Newton, which emphasized empirical experience and the rationality of the natural world. They also profited greatly
from the psychological theory of John Locke, who had argued that man’s nature is changeable and can be improved
by his environment. Politically, the philosophes admired Great Britain, which seemed to exemplify a society in
which enlightened reform served the common good. Voltaire, by far the most influential of the philosophes, was an
admirer of English government and Newton. France, on the other hand, with its decadent absolutism and political
and religious censorship, seemed to prove the need for reform. Because many Frenchmen wanted to see changes
made, France became the center for the Enlightenment.
The philosophes considered established churches, particularly Roman Catholicism, to be the chief obstacle
to mankind’s improvement and happiness. Instead, the Enlightenment offered its own religious creed, Deism,
which favored a rational deity and a rational morality. Although religious toleration was a positive contribution of
the Enlightenment, the philosophes’ criticisms of traditional religion often reflected an implicit contempt not only
for Christianity, but for Judaism and Islam as well. Two Jewish writers played key roles in the debate over religion
and the place of Jews in European life: Baruch Spinoza and Moses Mendelsohn.
The publication of the vast Encyclopedia in the mid-eighteenth century spread Enlightenment ideas throughout
Europe. This ambitious enterprise, the collective effort of over one hundred authors, set forth the most advanced
critical ideas of the day. The project aimed at secularizing learning and replacing the intellectual assumptions of the
Middle Ages and Reformation.
The philosophes, however, were primarily interested not in religion, but in humanity and secular values.
Through reason, man would discover laws in human relationships similar to those of physical nature—an idea that
would form the basis for social science in the nineteenth century. The philosophes hoped that by discovering social
laws, they could remove inhuman practices and institutions. This attitude is reflected in the legal and economic
works of the Enlightenment. Legal reformers such as Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham and the British economist
Adam Smith (Wealth of Nations) challenged governmental policies, the latter challenging mercantilist doctrine as
selfish and unnatural. The full complexity of the Enlightenment is best revealed in its political thought. The
philosophes agreed on the need for reform, but not on its methods. The contrasting philosophies of Montesquieu
(aristocracy) and Rousseau (democracy) are here discussed. The chapter then details the influence of women
during the Enlightenment and focuses on Mary Wollstonecraft. The philosophes were generally not feminists and
argued for the traditional role of women.
The text offers an overview of the characteristics of the two major artistic styles of the age. Rococo, which
was associated with the aristocracy of the Old Regime, was lavish and placed an emphasis on pastel colors and the
play of light. Neoclassical, embraced by the French Revolution and Napoleon, drew from the Renaissance and the
ancient world and was seen as a criticism of the Old Regime.
Most philosophes favored neither aristocracy nor democracy as the solution to contemporary problems.
Instead, they hoped that enlightened monarchs would reform society from above. The policies of such rulers as
Frederick the Great of Prussia, Joseph II of Austria, and Catherine the Great of Russia are detailed in the text; they
actually appeared to be carrying out the hopes of the philosophes. But, in reality, the heroes of enlightened
absolutism, as the phenomenon was called, did not wish to reform their countries for humanitarian or liberal
purposes, but to strengthen them for future warfare.
ID’s
People
Catherine II ( the Great)
D’Alembert, Jean le Rond
Diderot, Denis
Frederick II (the Great)
Joseph II
Kant, Immanuel
Mendelsohn, Moses
Montesquieu, Baron von
Philosophe
Physiocrat
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques
Salon
Smith, Adam
Spinoza, Baruch
Voltaire (François Marie Arouet)
Wollstonecraft, Mary
Countries/Land
Time Periods/Events
Enlightened absolutism
Terms
Deism
Encyclopedia
Laissez-faire
Tabula rasa