Outline for Chapter 18
I. Philosophy in the age of reason: 1700’s scientists believed that nothing was capable beyond the human mind. The Scientific Method had proved them wrong.
A. A World of Progress and Reason
1. 1700’s, other scientists expanded European Knowledge. Joseph Priestly and Antoine Lavoisier built the framework of modern chemistry.
2. Edward Jenner developed a vaccine against small pox, a disease that spanned for centuries.
3. Natural Laws: Laws that govern human nature- Inventors changed people’s lives. By using reason thinkers could solve everyday conflicts.
B. Two Views of the Social Contract
1. 1600’s- two thinkers Thomas Hobbes and John Locke came to very different conclusions of human nature and the purpose and nature of government.
2. Hobbes argued that people were naturally cruel, greedy and selfish. People entered into a social contract, or an agreement by which they gave up the state of nature for an organized society. He believed that only a powerful government could ensure an orderly society.
3. Locke believed that people had natural rights, or rights that belonged to all humans from birth. He argued that people form governments to protect their natural rights.
C. Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws
1. An early thinker called Baron de Montesquieu studied the governments of Europe, from Italy to England. In 1748, he published The Spirit of the Laws. Montesquieu felt that the British had protected themselves against tyranny by dividing the functions and powers of the government among three separate branches - the legislative, executive and the judicial.
2. Montesquieu’s books and ideas about government were written into the Constitution of the US.
D. The World of the Philosophers- Philosopher- “lovers of wisdom” these were people who applied the methods of science to better understand and improve society.
1. The most famous philosopher of all time is Francois-Marie Anouet, who took the name Voltaire. He used wit as a weapon to expose the abuses of his day. His attacks offended the government and the Catholic Church.
2. Denis Diderot- worked 25 years to produce a 28-volume encyclopedia. His purpose was to change the ways of thinking. In the Encyclopedia articles, the philosophers denounced slavery, praised freedom and urged education for all. It was an attack on all public morals. 20,000 copies were printed from the dates of 1751-1789.
E. Rousseau: A controversial Figure- Came from a poor family that never felt comfortable in the social world of thinkers.
1. He believed that people in their natural state were good. In 1762, He set forth his ideas in a book called The Social Contract. He argues that some social controls- control by a freely formed government.
2. Rousseau has influenced political and social thinkers for more than 200 years.
F. Limited “Natural Rights” for women- Women did not have natural rights. In the 1700’s a small group of women protested.
1. They questioned the notion that women were by nature inferior to men and that men’s domination of women was therefore part of “nature’s plan.”
2. Mary Wollstonecraft was one of the women that protested. She was well known in England. She accepted the fact that a woman’s 1st priority was to be a mother. In 1792, she published a book about women’s rights.
G. New Economic Thinking- Physiocrats- thinkers who looked for natural laws to define a rational economic system.
1. Physiocrats rejected mercantilism but urged a policy of laissez faire, allowing businesses to operate with little or no government interference. They thought that making land productive would bring more wealth than gold and silver.
2. A man named Adam Smith admired the Physiocrats. In a book he published called The Wealth of Nations, he argued that the free market, the natural forces of supply and demand, should be allowed to operate and regulate business. Smith believed that the marketplace was better off without any government regulation.
1. Enlightenment ideas flowed across Europe, and beyond. Everywhere thinkers examined traditional beliefs and customs in the light of reason and found them flawed.
A. The Challenge of New Ideas
1. Many educated people wanted to read the new published encyclopedia and also the small pamphlets that were sold in nearby markets. During the middle ages, most Europeans had accepted a society based on divine-right rule, a strict class system and a belief in heavenly reward for earthly suffering.
2. The church believed God had set up the old order. To protect against the attack of the enlightenment, they waged war of censorship, banning and burning books and imprisoning writers.
B. Salons- Salons- informal social gatherings at which writers, artists and philosophers and others exchanges ideas.
1. The salon originated in the 1600s when a group of noblewomen began inviting a few friends to their homes for poetry readings. They spread ideas and were called salonieres.
C. The Salon in the Rue Saint Honore
1. 1713- 14 year-old Marie- Therese Rodet wed to Francois Geoffrin, 48. They settled onto a house on the Rue Saint Honore. Marie eventually set up a salon inside her house. Her husband hated the fact that she had a salon and one day he came up missing.
2. On Mondays of the salon, Marie would welcome artists and musicians. Mozart played at one of the events. On Wednesdays, philosophers and poets came. Women were not educated and they set up salons to learn the men’s conversations. 1700s, the salons ended.
D. Enlightened Despots- the monarchs who accepted Enlightenment ideas became enlightened despots, or absolute rulers who used their power to bring about political and social change.
1. 1740-1786: Frederick the Great became King of Prussia. He tolerated religious differences, welcoming victims of religious persecution. A stronger monarchy gave him more power
2. 1762- Catherine the Great became Empress of Russia. She had limited reforms in law and government. Catherine spoke out against serfdom and intended to give away no power.
3. Joseph II- son of Marie Theresa, and a radical despot. He had a Hapsburg emperor. Joseph traveled in disguise to learn of his people’s problems. Because of his actions he was called the “peasant emperor.” For his government he chose talented middle-class officials rather than nobles to head departments.
4. Joseph sold many properties of monasteries and convents and built hospitals. Joseph even abolished serfdom but after he died it was all canceled.
E. The Arts and Literature-1600s to 1700s the arts evolved to meet changing tastes.
1. In the age of Luis XIV, the art was called Baroque, or huge, colorful and full of excitement. By the mid 1700s, architects and designers developed the rococo style. It was personal, refined, elegant, and charming art.
2. Successful merchants and officials wanted their portraits painted but without frills. They liked the family portraits realistic. Also, New kinds of music entertainment evolved in the Baroque era.
3. Some of these musical figures were Johann Sebastian Bach. He wrote beautiful and complex works for the organs and choirs. Another composer is George Frederick Handel who composed the Messiah and is played at concerts for Christmas.
4. 1762- 6-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart became a composer. From Salzburg, he composed music with remarkable speeds. At the age of 35, he died in poverty leaving his music legacy.
5. 1700s- Daniel Defoe wrote Robinson Crusoe and exciting tale about a sailor ship wrecked on a tropical island.
F. Lives of the Majority- most Europeans were untouched by either courtly or middle-class culture. Their cultures were based on centuries old traditions that changed slowly.
1. In the West, serfdom had disappeared. Some peasants worked their own patches of land. Others were tenants of large landowners, paying a yearly rent for the land they farmed. In Russia, serfdom deepened.
2. Peasants could be bought and sold with the land. In France, peasants still had to provide free labor, repairing roads and bridges after the spring floods just as their ancestor had done.
A. Global Expansion
1. England’s trade was under control and in the 1500s and 1600s English merchants sent ships across the world’s oceans and planted outposts in the West Indies.
2. In the 1700s England was on the winning side in European conflicts. Each victory brought valuable rewards.
3. In 1763- the Treaty of Paris ending the Seven Years’ War brought Britain all of French Canada. Britain didn’t have a large standing army; instead they had a large fleet.
4. In 1707- the Act of Union united Britain and Scotland in the United Kingdom of Great Britain. The Union brought economical advantages to both lands.
5. 1100s England controlled Ireland. In the 1600s, English rulers tried to subdue the Catholic Ireland by sending Protestants from England and Scotland to settle there.
B. Growth of Constitutional Government
1. The three new political institutions arose in Britain- political parties, the cabinet, and the office of the prime minister. The appearance of these institutions was part of the evolution of England’s constitutional government, which is a government who power is defined and limited by law.
2. 1600s- two political parties emerged and they were the Tories and Whigs. The conservative Tories were generally landed aristocrats who sought to preserve older traditions. They supported the broad royal powers and a dominant Anglican church. The Whigs backed the more liberal policies of the Glorious revolution.
3. These parties represented the rich and powerful men working in the parliament. In 1714- the British throne passed by hereditary right to a German Protestant prince.
4. The cabinet gained official status. It was made of leaders of the majority of the party in the House of Commons. If the commons voted against a cabinet decision, the cabinet resigned.
5. The prime minister was the leader of the majority in Parliament and in time the chief official of the British government. From 1721-1742, the able Whig leader Robert Walpole molded the cabinet into a unified body.
C. Politics and Society
1. The aristocrats were seen as the ruling class. The highest nobles held seats in the house of the Lords. Other wealthy landowners controlled elections to the House of Commons.
2. The majority of the people made a meager living from the land. Many landless families drifted into towns, where they faced a harsh and desperate existence.
D. George III Reasserts Royal Power
1. 1760- George III ruled for 60 years. He was born in England. He wanted to end Whig domination, choose his own ministers, dissolve the cabinet systems, and make the House of Commons follow his will.
2. George adopted a new policy: English colonists in North America must pay the costs of their own defense. 1775- American Revolution
3. 1788- cabinet was restored. During the wars the cabinet controlled the government.
A. The 13 English colonies
1. 1750- 13 English colonies stretched along the Eastern Coast of Central America. They were part of Britain’s empire.
2. 1600s- the Parliament had passed the Navigation Acts to regulate colonial trade and manufacturing.
B. Growing Discontent- George III thought that the colonists should pay for the war and for the troops.
1. 1770- British soldiers in Boston, opened fire on a crowd that was pelting them with stones. It was called the “Colonists Massacre.”
2. 1773- Boston Tea Party- colonists hurling tea into the harbor to protest on the taxes.
3. 1775- War. George Washington is the leader of the continental army. Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence. It claimed that people had the right to alter governments. July 4, 1776, Declaration was adopted.
C. The American Revolution- the Continental army had few military resources and little money to pay its soldiers.
1. 1777- the Battle of Saratoga- France joined America against its old rivalry Britain.
2. 1781- Washington forced the surrender of British army at Yorktown, Virginia.
D. A New Constitution
1. 1787- Constitution of the US. It created a federal republic. The Bill of rights, the first 10 amendments to the constitution gave people the right for protection.
2. 1789- Constitution became law. Only white men who met special laws could have the right to vote.