History Outline

History Outline Essay, Research Paper

Mrs. S Chris Johnson

History 10-H November 14, 1999

History Outline

A world of Progress and Reason

 Enlightenment grew out of the scientific revolution of the 1500?s and 1600?s

 Joseph Preistly and Antoine Lavoisier built framework for modern chemistry

 Edward Jenner developed a vaccine against smallpox

 Natural Laws ? Laws that govern human nature

Two views of the social contract

 Thomas Hobbes and John Locke made ideas key to the Enlightenment

 Thomas Hobbes put ideas into his book, Leviathan

 He argued that people were naturally cruel, greedy, and selfish

 Thought life in a ?state of nature? would be solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short

 Hobbes supported the Stuart kings in struggle against parliament

 John Locke optimistic view of nature

 Thought people were basically reasonable and moral

 Believed that all people had Natural Rights ? rights that belonged to all humans from birth

 Theses rights included: right to life, liberty, and property

 Wrote Two Treatises of Government

 It said that people formed governments to protect their natural rights

 He rejected absolute monarchy

 Also believed that people had the right to overthrow the government

Montesquieu?s spirit of the laws

 1700?s France saw a flowering of enlightenment

 early and influential thinker was Baron de Montesquieu

 he studied the governments of Europe

 often gave sharp criticism of absolute monarchy

 wrote, The Spirit of the Laws

 discussed governments throughout history and complimented England?s monarchy

 his ideas of separation of powers and checks and balances in government were written into the constitution of the United States

The world of the Philosophes

 Philosophes? which means ? lovers of wisdom?

 Most famous Philosophes was Francois-Marie Arouet who later took the name of Voltaire

 His outspoken attacks offended the government and the catholic church

 He was imprisoned and exiled

 Encyclopedia written by Denis Diderot

 Took 25 years to write the 28 volumes

 The purpose was to change the general way of thinking

 Included articles by leading thinkers of the day including Montesquieu and Voltaire

 Denounced slavery, praised freedom of expression, and argued education for all

 French government thought the book was an attack on public morals

 20,000 copies were printed

Rousseau: A controversial figure

 Most controversial Philosophe was Jean-Jacques Rousseau

 Believed people in ?natural state? were basically good

 Thought natural innocence was corrupted by the evils of society

 Set forth his ideas on government and society in The Social Contract

 Thought the individual should be subordinate to the community

 Hatred of political and economic oppression woven through out his works

 Helped fan the flames of revolt in centuries to come

Limited Natural Rights for Women

 Women did have natural rights

 These rights were limited to the home and family

 Notion that women were by nature inferior to men

 Germaine deStael in France and Catherine Macauly and Mary Wollstonecraft in England argued that women had been excluded from the social contract itself

 Wollenstonecraft best known British female critic

 Accepted that a woman?s first duty was to be a good mother

 Felt that a woman should be able to decide what is in her own interest and should not be completely dependent on her husband

 She published, Vindication of the Rights of Woman

 Called for same education for girls and boys

 Argued only education can give women the tools to participate equally with men in public life

New Economic thinking

 Physiocrats ? looked for Natural Laws to define a rational economic system

 Laissez faire ? allowed businesses to operate with little or no government interference

 Claimed that real wealth came from making the land more productive

 Extractive industries such as agriculture, mining, and logging produced new wealth

 Physiocrats supported free trade and wanted to lift all tariffs

 Adam Smith a British economist admired the physiocrats

 He argued that Free market ? natural forces of supply and demand, should be allowed to operate and regulate business

 A strong supporter of Laissez faire

 Believed that the marketplace was better off with out any government regulation

 However he did believe that the government had a duty to protect society, administer justice, and provide public works

 His ideas gained increasing influenced as the Industrial Revolution spread across Europe

The challenge of new ideas

 The ideas of the enlightenment spread quickly through many levels of society

 Coffeehouses were often where people met to discuss new ideas

 Europeans had accepted without question a society based on divine right rule, a strict class system and a belief in heavenly reward for earthly suffering

 In the Age of Reason such ideas seemed unscientific and irrational

 Government and church authorities felt they had a sacred duty to defend the old order

 They waged a war of censorship, banning and burning books and imprisoning writers

 Writers like Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Rousseau sometimes disguised their ideas in works of fiction

Salons

 Salons ? informal social gatherings

 Originated in 1600?s

 Noblewomen started the idea by inviting a few friends over to their homes for poetry readings

 Only the most witty, intelligent, and well-read people were invited to salons

 By 1700?s some middle class women began holding salons

 Gave middle class citizens the ability to meet with the nobility on an equal footing to discuss and spread enlightenment ideas.

The Salon in the Rue Saint Honore

 Inspired from previous visits to Salons Madame Geoffrin eventually set up her own salon in the house on Rue Saint Honore

 She entertained poets and philosophers, artists and musicians

 On Mondays Geoffrin welcomed artists and musicians

 Wednesdays, philosophers and poets came for discussion

 Madame donated large sums of money to help support the Encyclopedia

 Visiting monarchs paid their respects at what came to be called the ?kingdom? of Rue Saint Honore

 Catherine 2nd of Russia and Maria Theresa of Austria often visited

Enlightened Despots

 Some monarchs did accept enlightenment ideas

 They became Enlightened Despots ? absolute rulers who used their power to bring about social and political change

 Frederick the Great King of Prussia from 1740 ? 1786 saw himself as the ?the first servant of the state? with a duty to work for the common good

 He admired Voltaire tolerated religious differences welcoming victims of religious persecution

 His reforms were directed mainly at making the Prussian government more efficient

 Simplified laws

 Catherine the Great exchanged letters with Voltaire and Diderot

 Made limited reforms in law and government

 Spoke out against serfdom

 Allied herself with the Russian nobles

 Joseph 2nd Hapsburg emperor student of enlightenment

 Tried to improve the lives of peasants

 Chose talented middle class officials rather than nobles to head departments and impose a range of political and legal reforms

 Granted toleration to Protestant?s and Jews in his Catholic empire

 He also ended censorship

 Abolished serfdom

The Arts and Literature

 Grand, complex style of art known as Baroque

 Baroque paintings were huge, colorful, and full of excitement

 They glorified historic battles or the lives of saints

 By 1700?s Rococo style was invented

 Rococo art was personal, refined, elegant, and charming

 Furniture and tapestries featured delicate shells and flower decorations

 Also included European versions of Chinese art

 Painters showed noble subjects in charming rural settings, surrounded by happy servants and pets

 Ballets and operas- plays set to music- were performed at royal courts

 Opera houses sprang up from Italy to England to amuse the paying public

 Johann Sebastian Bach wrote complex and beautiful religious works for organ and choirs

 George Frederick Handel wrote Water Music and other pieces for King George I

 His most celebrated work Messiah combines both instruments and choir

 Wolgang Amadeus Mozart was only 6 yr. old when he hit it big

 Although he was an instant celebrity he died in poverty at the age of 35

 Daniel Defoe wrote Robinson Crusoe

 Samuel Richardson wrote Pamela

Lives of the Majority

 Villages in Western Europe were relatively more prosperous than those in Eastern Europe

 In the west serfdom had largely disappeared

 Peasants worked their own patches of land

 Others were tenants of large land owners

 In Eastern Europe serfdom was firmly rooted

 Peasants bound to the land owed labor services to their lords and could be bought and sold with land

 In France, peasants still had to provide free labor

 In England, country squires had the right to hunt foxes across the plowed and planted fields of their tenants

Global Expansion

 England?s location made it well placed to control trade during the Renaissance

 In the 1700?s Britain was generally on the winning side in European conflicts

 Treaty of Utrecht ? France was forced to give Britain Nova Scotia and Newfoundland

 England gained an monopoly in the slave trade in south America

 Slave trade brought enormous wealth to British merchants

 1763 Treaty of Paris ? ended the seven years war. Gave Britain all of French Canada

 British east India company pushed the French out of India

 Britain had no large standing army instead it had a powerful navy

 England followed mercantilist policies

 1707 Act of Union ? united Scotland and England in the United Kingdom of Great Britain

 United kingdom also included Wales

 England had controlled Ireland since the 1100?s

 Gave Protestant settlers title to Irish catholic lands

Growth of Constitutional Government

 Three new political institutions arose in Britain: Political parties, the Cabinet, and the office of the prime minister

 Government whose power is defined and limited by law ? Constitutional Government

 British constitution is made up of all acts of parliament over the centuries

 Includes: Magna Carta, and bill of rights

 Two political parties emerged: Whigs and Tories

 Whigs ? backed liberal policies, reflected urban business interests, and supported religious toleration for Protestants. Whigs dominated the parliament in the 1700?s

 Tories – conservative landed aristocrats, sought to preserve old traditions, supported broad royal powers and a dominant Anglican church

 The two parties represented cliques among the rich powerful men

 Votes were often pooled to advance their common interests

 A handful of parliamentary advisors set policies they were called the cabinet

 Leader of the majority party in parliament and in time the chief official of the British government ? Prime Minister

 Robert Walpole considered Britain?s first Prime Minister

Politics and society

 A government in which the ruling power belongs to a few people ? Oligarchy

 Highest nobles held seats in the house of lords

 Wealthy landowners controlled elections in house of commons

 The right to vote was limited to few male property owners

 Majority of society made a meager living from the land

 Landless families faced a harsh and desperate existence

 Middle class included successful merchants and manufactures

 George the 3rd tried to regain the crown?s powers to no avail many of his policies on America led to the American revolution

The 13 English colonies

 By 1750 a string of 13 prosperous colonies stretched along the eastern coast of North America

 Part of Britain?s growing empire

 Busy centers of commerce

 1600?s parliament had passed the Navigation Acts to regulate colonial trade and manufacturing

 colonies were home to diverse religions and ethnic groups

Growing Discontent

 George III and his ministers thought that the colonists should help pay for the French Indian war. Britain began to enforce the long-neglected laws regulating colonial trade and parliament passed new laws to raise taxes from the colonies

 Colonists protested with, ?no taxation without representation?

 They believed since they had no say on parliament that they shouldn?t be taxed

 1770 British soldiers opened fire on a protesting crowd killing 5

 called the Boston Massacre

 1773, a handful of colonists staged the Boston tea party throwing cargo of British tea of the ships and into the harbor to protest the new taxes on tea

 By April 1775 the crisis exploded into a war

 Colonial leaders met in a Continental Congress to decide what actions to take

 Congress setup a continental army with George Washington in command

 Following year the congress voted for independence and had Thomas Jefferson draft the Declaration of Independence

 The Declaration claimed that people had the right ?to alter or abolish? unjust government

 on July 4,1776 American leaders adopted the Declaration

The American Revolution

 American cause looked bleak

 British held New York and Philadelphia, rebels controlled the country side.

 American trimuph over the British in Battle of Saratoga

 Convinced the French to join the Americans against it?s old rival, Britain

 Netherlands and spain soon added their support

 Washington forced the surrender of a British army at Yorktown

 Two years later American, British , and French negotiators signed the Treaty of Paris

 In it Britain recognized the independence of The United States of America

 It also accepted the new nation?s western frontier as the Mississippi river