HIEU 202 The Age of Enlightenment: Reason &
Reform (Chpt. 18) & The French Revolution: The
Affirmation of Liberty & Equality (Chpt. 19)
Adam Smith - ANS-Scottish economist (and Deist) who wrote the Wealth of Nations a precursor
to modern Capitalism. Viewed labor as the critical factor in a capitalist economy. Labor belonged
to the highest bidder.
American Revolution - ANS-Undertaken to defend individual liberties and rights established by
law and religion.
-cherry picked ideas from the Enlightenment (3 branches of govt), but based more on the
English experience, common law, the English civil war, the glorious rev., the English bill of rights.
Anglo-French Rivalry - ANS-Competition between England and France for New World colonies.
France lost its colonies to Britain with the Peace of Utrecht and the Treaty of Paris, which ended
the Seven Years War. Spain had been the first sovereign state to establish an empire in
America; located principally in South America and Central America, it was based on mining gold
and silver, trade, and slaves. The English and the Dutch had followed, first as settlers and then
also as slave traders, but their colonies lay to the north - in Virginia, New Amsterdam (later New
York), and New England. Farther north, the French explored and exploited Canada and the
region now known as the Midwestern US. Early in the 18th century, the Dutch and Spanish had
largely dropped out of the race for colonies in North America, leaving the field to the French and
English. By the middle of the 18th century, their rivalry increased tension in the Old World.
Austria-Prussia Rivalry - ANS-over control of Europe. Frederick the Great was entering the
ranks of the major powers. In 1740, he launched an aggressive foreign policy against
neighboring states and ruthlessly seized Austrian province of Silesia. The forces of the new
Austrian queen, Maria Theresa, were powerless to resist this kind of military onslaught. Silesia
augmented the Prussian population by 50%. The Austrians never forgave his transgression. In
1756, Maria Theresa formed an alliance with France against Prussia; the ensuing Seven Year's
War (1756-1763) involved every major European power. Austria's alliance with France in 1756,
which ended the historic rivalry between France and the House of Hapsburg, is know as the
diplomatic revolution.
Baron de la Brede et de Montesquieu (1689-1755) - ANS-French aristocrat, had little sympathy
for revolutions, but did approve of constitutional monarchy. Primary concern was to check the
unbridled authority of the French Kings. Proposed a balanced system of govt, with an executive
branch offset by a legislature whose members were drawn from the landed and educated
elements in society. He became a source for legitimating the authority of representative
institutions. Hardly an advocate of Democracy, a critic of absolutism. The Spirit of Laws (1748)
, Bernard Picart - ANS-Engraver who depicted the Inquisition as cold and ruthlessly interrogating,
then as barbarous in its use of torture. 1723
Betje Wolff - ANS-Dutch novelist who attacked the Dutch slave trade.
Center of Enlightenment - ANS-Paris (by the 1770s), with circles found in Berlin, Moscow,
Budapest, London, The Hague, and across the Atlantic, in Philadelphia.
Character of the Enlightenment - ANS-1) practical - Denis Diderot, Encyclopedie most important
publication, 1751-1756 - 17 volumes by 1780 35 volumes. Important vehicle for spreading
Enlightenment ideas.
2) informal
*Essays, public letters, satires, critiques
*Coffeehouses, salons, clubs
3) International - corresponded and made friends "republic of letters"
Civil Society - ANS-society created when citizens are allowed to organize and express their
views publicly as they engage in an open debate about public policy
Constitutions (1723) - ANS-book of Freemason rules and practices
Core Ideas of the Enlightenment - ANS-1) Reason
*subversive (tearing down rather than building up)
*Common sense, observation, skepticism
2) Progress
*Civilization
*Improvement
3) Nature
*Idealized "state of nature"
4) Liberty limited to those who had reason
*Rousseau, The Social Contract (tearing down of traditional institutions)
*Diderot (liberty is a gift of the heavens)
*Natural rights, reason
Course of the French Revolution - ANS-Following the example of the Americans and had high
hopes for a similar outcome - wanted constitution based on sovereignty of the people - but got
authoritarian state governed by a military dictator that wielded more power than any Bourbon
Monarch ever had.
1) Storming of the Bastille 7/14/1789 - triggered the French Rev. ordinary people intervened
between the monarchy and the aristocracy over what to do about the financial crisis. Governor
was butchered and the national assembly (estates general) did nothing to condemn the Paris
Mob - sanctioned violence and set a precedent which continued.
