enlightenment & american independence

Question 1

What was the time period of the Enlightenment?

Answer 1

1685-1815

Question 2

What key concepts did the Enlightenment stress?

Answer 2

• Reason
• Logic
• Criticism
• Freedom of thought

Question 3

Who was Montesquieu and what was his main belief regarding government?

Answer 3

Montesquieu was a magistrate who believed in the separation of powers in a state.

Question 4

What did Montesquieu argue was necessary to prevent the abuse of power?

Answer 4

Power should check power.

Question 5

Which book did Montesquieu write in 1748?

Answer 5

The Spirit of Laws

Question 6

What was Voltaire’s main belief?

Answer 6

Freedom

Question 7

What was Voltaire’s stance on religion and government?

Answer 7

He believed in the separation of Church and state.

Question 8

What did Rousseau believe about the relationship between government and the people?

Answer 8

It should be a contract with obligations on both sides.

Question 9

What was Rousseau’s famous quote regarding man’s natural state?

Answer 9

Man is naturally good; men were born free but everywhere are in chains.

Question 10

What did Diderot aim to achieve with his work, The Encyclopedie?

Answer 10

To bring together all human knowledge.

Question 11

What concept became synonymous with Diderot’s work?

Answer 11

Encyclopedism

Question 12

What role did salons and coffeehouses play during the Enlightenment?

Answer 12

They were cultural hubs for the circulation of ideas.

Question 13

Fill in the blank: Many well-educated bourgeoisie met in _______ and coffeehouses.

Answer 13

salons

Question 14

What was a significant limitation of academies in France?

Answer 14

They required prior education, making them inaccessible to many.

Question 15

What was the purpose of reading clubs during the Enlightenment?

Answer 15

To discuss new ideas in books.

Question 16

What were cabinets de lecture?

Answer 16

Reading rooms set up by booksellers to borrow books.

Question 17

True or False: The number of journals quadrupled from 1715 to 1785.

Answer 17

True

Question 18

Who was Madame de Stael and what was her significance?

Answer 18

She was an intellectual figure whose salon gathered pre-revolutionary thinkers.

Question 19

What was a common tactic used by philosophers like Voltaire to avoid censorship?

Answer 19

Disguising their works as fiction.

Question 20

What percentage of people could read and write by the end of the Enlightenment?

Answer 20

Over ⅓

Question 21

What was the main intellectual justification for the American Revolution?

Answer 21

Thomas Paine’s ‘Common Sense’

Question 22

What Enlightenment ideas influenced Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence?

Answer 22

• Consent of the governed (Rousseau)
• Separation of powers (Montesquieu)

Question 23

What did the Americans establish to limit the power of the president?

Answer 23

Two legislative assemblies: the senate and the house of representatives.

Question 24

What was France’s initial role in the American Revolution?

Answer 24

To supply aid in secret.

Question 25

What slogans from the American Revolution inspired the French Revolution?

Answer 25

• Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness
• No taxation without representation
• All men are created equal

Question 26

Fill in the blank: The military humiliation of Britain inspired a determined attitude when fighting in the _______.

Answer 26

French Revolutionary Wars