Enlightenment Terms Flashcards
John Locke
-English Philosopher
-Worked to discover natural laws of politics
-Advocated constitutional government based on idea that power resides in the governed
-Provided much of the theoretical justification for the Glorious Revolution
-Wrote “Second Treatise of Civil Government”
Adam Smith
-Scottish Philosopher
-Focused on economic affairs
-Held that laws of supply and demand determine what happens in the market place
Baron de Montesquieu
-Real name was Charles Louis de Secondat
-sought to establish a science of politics and discover principles that would foster political liberty
Philosophes
-Center of Enlightenment thought
-prominent/public intellectuals
-Composed histories, novels, dramas, satires, and pamphlets on religious, moral and political issues
-Belief in progress
Voltaire
-Philosophe
-Wrote tons of letters and volumes
-Valued individual freedom
-Attacked the French monarchy and Roman Catholic Church
Deism
-belief in the existence of a god but denying of the supernatural teachings of Christianity
-Universe was an orderly realm
-God set the universe in motion but did not take interest in its development and didn’t intervene with its affairs
Popular Soveignty
-Brought on by John Locke
-Individuals granted political rights to their rulers but retained personal rights to life, liberty, and property
-Rulers derived their authority from the consent of those whom they governed
-Subjects have the right to replace their rulers
Jean Jacques Rousseau
-French Revolution
-Prominent advocate for political equality
-identified with simple working people
-resented privileges of elite class
-Wrote “the social contract”
-All individuals should participate directly in forming laws
Thomas Jefferson
-Believed in individualism
-Principal author of the Declaration of independence
American Revolution
Colonists were angry after being heavily taxed by England through acts like the Sugar, Stamp, and Quartering Act and eventually wanted independence
-More people gained the opportunity to have government positions
-Gained political freedoms but refrained from having a social or cultural revolution
King Louis XVI
-Unable to raise money from peasantry so he wanted to increase taxes on nobility
-Called Estates General to Versailles because he wanted to authorize new taxes to save France from economic ruin
Ancien Regime
Old existing society or “old order”
Estates General
-French Revolution
-An assembly that represented the entire French population through groups (estates)
National Assembly
-French Revolution
-Members of the third and lowest status estate seceded from the Estates General and proclaimed themselves as the National Assembly
-Members met to make France a new constitution
-Proclaimed the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen”
French Revolution
Causes:
-Economic hardship
-Social inequality
-Enlightenment Ideas
Key Events
-The Estates General and the National Assembly
-Storming of the Bastille
-Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
-The reign of terror
-Rise of Napoleon
-No change for women/peasants
-social change but no economic change
-Little change for people who weren’t landowners
Maximilien Robespierre/Jacobin Party
-French Revolution
-Jacobin party thought France needed resurrecting
-Wanted to eliminate the influence of Christianity in French society by closing churches
-Elected to the estates general
-Followed path similar to reign of terror
Napoleon Bonaparte
-Studied French military schools and became an officer in the army
-Good military leader
-Supporter of the revolution and defended the directory against uprisings
-Became politically ambitious and overthrew the directory
-Set up a new government (the Consulate)
-Crowned himself emperor and established a dictatorship
-Brought political stability
-limited free speech
-censored newspapers
-systematic use of propaganda
-Wanted to extend rule throughout Europe
-Napoleon’s empire began to unravel when he tried to invade Russia
-Coalition of Europe forces banded together against France
Concordat
Pact Napoleon made with the pope that provided that the French state would retain church lands seized during the revolution, the state agreed to pay clerics’ salaries, recognize Roman Catholic Christianity was the preferred faith of France but extended religious freedom to Protestants and Jews which gave Napoleon legitimacy
Civil Code
-Issued by Napoleon
-revised body of civil law that helped stabilize French Society
-Affirmed the political and legal equality of all adult men
-Established a merit based society in which individuals qualified for education and employment on talent rather than birth status
-Confirmed many of the moderate revolutionary policies of the National Assembly
The Haitian Revolution
-Only successful slave revolt in history
-Saint Domingue was one of the richest European colonies in the Caribbean
-White settlers in Saint Domingue wanted the right to govern themselves but opposed proposals to grant political and legal equality to the gens de couleur
-Abolished slavery in Haiti
-Big changes in social classes
-Ended with an emperor
-Dramatic economic changes (no more slavery)
Boukman
-Haitian Revolution
-organized slave revolts
-Died while fighting after launching revolt
Francois Dominique Toussaint
-lead slave revolts
-began calling himself Louverture
-learned to read and write from a Roman Catholic priest
-Bought his freedom
-Played French British and Spanish forces against one another
-controlled most of Saint Domingue by 1797
-represents the more moderate phase of the revolution
-known as father of haiti
-sympathetic to French People
Jean-Jacques Dessalines
-Said that all people are born with rights
-Government is based on what the people want
-All men including people of color are born equal
-Represents phase of terror killing French people
-Said Haiti is not French but Haitian
Simon Bolivar
-Fervant republican, interested in Enlightenment ideas about popular sovereignty
-(1819) assembled an army that surprised and crushed the Spanish army
-Campaigned in Venezuela, Ecuador, and Peru, coordinating his efforts with other Creole leaders
-His goal was to welcome former Spanish colonies of South America into a great confederation like the United States
-(1820s) Venezuela, Columbia, and Ecuador formed a republic called Gran Colombia so Bolivar tried to bring Peru and Bolivia into the republic
-(1830) strong political and regional differences undermined Gran Colombia and the confederation disintegrated so Bolivar declared South America to be “ungovernable”
