Midterm Review Flashcards
Describe the daily life of a peasant.
Peasants lived on land owned by a ruler, and farmed most days in order to survive. They ate what they grew, and were at the mercy of the weather. Most were incredibly poor, had very few rights, and made almost everything they owned.
What type of governing structure was used during the dark ages?
Monarchy (kings and queens)
What was the role of the Catholic Church?
The Catholic Church decided who got to be a king or queen.
They could keep being king as long as their people were Catholic, they paid the church . If a King didn’t do that, they would replace him
How did the Scientific Revolution weaken the Catholic Church?
Some of the teachings of the Catholic Church began to be proven incorrect by science, and people began to question more and more of the teachings
How did the Catholic church respond to the Scientific Revolution ?
They threatened, tortured, or killed scientists who refused to take back their research.
In your own words, describe what the Enlightenment was.
The Enlightenment was an explosion of ideas that focused on individual rights, better government, and science
What are the three Natural Rights? Explain each one
Life - Your right to be alive
Liberty - Your right to do whatever you want, as long as it doesn’t hurt others
Property - Your right to own and control things, and no one can take them from your without permission
According to John Locke, what is a government’s main concern?
If a government doesn’t protect natural rights, they should be overthrown
What new ideas were there about how governments should be run?
Citizens should vote on their leaders, 3 branches of government, citizens should have the right to a fair trial, free speech, religious freedoms, women should be treated as equals according to the law
What changes did Mary Wollstonecraft advocate for? To what extent has that change taken place?
The rights for women to own property, be educated, vote, and in general be treated as equals.
In most modern countries women do have all of those rights, but there are still areas that need improvement.
What is Mercantilism?
A Country uses their colonies to make money for the mother country, by providing raw materials and buying finished goods
Explain how the Enlightenment ideas inspired the American Revolution.
John Locke thought that a government was only supposed to be around to protect natural rights, and if it didn’t it should be overthrown. England was only trying to make itself richer, and wasn’t protecting our rights (the Navigation Acts, the Stamp Act, not allowed us to govern ourselves, forcing us to house their troops, etc.)
In what ways can you still see the impact of the Enlightenment on the United States government?
We have a government that focuses on protecting its citizens’ happiness. Voting rights, freedoms of speech religion, press, etc. 3 branches of government, trial by jury, no illegal search and seizure, capitalism.
What things did the first and second estates have in common?
Both had political power and were very wealthy, but did not pay any taxes
What is the only quality that all 3rd estate members shared?
None had political power, and they all had to pay taxes.
How large was the 3rd estate, and what kind of jobs did these people have?
97% total
17% were in the “upper 3rd” and were merchants, doctors, lawyers, business owners, etc.
80% were poor peasant farmers
How did Enlightenment ideas helped bring about the French Revolution?
John Locke thought that a government was only supposed to be around to protect natural rights, and if it didn’t it should be overthrown. French peasants were only used to make the king richer, and the government was taking away the rights of the peasants. (Taking their food, no freedoms of speech or religion, executing peasants without a trial for small crimes.)
In what ways was King Louis to blame for the French Revolution?
Had lousy leadership,wasn’t interested in ruling the country, never did anything about the economy until it was too late
Spent huge amounts of money on his own palace and lifestyle, which was paid for by the peasant class.
Who did the Jacobins blame for the problems in France?
The Wealthy
How many people ended up being killed during the Reign of Terror? How many were peasants?
40,000 and about 85% came from the 3rd estate
Was the French Revolution a success?
No, although it overthrew the king, it did not establish a government based on the Enlightenment.
Describe what life was like before the Industrial Revolution? (Where did people work, how did we make our stuff, etc?)
Most people lived on small farms and grew crops to eat
Most work was done in the home or was done by hand by an artisan
What major changes took place because of the Industrial Revolution?
Machines began doing more work for people instead of muscle power
People began to work outside of the home, and buy things that were mass produced in a factory
List the 7 reasons why England was the first to industrialize.
Plenty of rivers and coal
Large amounts of natural resources like coal and cotton
England had lots of rivers
Large harbors already built
Stable economy and government
Already had a global trade network
Large urban population with no other options
Explain the 5 reasons out of 8 for why England was first to industrialize.
Plenty of energy with rivers and coal to run the machines
Large amounts of natural resources like iron ore for building machines, and raw materials like cotton and wool
Rivers to transport materials and finished goods
Large harbors to handle all the new trade were already built
Stable economy and government allowed businesses to grow
Already had a global trade network to sell goods to
Large urban population with no other options to work in the factories for little pay
Describe the problems of housing for low wage workers during the Industrial revolution.
No building codes
No national free education
Very poor police protection
Streets had no drains and were piled high with waste
Widespread disease
Poor conditions were due to the fast pace of population growth in cities and government’s unwillingness to address the problems
Describe the working conditions of low wage workers
12 hour work days, 6 days a week
Paid 1 to 5 dollars per day
Incredibly dangerous
No minimum wage, worker’s compensation, or overtime
Business allowed to regulate businesses
Government in the US at the time believed in extreme hands-off principles
Allowed businesses to gain huge profits and make owners incredibly wealthy while workers remained incredibly poor
Explain how the invisible hand works and an example of it.
Invisible Hand - the collective decisions of all consumers informs businesses of what to make without the need for governments involvement
Picnic pants vs the charger
Who owns the factors of production in capitalism and makes decisions?
The people/ consumers/ business
