PERIOD OF ENLIGHTENMENT

Question 1

“Men being by nature all free, equal, and independent, no one can be put out of this estate and subjected to the political power of another without his own consent, which is done by agreeing with other men, to join and unite into a community for their comfortable, safe, and peaceable living in a secure enjoyment of their properties.”

The quotation above is from a work by

A. John Locke 
B. Karl Marx 
C. Edmund Burke 
D. Voltaire 
E. Adam Smith

Answer 1

A. John Locke

Question 2

One of the goals of the physiocrats was to

A. reform the French monarchy along Dutch lines
B. implement more stringent mercantilist economic policies
C. implement free-trade policies
D. repudiate the national debt
E. effect a complete redistribution of arable land in France

Answer 2

C. implement free-trade policies

Question 3

Most eighteenth-century deists denied the

A. divine creation of the universe 
B. laws of gravity and motion 
C. occurrence of miracles 
D. need for religious toleration 
E. historical existence of Jesus

Answer 3

C. occurrence of miracles

Question 4

“Each contract of each particular state is but a clause in the great primeval contract of eternal society, linking the lower with the higher natures, connecting the visible and invisible world, according to a fixed compact sanctioned by the inviolable oath which holds all physical and all moral natures, each in their appointed place.”

The quotation above reflects the ideas of

A. Charles Fourier 
B. Voltaire 
C. Rousseau 
D. Adam Smith 
E. Edmund Burke

Answer 4

E. Edmund Burke

Question 5

The theories of which of the following had the most influence on the American and French Revolutions?

A. Condorcet, Voltaire, Jefferson 
B. Pitt, Hobbes, Raynal 
C. Diderot, Burke, Fox 
D. Montesquieu, Locke, Rousseau 
E. Wilkes, Turgot, Helvetius

Answer 5

D. Montesquieu, Locke, Rousseau

Question 6

Existentialist philosophy is most closely associated with which of the following?

A. Jean-Paul Sartre 
B. Bertrand Russell 
C. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 
D. Claude Lévi-Strauss 
E. Marie Curie

Answer 6

A. Jean-Paul Sartre

Question 7

Which of the following political philosophers believed that liberty could be preserved through separation of powers and checks and balances?

A. Jean-Jacques Rousseau 
B. Adam Smith 
C. Montesquieu 
D. Thomas Hobbes 
E. Voltaire

Answer 7

C. Montesquieu

Question 8

Which of the following works most directly challenged the theory of the divine right of kings?

A. The Wealth of Nations 
B. Letters Concerning the English Nation 
C. Crime and Punishment 
D. The Social Contract 
E. The Prince

Answer 8

D. The Social Contract

Question 9

During the Enlightenment, an unwillingness to accept explanations for events or phenomena unless such explanations were based on empirical evidence or logic was called

A. stoicism 
B. mysticism 
C. monasticism 
D. skepticism 
E. shamanism

Answer 9

D. skepticism

Question 10

“You have entered into combat against the enemies of mankind: superstition, fanaticism, ignorance, quibbling, evil judges, and the powers that rest in their hands. Great virtues and qualities are needed to surmount these obstacles. You have shown that you have them.”
Catherine the Great of Russia addressed the comment above in a letter to which of the following eighteenth-century writers?

A. Adam Smith 
B. Voltaire 
C. Montesquieu 
D. Mary Wollstonecraft 
E. Edmund Burke

Answer 10

B. Voltaire

Question 11

Many rulers recognized that their states could

potentially benefit from the spread of Enlightenment ideas. The three most prominent of these rulers were:

Answer 11

1. Frederick II the Great Hohenzollern of Prussia;
2. Joseph II Hapsburg of Austria;
3. Catherine II the Great Romanov of Russia.

Question 12

What were the key beliefs of the monarchs during the period of enlightenment?

Answer 12

• rejected the concept of absolutism and
  the divine right to rule.
• justified their position based on their usefulness to the state.
• based their decisions upon their reason; and
• stressed religious toleration and the importance of education.
• enacted codified, uniform laws;
• repressed local authority, nobles, and the church;
• often acted impulsively and instilled change at an incredibly fast rate.

Question 13

How did Catherine the Great come to power?

Answer 13

Peter III failed to bear a male heir to the throne and was killed.

Question 14

What were some of Catherine the Great’s reforms?

Answer 14

• Restrictions on torture
  • Religious toleration
  • Education for girls
  • 1767 Legislative Commission, which reported to her on the state of the Russian people
  • Trained and educated her grandson Alexander I so that he could progress in society because of his merit rather than his blood line

Question 15

Catherine the Great also took a number of decidedly unenlightened actions. What were they?

Answer 15

• In 1773 she violently suppressed Pugachev’s Rebellion,
  a massive peasant rebellion against the degradation of the serfs
  -She conceded more power to the nobles and eliminated state service.
• Also, serfdom became equivalent to slavery under her.

Question 16

Which ruler declared himself “The First Ruler of the State” believing that it was his duty to serve the state and do well for his nation ?

Answer 16

Frederick II Hohenzollern of Prussia

Question 17

What were some of Frederick II Hohenzollern of Prussia’s accomplishments?

Answer 17

• extended education to all classes;
• established a professional bureaucracy and civil servants;
• created a uniform judicial system;
• abolished torture.
• During his tenure, Prussia innovated agriculture by using potatoes and turnips to replenish the soil.
• established religious freedom in Prussia.

Question 18

This ruler could be considered perhaps the
greatest enlightened ruler, and he was purely enlightened, working solely for the good of
his country.

Answer 18

Joseph II Habsburg (also spelled as Hapsburg) of Austria

Question 19

What were some of Joseph II Habsburg’s beliefs and accomplishments?

Answer 19

• He was anti-feudalism, anti-church, and anti-nobility.
• He created equal punishment and taxation regardless of class;
• created complete freedom of the press;
• complete toleration of all religions and civil rights for Jews.
• a uniform law code was established;
• in 1781 he abolished serfdom;
• in 1789 ordered the General School Ordinance, which
  required compulsory education for Austrian children.
• failed because he angered people by making changes far too swiftly, and even the serfs weren’t satisfied with
  their abrupt freedom.

Question 20

Which ruler was known as the “Sun King”?

Answer 20

Louis the XIV

Question 21

Who was known for the saying, “”Après moi, le déluge” , or ”After me, the flood.”?

Answer 21

Louis the XVI

Question 22

Which Louis was Marie Antoinette married to?

Answer 22

Louis the XVI

Question 23

This war of 1740 to 1748 pitted Austria, England, and the Dutch
against Prussia, France, and Spain. Upon Maria Theresa’s acquisition of the Austrian throne, Frederick the Great of Prussia attacked Silesia, and war broke out.

Answer 23

The War of Austrian Succession

Question 24

In 1748 peace came with this Treaty which preserved the balance of power and the status quo ante bellum between Austria, England, and the Dutch against Prussia, France, and Spain .

Answer 24

Treaty of Aix la Chapelle

Question 25

What was meant by ”German Dualism”?

Answer 25

the fight between Prussia and Austria over who would dominate and eventually unite Germany.

Question 26

This war engaged Austria, France, Russia, Spain, Sweden, and Saxony against Prussia and England.
The purpose of the war was to annihilate Prussia, and took place at a number of fronts:
in Europe, in America (where American citizens know it as the French and Indian War)
and in India. At the Peace of Paris in 1763, the war concluded, and Prussia retained all of its territory, including Silesia. France ceded Canada to Britain and the North American
interior to Spain, and removed its armies from India. It did, however, get to keep its West Indies colonies.
At this point, Great Britain became the supreme naval power and it began its domination
of India.

Answer 26

The Seven Years War

Question 27

What were some of the beliefs of enlightened philosophers?

Answer 27

• The universe is a fully tangible place governed by natural rather than supernatural forces.
  • Rigorous application of the scientific method can answer fundamental questions in all areas of inquiry.
  • The human race can be educated to achieve nearly infinite improvement.
• stressed that people are all equal because all of us possess reason.

Question 28

What were some of the precursors to the Enlightenment?

Answer 28

• One of the most important was the Age of Science of the 1600s, which presented inductive thinking, and using evidence to
  reach a conclusion.
• The ideas of Locke and Hobbes and the notion of the social contract challenged traditional thinking and also contributed to the Enlightenment.
• Skepticism, which questioned traditional authority and ideas, contributed as well.
• Finally, the idea of moral relativism arose - assailing people for judging people who are different from themselves.

Question 29

In what country did the Enlightenment begin, and why did it begin there?

Answer 29

France as a result of its well-developed town and city life, as
well as its large middle class that wanted to learn the ideas.

Question 30

What was the effect of the Enlightenment on religious beliefs?

Answer 30

• promoted the use of one’s reason, rather than accepting tradition. It rejected the traditional attitudes
  of the Catholic Church.
• It stressed the unlimited progress of humans, and the ideas of atheism and deism became
  especially prominent.
• Most Enlightened philosophers considered themselves to be
  followers of deism, believing that God created an utterly flawless universe and left it alone, some describing God as the ”divine clockmaker.”

Question 31

What effect did Enlightenment have on economic thought?

Answer 31

Adam Smith’s concept of free market capitalism sent European economics in a new direction

Question 32

What freedoms became important as a result of Enlightenment?

Answer 32

freedoms of speech, thought, and press

Question 33

• died before the enlightenment
• English Revolution shapes his political outlook
• Wrote Leviathan (1651) - life is ”nasty, brutish, and short” - people are naturally bad and need a strong government to control them.
• may be considered to be the father of the enlightenment: because of all the opposition he inspired.

Answer 33

Thomas Hobbes

Question 34

• specifically refuted Hobbes
• humanity is only governed by laws of nature, man has right to life, liberty, and property
• there is a natural social contract that binds the people and their government together;
the people have a responsibility to their government, and their government likewise has a responsibility to its people
• Two Treatises on Civil Government justified supremacy of Parliament
• Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690) - Tabula rasa - human progress is in the hands of society

Answer 34

John Locke

Question 35

Enlightened philosopher who stressed religious tolerance.

Answer 35

Voltaire

Question 36

Wrote “Spirit of the Laws” - checks and balances on government, no one group having sole power

Answer 36

Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755)

Question 37

Who is famous for saying, “I think, therefore, I am”?

Answer 37

Descartes

Question 38

What was the name of Sir Isaac Newton’s work?

Answer 38

Principia

Question 39

What were Sir Francis Bacon’s views regarding scientific thought?

Answer 39

He championed the principle known as empiricism or inductive reasoning, the belief that all knowledge is gained from our sensory experiences. You create a hypotheses, make observations, and then draw conclusions from those observations.
He believed science was designed and should be about supporting mankind.

Question 40

What were Rene’ Descartes views on scientific thought?

Answer 40

He championed deductive reasoning, which begins with a general principle and derives information from it. He believed human thought was the basis of all truth (rationalism and skepticism).

Question 41

What did Immanuel Kant believe?

Answer 41

He believed that you shouldn’t just follow the beliefs of the church or anyone else, that you should think for yourself and discover what you believe.

Question 42

What is a philosophe?

Answer 42

One who tramples on prejudice, tradition, universal consent, authority, and dares to think for himself.

Question 43

What was one of the prime creations of the Enlightenment movement?

Answer 43

the Encyclopedia

Question 44

What was deism?

Answer 44

The idea of God like a clockmaker; that he set up the world and its orders like winding a clock, and then lets everything just run itself.

Question 45

Who was David Hume, and what did he believe?

Answer 45

Scottish philophe who wrote “Natural History of Religion”.

Believed that God was nothing more than a creation of man’s fear; miracles can’t happen because they defy natural laws.

Question 46

Who was Voltaire and what did he write?

Answer 46

He wrote “Candide” and “Treatise on Toleration”. He saw the religious establishment as the enemy to freedom; He said “Crush the infamous thing”.

Question 47

In Voltaire’s “Treaty on Toleration” what did he propose?

Answer 47

All men were brothers under God so people should be tolerant of all religions, of one another, and champion the views of the enlightenment.

Question 48

In his work, “Spirit of Laws,” this Enlightenment thinker argued for a government based around checks and balances separation of powers.

Answer 48

Montesquieu

Question 49

A philosopher who tried to analyze society and figure out whey there were problems, and, for him, the problem was society itself. He wrote “The Social Contract” in which he laid out what was wrong and how to fix it. This work was a direct challenge to the divine right of kings.

Answer 49

Rousseau

Question 50

What did the term “noble savage” mean, and who said it?

Answer 50

A term Rousseau used as he observed peoples of remote places believed that man who lived in a pristine natural environment away from the influences of the world.

Question 51

What were some of Rousseau’s beliefs?

Answer 51

He saw private property as a social crime that created division.
He felt the only solution was the general will of the people. If you don’t agree with the general will, you’re forced to go along with it. He believed the general will was always righteous.

Question 52

Enlightenment philosopher who wrote, “On the Wealth of Nations.”

Answer 52

Adam Smith

Question 53

What were some of the accomplishments and policies of Frederick the Great of Prussia?

Answer 53

• championed religious tolerance
• allowed Catholics and Jews to settle in Prussia
• championed farming reforms, for example, promoting potato use

Question 54

What particular event changed the people’s faith in enlightened despots? What did they believe and what subsequent event did this lead to?

Answer 54

The partitioning of Poland until it was no longer a country. The people saw that these enlightened rulers couldn’t be trusted and began to question whether they even needed rulers. This led to the French revolution.