Kevin Putnam

Per. 3, Haskell

Oct. 27, 2003

Chapter 18 Outline

Chapter 18

Philosophy in the age of reason.

i. A World of Progress and Reason

1. More scientists expanded European knowledge in the 1700s

2. The framework for modern chemistry was put together by Joseph Priestly and Antoine Lavoisier

3. Lives of the people were changed by the inventors of scientific knowledge. Social, Political, and Economic problems were solved

ii. Two Views of the Social Contract.

1. Thomas Hobbes and John Locke conjured up ideas that soon became the Key to Enlightenment.

2. Hobbes said that people are naturally bad. They are cruel, greedy and selfish.

3. Locke’s view, however, was more optimistic. He said that people were reasonable and moral.

iii. Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws

1. Baron de Montesquieu, in the 1700s, was an influential thinker in fracnce

2. He published the book The Spirit of the Laws. This book discussed history’s governments and Britain’s Monarchy.

3. He thought that the separation of powers was the best way to protect liberty.

iv. The World of the Philosophes

1. Thinkers during the enlightenment who applied science methods to better understand and improve society were called philosophes.

2. A famous philosophe was Francois-Marie Arouet, he targeted corrupt officials and idle aristocrats.

3. Another Philosophe, Denis Diderot, Wrote a 28 volume Encyclopedia over a span of 25 years.

v. Rousseau: A controversial Figure

1. A controversial philosopher who went by the name Jean-Jacques Rousseau, believed that people were naturally good.

2. Rousseau ut his ideas about society and government in The Social Contract.

3. For over 200 years, Rosseau influenced people everywhere.

vi. Limited “Natural Rights” for Women.

1. The Enlightenment had a slogan which said, “ Free and Equal.” This slogan did not apply to women.

2. Women protested in the 1700s about the fact that men thought that they were inferior

3. Wollsonecraft was a British womam who accepted womans first duty which was to be a good mother

vii. New Economic Thinking

1. Like philosophes, Physiocrats focused on economic reforms and looked for natural laws to define a ration al economic system.

2. Physiocrats wanted a policy of laissez faire which allowed business’s to operate with little or no government interference.

3. A british economist named Adamn Smith, admired the work of the physiocrats. He talked about free market in his work The Wealth of the Nation

Enlightenment Ideas Spread

i. The challenge of New Ideas

1. The enlightenment spread ideas of society.

2. People believed that the old order had been set up by god and shouldn’t be changed.

3. Some novels suggested specific reforms where as others showed the need for reforms.

ii. Salons

1. Discussions in Philosophy were usually informal social gatherings called salons.

2. It was originated in the 1600s by a group of noblewomen in Paris. They began inviting friends over for poetry.

3. in the 1700s woman began having salons where people could meet and discuss the enlightenment

iii. The Salon in the Rue Saint Honoré

1. In the year 1713, a 14 year old girl named Marie Therese Rodet married Francoise Geoffrin who was 48.

2. Madame Geoffrin was invited to attend a salon by her neighbor.

3. The salons helped the uneducated women to learn from the educated men.

iv. Enlightened Despots

1. Philosophes tried to convince European rulers to adopt their own ideas to enlighten the ruling.

2. From 1740 to 1786, the king of Prussia, Frederick II, saw himself as the first servant of the state.

3. People such as Catherine the Great and Joseph II, were enlightened despots, or absolute rulers who used their power to bring about political and social change.

v. The Arts and Literature

1. Baroque paintings were grand and complex colorful paintings.

2. In the baroque era, new kinds of entertainment in the music evolved.

3. in the 1700s, literature became more popular and new forms developed. People enjoyed stories about their own time.

vi. Lives of the Majority

1. Most Europeans were peasants in this time as they always had been. They were not courtly or middle-classed

2. The life of the peasants varied across Europe where the western part is more prosperous than the east.

3. In central and eatern Europe, peasants bound to the land owed labor services to their lords. They could be bought and sold with their land.

Britain at Mid-Century

i. Global Expansion

1. By is well placed location, England had great trade during the Renaissance.

2. Britain was a victor in European conflicts. The victories brought many rewards

3. England had and offered more favorable climate to its business and commerce that its European rivals.

ii. Growth of Constitutional Government

1. New political institutions arose in Britain. These institutions include: Political Parties, The cabinet, and the office of prime minister.

2. In England, two political parties emerged. They were the Tories and Whigs.

3. The prime minister, who headed the cabinet, was the leader of the majority party in parliament and in time the chief official of the British government.

iii. Politics and Society

1. The natural ruling class was the landowning aristocrats in Britain.

2. Other landowners who were wealthy and business leaders in the cities controlled elections to the House of Commons.

3. The small growing middle class included merchants and manufacturers who were very successful.

iv. George III reasserts Royal Power

1. George III embarked on a reign that lasted 60 years, in 1760.

2. The American Revolution was triggered in 1775 when conflicts angered.

3. The revolution took France, so Napolean Bonaparte’s armies marched across Europe bringing in the British.

Birth of the American Republic

i. The 13 English Colonies

1. Thirteen colonies were set up on the east coast of North America by 1750

2. The navigation act was passed by the parliament to regulate trade and manufacturing in the 1600s

3. Colonies differed in their ways but as a part of Britain’s growing empire, they were the same.

ii. Growing Discontent

1. The relationship between the 13 colonies and Britain began to strain in the year 1763

2. “No taxation without representation” was a protest that said parliament should be allowed to tax them.

3. July 4, 1776, the declaration of independence was signed creating the united states of America.

iii. The American Revolution

1. In 1777 at the battle of Saratoga, the Americans gained a victory over the British.

2. the winter of 1777 to 1778, soldiers at valley Forge, suffered starvation, cold, and disease

3. In 1781 British surrendered at Yorktown with the help of the French fleet.

iv. A New Constitution

1. The constitution of the United states was written in the summer of 1778

2. The constitution created a federal republic with power divided between the federal, or national, government and the states.

3. the Constitution became a law in 1789, and it set up a government with a representative elected legislature to reflect the wishes of the people.