HIS 1003 Lecture 11: Age of Revolutions
14 Dec 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
AGE OF REVOLUTIONS
• How did the Enlightenment Change the World? Vive la Revolution!!
o From Enlightened Despotism to Revolution
o American Revolution
o French Revolution
o Haitian Revolution
o Napoleon
• Science of the Universe and Science of the Human Body Inspires a Science of Society
o The Enlightenment: Apply reason to the study of humanity
o Figure out natural laws that govern society`
• Immanuel Kant
• “What is Enlightenment?”
• Voltaire (1694-1778)
o Treatise on Tolerance
o “Crush the damned thing”
o “Theology amuses me. That’s where we find the madness of the human spirit in
all its plenitude.”
• Critique the State--TYRRANY
o Louis XIV (1643-1715)
o Absolutist Monarch
o Divine Right
o “L’etat, c’est moi!” (The state is ME!)
o Edict of Nantes
• Palace of Versailles
• Code Noir (Black Code) 1685
• Rules for slavery
• Cesare Beccaria
▪ On Punishment (1764)
▪ No cruel and unusual punishment
▪ Abolish the death penalty
• Jean Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract (1762)
• What is the Social Contract?
o Man was born free, but everywhere he is in chains.
• Key concepts
o General will
o Popular sovereignty
o Civil liberties
o Citizenship based on this
• Denis Diderot
• Encyclopedia
• “rational dictionary of sciences, arts, and crafts”
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
• Madame de Pompadour
• 18th century: New Enlightenment ideas of human rights and liberty
• Creating the Concept of the Citizen
o No longer subjects, but active participants in politics
o New language of rights, popular sovereignty, nation
o New concepts of progress, pursuit of happiness
o Social Contract—government is not centered on the body of the monarch but on
the body of the nation who mutually agrees to form that government –popular
sovereignty
• Enlightenment influence on Politics in America and Europe
o Challenge to Divine Right of Kings
o Critique of tyrrany
o Assert the rule of law
• Using the language of slavery to critique monarchy of the Ancien Regime
• Jean Jacques Rousseau
o “Man is born free but everywhere he is in chains.”
• What’s next for the Enlightenment?
o Triumph of the General Will?
• Spread of the Enlightenment to the English Colonies in America
• Stamp Act, 1765
• Tea Act→ Boston Tea Party, 1773
• Continental Congress 1774
• Declaration of Independence, 1776
o We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they
are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these
are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights,
Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the
consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes
destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and
to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and
organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect
their Safety and Happiness. …
• George III vs. George Washington
• Independence 1783
o 1791 Bill of Rights
• Inspirational to others!
• Impact on their Ally: France
• France
o Louis XVI helps US independence →
o NOW Louis needs to pay war debts
• Three Estates
• Estates General, 1789
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
