1716+-+1789


 * 1716 - 1789 (French Revolution) **

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The Enlightenment

 * The Enlightenment**, an era of history that is characterized by a new world view, one that submits all things to **rationalism** and one that encompasses both a very prosperous, economic era in history as well as a **scientific revolution**. The Enlightenment has no 'set' dates, but it reached its peak in 1750, after the scientific revolution and Newton's and Copernicus' findings on gravity and planets, and after the death of the Sun King, Louis XIV. The Enlightenment, although affecting and affected by many peoples, was largely French and Enlightenment thinkers were called **Philosophes**. These thinkers open-mindedly embraced many ideas, **Bayle's skepticism** being one very influential one. **Locke's Tabula Rasa** and **Montesquieu's Seperation of Powers** were both two very popular and influential ideas as well. From **Deism** to **The Encyclopedia**, the Enlightenment thinkers, gathering in their **salons**, thought of things that were unprecedented in previous times.

The Enlightenment created a culture of its own. Good and bad ideas were created, from the beginning of **racism** to the romantic ideal of **Rousseau's general will**. Enlightenment influenced literate people, aristocrats, thinkers, and governments. **Enlightened absolutism** became popular amongst Enlightenment thinkers as well as absolutists. Whether it was **Catherine the Great**, **Frederick the Great**, or **Maria Theresa**, leaders and people alike were affected by the Enlightenment and its broad-minded and innovative ideas.

The Philosophes
Philosophe is the French word for philosopher. These men challenged the traditional ideas on society and politics. The philosophes said they were enlightening the masses for the first time. They claimed that the greatest crime in society was that religion was used for war and hatred to others. Philosophes wanted government to be a 'republic of letters' run by the enlightened public.

A philosophe Denis Diderot wanted to pull together ideas from the Enlightenment to form the Encyclopedia. The Encyclopedia brought radical ideas on paper and made it possible to inform the masses of the intellectual change. Philosophes discussed their ideas with each other at places like salons and criticize the establishment.

Voltaire
Francois Marie Arount, Voltaire, was the most famous philosophe of the Enlightenment. He sharply criticized a nobleman and was imprisoned in the Bastille. After this Voltaire fought against social injustice for the rest of his life. Voltaire approved of the English government and liked their scientific progress. He lived with the Marquise du Chatelet who influenced his work and housed him at Circey. He then went into exile and became a favorite of Frederick the Great of Prussia.

** Jean-Jacques Rousseau was perhaps one of the most famous philosophes which attacked The Age of Enlightenment's faith in reason, progress, and moderation. Rousseau was very passionate about the individual person's freedom. Although, unlike other philosophes that supported individual freedom, he attacked civilization and rationalism because he believed they destroyed not upheld the individual's freedom. Rousseau was a friend to Jacques-Louis Menetra, and his ideas took great part in the romantic movement. **

E nlightened Despotism is an absolute monarchy in which rulers where influenced or attracted to the Age of Enlightenment that was current in 18th century Europe. These Enlightened Despots pushed for social, legal, and educational reforms inspired by or brought forth by the period of Enlightenment. These reforms included religious toleration, freedom of speech, and economic development. Enlightened Despots ruled with the goal to improve or enrich the lives of their subjects. A few examples of Enlightened despots proceeds:

Catherine The Great
Catherine The Great of Russia, who was once a German princess from Anhalt-Zerbst, ended up being one of the most brilliant and influential leader in Russia's history. Although her father was mainly associated with the Prussians, her mother was still related to the Romanovs of Russia. After her marriage to Peter III and the results of his declining rule, Catherine had managed to obtain an opportunity to become the ruler of Russia. With the forced abdication of Peter III and his dead, Catherine had became the ruler of Russia.

Catherine the Great had managed to accomplish many tasks that left Russia to become a more powerful force than before. Continuing with Peter the Greats efforts, she had managed to gain power of the Black Sea. Also, in the Russo-Turkish War, Catherine received multiple strips of land in areas never before owned by Russia. Without her intervention, Poland also would not have been able to be partitioned as it did. Despite her death, she had managed to open up new roads and paths not accessible by Russia before.

Frederick The Great
Frederick the Second, or Frederick the Great, of Prussia followed steadily in his father's footsteps. As a young man, Frederick found himself spending leisure time embracing culture, literature, and writing French Poetry against his family's demands. 10 years after he was caught trying to run away from home, Frederick took the throne and was more than happy to make use of a fantastic family that his father left behind for him. After Maria Theresa succeeded the throne of the Habsburgs' dominions, Frederick attacked her german province of Silesia, against the promises of the Pragmatic Sanction. Although a great fan of the enlightenment, Frederick kept his enlightenment ideas separate from his politics.

**War of Austrian Succession & Seven Years’ War**
The War of Austrian Succession started when Frederick the Great of Prussia seized Silesia from Austria´s Maria Theresa. The war gradually became a world war that included Anglo-French conflicts in India and North America. In the North America, the territorial situation experienced no change (MK 635). Maria Theresa desired to regain the territory of Silesia from Prussia and re-establish its dominance over the loosely bonded Germanic states. However, the war proved to be indecisive in Europe, but fighting in North America revealed Britain as the victor. Britain established its colonial dominance over France at the Treaty of Paris (1763). "Britain had realized its goal of monopolizing a vast trading and colonial empire" (MK 637).

**Joseph II**
Joseph II was a ruler from the __**Austrian Habsburgs**__, his **ruling from 1780 to 1790**. Being considered a "revolutionary emperor", he continued his **mother's (Maria Theresa)** state-building techniques (MK 613). Joseph II __**granted religious toleration and rights to the Protestants and Jews**__, which was viewed as a radical action. In matters of religion, Joseph II also __took the Catholic Church under his supervision__, in fact hoping to make better citizens in Austria. Another acheivement was that he abolished serfdom in 1781, which led to the transition from forced labor, or "labor obligations", into payment for the peasants. However, peasants and the noble class rejected these changes due to an absence of money in the peasant economy. (MK 615)

The Enclosure movement
The **enclosure movement** was a movement in which all common lands were **sold off** to private owners in order to allow the process of **crop rotation**. Also the enclosure movement was designed to allow owners to **enclose their property** so as to allow segregation of crops. The argument for justifying this was that the selling of common lands was the **price of progress**. England was forced to adopt this strategy because it is a country with little land and therefore needed to **maximize it’s food output**.

18th Century Demographics
One of the main **demographics** was that the **increase in food production in England** resulted in better nutrition except for the poor in some instances. **Population grew slowly** for much of the 1700’s except for the end. Population **increased in England by 3 million people**. **Famine, disease, and war** were the major causes of death in the time

Putting-Out System/Cottage Industry
McKay defines Cottage Industry as consisting of manufacturing with hand tools in peasant cottages and work sheds. Cottage Industry was often organized through the putting out system. In this system, a merchant capitalist would loan, or "put out" raw materials to rural cottage workers, where the materials were processed. Then, the finished products were returned to the merchant. The putting out system grew because of its many benefits. For example, countryside location was critical because there, the manufacturers did not have to abide by guild standards and other labor laws. England led the way in the putting out system. "By 1700, English industry was generally more rural than urban and heavily reliant on the putting-out-system" (MK 630).


 //Born in 1723, Adam rose to become a professor of philosophy and eventually was a prominent figure during the Scottish Enlightenment. He lived during Europe's first round of Imperialist competition amongst European nations and economic trade regulations highly controlled a nation’s economy, and subsequently, other nation’s imports and exports. Although mercantilism was the choice for many nations, Smith was a huge proponent of "free trade" and against government regulated monopolies. Smith believed invididuals could pursue greater individual wealth in a free market economy and thus was seen as a capitalist. Adam Smith is now seen as the founder of economic liberalism as described in his book __Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations__ (1776). Smith stated that the government’s only involvement in the people’s lives are to provide defense against foreign invasion, maintain civil order with courts and police protection, and sponsor certain indispensable public works and institutions that could never adequately profit private investors. (Mck. 647-648) // 

//Atlantic Slave Trade //
The Atlantic Slave Trade began in the early 1700s when colonies in the Carribbean and North America began using slaves as free labor in order to harvest raw materials on a mass scale extremely cheaply. It was almost a perfect cycle and wealth and national and personal gain were primary goals, while humane treatment of slaves was rarely even a concern. Portugese and Spanish ships would sail the coasts of Africa collecting slaves very cheaply from nomadic African tribes. This need for slaves caused many feuds and wars in Africa which resulted in more loss of life and corruption in Africa caused by Europeans lack of concern for both black people and the African continent. Once in the Carribbean and Americas, slaves were used to harvest anything from sugar, to coffee, including, tobacco, rice, and cotton. These raw materials were then transported back to Europe to be manufactured into usable products and food was distributed throughout Europe. These goods were very cheap and Europe experience new foods from the New World and cheaper goods. Excess goods due to a manufacturing surplus were sold back to the Carribbean and American colonies cheaply which continued the cycle of cash flow.

** Watt’s Steam Engine **
In 1698 and 1705, two steam engines were developed and used for mining, both were extremely inefficient. James Watt, a Scottish scientist, developed a highly more efficient model of the original steam engines, in 1769. This was done by using modern technology to create a vacuum, and regulate a complex engine. Because of the engine increased efficiency, it became widely used in Britain. It provided an unlimited power supply. It revolutionized the cotton mills, the flourmills, and breweries, by replacing waterpower. Its greatest impact on industry was it let industries to create almost unlimited quantities of coke, which allowed for greater improvements in the iron industries. (p 721 - 723).

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Causes of the French Revolution
In the era of a changing world, the conflict brought on by wage earners and peasants as a result of enlightenment ideas and dissatisfaction as a result of taxation and famine conveyed chaos among society with actions toward revolution. With the disestablishment of a monarchy after the execution of Louis XVI, legislative powers like the [|National Assembly] began to take control and differentiated ideas between them drove a hectic cause. With the causes of revolution and social disorder resulting, the road was paved for the next attempted rule over France with Maximilien Robespierre at the control.

**Louis XVI**
As the predecessor of the line of kings of France, Louis XVI took on the ruling tactic of past kings and reigned with an absolute authority from 1774 to 1792. Through his calling of the estates general one of the many causes of the french revolution was formed when the third estate declared itself the [|National Assembly], and [|The Tennis Court Oath] arose. While Louis served as a king of good intentions, his rule was cut short after his trial and eventual death by [|guillotine] in 1793, leading to the reign of terror to come with the enstation of [|The French First Republic].

**French Estates**
As all the other European nations started to form a sense of //class,// the French did not follow this basic outline (at least until the 19th century) and the people were divided into **three "estates"**, those who pray, those who fight, and those who work. The **First Estate**, or the ones who pray, was made up by the clergy, and retained the most power apart from the king, and along with the **Second Estate**, were able to avoid taxes, enforce their own laws on their land, and were able to retain their wealth in the family until the French Revolution centuries later. The **Third Estate**, or the ones who work, was the vast majority of the population, and held little rights, the opposite of the First and Second Estates. The estates system that was used by France, was a good idea at the time, but eventually would lead the third estate to drastic measures and cause the French Revolution.

**The Estates General**
 The meeting of the **Three Estates** in France for an election was known as the **Estates General**. The Estates General met on few occasions, but mostly to vote on how tax distribution should be done. The First and Second Estates would vote to increase them, while the Third Estate would almost if not always be out voted 2:1. There would be some representatives for each of the estates, which would then meet with the king and they would talk and vote on what should be done and what problems there were within each estate. The last meeting of the Estates General ended up by the beginning of the French Revolution and the end to the Three Estates of France.