Reading Questions
Topic 5.1 The Enlightenment
Learning Objective
Explain the intellectual and ideological context in which revolutions swept the Atlantic world from 1750 to 1900.
Divine Right of Kings
Separation of powers
Popular sovereignty
Checks and balances
Historical Developments
Enlightenment philosophies applied new ways of understanding and empiricist approaches to both the natural world and human relationships; they also reexamined the role that religion played in public life and emphasized the importance of reason. Philosophers developed new political ideas about the individual, natural rights, and the social contract.
The rise and diffusion of Enlightenment thought that questioned established traditions in all areas of life often preceded revolutions and rebellions against existing governments.
Reading Questions
Explain the ideas of the Enlightenment.
How were these ideas considered changes from previous philosophies/mindsets?
What factors facilitated the spread of Enlightenment ideals?
Explain the social contract.
Explain Separation of powers
Explain Popular sovereignty
Explain Checks and balances
Explain natural rights.
Explain personal Rights
What is the separation of church and state?
How did the Enlightenment affect ideas about the economy?
Learning Objective
Explain the intellectual and ideological context in which revolutions swept the Atlantic world from 1750 to 1900.
Divine Right of Kings
Separation of powers
Popular sovereignty
Checks and balances
Historical Developments
Enlightenment philosophies applied new ways of understanding and empiricist approaches to both the natural world and human relationships; they also reexamined the role that religion played in public life and emphasized the importance of reason. Philosophers developed new political ideas about the individual, natural rights, and the social contract.
The rise and diffusion of Enlightenment thought that questioned established traditions in all areas of life often preceded revolutions and rebellions against existing governments.
Reading Questions
Explain the ideas of the Enlightenment.
How were these ideas considered changes from previous philosophies/mindsets?
What factors facilitated the spread of Enlightenment ideals?
Explain the social contract.
Explain Separation of powers
Explain Popular sovereignty
Explain Checks and balances
Explain natural rights.
Explain personal Rights
What is the separation of church and state?
How did the Enlightenment affect ideas about the economy?
Divine Right of Kings (prior to the Enlightenment)
Prior to the Enlightenment, most people relied on religion to provide them with the answers to questions about nature. Earthquakes, floods, and other natural phenomena were linked with religion. After the Black Plague people began to think about life differently. Enlightenment thinkers began to question the power the church held over knowledge.
Societies were also organized similarly in most parts of the world. Traditionally, there were the elite, mostly land owners, followed by the church then craftsmen and merchants and finally the vast majority of the population who were farmers at the bottom. Below everyone, of course, were slaves. All societies were also heavily influenced by patriarchy and the oppression of women.
People also organized their governments in a very similar way all over the world. Most societies were organized around one single ruler with absolute power. That ruler was liked with religion in that the religion legitimized their rule. Constantine IX of Byzantium is a perfect example of that from 1042-1055 CE.
Societies were also organized similarly in most parts of the world. Traditionally, there were the elite, mostly land owners, followed by the church then craftsmen and merchants and finally the vast majority of the population who were farmers at the bottom. Below everyone, of course, were slaves. All societies were also heavily influenced by patriarchy and the oppression of women.
People also organized their governments in a very similar way all over the world. Most societies were organized around one single ruler with absolute power. That ruler was liked with religion in that the religion legitimized their rule. Constantine IX of Byzantium is a perfect example of that from 1042-1055 CE.
Economically, the kings also held significant power. Mercantilist ideas advocating for the control of trade, creating monopolies and collecting gold and silver were the norm. While this was beneficial to many including the elite, many merchants preferred to freely trade with anyone who would pay the highest price. Mercantilism and the power of the elite did not allow such free trade.
The Enlightenment would challenge people's ideas on religion, absolute rule, social traditions and economic practices such as mercantilism. These ideological challenges would become reality with the abolition of slavery and the rise of feminist movements. Enlightenment ideas, most importantly, gave rise to nationalism leading to the Revolutions of this period including the American Revolution, the French Revolution, the Haitian Revolution and the Latin American Revolutions.
The Enlightenment: What was it?
In the 17th Century the Enlightenment philosophes, as Enlightenment thinkers began to be called, emphasized that decisions should be made on empiricism or the idea that knowledge comes from what you observe through experience and not through religion. They also argued that people could improve society, government and the economy based on reason and logic.
The Enlightenment spread in rooms at mansions of wealthy women called salons. One such woman was Marie-Thérèse Geoffrin (zhuh•frehn). She helped finance the project of a leading philosophe named Denis Diderot (DEE•duh•ROH). Diderot created a large set of books to which many leading scholars of Europe contributed articles and essays. He called it Encyclopedia and began publishing the first volumes in 1751. Enlightenment ideas also eventually spread through newspapers, pamphlets, and even political songs. Enlightenment ideas about government and equality attracted the attention of a growing literate middle class, which could afford to buy many books and support the work of artists. These ideas would also spread through the Americas. |
The Enlightenment and Government
The most important idea in the Enlightenment was that of popular sovereignty or the idea that the right to govern people is given to rulers by the people themselves and is not a divine right. Additionally, Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) and John Locke (b. 1632, d. 1704) contended that government was based on a social contract where people give up their natural freedom to live in a society based on order. They argued that If the government fails in that contract and fails to protect the citizens, the people have the right to overthrow the government and create a new one. According to Baron de Montesquieu, another important idea was having a system of a separation of powers and checks and balances where you create several branches of government that all have equal power to avoid having one person having absolute power. |
The Enlightenment and Society
John Locke also advocated for natural rights including the right to life, liberty and property (not pursuit of happiness. That was Thomas Jefferson).Voltaire and other Enlightenment thinkers also maintained that we all have personal rights like religious freedom, freedom of expression and the separation of church and state. All of those ideas would directly challenge patriarchy and the institution of slavery. Although Enlightenment thinkers were writing about these challenges in the 17th Century it was not until the 19th century that slavery was abolished in most of the world and patriarchy persists today. Although many Enlightenment thinkers did not dismiss religion altogether. Many believed in the idea of deism- the idea that God created the world then walked away and let it run on its own. Deist believed that we should try to understand the world through science and not the bible. This belief led to the idea that there should be a separation between church and state. The church, although weaker than before, still did not lose its influence world wide due to the Enlightenment. |
The Enlightenment also contributed to the creation of the idea of race. People did not categorize themselves in terms of race prior to 1600. They instead identified with their religion or ethnic group. Enlightenment thinkers began to push for categorizing the natural world using reason. This resulted in scientists creating hierarchical systems that emphasized similarities and differences between species in the natural world. The idea of categorizing humans into similar hierarchies began. Thus, the idea of race began. This in part began to be used to justify colonialism and imperialism using the concept of Social Darwinism. The impact of those ideas will be later explored in unit 6.
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The Enlightenment and Economics
Enlightenment thinkers challenged established economic traditions like mercantilism as well. In his book, The Wealth of Nations (1776), Adam Smith advocated for capitalism. He argued that governments should keep their hands off the economy or laissez-faire. He further argued that the economy would function through the "invisible hand" of the market. Prices would be regulated by natural supply and demand. However, Smith did see the importance of taxes and a few regulations by government. |