AP European History
Hancock
NAME________________________________
The Enlightenment: The Best of all Possible Worlds
Directions: The following chart contrasts the Old Order of France with the New Order proposed by different eighteenthcentury enlightened thinkers. Answer the questions below based on the chart. Make sure to use specifics in your answer.
OLD ORDER
Based on traditions and
customs founded in
Medieval times: the Three
Estates, the guild system
and feudal dues.
NEW ORDER
Diderot: Proposed a systematic organization of knowledge written
by authorities and based on scientific concepts. His Encyclopedie
was designed to expose the superstition and intolerance of the
existing order and to instruct the public in the virtues of natural law
and the wonders of science.
Political
New National Divine Right
Monarchy
Montesquieu: Proposed separation of powers and a resulting
checks and balances in government to protect the individual from
government resting in the hands of one person.
Voltaire: Initially believed in enlightened despotism as a means of
rapidly achieving reforms but gradually came to view more
favorably the English system of checks and balances.
Rousseau: Believed government rests on the general will of the
people, and legislation is the business of the whole people.
Execution of the general will could be the task of a small group.
Economic
National mercantile laws,
Five Great Farms, guild
towns, provincial laws,
internal tariffs.
Quesnay & DuPont: Repudiated mercantilism and strongly
advocated the application of Laissez Faire.
Turgot: Proposed a single direct tax on the net income from land in
order to raise income to meet the needs of government. He also
proposed the removal of indirect taxes, such as tariffs, which
impeded economic growth.
Social
Three Estates
Diderot & Voltaire: Stressed the natural rights of the individual to
life, liberty, and property. From this flows the concept of equality.
Religion
Established church
Voltaire: [A Deist] Believed that organized religion was
unnecessary since God had created the universe and then
retreated from it. He tolerated man’s freedom to worship as he
pleased. In his view, multiple religions would reduce intolerance
because people would have to learn to accommodate other
religious views.
Philosophical
1. Why did the Old Order come under attack? ____________________________________________________
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2. Why were there divergent views for the construction of a New Order? _______________________________
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3. What features for a proposed New Order were held in common by most of the philosophes? _____________
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4. What features of the Scientific Revolution influenced the Enlightenment? ____________________________
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5. From your knowledge of European history, what explanation can you give for the domination of the seventeenth
century by English thinkers while the French prevailed in the eighteenth century? ______________________
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