Ch. 10: Revolution and
Enlightenment 1550 - 1800
I. The Scientific Revolution
A. Background to the Revolution
 Science in the Middle Ages was practiced by natural
philosophers, who studied the works of Aristotle and
a few other Latin authors to understand the world
around them. Experimentation was limited to the
practice of alchemy.
 During the Renaissance, Europeans rediscovered
texts in Greek by Ptolemy, Archimedes and Plato.
These disagreed with Aristotle and broadened
scientists’ perspectives.
 The printing press, new optical instruments like the
telescope and microscope, and practical
engineering problems all encouraged new types of
thought.
 Classical texts on mathematics influenced the likes
of Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo and Newton. They
believed that all of nature could be understood
through math. Their work set the stage for the Age
of Reason.
An alchemist’s lab
Sir Isaac Newton
I. The Scientific Revolution
B. A Revolution in Astronomy
 Astronomy had always been an important field of study for European
intellectuals. The movement and alignment of stars and planets was
thought to have an affect on people’s destinies and the fates of nations.
This belief is known as astrology, and it was taken very seriously by the
elite.
 The European understanding of the universe was based on the
knowledge and observations of Classical astronomers. In the Age of
Enlightenment, those notions were challenged by new measurements
and mathematical proofs.
I. The Scientific Revolution
C. The Ptolemaic System
Ptolemy
 Ptolemy (AD 90-168) was the greatest astronomer of the
Classical age. His ideas and written works were well
known to natural philosophers of the Middle Ages and
Renaissance. His calculations, in connection with the
ideas of Aristotle and the worldview of early Christianity,
produced the Ptolemaic, or geocentric, system.
 In the Ptolemaic system, the Earth is believed to be
stationary at the center of the universe. Around the Earth
are ten clear crystal spheres, which rotate independently
of one another. The sun, moon, planets and stars are
attached to these spheres.
 The outermost heavenly sphere was known as the
“prime mover,” which moved on its own and gave motion
to the inner spheres. Beyond the prime mover was
heaven. In Ptolemy’s view, as adapted by Christian
scholars, the Earth was the center and most important
part of the universe. Even so, Man’s goal was to make
his way to God beyond the universe.
I. The Scientific Revolution
Preview
 Copernicus and Kepler
 Galileo
 Newton
 Pgs. 295 - 297
Nicholas Copernicus
Johannes Kepler
Galileo Galilei
Sir Isaac Newton
I. The Scientific Revolution
D. Copernicus and Kepler
 The Polish-born mathematician Nicholas Copernicus
(1473 – 1543) believed that the geocentric system
was unnecessarily complicated. In his book, On the
Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, he suggested
that the motions of the planets and stars make more
sense when viewed as a sun-centered, or
heliocentric, system.
 The Copernican heliocentric system held that the
moon rotates around the Earth, the Earth rotates
around the sun, and the Earth revolves on its axis
every 24 hours. This explains why the sun appears
to move from the Earth’s perspective.
 The heliocentric theory was further supported by the
observations of Johannes Kepler (1571 – 1630), a
German mathematician. Kepler’s analysis of
thousands of measurements showed that the planets
did not follow circular orbits, but elliptical ones. This
is known as Kepler’s First Law, and it explained all
apparent inconsistencies in Copernicus’s model.
Heliocentric model
Kepler’s First Law
I. The Scientific Revolution
E. Galileo
 The heliocentric model gained acceptance amongst scientists,
but it posed further questions. An Italian astronomer named
Galileo Galilei (1564 – 1642) attempted to answer some of
these questions through observation. He was the first European
scientist to look at the planets through a telescope.
 Galileo’s observations of mountains on the moon and sunspots
demonstrated that other celestial bodies were made of matter,
just like the Earth. This refuted to Ptolemaic idea that the
planets and stars were orbs of pure light.
 Galileo’s ideas were much more widely read than those of
Copernicus and Kepler, largely because his book, The Starry
Messenger, was written for a general audience. Unfortunately
for Galileo, this got the attention of the Catholic Church.
 Copernican astronomy seemed to challenge the Christian
concept of the universe and Man’s place in it. The Church,
fearful of Galileo’s ideas and influence, forced him to recant. He
spent the last ten years of his life under house arrest.
I. The Scientific Revolution
F. Newton
 Isaac Newton (1642 – 1727) was a latter-day Renaissance
man. He was a professor of mathematics at Cambridge
University, he developed and made his own optical
instruments, he studied medicine and anatomy, and he
was an acknowledged expert on the biblical Apocalypse.
 Newton’s most important work, Mathematical Principles of
Natural Philosophy (called the Principia), defines the laws
of motion governing all objects. The universal law of
gravitation states that all objects in the universe exert an
attraction on one another, which is why the planets orbit
around the more massive sun. All of Newton’s work is
based on precise measurements and provable
mathematical formulas.
 Newton’s theorems demonstrated that the all motion in the
universe could be explained by mathematical principles.
This was the foundation for a new, mechanistic view of the
world which would persist until the early twentieth century.
I. The Scientific Revolution
Preview
 Breakthroughs in Medicine & Chemistry
 Women & the Origins of Modern Science
 Descartes and Reason
 Pgs. 297 - 298
I. The Scientific Revolution
G. Breakthroughs in Medicine & Chemistry
 Until the Renaissance, medicine had been based on the
works of Galen, a Classical-era Greek physician. Galen’s
understanding of anatomy and disease came from animal
dissections.
 Andreas Vesalius (1514 – 1564), a professor at the
University of Padua, dissected human remains and wrote
the book, On the Fabric of the Human Body. He corrected
many of Galen’s errors through careful examination.
 The circulatory system was described by William Harvey
(1578 – 1657) in his work, On the Motion of the Heart and
Blood. He showed that the same blood circulates throughout
the body, and that the heart is the source of its motion.
 The science of chemistry was pioneered by Robert Boyle
(1627 – 1691), who conducted the first laboratory
experiments. Boyle’s Law states that the volume of a gas is
dependent on the pressure exerted on it.
 Antoine Lavoisier (1743 – 1794) was the first chemist to try
and organize the known elements by their properties. His
efforts led to the Periodic Table.
I. The Scientific Revolution
H. Women & the Origins of Modern Science
 Prominent women were also engaged in scientific
endeavors in the seventeenth century.
 Margaret Cavendish (1623 – 1673), an Englishwoman of
noble birth, criticized the popular belief that science could
make humanity the masters of nature. In one of her books,
Observations Upon Experimental Philosophy, she stated:
 “We have no power at all over natural causes and effects… for
man is but a small part, his powers are but particular actions of
Nature, and he cannot have a supreme and absolute power.”
 In Germany, up to 14% of astronomers were women who
had been trained at observatories by their husbands or
fathers. One such woman, Maria Winkelmann (1670 –
1720), discovered comets and made original contributions
to astronomy. When she applied for a position at the Berlin
Academy, she was denied because she was a woman with
no university degree.
Margaret Cavendish
Maria Winkelmann
I. The Scientific Revolution
I. Descartes and Reason
“The Thinker”
by Rodin
 The new philosophy of European scientists of the
seventeenth century is best exemplified by the French
thinker Rene Descartes (1596 – 1650).
 Descartes’ approach to understanding the universe was
the axiom, “I think, therefore I am.” By this he meant that in
order to study anything else, he must first recognize that he
himself was real.
 All other information was to be approached through doubt.
He reasoned that the material world and everything in it
could be doubted, so they must be very different from the
mind, which could not be doubted.
 Descartes’ notion that mind and matter were separate led
scientists to deal with the material world as a subject of
study independent from philosophy.
 The application of reason to the study of matter is called
rationalism, and Descartes is credited with its invention.
I. The Scientific Revolution
II. The Enlightenment
Preview
 The Scientific Method
 Path to the Enlightenment
 Philosophes and their Ideas
 Pgs. 299 - 302
I. The Scientific Revolution
Homework
Answer each question in a half-page response
with complete sentences. Be accurate, be
specific, be complete. Due tomorrow.
1. Name the four great mathematicians who had
a profound impact on astronomy. For each one,
briefly summarize what he contributed.
2. How did Vesalius and Harvey disprove many
of Galen’s theories?
3. What is the significance of Descartes’ principle
of the separation of mind and matter?
I. The Scientific Revolution
J. The Scientific Method
 Scientists wanted to understand the physical world in a
systematic manner. They wanted a way to organize
information and guarantee that their findings were
reliable. The resulting system is called the scientific
method.
 The scientific method was developed by Francis Bacon
(1561 – 1626), who was not really a scientist. Bacon
suggested that, rather than rely on ancient authorities
like Aristotle, scientists should employ inductive
reasoning.
 Inductive reasoning involves moving from the particular
to the general, or from observed phenomena through
experimentation toward general principles.
 Bacon was not interested in pure science. He viewed
scientific endeavor as a means to provide humanity
with new technologies and capabilities. His ultimate
goal was to “conquer nature in action.”
Sir Francis Bacon
II. The Enlightenment
A. Path to the Enlightenment
 The Scientific Revolution had a tremendous impact on
the philosophers of the eighteenth century. The belief in
reason as humanity’s greatest tool for progress was
important to the Enlightenment movement.
Enlightenment thinkers wrote a great deal about reason,
as well as natural law, hope and progress.
 Isaac Newton (1643 – 1727) was a major influence on
the Enlightenment. His mechanistic universe led
philosophers to believe that if they could discover the
principles on which nature operated, then they could
apply them to how society operated.
 John Locke (1632 – 1704) also influenced the
Enlightenment when, in his Essay Concerning Human
Understanding, he suggested that the mind was created
by its experience and observation. This encouraged
philosophers to believe that the environment could be
changed so as to produce the perfect mind and therefore
the perfect society.
John Locke
II. The Enlightenment
B. Philosophes and Their Ideas
 The important thinkers of the Enlightenment were of
the middle and upper classes. They were authors,
teachers, economists and social reformers. While
they were not philosophers in the strictest sense, they
were known by the French term “philosophes.”
 The early influences of the Enlightenment were
largely English, including Newton and Locke, but
those who spread the movement were mostly French.
They synthesized the ideas of the earlier generation
into a social program and spread it to other parts of
Europe.
 The goal of the philosophe was to improve society
through the application of reason and rational
criticism. Over the course of a century, this agenda
was pursued in different ways by different
philosophes. They often disagreed with one another,
and their ideas became more radical later in their era.
II. The Enlightenment
Preview
 Montesquieu
 Voltaire
 Diderot
 Pgs. 302 - 303
II. The Enlightenment
C. Montesquieu
 Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689 –
1755) studied the law. In his The Spirit of the Laws, he
attempted to use the scientific method to determine which
laws were natural, or universal.
 Montesquieu’s investigation led him to identify three types
of governments:
 Republics, which work well for small groups of citizens
 Despotism, which is ideal for large nations
 Monarchies, which work best for mid-sized states, like England
 Montesquieu identified the three branches of England’s
government: Executive, Legislative and Judicial. These
three branches maintain a separation of powers through the
use of checks and balances.
 Montesquieu’s analysis, when translated into English,
became a principle founding document for the American
Constitution.
II. The Enlightenment
D. Voltaire
 Perhaps the most influential, and certainly the most
prolific, thinker of the Enlightenment was FrancoisMarie Arouet (1694 – 1778), known as Voltaire. He
wrote hundreds of letters, essays, histories, plays
and novels, including Candide.
 Voltaire was an advocate of deism, a religious
philosophy that was popular among eighteenth
century intellectuals. Deists believe that the
universe was created by a great mechanic, usually
associated with God, who designed the laws of
physics and matter. The universe operated along
these guidelines in a mechanistic way without
further involvement from God.
 Voltaire was also a champion of religious toleration.
He criticized religious persecution in France in his
book, Treatise on Toleration in 1763. He was also
known to be a critic of Christianity in general.
Voltaire
The deist universe
II. The Enlightenment
E. Diderot
 Denis Diderot (1713 – 1784) attended the University of
Paris. His original intent was to become a lawyer or enter
the Church. Instead, he pursued a career as a freelance
writer, much to his father’s disappointment. Writing allowed
Diderot to study any subjects that appealed to him and
learn whatever he could.
 Diderot was passionate about knowledge for its own sake.
Denis Diderot
His life’s work was the Encyclopedia, or Classified
Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts, and Trades, published
between 1751 and 1772. The Encyclopedia had 28
volumes and included all the information Diderot and other
contributors could collect.
Alchemy lab  Unlike a modern encyclopedia, Diderot’s work included
articles that argued for a reform of the ancien regime. They
attacked superstitions and supported religious toleration,
they called for changes to the law and political practices.
The Encyclopedia was especially popular amongst middleCobbler’s tools class intellectuals like doctors, lawyers and the lower clergy.
II. The Enlightenment
Preview
 Toward a New Social Science
 Economics
 Beccaria and Justice
 Pgs. 303 - 304
II. The Enlightenment
F. Toward a New Social Science
 Newton’s idea of a mechanistic universe had led the philosophes to
believe that all aspects of the world could be understood through
underlying natural laws.
 Intellectuals believed that human institutions were also subject to natural
laws, and that these laws could be understood through scientific
exploration. Once the laws were understood, they could be exploited to
improve society for the betterment of all people.
 The search for these universal laws led to the development of the social
sciences, a set of academic disciplines that include economics and political
science.
II. The Enlightenment
G. Economics
 The first attempt to establish the universal laws of
economics was made by a group of French philosophes
called the Physiocrats. Led by Francois Quesnay (1694 –
1774) and Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot (1727 – 1781),
they reasoned that if everyone were free to follow their own
self-interest, then all of society would benefit.
 This idea, called laissez-faire (from the French phrase
meaning “to let people do what they want”) economics,
became popular in the late eighteenth century. Laissezfaire economics held that the government should not
interfere via taxes or regulations.
 The ideas of the Physiocrats were taken to a new level with
the works of the Scottish economist Adam Smith (1723 –
1790). In his Wealth of Nations, Smith argued that the
government’s only role was to provide for an army, a police
force, and expensive public works like roads and canals.
Francois Quesnay
Adam Smith
II. The Enlightenment
H. Beccaria and Justice
Flaying
Cesare Beccaria
 In the 1700s, nearly every European nation had a judicial
system and a set of courts. The punishments handed down
by these courts were often brutal, involving maiming and
public execution. The reason for these harsh penalties was
to deter future criminals, as the police were not adequately
equipped to investigate crimes.
 The philosophe Cesare Beccaria (1738 – 1794) disagreed
with the idea of capital punishment. In his 1764 book, On
Crimes and Punishments, he argued that public executions
did not prevent future crimes. Instead, displays of brutality
simply made people more comfortable with brutality.
 Beccaria’s essays on criminal justice represented a more
practical and less theoretical approach than other leading
authors, including Samuel von Pufendorf. He advocated the
use of imprisonment for reform rather than punishment.
II. The Enlightenment
Preview
 The Later Enlightenment
 Rights of Women
 Pgs. 304 - 305
II. The Enlightenment
Homework
Answer each question in a half-page response with
complete sentences. Be accurate, be specific, be
complete. Due tomorrow.
1. What are the characteristics of the scientific
method?
2. What contributions did Isaac Newton and John
Locke make to Enlightenment thought?
3. What were the major contributions of
Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Diderot to the
Enlightenment?
II. The Enlightenment
I. The Later Enlightenment
 The latter stage of the Enlightenment began in the
1760s, with the work of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1717 –
1778). Rousseau spent the early years of his life working
at various jobs in France and Italy. He was eventually
brought into the company of the philosophes in Paris.
 In Discourse on the Origins of the Inequalities of Man,
Rousseau argued that people invent laws and
government to protect their property, and that
governments take away people’s rights in exchange for
safety.
 In The Social Contract, Rousseau suggests that a society
agrees to abide by a set of rules, called a social contract.
Those individuals who prefer to follow their own selfinterest may be forced to follow the social contract, which
benefits the “general will” and creates liberty for the
entire community.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
The Social Contract
II. The Enlightenment
I. The Later Enlightenment
Frontispiece to Emile
Death mask
 In Emile, a novel, Rousseau makes the point that
education should encourage children’s natural
inclinations, no restrict them. This is in line with
Rousseau’s belief that emotions, as well as reason,
are necessary for the development of the human
mind. Other philosophes had de-emphasized the role
of emotions in favor of pure reason.
 Rousseau’s personal attitudes paint him as something
of a hypocrite. He sent his own children off to be
raised in orphanages. He believed that women were
fundamentally different than men, less accustomed to
thought or work. In Rousseau’s personal view, women
should be educated only in obedience and nurturing,
so that they could be supportive wives and mothers.
Nothing more was required of them.
II. The Enlightenment
J. Rights of Women
 With few exceptions, European intellectuals had
minimized the role of women for centuries. Women were
regarded as inferior in intelligence and energy. This
attitude made male domination of women possible, and
justified it after the fact. By the early eighteenth century,
female intellectuals were challenging this paradigm.
 Mary Wollstonecraft (1759 – 1797) is known as the
founder of the modern women’s rights movement. In her
book, A Vindication of the Rights of Women, she identified
two flaws in Enlightenment thinking:
 On the one hand, philosophes had said that arbitrary political
power was wrong. On the other hand, they said that women
had to obey men. Wollstonecraft asserted that this was
equally wrong.
 The Enlightenment had been based on the supremacy of
reason. Since women had reason to the same degree as
men, then women should have equal rights and opportunities.
Mary Wollstonecraft
Suffragettes
II. The Enlightenment
Preview
 Social World of the Enlightenment
 The Growth of Reading
 The Salon
 Religion in the Enlightenment
 Pgs. 305 - 307
II. The Enlightenment
K. Social World of the Enlightenment
Fancy folks
Vive la Revolicion!
 The Enlightenment was not entirely an aristocratic
movement. Philosophes came from various social
and economic backgrounds. Rousseau and Diderot,
among others, were from lower-middle-class
families.
 While not all of the celebrated thinkers were from the
aristocracy, the Enlightenment appealed most to the
wealthier classes. The lower nobility and wealthy
urban professionals made up the majority of the
movement’s audience.
 The urban poor and the peasantry had relatively little
interest in the intellectual pursuits of the upper
classes. Neither did they have much to gain from
their ideas, at least not until the end of the eighteenth
century.
II. The Enlightenment
L. The Growth of Reading
 The publishing industry expanded dramatically during
the 1700s. In France, the number of books published
annually rose from 300 to 1,600 over 30 years. This
was related to a profound change in reading habits.
 Books had been written and published with small,
specialized markets in mind. By the end of the
eighteenth century, the lower-middle class were
reading for pleasure and education. Women bought
books at a much greater rate. This is how
Enlightenment ideas spread throughout society.
 The spread of available print media was not limited to
books. Magazines became increasingly popular
through the course of the 1700s. By 1780, 158
different magazines were published in London alone.
 Daily newspapers appeared for the first time in 1701.
They were cheap enough to appeal to the urban poor,
and were often provided for free in coffeehouses.
II. The Enlightenment
M. The Salon
 Among the aristocracy and urban wealthy classes, it became a common
practice to hold gatherings of intellectuals in private houses. Artists,
scientists, writers and other philosophes would gather in a large sitting
room in the home of a wealthy patron and discuss the new ideas of the
time. This practice came to be named after the room it occurred in: the
salon.
 The most fashionable salons began to attract the attention of politicians
and aristocrats. The Paris home of Madame Marie-Therese de Geoffrin
(1699 – 1777) became so well-known for its intellectual discussions that
future kings of Sweden and Poland begged to be invited. This glamour
helped popularize Enlightenment ideas.
Mme. Geoffrin
II. The Enlightenment
N. Religion in the Enlightenment
John Wesley
Methodism
 While prominent philosophes became deists or atheists, this
did not reflect the religious sentiment of Europe at the time.
The majority of people were Christians, and many became
more spiritual in this era.
 The spiritual fervor of the early Protestant Reformation had
dissipated by the eighteenth century. It was replaced by statecontrolled churches that often lacked enthusiasm. This led to
parishioners seeking spiritual depth in new movements.
 The most influential of these new movements was Methodism,
founded by John Wesley (1703 – 1791) in England. Wesley
received a mystical revelation and spent the rest of his life
preaching his “glad tidings” of salvation to the poor.
 Methodist societies focused on good works and cooperation.
Methodism stresses hard work and spiritual contentment,
which are said to be more valuable than social or political
equality. The Methodist Church therefore proved that spiritual
satisfaction was still important in a world that emphasized
reason.
III. The Impact of the Enlightenment
Preview
 The Arts
 Architecture and Art
 Music
 Literature
 Pgs. 308 - 310
III. The Impact of the Enlightenment
A. The Arts
 The impact of the Enlightenment was not limited to philosophy and
science. Ideas changed how artists approached their work as well.
 While traditional forms persisted in some fields, such as portraiture, the
eighteenth century saw the development of new techniques in painting,
architecture, music and literature.
III. The Impact of the Enlightenment
B. Architecture and Art
Church of the 14 Saints
Ceiling of the Residence
 The monarchs of Europe built immense residences.
These palaces exhibited Renaissance styles as much
as Baroque. The combination created a new style:
neoclassical.
 The neoclassical style features religious and secular
themes, bright colors, and extreme ornamentation. The
Church of the Fourteen Saints and the Residence of
Wurzburg, both by Balthasar Neumann (1689 – 1783),
are prime examples of the style.
 By the 1730s, a new style had replaced neoclassical.
Called rococo, this trend featured graceful curves and
soft colors to suggest a happy, bright mood.
 Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684 – 1721) painted
aristocrats enjoying pastoral entertainment. There is a
sadness, suggesting the short-lived nature of pleasure.
 Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696 – 1770) painted scenes
full of enchantment and enthusiasm, like the ceiling of
the Residence at Wurzburg.
III. The Impact of the Enlightenment
C. Music
 Some of the most profound music in history was composed
in the eighteenth century. The four principle geniuses of the
century are associated with the Baroque (Bach and
Handel) and classical (Haydn and Mozart) music:
 Johann Sebastian Bach: Bach spent his entire life in
Germany. He was a notable organist and composer, most
famous for his Mass in B Minor.
 George Frederick Handel: Handel spent much of his career
writing for the court of King George I of England. His
Messiah appeals to nearly everyone, yet is a subtle
masterpiece.
 Franz Joseph Haydn: Haydn began his career writing court
music in Hungary, but later composed popular pieces in
England, including The Creation and The Seasons.
 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Mozart began his musical
career at the age of four. He was never a financial success,
but his operas (The Marriage of Figaro, The Magic Flute,
Don Giovanni) are among the greatest in history.
III. The Impact of the Enlightenment
D. Literature
 The novel continued to develop as a unique
form of literature. As literacy spread to more
social classes in the eighteenth century, the
practice of reading for pleasure became
common amongst the middle class.
 The novel also became an opportunity for
authors to make criticisms of the age they lived
in. Characters came to represent the various
classes and were used to ridicule the social
order.
 Henry Fielding (1707 – 1754), an English
novelist, wrote about immoral characters who
succeed through trickery and intellect. His most
famous novel, The History of Tom Jones, a
Foundling, is a comedy in which the protagonist
makes a fool of the aristocracy and takes
advantage of the London poor.
III. The Impact of the Enlightenment
Preview
 Enlightenment and Enlightened Absolutism
 Prussia: Army and Bureaucracy
 The Austrian Empire
 Russia under Catherine the Great
 Enlightened Absolutism?
 Pgs. 310 - 312
II. The Enlightenment
Homework
Answer each question in a half-page response
with complete sentences. Be accurate, be
specific, be complete. Due tomorrow.
1. What is the concept of laissez-faire? Who
came up with it? How did Adam Smith add to
the idea?
2. What were Rousseau’s basic themes as
presented in The Social Contract and Emile?
3. What are the central ideas of Methodism?
III. The Impact of the Enlightenment
E. Enlightenment & Enlightened Absolutism
 Eighteenth century philosophes intended to reform
society in a rational way. They believed in natural rights,
and they believed that the state should protect these
rights. Therefore, a truly enlightened government should
guarantee the following: equality before the law; freedom
of religious worship; a free press; the right of assembly;
property ownership; and the pursuit of happiness.
 Most philosophes believed that society should be
governed by enlightened monarchs, who protected
natural rights and fostered the arts and sciences. They
should obey the laws and enforce them fairly.
 For a long time, historians described the monarchies of
eighteenth century Europe as examples of enlightened
absolutism. By this, they meant that the rulers maintained
their royal authority while attempting to support
Enlightened philosophies.
Phillip III of Spain
III. The Impact of the Enlightenment
F. Prussia: Army and Bureaucracy
 Prussia became a major power in Europe under the
leadership of two eighteenth century kings, Frederick
William I (1688 – 1740) and Frederick II the Great (1712
– 1786). They developed the Prussian state along two
traditional lines: The bureaucracy and the army.
 The Prussian bureaucracy was based on absolute
loyalty to the monarch, and it stressed obedience and
honor among its thousands of governmental workers.
 By 1740, Prussia’s army was the fourth largest in
Europe, even though the nation had only the thirteenth
largest population. Officers came from among the
Junkers, and also held a strong sense of loyalty to the
monarch.
 Frederick the Great was fond of Enlightenment ideas.
He was acquainted with philosophes and he made
progressive changes to the state, like abolishing torture,
religious persecution, and censorship. However, he
maintained serfdom and the medieval social structure.
III. The Impact of the Enlightenment
G. The Austrian Empire
 By the early 1700s, the Austrian Empire had become
one of the most influential nations in Europe.
Management of the empire was still a challenge, as it
was composed of more than a dozen semi-autonomous
states. Empress Maria Theresa (1717 – 1780)
attempted to centralize authority and alleviate the
conditions of the serfs, though she did not pursue
Enlightened reforms.
 Maria Theresa’s son, Emperor Joseph II (1741 – 1790),
was a true Enlightened monarch. He abolished serfdom
and the death penalty, established religious toleration
and equality under the law.
 Unfortunately, Joseph’s reforms were wholly unpopular.
He was opposed by the aristocracy for freeing the serfs,
the Catholic Church for imposing religious toleration,
and the serfs for their loss of livelihood. The subsequent
Austrian emperors had to undo all of Joseph’s work.
Joseph II
III. The Impact of the Enlightenment
H. Russia under Catherine the Great
Catherine the Great
 Peter the Great’s death in 1725, there was a series of
six weak czars who were all assassinated or removed
by their guards. The last of these, Peter III (1728 –
1762), was succeeded by his German wife. She ruled
Russia as Catherine II the Great (1729 – 1796).
 Catherine was an intelligent and dynamic woman. She
knew some of the philosophes and conversed with
Diderot about his ideas for reforming Russian law. She
did not implement them because she felt they would
not work for the Russian people, especially the nobility.
 Catherine’s policies favored the aristocracy, which
made conditions worse for the peasants. A rebellion
broke out in 1774, led by a Cossack named Emelyan
Pugachev. The rebellion was defeated, and Catherine
instituted even harsher conditions for the serfs.
 Under Catherine’s rule, Russia expanded to the Black
Sea in the southwest and annexed roughly half of
Poland.
III. The Impact of the Enlightenment
I. Enlightened Absolutism?
 Of the three eastern European monarchs discussed, two of them
(Frederick, Catherine) were more interested in maintaining the status quo
than with meaningful Enlightened reform. They knew the philosophes and
appreciated their ideas, but made little effort to implement them.
 In fact, all three rulers were more concerned with maintaining power and
increasing tax revenue than with Enlightened rule. While the philosophes
argued that warfare was wasteful and ultimately self-destructive, the
monarchs of Europe still competed with one another to build the biggest
armies and wage costly wars against one another.
 Kings and emperors became obsessed with the notion of a balance of
power, where each nation would be prevented from becoming too
powerful by the combined efforts of its neighbors. This balance often led
to wars of conquest and precarious alliances.
III. The Impact of the Enlightenment
Preview
 War of the Austrian Succession
 The Seven Years’ War
 New Allies
 The War in Europe
 Pgs. 313 - 315
III. The Impact of the Enlightenment
J. War of the Austrian Succession
 The balance of power in Europe led to a global war in
1740. The War of the Austrian Succession (1740 – 1748)
was triggered when the emperor of Austria died and the
throne passed to his daughter, Maria Theresa. Frederick
the Great of Prussia saw a woman on the throne as a sign
of weakness and invaded the Austrian territory of Silesia.
 The system of alliances that guaranteed the balance of
power meant that France declared war on Austria, while
Great Britain declared war of France and Prussia.
 Fighting took place on three continents: Prussia attacked
in Silesia and France invaded the Netherlands; France
captured Madras from the British in India; and Britain
besieged the French fortress at Louisbourg in Canada.
 In 1748, all parties were exhausted by fighting. They
signed the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, which returned all
captured territories to their original owners. Prussia
refused to return Silesia to Austria, which set off another
global war.
Siege of Louisbourg
Surrender of Madras
III. The Impact of the Enlightenment
K. The Seven Years’ War
Empress Maria Theresa
Hungarian grenadiers
 The loss of Silesia was something that Maria
Theresa could not accept. From the moment
that Prussia refused to return the territory, the
empress began planning a further war.
 The Austrian army had been badly beaten
during the War of the Austrian Succession and
needed to be rebuilt. Maria Theresa spent eight
years reorganizing her forces.
 Even with a new army, the empress knew that
she could not beat the combined forces of
Prussia and France. She set about turning the
French against their recent allies. Her success
in this field has been called a “diplomatic
revolution.”
III. The Impact of the Enlightenment
L. New Allies
 Maria Theresa’s diplomatic coup was to get France to
change sides. France and Austria had been bitter
enemies for 200 years, and yet the French disliked the
British even more, and they hoped to gain colonial
territories from Britain. Therefore, France joined an
alliance with Austria against Prussia.
 This new alignment of nations led to other unlikely
pairings. Britain also wished to seize colonial territory,
so they allied themselves with Prussia against Austria
and France. Russia, a new participant on the European
stage, was worried that Prussia posed a threat to their
frontiers, and so joined in with Austria and France.
 The final alignment of nations: Austria, France and
Russia versus Prussia and Britain.
 In 1756, war broke out again. It involved fighting in
Europe, India and North America. It was known as the
Seven Years’ War (1756 – 1763), and as the French
and Indian War in America.
King George III
of Great Britain
III. The Impact of the Enlightenment
M. The War in Europe
Frederick the Great
Peter the Not-So-Great
 All five of the major powers participated in the European
theater of the war. Fighting took place in Prussia, Austria,
Germany and the Netherlands.
 For most of the war, Frederick the Great’s remarkable
generalship allowed the Prussian army to defeat the
forces of Austria, France, and Russia all at the same
time. Eventually, the overwhelming numbers of his
enemies were too great, and Frederick was forced to
retreat.
 In 1762, Frederick’s luck changed. The czarina of
Russia, Elizabeth, died and was replaced on the throne
by her nephew, Peter III. Peter was German by birth and
culture, and he immediately withdrew the Russian army
from the war. This gave Frederick the opportunity to hold
off the Austrians and French and force a stalemate.
 The European war ended in 1763 with the Treaty of
Paris. Invaded territories were returned, and Austria
recognized Prussia’s ownership of Silesia.
III. The Impact of the Enlightenment
Preview
 The War in India
 The War in North America
 Pgs. 315 - 316
III. The Impact of the Enlightenment
N. The War in India
 Both Britain and France were involved in the Seven
Years’ War in order to acquire colonies from one
another. The colonial theaters of the war saw much
more immediate gain for these two powers.
 At the end of the War of the Austrian Succession,
France had been forced to return Madras to the British.
This same conflict was renewed in 1756, with the
French attempting to seize British towns and forts in
India.
 Over the course of the war, Britain was victorious. This
was not due to the size or superiority of the British
army, which was in fact quite small and inept. Instead,
it was the persistence of British forces. They simply
outlasted the French.
 In the Treaty of Paris, France gave up all claim to India
and left the subcontinent in uncontested British control.
India would be part of the British Empire for 200 years.
A maharaja surrenders
to the British
III. The Impact of the Enlightenment
O. The War in North America
Fort Carillon
 The battles in North America were more decisive and on
a larger scale. Here, the war was known as the French
and Indian War.
 French colonies in the New World were organized
differently from their British counterparts. Canada and
Louisiana were vast wildernesses that the French
government ran as game preserves and trade markets.
There were very few French colonists in North America,
and most of them traded in furs, leather, timber and fish.
 By contrast, British North America was densely
populated. The thirteen Atlantic colonies were home to
over a million British subjects, and featured heavy
industry and agriculture.
 There were two theaters to the American campaign. One
centered on the French fortress at Louisbourg on the
Gulf of St. Lawrence. This one fort commanded the river
approaches to French Quebec, the most prosperous
and populated part of Canada.
III. The Impact of the Enlightenment
O. The War in North America
 The second theater of the war was in the Ohio River Valley.
The French occupied the valley so they could deny the British
access to its rich farmlands. The French contracted Native
American tribes as allies. They preferred the French, who
were only interested in trade, to the British, who settled and
took over land.
 In the early stages of the war, the larger French army was
victorious. The prime minister of Britain, William Pitt the Elder,
decided to make America his primary focus, diverting forces
from Europe to help. He used the superiority of the British
navy to cut the French off from supplies and reinforcements.
 In 1759, the British General Wolfe defeated the French
General Montcalm outside Quebec City on the Plains of
Abraham. From there, the British drove the French out of
Canada, the Great Lakes and Ohio.
 In the Treaty of Paris, Britain received Canada and everything
east of the Mississippi, including Florida from Spain. Spain
was given Louisiana in exchange.
Pitt the Elder
Wolfe’s army
at Quebec
IV. Colonial Empires and the American Revolution
Preview
 Colonial Empires in Latin America
 Economic Foundations
 State and Church
 Pgs. 318 - 320
III. The Impact of the Enlightenment
Homework
Answer each question in a half-page response
with complete sentences. Be accurate, be
specific, be complete. Due tomorrow.
1. What are the characteristics of the rococo
style? Who were its most famous artists?
2. What effect did enlightened reforms have in
Prussia, Austria, and Russia?
3. What was the War of the Austrian
Succession about? What countries fought and
on which side?
IV. Colonial Empires and the American Revolution
A. Colonial Empires in Latin America
 Spain and Portugal had colonized the New World beginning in
the early sixteenth century. Spain came to own parts of North
America, virtually all of Central America, and most of South
America. Portugal had received Brazil as part of the Treaty of
Tordesillas.
 Latin American culture, which includes all of the Spanish- and
Portuguese-speaking regions of the New World, is the product
of a unique mix of influences. The Spanish authorities
permitted, and even encouraged, intermarriage between
European colonists and Native Americans. The product of
these unions were called mestizos, and they occupied a
social class of their own.
 In addition, the Spanish and Portuguese colonies imported
millions of Africans to work the plantations. Unions between
Europeans and Africans, while not condoned by the
authorities, did happen, and the offspring were known as
mulattoes. This group occupied a precarious position in Latin
American society, similar to that of African slaves.
IV. Colonial Empires and the American Revolution
B. Economic Foundations
 Spanish and Portuguese colonies in the New World were
operated for profit. Initially, profit came in the form of gold
and silver, which were mined and sent back to Europe.
After about 1650, the mines became less productive, and
agriculture became a more profitable enterprise.
 Agriculture in Latin America was organized along the
plantation system. Wealthy planters owned huge farms,
which they operated with slave labor or Native American
tenant farmers. Native peasants might also own small
subsistence farms on poor land. This pattern of land
ownership is still practiced today.
 The mercantilist trade system operated in Latin America
as well. The colonies shipped sugar, tobacco, diamonds
and furs to Europe in exchange for manufactured goods.
Like other mercantilist powers, Spain and Portugal tried
to keep competition out of their colonies. By the 1700s,
however, France and Britain were too powerful to be
restrained.
Mexican laborers, by Edwards
Modern sugarcane workers
IV. Colonial Empires and the American Revolution
C. State and Church
Cathedral, Mexico City
Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz
 The great distance between Europe and Latin America
made it very difficult for Spanish or Portuguese monarchs
to control their colonies. In many cases, and for hundreds
of years, local administrators were allowed to govern any
way they pleased.
 The Catholic Church played a major role in the
administration of Latin America. The Dominican,
Franciscan and Jesuit orders established missions all over
the Spanish colonies in order to convert the native
population. These missions made the natives more docile
and easier to preach to.
 The Catholic Church also built cathedrals, hospitals and
schools for the population of Latin America. They provided
basic education and some economic opportunities. The
Church established convents, where women could
become nuns as an alternative to marriage. One such nun,
Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz (1651 – 1695), campaigned to
provide education for women.
IV. Colonial Empires and the American Revolution
Preview
 Britain and British North America
 The American Revolution
 The War Begins
 Foreign Support and British Defeat
 Pgs. 320 - 321
IV. Colonial Empires and the American Revolution
D. Britain and British North America
 The United Kingdom of Great Britain was a constitutional
monarchy. Parliament had the power to raise taxes, create
an army, and make laws. The monarch could appoint
government ministers and set foreign policy.
 When the last Stuart monarch, Queen Anne (1665 – 1714),
died, the throne passed to her nearest cousin. George I
(1660 – 1727), Elector of Hanover, was a German who
spoke no English. He and his son, George II (1683 – 1760),
had little idea how the government worked, so they let their
prime ministers run the nation.
 Robert Walpole (1676 – 1745) attempted to follow a course
of peace. Under influence from the growing mercantile class,
William Pitt the Elder (1708 – 1778) was nominated in 1757.
He expanded the Empire in India and the Americas.
 The populous, prosperous American colonies were
technically run by the British government, but in practice
they exercised a great deal of autonomy. The colonists
resented governmental interference.
George I
Pitt the Elder
IV. Colonial Empires and the American Revolution
E. The American Revolution
“O! the fatal Stamp”
Stamp riot in New Hampshire
 The Seven Years’ War had been extremely
expensive for the British government. In order to
recover some of the cost, and pay for the standing
army left to protect the American colonies,
Parliament decided to increase taxes on the
colonists.
 The British government imposed the Stamp Act in
1765. This was a modest tax on printed documents,
such as legal notices and newspapers. The
American colonists, who were highly literate, took
exception to the tax.
 The Stamp Act was so unpopular that it was
repealed in 1766. It had established two patterns,
though: The British government would make several
more attempts to tax goods in the Colonies, and the
American colonists would resist “taxation without
representation” with violent determination.
IV. Colonial Empires and the American Revolution
F. The War Begins
 Several more tax crises followed. In 1774, the colonists had
become so infuriated with the Crown that they organized the
first Continental Congress in Philadelphia to raise militias.
 In April, 1775, fighting broke out between colonists and the
British army around Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts.
A second Congress was held, and George Washington was
nominated as commander-in-chief of Colonial forces.
Another year passed before independence was declared on
July 4, 1776.
 The Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas
Jefferson (1743 – 1826) and based on the ideas of John
Locke, formally made the colonies free from British authority.
War had been declared.
 The Americans initially had no real hope of winning. The
British army was large and professional, and their navy was
the greatest in the world. By contrast, the Continental Army
was untrained and underequipped, and the American navy
did not yet exist.
Declaration of
Independence
John Paul Jones
IV. Colonial Empires and the American Revolution
G. Foreign Support and British Defeat
Marquis de Lafayette
Surrender at Yorktown
 The Americans would have had no hope of defeating
the British Empire had they not received assistance
from other European powers. France, Spain, and the
Dutch Republic all assisted the Colonial cause.
 The French, in particular, wanted to avenge their
embarrassing defeat at the hands of the British in the
Seven Years’ War. They supplied the Americans with
money, weapons, military advisors and naval support.
In 1778, France was the first nation to formally
recognize American independence.
 In 1781, the British commander Lord Cornwallis (1738
– 1805) found himself surrounded at Yorktown. Cut off
on land by the Continental Army and at sea by the
French navy, Cornwallis was forced to surrender. This
ended formal hostilities.
 In 1783, Britain signed the Treaty of Paris, which
recognized the United States and ceded control of all
territory to the Mississippi River.
IV. Colonial Empires and the American Revolution
Preview
 The Birth of a New Nation
 The Constitution
 The Bill of Rights
 Pgs. 321 - 322
IV. Colonial Empires and the American Revolution
H. The Birth of a New Nation
 At the close of the war, the thirteen colonies were free. However, they had
come to distrust centralized government, so they remained technically
separate from one another.
 The first governing document of the United States, the Articles of
Confederation of 1781, did not provide for a strong central government. It
created the office of president of Congress, but the position had no
authority. The government could not collect taxes, raise an army, or
manage trade between the states. It was soon clear that the Articles were
insufficient.
 In 1787, 55 representatives of the thirteen states met in Philadelphia to
decide on a new system of government. This meeting became known as
the Constitutional Convention.
IV. Colonial Empires and the American Revolution
I. The Constitution
 The proposed Constitution would set up a federal system, in which the
central government and the states would share power. The central
government would have the authority to raise taxes, create an army,
control interstate commerce, and establish a national currency.
 Following the ideas of Montesquieu, the new government would have three
branches: the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judicial. These three
offices would regulate one another through checks and balances.
 The Executive is the president and his advisors. They enforce the laws, veto the
legislature, nominate judges and command the military.
 The Legislative branch is the Senate and House of Representatives. They make
the laws, approve nominations and control taxation.
 The Judicial is the Supreme Court. They decide the constitutionality of laws and
enforce the Constitution.
 The Constitution had to be approved by each one of the states. In some
cases, it was a close call, but all thirteen ratified it by 1788.
IV. Colonial Empires and the American Revolution
J. The Bill of Rights
 In order to get the Constitution ratified in all thirteen
states, the Constitutional Convention had to promise
to include a Bill of Rights. Twelve amendments were
proposed, and ten were approved by the states.
 These first ten amendments guarantee a number of
basic rights. Among them are the right to freedom of
speech, religion, petition, press, and assembly. They
also guarantee the right to bear arms, protection
against unreasonable search and seizure, right to
trial by jury, due process of law, protection from cruel
and unusual punishment, and property rights.
 The Bill of Rights is partially based on the ideals of
eighteenth century philosophes like Locke and
Montesquieu. Enlightenment thinkers saw the
American Revolution as the fulfillment of their
intellectual prophesy, and the beginning of a new,
rational age.
The Bill of Rights
Authors of the Federalist Papers