Chapter 6: Enlightenment
and Revolution 1550-1789
Chapter 6
Section 1
The Scientific Revolution
Roots of Modern Science: The
Medieval View
o During the Middle
Ages, most scholars
believed Earth was
immobile and at the
center of the
universe
o This was called the
geocentric theory
o Came from Aristotle,
and reinforced by
the Bible
A New Way of Thinking
 Beginning in the
1500’s, the
Scientific
Revolution came
about
 New way of thinking
about the natural
world
 Age of Exploration
and printing press
helped expand this
The Heliocentric Theory
 Nicolaus Copernicus
became interested in
an old Greek idea that
the sun was at center
of universe
 He developed the
Heliocentric, or suncentered, theory in
1500’s
 Johannes Kepler
confirmed this theory
in 1601
Galileo’s Discoveries
 Italian scientist
named Galileo
Galilei built on the
new astronomy
theories
 Built his own
telescope and
published findings
 Supported
Copernicus’s
theories
Conflict with the Church
 Catholic and Protestant
leaders were opposed to
Galileo
 After publishing his
findings, the pope
summoned Galileo to
stand trial
 He confessed that
Copernicus’s ideas were
false
 He lived under house
arrest and died in 1642
The Scientific Method
 Logical procedure to
gathering and
testing ideas
 Question>
Hypothesis>
Experiment>
Conclusion
Bacon and Descartes
 Francis Bacon and
Rene Descartes
helped develop the
Scientific Method
 Bacon urged scientists
to experiment fist and
draw conclusions later
 Descartes believed
everything should be
doubted until proven
true
Newton Explains Law of Gravity
 In 1687, Isaac
Newton publishes
his theory of gravity
 The law of universal
gravitation says
every object in the
universe attracts
each other
Scientific Instruments
 Microscope invented in 1590 by Zacharias Janssen, a
Dutch eyeglass maker
 Gabriel Fahrenheit invented first mercury
thermometer- showed freezing at 32º
 Anders Celsius used another scale- showed freezing at
0º
Medicine and the Human Body
 Most Medieval doctors
followed teachings of
ancient Greek physician,
Galen
 In 1543, Flemish
physician Andreas
Vesalius proved Galen
wrong after dissecting
human corpses
 In late 1700’s British
physician Edward
Jenner invented
smallpox vaccine
Discoveries in Chemistry
 Robert Boyle is
considered the founder of
modern chemistry
 He said matter is
composed of smaller
primary particles that join
together in different ways
 Boyle’s Law explains
how the volume,
temperature, and
pressure of gas affect
each other
Chapter 6
Section 2
The Enlightenment in Europe
The Enlightenment
 Came in the wake of
the Scientific
Revolution
 New intellectual
movement that
stressed reason,
thought and the
power of the
individual
Hobbes’s Social Contract
 Thomas Hobbes
argued the Social
Contract theory of
government- that
people handed over
power to a ruler to
escape anarchy
 Hobbes believed in
absolute rulers
Locke’s Natural Rights
 John Locke believed
people had the
natural ability to
govern themselves
 Locke criticized
monarchy and
favored selfgovernment
 If the government is
not just, people
have right to
overthrow it
The Philosophes Advocate Reason
 The Enlightenment
reached its height in
France in mid1700’s
 1. Reason
 2. Nature
 Social critics of this
time known as
philosophes
 3. Happiness
 Five concepts
formed belief core
 5. Liberty
 4. Progress
Voltaire Combats Intolerance
 Francois Marie
Arouet, AKA
Voltaire, was a
famous philosophe
 Sent to prison in
France twice and
exiled to England for
his teachings
 Fought for tolerance,
reason, and
religious and
personal freedom
Montesquieu
 Baron de
Montesquieu
devoted himself to
the study of political
liberty
 Proposed separation
of government
powers, or checks
and balances
 Became basis for US
Constitution
Rousseau
 Jean Jacques
Rousseau was
another philosophe
 Believed that every
man was born free
and civilization
corrupted him
 Only believed in
direct democracy
 Inspired French
Revolution
Beccaria
 Cesare Bonesana Beccaria was an Italian
philosophe
 Argued for criminal justice and against torture
 Thought capital punishment should be abolished
Women and the Enlightenment
 Male philosophes were
not in agreement about
women’s place in society
and education
 Several female writers
tried to improve the
status of women
 Mary Astell addressed
the lack of education for
women and marital
equality
 Mary
Wollstonecraft
argued for women’s
education and for
career opportunities
 Emilie de Châtelet
was an aristocrat
trained as a
mathematician and
physicist
Legacy of the Enlightenment
 Enlightenment
writers challenged
long-held beliefs
about divine right of
monarchs, union of
church and state,
and inequality
 Theories inspired
American and
French revolutions
Legacy of the Enlightenment
 Belief in progressgrowth in scientific
knowledge and human
potential
 Secular outlookpeople began to
question beliefs and
organized religion
 Importance of the
individual- people
were encouraged to
use reason to judge
right from wrong
Chapter 6
Section 3
The Enlightenment Spreads
A World of Ideas
 In the 1700’s, Paris
was the cultural and
intellectual capital of
Europe
 Philosophers, artists,
writers, and
scientists would
meet in salons- the
drawing rooms of
several wealthy
women of Paris
Diderot’s Encyclopedia
 Denis Diderot
created a large set
of books to which
many leading
scholars contributed
articles and essays
 France and the
Catholic church
banned the
Encyclopedia, but it
continued to be
published and
spread
Neoclassical Artistic Style
 European art of
1600’s and early
1700’s had been
dominated by a
style called
baroque- done with
grand, ornate
designs
 Under the
Enlightenment, the
neoclassical style
emerged- simple
and elegant
Changes in Music and Literature
 During the Enlightenment,
a new style called
classical emerged
 Artists such as Mozart and
Beethoven created a new
lighter sound
 Writers began to write
novels, lengthy works of
fiction
 Became extremely popular
with the middle classes
Enlightenment and Monarchy
 Many philosophes
tried to convince
monarchs to rule
justly
 Monarchs who
embraced this were
called enlightened
despots
 They supported
these new ideas, but
did not want to give
up power
Frederick the Great
 King of Prussia
from 1740-1786
 Granted religious
freedoms, reduced
censorship, and
improved
education
 Called himself,
“First servant of
the state”
Joseph II
 Son of Maria
Theresa, ruled
Austria from 17801790
 Introduced legal
reform, freedom of
religion, and
freedom of press
 Abolished serfdom
and ordered
peasants must be
paid
Catherine the Great
 Ruled Russia from
1762-1796
 Read works of
philosophes and
corresponded with
Voltaire
 Put in place limited
reforms, but ignored
Russian peasants
 Catherine expanded
Russia vastly during
her reign
Chapter 6
Section 4
The American Revolution
Britain and the American Colonies
 During the 1700’s
the population of the
colonies grew
hugely
 Great Britain and
the colonies had a
relatively peaceful
relationship during
the early 1700’s,
despite various
British trade
restrictions
French and Indian War
 In 1754, war
erupted between
Great Britain and
France over North
America
 In 1763, Great
Britain won and the
victory benefitted
both them and the
colonies
Stamp Act
 Great Britain
expected the
colonists to help pay
debts from war
 They enacted a
stamp tax- a tax
on printed material
 Colonists were
outraged over
“taxation without
representation”
Growing Hostility Leads to War
 Hostilities increased over the
next decade
 In 1773, colonists angry over an
import tax on tea, dumped a
load of tea into Boston Harbor
 King George III ordered the
navy to close the port of Boston
 In 1774, The First Continental
Congress formed to protest
 On April 19,1775, the first shot
was fired at Lexington and
Concord
The Influence of the Enlightenment
 Colonial leaders used
Enlightenment ideas to
justify independence
 July 4, 1776- Second
Continental Congress
issued Declaration of
Independence, written
by Thomas Jefferson
 Document firmly based
on John Locke’s ideas
for natural rights
Success for the Colonists
 How did the American
colonists defeat the
most powerful country
in the world?
 1. Motivation to fight
 2. Overconfident British
generals
 3. War was very
expensive for the
British
 4. France entered war
in 1778 and helped win
Americans Create a Republic
 First central
government was under
the Articles of
Confederation
 Purposefully weak, and
only consisting of a
Congress
 The national
government began to
have problems
regulating the states
and raising money
without a power to tax
A New Constitution
 Recognizing the need for a stronger government,
Congress approved a Constitutional Convention in
1787
 The 55 delegates used thinking from the
Enlightenment and compromise to write a new
constitution
The Federal System
 The delegated
distrusted a
government run by
one person or group
 They established
three branches of
governmentlegislative,
executive, and
judicial
 This provided for
checks and
balances
The Bill of Rights
 The Constitution was
signed in 1787, but still
required approval of all 13
states
 Some delegates were
concerned that the
government had too much
power
 Congress added the 10
amendments known as
the Bill of Rights to give
the people more power