Enlightenment and Revolution,
1550-1789
Key Concept…
Scientific
revolution
New
thinking
encouraged
New
thinking
leads to
revolutions
in America
and France
2
Revolutions
 Ideas
 Religion
 Technology
 Industry
 Trade
 Colonization
 Political
The Scientific
Revolution
Scientific Revolution
 From the Middle Ages, most
science was explained using
the Bible
 The Catholic Church taught
that
◦ the Earth was the center of the universe
◦ The sun, moon, and planets orbited the
Earth
Scientific Revolution
 Geocentric
Theory
◦ from Ancient
Greece
◦ Earth centered
universe
◦ God placed
Earth in a
prominent
position – the
center
Scientific Revolution
 In the 1500s, a few
scientists began challenging
the teachings of the Church
 Scientific Revolution – a
way of explaining nature
using observation and a
willingness to question
accepted beliefs
Scientific Revolution
 Age of Exploration
◦ Discoveries opened Europeans
to the possibility there were
new truths to be found
 Invention
of Printing Press
 Scientific
Research
◦ Spread challenging ideas
◦ Astronomy and mathematics
◦ Observations did not match ancient
beliefs
Scientific Revolution
 Nicolaus Copernicus
◦ Observed the heavens for 25 years
◦ Found that the sun is the center of the
universe
 Heliocentric
Theory
Scientific Revolution
 Heliocentric Theory was
rejected by the Church
 Copernicus could not publish
his findings until 1543
◦ Once done, other scientists published
their own findings
 Brahe
presented his findings
of planet movements
Scientific Revolution
 Johannes Kepler kept up
Brahe’s work
 Found that planets revolve in
an elliptical orbit
Scientific Revolution
 Galileo Galilei
built a telescope
 Found that
planets revolve in
an elliptical orbit
• He discovered that Jupiter
has 4 moons and that our
moon is not smooth and
perfect, but rough and pitted
Scientific Revolution
 These findings angered the
Church because:
 If the Church was wrong on
this, were their other
teachings wrong too?
 Galileo was taken to Rome to
face the Inquisition
◦ He signed that his ideas (and those of
Copernicus) were false
Scientific Revolution
 Galileo was never a free
man again
◦ He lived under house arrest
 His
published works spread
all over Europe
Scientific Method
 The works of the scientists
led to a different approach
 A logical procedure for
gathering and testing ideas
◦ Problem or question arising from
observation
◦ Hypothesis – unproven assumption
◦ Test
◦ Analyze data
◦ Conclusion
Scientists
 Francis Bacon
 Urged scientists
to experiment and then draw
conclusions (empiricism)
 Fun Fact
◦ Bacon died of pneumonia he got while
studying the effect of freezing on the
preservation of meat
Scientists
 Rene Descartes
 Known as the Father of
Modern Philosophy and
analytical geometry
 I think, therefore
I am
Scientists
 Isaac Newton
 Thought to be the
greatest scientist
who ever lived
◦ Described gravity
◦ Built the first reflecting telescope
◦ Observed a prism
decompose white
light into
many
colors
Other Scientific Discoveries: Scientific
Instruments
 Microscope
invented – 1590
 Bacteria observed with
microscope
 First mercury thermometer
 Fahrenheit and celsius
Other Scientific Discoveries: Medicine & the
Human Body
 Began
dissecting corpses to
learn anatomy
 Jenner introduced a
vaccine to prevent smallpox
Vaccines
were
given in
the hip
Other Scientific Discoveries: Chemistry
 Boyle’s
Law – all matter is
made up of smaller
particles
The Age of Reason
Notions of reason and order, which
spurred so many breakthroughs in
science, moved into other fields of
life
 Philosophers and scholars across
Europe began to rethink long-held
beliefs about the human condition
◦ Most notably- rights and
liberties of ordinary citizens







Scientific Revolution
Geocentric Theory
Heliocentric Theory
Galileo Galilei
Scientific Method
Isaac Newton
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23
The Enlightenment iN
EUROPE
Age of Enlightenment
 Also known as the Age of
Reason
 New intellectual movement
that stressed thought and
the power of the individual
to solve problems
 The movement reached its
height in the mid 1700s
Views on Government
 Thomas Hobbes saw the
English Civil War
 He concluded that humans
are naturally selfish and
wicked
◦ Leviathan (1651)
◦ “life is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and
sort”
Views on Government
 Thomas Hobbes said that
life was so bleak, people
needed a strong ruler
◦ People would have law and order
A
government created by
the people – a Social
Contract
◦ The best gov’t would have
the power of a leviathan,
a sea monster.
Views on Government
 John Locke viewed people
more positively
 He criticized divine right
◦ If a govt fails to protect, the people have
the right to overthrow it
 Called
for “life,
liberty, and the
pursuit of property”
Views on Government
 John Locke’s ideas will be
used by Thomas Jefferson
when he writes the US
Constitution.
◦ “…we are born with certain unalienable
rights, that among those are life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness.”
Philosophers (Philosophes)
 Five concepts of their belief
◦ Reason – truth can be found through
reason or logical thinking
◦ Nature – what is natural is good
◦ Happiness – rejected that people wait to
find happiness after death, but seek it on
Earth
◦ Progress – society and humankind could
improve
◦ Liberty – freedoms seen in the English Bill
of Rights
Enlightenment Philosophers
 Voltaire was the most
influential philosopher
 Attacked the clergy, the
aristocracy, and the govt
◦ Went to jail twice and then exiled in
England
 Fought
for freedom of
religion and freedom of
speech
Philosophers
 Voltaire’s most
memorable quote
 “I do not agree
with a word you
say, but will
defend to the
death your right
to say it.”
Voltaire’s tomb
Philosophers
 Montesquieu
 Showed that the British govt
had three branches
◦ King – Executive
◦ Parliament – Legislative
◦ Courts – Judicial
 Each
branch has the power
to check and balance the
powers of the other
branches
Philosophers
 Rousseau
 Passionately committed to
individual freedom
 Direct democracy- only good
government
 Legitimate government came
from the consent of the
governed
Philosophers
 Beccaria
 Focused on justice system
 Believed that laws existed to
preserve social order, not
avenge crimes
 Based his ideas about justice
on the principle that
governments should seek the
greatest good for the
greatest number of people
Philosophers
 Mary Wollstonecraft
 Pushed for education for
girls
 Most thought that girls only
needed to know how to be a
good wife and mother
 Fun Fact
 Her daughter, Mary Shelley,
wrote Frankenstein
Legacy of the Enlightenment
 People openly questioned
religion
 Led to humanism – against
slavery
 Led US to adopt a new kind
of government and economic
systems
Major Ideas of the Enlightenment
Idea
Thinker
Impact
Natural Rights
Locke
US Dec. of
Independence
Montesquieu US Constitution
Separation of
Powers
Freedoms of
thought and
expression
Voltaire
US Bill of Rights,
French Declar. Of
Rights
Abolishing torture
Beccaria
8th Amendment,
torture outlawed
Religious freedom
Voltaire
US Bill of Rights,
French Decla. Of
Rights
Women’s Equality
Wollstonecra Women’s rights
The Enlightenment
Spreads
39
World of Ideas
 The Catholic Church
continued to punish thinkers
and scientists
 The ideas of enlightenment
spread and influenced
everything from artists to
royalty
World of Ideas
Younger people from around Europe
and America came to study in Paris
 Women organized regular social
gatherings, salons, to discuss ideas
with scientists, artists, philosophers
and other intellects.

French
Salon
World of Ideas

One of their
greatest
achievements was
the publishing of
the first
Encyclopedia
 Scholars
contributed
articles
Diderot’s Encyclopedia, 17
World of Ideas

The Catholic Church banned the
books
◦ “undermined royal authority”
◦ “encouraged a spirit of revolt”
◦ Fostered “moral corruption, irreligion
and unbelief”
 Enlightenment
ideas were also
spread in
newspapers
New Artistic Styles

European art of the 1600s and
early 1700s was called baroque
 It
is very ornate
in design
 Like the
Versailles Palace
Castle in
Prague,
Czech
Republic
New Artistic Styles

During the Enlightenment, styles
changed
 Neo
Classical style was seen
in architecture, art and
music
New Artistic Styles

Music was lighter and more elegant
 Three
composers from
Vienna, Austria
◦ Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven
 Overtook
Bach and Handel
◦ Beethoven – Moonlight Sonata
◦ Mozart – 7th Symphony
Literature

Pamela or Virtue Rewarded, 1740
◦ It tells the story of a maid named
Pamela whose master, Mr. B.,
makes unwanted advances towards
her.
◦ She rejects him continually, and
her virtue is eventually rewarded
when he shows his sincerity by
proposing an equitable marriage to
her.
Enlightened Despots

Despot – absolute ruler, dictator
 Some
monarchs accepted new
enlightenment ideas but refused
to give up any power
 Their reforms were to make their
country stronger or for them to
rule more effectively
◦ Frederick II of Prussia
◦ Catherine the Great of Russia
Frederick the Great, 1740-86
The one whose father beheaded his
friend
 He had canals built and provided
more farmland
 Introduced the potato
 Put in a silk factory,
employing
1,500 people
 “the first servant of the
state”

Catherine the Great, 1762-96
Allowed religious
toleration
 Abolished torture and
capital punishment

Catherine the Great, 1762-96
Peter the Great got ocean access
to the Baltic
 Catherine fought for access to the
Black Sea

Peter the Great
Catherine the
Great
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
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


Enlightenment
Thomas Hobbes
John Locke
Philosophers & Major Ideas (chart p. 632)
Salon
Baroque
Neoclassical
Enlightened Despot
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52
American
Revolution
Enlightenment in America
The ideas of enlightenment were seen
in the American colonies
 Enlightenment American thinkers

◦
◦
◦
◦
Benjamin Franklin
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Paine
Patriots – Boston Tea Party
Enlightenment in America
Since the early 1600s, England
controlled her colony’s economy and
politics
 The population grew rapidly

◦ 1700 –
250,000
◦ 1770 – 2,150,000
There were 13 colonies
 The land area was BIGGER than
England

England
American
Colonies
Enlightenment in America
America was about 2 ½ months away
from England by sailing
 Most government was controlled
locally
 As the population
grew, the local
governments did
what was
necessary to make their colony strong

Enlightenment in America
As time went on, the colonists
thought of themselves as more
“American” than British
 Then the British passed laws
regulating American shipping, the
Navigation Acts
 This meant that Americans could not
trade with the French or the Dutch
 So what did they do?

Enlightenment in America
The Americans
fought with the
British against the
French and the
Indians – and won
 The Americans
wanted to settle
on the land that
the French had
claimed

Enlightenment in America
The British refused to allow the
Americans to settle on this land
 BUT, they wanted to tax Americans
for the cost of the war
 The Stamp Act was a tax on
almost all paper
goods

Enlightenment in America

Protests and acts of violence erupted
◦ Boston Massacre – British soldiers shot
and killed 5 colonists
◦ Boston Tea Party – colonists dropped
chests of tea into Boston Harbor rather
than pay the tax on tea
Enlightenment in America
In 1774, the Continental Congress,
a group of American patriots,
asked King George III for better
treatment
 The king refused
 The Congress told the colonies to
begin stockpiling ammunition

Enlightenment in America
April 19, 1775, British soldiers
marched from Boston to the town
of Concord to take the ammunition
from the colonists
 Along the way, the war for
American independence began

Declaration of Independence
Enlightened thinkers pushed for
independence
 Thomas Jefferson wrote the
Declaration of Independence using the
ideas of John Locke

◦ All men are created equal -- ???
◦ Endowed by their creator with certain
unalienable rights, that among these
rights are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of
Happiness
Declaration of Independence

The majority of the Declaration was
a list of grievances against King
George III
◦ Keeping British soldiers in towns and
private homes
◦ Taking Americans to Canada or England
for trial
◦ Taxing without consent (approval)
War for Independence





Britain had to send soldiers, supplies
and food across the Atlantic
It was very expensive
But they had a trained army and the
largest navy in the world
BUT – WE WON!
WHY?
Democracy in America
America never had a government with
a king
 They ELECTED their representatives
 When they wrote their constitution,
the used the ideas of European
philosophers.

Articles of Confederation
America wrote their first Constitution
during the war
 It was weak and did not give the
federal govt much power

◦
◦
◦
◦
Could not tax
Could not pay back war debts
Could not pay soldiers
Could not regulate trade – even trade
between states
Shays’ Rebellion
Armed uprising in Massachusetts
during 1786/87
 Revolutionary War Veteran Daniel
Shays led four thousands rebels
(Shaysites) in rising up against
perceived injustices by Massachusetts
 Defeated militarily, but prompted
calls for a stronger national
government

US Constitution
Officials met in Philadelphia, PA
 They wrote a new constitution giving
the govt more power

◦ Elected George Washington
◦ Established a 2 House Congress
◦ Made a Supreme Court system

Allowed some powers to be shared
with the states
US Constitution

The 3 branches of government
◦ Executive President Enforces laws
◦ Legislative Congress Makes laws
◦ Judicial
Courts Interprets laws

Checks and Balances
◦ One branch of govt can check on the
powers of the other 2 branches and
balance the powers
◦ Ex. Congress makes a law and the
president vetoes it
Bill of Rights
A Bill of Rights was added
 10 rights guaranteed to all Americans

◦ 1. Freedom of speech, assembly,
petition, religion and press.
◦ 2. Right to bear arms
◦ 3. No quartering of troops
◦ 4. No unreasonable search and seizure
◦ 5. No double jeopardy
Bill of Rights

10 rights guaranteed to all Americans
◦ 6. Right to a trial by jury
◦ 7. Civil trial by jury
◦ 8. No excessive bail or cruel and unusual
punishment
◦ 9. People have additional rights beyond
these written
◦ 10. States have additional rights
Democracy in America
 Locke
 Montesquieu
We the People….
 Representative gov’t



 Rousseau
 Voltaire
 Beccaia


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
Checks and Balances
3 Branches of Gov’t
Public Elections
Freedom of Speech
Accused have rights
No torture

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


Declaration of Independence
Thomas Jefferson
Checks and balances
Federal system
Bill of Rights
How Enlightenment thinkers influenced
America’s fight for independence and
creation of government
Study Guide Builder: Key Terms &
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76
The French Revolution

Liberty


Equality
Fraternity
77
Ingredients for Revolution

1688: Glorious/Bloodless Revolution in England removes
James II
◦ William and Mary take over
 No more Catholic kings or queens
 No more absolute monarchy
◦ Parliament
◦ Bill of Rights



Enlightenment ideas
American Revolution (1776) and Constitution (1789)
The Estates in France (Old Regime)
◦ 1st Estate = clergy = wealthy/no taxes = privileged
◦ 2nd Estate = nobles = wealthy/few taxes = privileged
◦ 3rd Estate = everybody else
 Bourgeoisie/middle class = some wealth = high taxes
= some rights
◦
◦
◦
◦
Bankers
Merchants
Professionals
Business owners
 City workers
 Peasants (80% of people)
78
Ingredients for Revolution…

Monarchy: Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette
◦ Put country in debt
 Supporting American Revolution
 Personal luxuries
◦ Louis XVI
 Weak leader
◦ Couldn’t control country’s spending
◦ Couldn’t control wife’s spending
 Needed more money = taxes on the 2nd Estate
◦ 1789: 2nd Estate forces Louis to call a meeting of
Estates-General
 First such meeting in 175 years
 First two estates could out vote the 3rd
Estate, even though the 3rd Estate had
more people.
◦ Louis sides with 1st and 2nd Estates
79
The Fuse Is Lit!
◦ Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyes gets 3rd Estate to declare themselves
the National Assembly and become government of France
 National Assembly locked out of their meeting room by king
 Tennis Court Oath: National Assembly breaks down door to
tennis court and vows to stay until a constitution is created
◦ Some nobles and clergy join

Painting of the National
Assembly in the tennis
court at Versailles
80
The Revolution Goes Off!

Rumors
◦ King to use military against National Assembly
◦ King to send troops to Paris to massacre French citizens


Citizens arm themselves with whatever they can
July 14, 1789: The Bastille prison is stormed by a mob
looking for weapons
◦ Release prisoners
◦ Take some guards hostage and killed others
81
The Great Fear Spreads

Rumor
◦ Nobles hiring outlaws to attack peasants

Citizens break into houses of nobles
◦ Destroy legal papers (can’t owe
king or lord what can’t be
proved)
◦ Kill nobles
◦ Burn houses

A chateau burns as peasants
riot in the countryside
82
The Great Fear Spreads…

October 1789: Women riot at
Versailles over cost of bread
◦ Demands:
 National Assembly provide bread
 King and queen return to Paris

August 1789: Great Fear spreads to
clergy and nobles, more of whom now
(out of fear) support National
Assembly
◦ National Assembly ends Estate
system
◦ Commoners/peasants now equal to
clergy and nobles
83
Statement of Revolutionary Ideals

August 1789: National Assembly adopts Declaration of the
Rights of Man and of the Citizen
◦ Influenced by Enlightenment & U.S. Declaration of
Independence
 “Men are born and remain
free and equal in rights.”
◦ Rights included







Liberty
Property
Security
Resistance to oppression
Equal justice
Freedom of speech
Freedom of religion
 Revolutionary leaders adopt

“Liberty, Equality, Fraternity”
as motto (fraternity = brotherhood)
Illustration of Declaration
of the Rights of Man and
of the Citizen
84
State-Controlled Church

National Assembly goes
after Catholic Church
◦ Takes lands
 Sale of church lands
helps pay off French debt
◦ Declares clergy will be
elected and paid as state
officials
◦ French peasants (mostly
Catholics) take offense
 Creates division in  Cartoon: “The Zenith of French Glory;
The Pinnacle of Liberty.” A French
revolution
revolutionary watches a beheading
while resting his foot on the head of a
hanging clergyman.
85
Royals Arrested

June 1791: Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette try to
sneak out of country
◦ Arrested near Austrian border
◦ Attempted escape made revolutionaries even angrier at
royalty

Arrest of Louis
XVI and his
Family,
Varennes,
1791
86
Divisions Develop



1791: National Assembly creates a new constitution
◦ Creates a limited constitutional monarchy
 Strips king of most authority
 Creates a Legislative Assembly
 King Louis XVI agrees (no choice!)
Old problems still exist
◦ Food shortages
◦ Government debt
◦ Poverty
Factions split revolutionaries
◦ Radicals/Left: get rid of king,
redo government
◦ Moderates/Center: wanted some
changes in government
◦ Conservatives/Right: wanted to keep
a limited monarchy with few changes in government
87
Divisions Develop…


Émigrés (the rich who fled France during the
revolution) took actions to try to undo the
revolution to get back their land
Sans-culottes (the lower-class in Paris) wanted
even more radical change
◦ They had no power in the assembly (but that didn’t
stop them!)

Movie poster for A Tale of Two Cities, based
on the novel by Charles Dickens about the
French Revolution and an émigré

Two illustrations of sans-culottes
88

War and Execution
Austria and Prussia fear revolution will spread.
◦ They pressure France to restore monarchy.
◦ 1792: France responds by declaring war.
Prussian commander warns that he will destroy
Paris if royal family is harmed.
 August 10, 1792: Parisians furious at threat.

◦ They storm the Tuileries (place where the royals were
under arrest).
 Mobs massacre royal guard, takes royal family
prisoners

Storming of the Tuileries
Palace, Paris
89
War and Execution…
 Rumor: King’s supporters in Paris prisons are
going to break out and retake Paris
◦ Mobs raid prisons, and murder over 1,000 nobles
 = September Massacres

Radicals force

New government
◦ Legislative Assembly to set aside the 1791 Constitution
◦ Creation of a new government, National Convention
◦ Abolishes monarchy
◦ Declares France a
republic
◦ Adult males given
right to vote

Illustration by Armand Fouquier
of the September Massacres
90
War and Execution…

National Convention, led by radical Jacobians put
Louis XVI on trial and sentence him to death
◦ January 21, 1793: Louis beheaded by guillotine.

War with Prussia continues.
◦ Prussia and Austria are joined by
 England
 Holland
 Spain
◦ National Convention
takes extreme step of
ordering a draft of men
and women

Illustration of the
execution of Louis
XVI
91
Reign of Terror


Many groups in France fighting for power
◦ Peasants loyal to Catholic Church and/or king
◦ Clergy resisting government control
◦ Rival leaders in different regions of France
1793: Maximilien Robespierre gains power
◦ Vowed to build a “republic of virtue” by erasing
France’s past.
 Changed calendar
◦ Eliminated Sundays
 Closed churches

Reign of Terror = Robespierre = leader of
Committee of Public Safety and virtual dictator
◦ Goal = protect revolution from its enemies
 Bogus arrests, trials
 Lots of torture and death
◦ Many “enemies of the revolution” = personal
enemies of Robespierre because of their
challenges to his power
 Top: Robespierre
◦ Apprx. 40,000 killed
 Bottom: Poster for movie
◦ 85% = peasants or middle class, those
version of the Scarlet
Pimpernel, a story of
who were supposed to benefit from the
intrigues and love during
revolution
the Reign of Terror
92
End of Terror

1794: Fearing for own safety, members of
National Convention turn on Robespierre
◦ Demand his arrest and execution
 Reign of Terror ends on July 28, 1794
with Robespierre’s execution
◦ Public opinion shifts
 Tired of terror
 Tired of inflation for necessities
◦ 1795: National Convention creates third
government since 1789
 Gives more power to upper middle class
 Creates two-house legislature (like U.S.
Congress)
 Created Directory = five men acting as
executive body (like U.S. president)

Directory gives command of France’s armies
to Napoleon Bonaparte


Top: Illustration of the execution of Robespierre
Bottom: Painting of Napoleon Bonaparte
93








Old Regime
Estates
Estates-General
Louis XVI
Marie Antoinette
National Assembly
Tennis Court Oath
Great Fear







Legislative
Assembly
Émigré
Sans-culotte
Jacobin
Guillotine
Maximilien
Robespierre
Reign of Terror
Study Guide Builder: Key Terms &
Names
94
Review

Ideas are powerful!
◦ The scientific revolution shattered long-held views
about the universe.
 Enlightenment questioned society and government:
◦ Locke (contract between government and governed)
◦ Montesquieu (checks and balances)
◦ Rousseau (individual freedom and civilization corrupts)
◦ Voltaire (freedom of thought and expression)
◦ Their radical beliefs in the natural rights of man
inspired the American and French Revolutions.
Scientific
revolution
New thinking
encouraged
New thinking leads to revolutions
in America and France
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