CHAPTER 2, SECTION 1 “LECTURE
NOTES”
The Rise of Parliament
English Kings had great power and worked with
Parliament after Magna Carta
 , Bishop Jacques Bossuet“It is God who establishes kings…the person of kings
is sacred, and to move against them is a crime” = divine right of kings
 (Louis XIV of France, “I am the state.”)
Tudor dynasty
 (HenryVIII and Elizabeth I) find an advantage to have support
of Parliament.
 By 1700, English monarchs recognize Parliament as ultimate
authority.
 Tudors needed Parliament’s help in religious policies (no
separation of church & state.)
Henry VIII wanted “papal” support to divorce
Catherine (no male heirs) & to remarry.
 Pope refused because:
 marriage is sacred
 Catherine’s royal family
 Henry declared himself head of Church of England
(Anglican)
 Act of Supremacy in 1534 = king is “the only
supreme head on earth of the Church of England.”
Why did Parliament agree?
 king was still most powerful authority
 king sold church lands to members of Parliament
 Why did Henry want a new Church and
whose permission did he have to get for this
action?
Protestant Reformation in England vs.
Catholics of Spain & France
 Mary wanted to make England Catholic
again (persecuted religious foes)
 Elizabeth, (half-sister) took power
“repealed” pro-Catholic laws.
 Elizabeth wanted national Anglican
church, to give monarch more power.
Puritans (“fervent” Protestants)
desired:
 “purify” Anglican Church of Catholic similarities
 congregations to be independent of government (elect their
own ministers.)
Puritans in Parliament drafted legislation
to change religious policies.
 Elizabeth’s government began
persecuting Puritans,
 many emigrated to New England
colonies in N. America.
 influenced American belief in
“separation of church and state.”
 1. Who gained power in parliament and
what was their Goal?
 2. When persecuted where did they flee too
and what do we know them as?
Conflict king vs Parliament
Charles I.
 believed that he could
spend money, build , &
make foreign alliances
 No confirmation of
parliament.
 Parliament -petition that
king could not impose
taxes without its consent.
Charles I closed parliament and arrested key
members.
 Eleven Years Tyranny, Charles I ruled
without Parliament.
 House of Lords & House of Commons had no
power
King governed W/O Parliament led Military
Force
1642 Civil War
(English
Revolution) =
Royalists (king’s
forces) vs.
Roundheads
(Parliament’s
forces)
 What was the main cause of the figh?.
Why Parliament’s forces won civil war:
 1. military genius of Sir Oliver Cromwell & his
New Model Army
 2. “zealous” Puritans were fighting for their faith
ENGlAND and Parliament PART II
Oliver Cromwell takes Power
Cromwell “purged”
Parliament of those who
disagreed with executing
king.
Remaining members,
“Rump Parliament,”
agreed to execute king.
 Beheading of king scared
kings in Europe
Parliament abolished monarchy &
House of Lords(No Nobility)
 Cromwell found Parliament
hard to work with,
 abolished it & set up military
dictatorship
 Cromwell’s “puritanical” rule
of a “godly society” was not a
“free society”
After Cromwell’s death
Parliament was “resurrected.” It
then restored the Stuart heir to
throne, Charles II.
Charles II was sympathetic to
Catholicism.
 Parliament passed Exclusion Bill,
which prohibited heir James II
from taking throne, if he professed
his Catholicism.(Fear Catholic
King)
 Bill created two political parties:
Whigs (anti Catholic king) & Tories
(followed lawful succession to
throne.)
 To foil Exclusion Bill, king
dismissed Parliament.
James II succeeded CharlesII.
Began appointing Catholics to
important offices. Caused fear of
restored Catholic monarchy.
By 1688, England’s lords & landowners
reached “consensus”,
did NOT want a:
king to “dictate” to
Parliament
Catholic king.
 English noblemen staged a “coup” by
inviting Dutch leader, William of
Orange (Holland/the Netherlands),
to de-throne James & rule England.
 William was married to James’s
Protestant daughter Mary.
“Glorious Revolution.”
 William & Mary raised
an army and took England
with little opposition
 James II fled to France.
 With almost no
bloodshed,
 In 1689, Parliament
offered throne to William
& Mary, if they accepted
Bill of Rights.
English Bill of Rights established:
 Parliament’s rights to make laws, levy
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taxes & raise armies
citizens’ rights to keep “arms” and trial by
jury.
became foundation of U.S. Bill of Rights.
Toleration Act granted Puritans, but not
Catholics, the right to public worship.
However, very few English
were
ever again persecuted for their faith.
England became a “tolerant haven” for those
seeking refuge from religious persecution
in Europe.
Parliament destroyed the theory of divine
right of kings.
Philosophers of the Enlightenment
CH2 Section 2
 The Enlightenment was an intellectual
movement that began in France =
leaders called philosphes.
 If reason enabled scientists to discover
secrets of universe, then reason could
make govt. & society more just.
John Locke of England
 John Locke of England
wrote that babies were
born with “blank-slate”
minds, learned everything
from their environment,
 therefore it was vital to
build a rational society (not
superstitious or bound to old
traditions) in which to
raise children.
John Locke’s Two Treatises of Government
(1690) criticized absolutism & defended
Glorious Revolution.
 humans were born with natural rights
 but they weren’t effective in protecting these

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

rights.
So people agreed to a contract with government
(mutual obligations.)
 Govt. would protect rights & people would obey
govt.
If government broke the contract-then people
justified in rebelling and forming a new govt.
“People” -were landholding elites, not commoners.
did not advocate true democracy, his ideas
encouraged democratic trends.
 Locke’s arguments were used to
demand rule of
law &
individual rights in both American
& French Revolutions.
Philosophes
 focused on optimistic themes: reason, natural law, hope and
progress.
Voltaire
 was a “Parisian” and a “prolific” Enlightenment



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author. He was imprisoned for insulting a
nobleman & then exiled to England for 3
years.
He spoke out vs. censorship (i.e. he was for freedom
of speech, freedom of the press, etc.)
He liked England’s freer society. When he
returned he criticized French institutions, his
book was banned!
Opposed the Catholic Church for supporting
absolutism and traditional Christianity for not
encouraging people to think rationally.
He was a “deist” who campaigned for religious
toleration, “all men are brothers under God.”
Montesquieu closely studied
governments (first political scientist.)
 Concluded that English govt.
functioned through a
separation of powers into
three branches:
 executive (monarch) 2.
legislative (Parliament) 3.
judicial (courts)
 Each branch placed limits and
controls on the other branches
to prevent abuse of power
(checks & balances)
Montesquieu’s ideas greatly influenced
the writing of the U.S. Constitution
Jean-Jacques
reasoned that all society should be governed
Rousseau
by the general will, which is best for
 In his writing, The Social Contract, he
everyone,
 those who seek their own self-interest “will be
forced to be free.”
 argued in Emile that education should
“foster” children’s natural instincts, not
restrict them.
 He believed that emotion also held a kind of
truth, his goal = find a balance between
emotion (the heart) and
reason (the
mind.)
 he was a male “chauvinist” who argued that
women should learn obedience and
nurturing skills.
Ha ha ha
 New fields of study = the social sciences. Economics founded
by “Physiocrats” of France and Adam Smith of
Scotland,
Adam Smith
 argued in The Wealth of Nations that
the law of supply and demand would
work in everyone’s best economic
interest.
 laissez-faire- Complete capitalism
and government stays out of Business
Cesare Beccaria
 Italy proposed a new approach
to justice in On Crimes and
Punishments. He argued that
brutal punishments did not
“deter” people from committing
crime.
 “Is it not absurd, that the laws,
which punish murder, should, in
order to prevent murder, publicly
commit murder themselves?”
 His writings influenced the 8th
Constitutional amendment “no
cruel or unusual punishment.”
Denis Diderot was a French
philosophe who published the
first Encyclopedia.
 Many copies sold, expanded
general knowledge & spread
Enlightenment ideas.
 Coffeehouses and salons were
meeting places for reading and
discussions.
 Salons were very popular &
hosted by women. Salons
attracted different classes to mix
and share ideas
Mary Wollstonecraft
 Women were able to influence political
opinion and influence literary and artistic
tastes.
 English writer, was the founder of the
women’s rights movement.
 In AVindication of the Rights ofWomen, she
identified two problems w. most male
Enlightenment thinkers:
 Why should women obey men w/o question if
it’s okay for people to challenge an absolutist
govt.?
 Since the focus is on reason, and women have
reason, then they too should have the same
natural rights in education, economics and
politics that men have.
CHAPTER 2, Section 3 “Lecture Notes
American Independence
Thomas Jefferson and James Madison
 = both influenced by
writings of John Locke.
 Declaration of
Independence = citizens
justified in rebelling vs.
a govt. that doesn’t
protect people’s rights.
 Americans convinced
that King George III and
the English Parliament
were denying their
natural rights.
Ideas Spread to North America& South
America
 With the advent of the printing press and larger numbers of
literate people (including women and middle classes) a
market for mass production of books, periodicals (magazines)
and newspapers was created
Declaration of Independence by Thomas
Jefferson
 “We hold these truths to be
self-evident, that all men
are created equal” = all
humans should have
samerights &
opportunities
 “they are endowed by their
Creator with certain unalienable
Rights” = God gave all people
permanent rights
 “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of
Happiness” = John Locke’s
natural rights: to live, be free
& to seek a fulfilling life
Key points of Dec of Independence
 “to secure these rights, Governments are
instituted” = governments were created
to protect people’s rights
 “deriving their just powers from the consent
of the governed” = people give govt.
permission to have powers to govern
 “Whenever any Form of Government becomes
destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the
People to alter or to abolish it” = people
have right to overthrow a government
that abuses power
 “and to institute new Government.” =
people are to replace it w. a government
that DOES protect their rights.
 Which argument presented by Jefferson
makes best sense for rebellion to you?
Colonial Government
 Parliament governed American colonies,
 but in practice colonists had their own colonial legislatures
 Caucasian, land-owning males elected their representatives to
the legislatures.
FRANCE VS BRITAIN
 French North America = Canada &
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Louisiana Territory, vast trading area,
sparsely populated
England’s 13 colonies = densely populated.
British colonists wanted to settle west, but
French forts prevented.
Britain & France fought “Seven Years War”
(French and IndianWar) to control N.
American continent.
Britain’s Prime Minister William Pitt used
British navy to defeat weaker French fleet.
British forces defeated French near
Quebec, Canada.
1763 Treaty of Paris granted Canada &
French land east of the Mississippi to
Britain. British Empire was largest in world
(“The sun never sets on the British Empire.”)
Predict?
 How Do you think the Crown will pay for this
debt from the War?
 Who Should Pay For this?
Parliament Taxes To raise Money
 1765 Stamp Act on colonies (repealed a year later due to
protest.)
 tariffs on non-British made goods, led to American smuggling
& British searches of American homes w/o warrants.
 Declaratory Act = Parliament alone had right to tax and
make decisions for colonies.
 This undermined colonial govt’s authority, colonists outraged,
“No taxation without representation!”
Colonist React to Taxes
 Boston Massacre -5 deaths, but began huge
anti-British propaganda campaign (Paul
Revere.)
 1773 Tea Act gave British East India Co. a
monopoly on tea market and
 decreased American profits.
 Boston Tea Party = Samuel Adams & other
patriots dressed as Indians, boarded ship &
dumped British tea.
 King George III ordered Parliament to
pass Coercive Acts (Intolerable Acts)
 (including violation of trial by jury, forcing
people to “quarter” British troops, etc.)
 What are advantages in staying with the British?
 What are disadvantages of being Independent?
1774 First Continental Congress in
Philadelphia
 “I am not aVirginian, but an
American” Patrick Henry
 called for: repeal of
Intolerable Acts, boycott of
British goods, formation of
colonial militias, sent a
 Declaration of Rights &
Grievances to king,
 still claimed loyalty to the
“Crown.”
Colonist Fight British
 April, 1775 British troops sent to seize arms &
supplies of militias.
 Lexington & Concord, first time fighting broke out
between British & American forces, “the shot heard
round the world!”
May, 1775 Second Continental Congress
 Organized continental army under Gen. George Washington. Also
sent Olive Branch Petition. King refused to even look at petition.
Sent 30,000 German troops instead!
 Jan, 1776 Thomas Paine’s pamphlet “Common Sense” widely
circulated = demanded American independence
 What are examples of colonists trying to end things
peacefully?
Independence
 July 4, 1776 Declaration of Independence proclaimed &
colonies celebrated. American Revolution had begun.
 Big gamble: signers signed their own death warrant! Patriots
vs. world’s best military force & richest nation.
Patriot advantages
 fighting on home turf, fighting for freedom,
 support from France (Lafayette) Spain
 Help Colonist because enemy was Britain
 Both sides thought war would be short, but it lasted 7 years!
Americans gain independence
 Gen. Cornwallis surrendered to Americans & French at
Yorktown in 1781.
 1783 Treaty of Paris recognized U.S. independence &
expansion west to the Mississippi (doubled in size!)
Articles of Confederation (nation’s 1st
constitution
 = weak national govt. due to fear of power abuse.
Constitutional Convention of 1787 in
Philadelphia
-met to revise Articles, but instead wrote whole new one!
-Constitution created a federal system = shared powers between
federal & state governments.
 What is a Federal Power and what is a State Power?
3 Branches of Federal Gov
 I. President (enforces laws, veto power, supervise foreign affairs, commander in
chief of military)
 II. Congress (write laws) House of Representatives elected by people.
Senate elected by state legislatures (today by people)
 III. Supreme Court (judges “constitutionality” of laws & actions and interprets
meaning of Constitution
 “Supreme Law of the Land”)
Constitution ratified(approved)
 9 of 13 states. The promise of a Bill of Rights won sufficient
support in 1788
 First 10 amendments = Bill of Rights (ratified in 1791)
includes: freedom of religion, speech, press, right to
petition, peacefully assemble, bear arms, trial by jury & due
process.
 U.S. Constitution embodied ideas of Enlightenment (
worldwide model & inspiration for freedom.) It is longest “living”
Constitution in world today!
Differences of Glorious Revolution from
American and French Revolutions:
 “bloodless”
 upper class demanding rights from king, whereas in
America and France, it was mostly the lower &
middle classes.
 Glorious Revolution inspired French thinkers to
speak out against absolutism.
 British (English) colonists supported Parliament’s
fight and saw their own representatives as having the
same
rights in America.
Review of Primary Source
 The Progress of Man, by Edward Gibbon. Describes how
humans have progressed over the centuries. He wasoptimistic
about future of humanity, but was naïve about human nature!
 Encyclopedie, by Denis Diderot. His goal was to collect all
knowledge gained over centuries, organize it into general
outlines to make accessible to everyone. This he believed
would help bring happiness to the people (i.e.“the pursuit of
happiness”.)
 The Social Contract, by Jean-Jacques Rosseau. People must
seek the general will rather than individual wants.
3 Revolutions
 Glorious Revolution (England) =
established that king must “submit” to
Parliament
 American Revolution = defined roles
of democratic government institutions &
rights of citizens
 French Revolution = practiced
principles of liberty & equality for all men