Chapter 5
Section I:
Philosophy in the Age of
Reason
Scientific Revolution
• 1500s – 1600s: transformed the way people in
Europe looked at the world
• NATURAL LAW: rules discoverable by
reason
• Natural law used to understand social,
economical, and political problems.
• Scientific Revolution  ENLIGHTENMENT
HOBBES & LOCKE
• Both 17th century English thinkers
• Set forth ideas that were the key to
the Enlightenment era
• Both men lived through the English
Civil War (Cavaliers vs. Roundheads)
• BUT, two very different ideas about
human nature and the role of
government
Hobbes
• Leviathan
• People were naturally
cruel, greedy, selfish
• SOCIAL CONTRACT
• Powerful government= 
• Absolute Monarch = 
Locke
• Two Treatises of
Government
• People were reasonable
and moral
• NATURAL RIGHTS
• Absolute Monarch = 
• People have the right
to overthrow the
government if it fails
its obligations!!!!!
MONTESQUIEU
• Studied many forms of government & culture
• Absolute Monarch =   BAD!
• The Spirit of Laws (1748)
• Separation of Powers: Legislative, Executive,
Judicial
• Checks & Balances
VOLTAIRE
• FREEDOM OF SPEECH !!!
• Exposed the abuses of government
• Very outspoken
• Battled inequality and injustice
• Imprisoned twice
DIDEROT
• Encyclopedia : 28-volume set of books
• Wanted “to change the general way of
thinking.”
• 4,000 copies printed  helped spread
Enlightenment Ideas
• French government saw Encyclopedia
as a threat!
ROUSSEAU
• Similar ideas as Locke
•People were basically good and only corrupted
by the evils of society
• Thomas Paine & Marquis de Lafayette adopted
their ideas
• The Social Contract
• HATED ALL FORMS OF OPPRESSION
WOMEN PHILOSOPHERS
• Women’s
rights were limited to home and
family
• Women were excluded from the SOCIAL
CONTRACT
• WOLLSTONECRAFT: A Vindication of the
Rights of Woman
•Argued for equal education
CHAPTER 5, SECTION 2
• As Enlightenment ideas spread
across Europe, what cultural and
political changes took place?
Enlightenment Ideas Spread
• Paris, France = Heart of Enlightenment
• Ideas flowed from France, across Europe,
and beyond
New Ideas Challenge Society
• More and more, people saw that reform was
necessary in order to achieve a just society.
• Prior to Enlightenment, most Europeans
accepted without question, a society based
on divine-right rule and a strict class
system
CENSORSHIP
• Most government and church officials felt it
was their duty to defend the old order.
(Believed that God set up the “old order”)
• They waged a war of censorship:
restricting access to ideas and information
• Books were burned and banned; writers
were imprisoned.
• To avoid censorship, writers often disguised
their ideas in works of fiction.
SALONS
• New literature, the arts, science and
philosophy were regular topics of
discussion in the salons.
• SALONS: informal social gatherings where
ideas were exchanged
Arts & Literature Reflect New Ideas
ARTS
• 1600s & 1700s, arts evolved to meet changing tastes.
• Baroque: colorful, huge, exciting
• Rococo:lighter, elegant, charming
MUSIC
• Composers: a new, elegant style of music emerged known
as “classical.”
• Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart
LITERATURE
• By 1700s, literature developed new forms and a wider
audience
• Daniel Defoe Robinson Crusoe
ENLIGHTENED DESPOTS
• Philosophes tried to persuade rulers to
adopt their ideas
• Some monarchs did accept the ideas of the
Enlightenment
– Enlightened Despots: absolute rulers who used
their political power to bring about social
change
– Other rulers still practiced absolutism
FREDERICK THE GREAT
• Extremely tight control over his subjects as
king of Prussia (1740-1786)
• Had a duty to work for the common good
• Praised Voltaire’s work
– Reduced the use of torture, allowed freedom of
the press, and religious tolerance
CATHERINE THE GREAT
• Empress of Russia
• Exchanged letters with VOLTAIRE &
DIDEROT
• Believed in Enlightenment ideas such as
equality and liberty
• Abolished torture and established religious
tolerance in her lands
JOSEPH II
• Son of Maria Theresa (Hapsburg Empress)
• Eager student of Enlightenment!!!
• Traveled in disguise among his subjects to
learn of his problems
• Supported religious equality
• Ended censorship
• Sold properties of many monasteries
• Abolished serfdom
Birth of the American Republic
Chapter 5, Section III
Britain becomes Global Power
1. Geography (control trade, set up
outposts across the globe)
2. Success in War
3. Territory Expanded
BRITISH COLONIES
NAVY
• Britain built superior naval power
• protected their growing empire and trade
GEORGE III
• Came to power in 1769 (60-year reign)
• Wanted to recover the powers that the monarch
lost
• Decided colonists in North America should pay
for the costs of the 7 Years War and French &
Indian War!!!
13 COLONIES
Characteristics of 13 Colonies
• Home to diverse religious & ethnic
groups
• politics = free discussion
• social distinctions blurred
• Colonist grew in favor of separation
from Britain!!!
Birth of the American Republic
- With war between the British and
French over, Britain began enforcing
old taxes and passing new taxes on the
colonies to pay for the war debt.
Stamp Act
required all printed
materials to be
stamped showing
that a tax had been
paid to the King.
Stamp Act Congress
- 9 Colonies wrote a protest to the
King over the stamp act.
“No Taxation Without
Representation”
-- Parliament repealed the Stamp Act
Boycott – Colonist refused to buy or
sell English
Goods.
Boston Massacre
- 1770, British soldiers fire on a group of angry
colonist killing five.
Boston Tea Party
– 1773, men disguised as Native Americans boarded
three ships and dumped the British tea overboard.
Intolerable Acts
- New laws passed to punish the colonist for the
troubles they had caused.
Declaration of Independence
• Colonist upset  drafted Declaration of Rights
• July 4th, 1776  colonist adopted the
Declaration of Independence
•A NEW NATION IS FORMED!!!
The Revolutionary War
(1775-1783)
- Began at Lexington and Concord
Massachusetts on April 19, 1775 when
British soldiers clashed with American
Patriots
The American Army
- few military resources
- no money to pay its soldiers
- fighting on their own soil
- Better leadership
- They had to motivation to win
- PATRIOTS
The British Army
- professional soldiers
- Better weapons
- huge navy
- plenty of cash to fund the war
- offered freedom to slaves who fought for
them
- More soldiers
Loyalist - colonist who supported Britain
The French Alliance (1777)
- Americans defeat British troops at the
Battle of Saratoga, which convinces
France to join in the battle against the
British.
- Turning point of the war
France provided:
- military supplies
(muskets, cannons, ammunition)
- trained soldiers
- French War ships
Winter at Valley Forge
(1777-1778)
• Symbolized great hardship for Patriots, but
they did not give up
• Soldiers without shoes, food, and clothing
• Many faced amputation, sickness and
starvation
Guerrilla Warfare
• This form of surprise hit and run attacks
began to develop in the South by Colonist
• Guerrilla warfare was successful. The
Americans began to weaken the British
forces in the South
Battle of Yorktown
1781 - British Army is surrounded and cut
off at Yorktown, Virginia which
results in the surrender of the
British Army
• Lord Cornwallis will surrender 80,000
British troops
• Yorktown would be the last major battle of
the war. Britain realized they had no choice
but to negotiate a peace treaty with Colonist
• Treaty of Paris officially ended the War in
1783
The Constitutional Convention
- began in May 1787 in Philadelphia
Purpose: to revise the Articles of Confederation
Who: 55 delegates known as the Framers
- Delegates worked in secret
- they quickly decided to replace the Articles with a new
constitution
Framers incorporated the ideas of Locke, Hobbes,
Montesquieu and Rousseau into the new constitution
Constitution signed on Sept. 17, 1787
Constitution officially passed 1791