Unit 5 Vocabulary
 Commercial Revolution: Transition from the locals economies of the Middle Ages to an
economy based on overseas trade, the extension of banking and credit & mercantilism
 Mercantilism: an economic policy under which nations sought to increase their wealth and
power by obtaining large amounts of gold/silver & selling more goods than they bought
 Free Enterprise System: an economic system in which basic economic questions are answered
by the free actions of producers and consumers
 Divine Right: idea that monarch are God’s representatives on earth and are therefore
answerable only to God
 Absolutism: A king or queen who has unlimited power and seeks to control all aspects of
society
 Louis XIV: King of France (the Sun King) who justified his power on the basis of divine right. (I
am the state)
 Limited Monarchy: a system of government that emerged in England in which the monarch was
made to share power with an elected Parliament
 Scientific Revolution: A change in European thought, starting in the 1500s, in which the study o
the natural world began to be characterize by observation & questioning
 Scientific Method: logical procedure for gathering information about the natural world
 Enlightenment: (18th century) movement that applied reason & scientific laws to understand
nature & society. Thinkers questioned hereditary privilege & absolutism
 Enlightened Despotism: European monarchs who were inspired by Enlightenment ideas to
rule justly & respect the rights of subjects
 Henry VIII: created a strong centralized monarchy based on a sense of national unity, the
Church of England, & sharing power between the monarch & Parliament
 Thomas Hobbes: Englishman who wrote that man is “nasty & brutish” in nature and needs a
central authority to keep order, or society would break down
 John Locke: Englishman who wrote that people enter into a social contract & that government
power comes from the people it governs, who have the right to overthrow an abusive
government
 William Blackstone: English jurist who explained the common law, and who defined the rights
of individuals under English Law
 Sir Isaac newton: Scientist who discovered the laws of gravity, raising hopes that all of the
universe acted according to certain fixed and fundamental laws
 Thomas Jefferson: Writer of the Declaration of Independence
 Voltaire: Enlightenment thinker whose views on religious toleration & intellectual freedom
influenced leaders of the American & French Revolutions
 Montesquieu: Argued for separation of powers in The Spirit of Laws
 Checks and Balances: measures designed to prevent any one branch of government from
dominating the other
 Balance of Power: a political situation in which no one nation is powerful enough to pose a
threat to others
 Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Stated that government should follow the people’s “general will.” His
writings inspired the democratic ideals of the French Revolution
 English Civil War: A war between the English Parliament and Charles I, which established
Parliament’s supremacy over the monarchy
 English Bill of Rights: After the Glorious Revolution of 1688, William and Mary signed this
document agreeing to many rights for their subjects
Unit 5 Vocabulary
 American Revolution: 1775-1783, the American colonists fought for their independence from
Great Britain
 Thomas Paine: An English writer who published a pamphlet called the Common Sense, &
applied Enlightenment ideas of reason to the idea of colonial independence from Britain
 Declaration of Independence: a statement of the reasons for the American colonies’ break with
Britain, approved by the Second Continental Congress in 1776
 U.S. Constitution: Americans adapted the ideas of Montesquieu to create a new republican
government based on a separation of powers among the branches of government & a system of
checks & balances
 French Revolution: 1789-1799 Revolution that overthrew the French Monarchy, ended
hereditary privilege, and made France more democratic. It was accompanied by violence and
war
 Estates General: an assembly of representatives from all three of the estates, or social classes,
in France
 Committee of Public Safety: established during the French Revolution to identify “enemies of
the republic”
 Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity: slogan of the French Revolution
 Napoleon Bonaparte: General during the French Revolution, who seized power in 1799,
declared himself emperor in 1804, & conquered much of Europe
 Reign of Terror: mid 1793-mid 1794, when Maximilien Robespierre ruled France nearly as a
dictator and thousands of political figures & ordinary citizens were executed
 Congress of Vienna: a series of meetings in 1814-1815, during which the European leaders
sought to establish long-lasting peace & security after the defeat of Napoleon
 Declaration of Rights of Man: Issued by the National Assembly during the French Revolution. It
stated that government rests on the consent of the people, & people have certain protected
rights
 Napoleonic Code: a comprehensive and uniform system of laws established for France by
Napoleon
 Metternich: leading statesmen from Austria at the Congress of Vienna who was instrumental in
establishing a system that prevented attempts at nationalism or political change in Europe
 Legitimacy: the hereditary right of a monarch to rule
 Nationalism: Belief that each nationality is entitled to its own government and national
homeland. The French Revolution ignited the spirit of nationalism in Europe.
 Simon Bolivar: Leader for independence who defeated Spanish forces in South America,
liberating Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, & Bolivia
 Toussaint l’Ouverture: led an uprising of African slaves in 1791, forcing the French out of Haiti,
making Haiti the 1st Latin American colony achieve independence
 Jose de San Martin: Worked to liberate Argentina & Chile from Spanish rule in the years 18161818
 Spanish-American War: an 1898 conflict between the U.S. & Spain, in which the U.S. supported
Cubans’ fight for independence