Chapter 10, Section 1
• The Scientific Revolution
Chapter 10, Section 1
The Scientific Revolution
* Medieval scientists relied on ancient authorities, especially Aristotle, for their scientific
knowledge. Changes in the 1400s & 1500s caused European scientists to adopt new
views & methods.
* Technical problems & new instruments (telescope & microscope) made observation,
measurement, and discovery necessary & possible. Printing spread new ideas more
quickly than ever before.
* The study of mathematics in the Renaissance contributed to the scientific
achievements of the 16th & 17th centuries.
* Intellectuals like Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Newton, & others developed new
theories that became the foundation of the Scientific Revolution.
A Revolution in Astronomy
* Medieval philosophers constructed a geocentric model of the universe called the
Ptolemaic system with the Earth fixed at the center.
* Nicholas Copernicus published On the Revolutions of the
Heavenly Spheres in 1543. Copernicus put forth the heliocentric
theory, arguing that the Sun is the center of the universe around
which all the planets revolve.
* German mathematician Johannes
Kepler confirmed that the Sun was at
the center of the universe, & he tracked
the elliptical orbits of the planets.
* Italian scientist & mathematician Galileo Galilei’s
observations indicated that the heavenly bodies were
composed of material substance like Earth and were not pure
orbs of light.
* Isaac Newton, a mathematics professor in England, wrote
Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy in which he defined the
three laws of motion in the universe.
* Newton’s universal law of gravitation claims that every object in the
universe is attracted to every other object by a force called gravity.
Breakthroughs in Medicine & Chemistry
* In the Late Middle Ages, medicine was still dominated by the teaching of the Greek
physician Galen.
* The new anatomy of the 16th century was based on Andreas Vesalius’ On the Fabric
of the Human Body (1543), in which Vesalius presented a careful & accurate
examination of human anatomy.
* William Harvey’s On the Motion of the Heart and Blood (1628) showed that the
heart was the beginning point of the blood’s circulation.
* Robert Boyle’s work in chemistry led to Boyle’s Law about gases – the volume of a gas
varies with the pressure exerted on it.
* In the 18th century, Antoine Lavoisier, the founder of modern chemistry, invented a
system of naming the chemical elements.
Descartes and Reason & The Scientific Method
* In Discourse on Method (1637), Rene Descartes asserted that he could rationally be
sure of only one thing – his own existence. Descartes claimed he would accept only
those things his reason said were true.
* Descartes has been called the father of modern rationalism, a system of thought based
on the idea that reason is the chief source of knowledge.
* During the Scientific Revolution, people were concerned about how they could best
understand the physical universe.
* Philosopher Francis Bacon was most responsible for the creation of the scientific
method.
* Bacon emphasized arriving at conclusions about nature using inductive reasoning,
or making generalizations from particular observations and experiments organized to
test hypotheses.
Chapter 10, Section 2
The Enlightenment
Path to the Enlightenment
* The Enlightenment was an 18th century philosophical movement built on the
achievements of the Scientific Revolution.
* Enlightenment philosophers hoped to improve society by applying the scientific method
& reason to social problems, & they believed that society was governed by natural laws.
* John Locke’s theory of knowledge (tabula rasa – people are molded by their
experiences) greatly influenced Enlightenment thinkers.
* Enlightenment thinkers believed they could use reason to solve every political, social, &
economic problem.
Philosophes and Their Ideas
* Enlightenment intellectuals were called by the French name philosophe, most of
whom were writers, professors, economists, journalists, & social reformers.
* The three greatest French philosophes were Montesquieu, Voltaire, & Diderot.
* Baron de Montesquieu studied governments to find natural laws governing social and
political relationships & published his ideas in The Spirit of the Laws (1748). Republics,
monarchies, & despotism were the three kinds of governments he identified.
* Montesquieu argued that separation of powers within government & a system of
checks and balances was the best way to protect people’s liberty.
* Voltaire most strongly believed in freedom of speech & religious toleration, and he
used biting wit to expose the abuses of his day in works like Candide.
* Denis Diderot produced a 28 volume Encyclopedia that explained the new thinking
on government, philosophy, and religion.
Toward a New Social Science
* The Enlightenment’s belief that the methods of the Scientific Revolution could discover
the natural laws of society led to the social sciences like economics & political science.
* The French Physiocrats & Scottish philosopher Adam Smith founded modern
economics. They developed the doctrine of laissez-faire which argued that the natural
economy should not be interfered with by government regulations.
* In The Wealth of Nations, Smith said the government had only three legitimate
functions: protecting society from invasion, defending citizens from injustice, &
maintaining public works.
* For centuries, punishments for crimes had often been quite cruel.
* In 1764, the philosophe Cesare Beccaria argued in his essay On Crimes and
Punishments that punishments should not be exercises in brutality.
The Later Enlightenment
* Jean-Jacques Rousseau was the most famous philosophe to emerge by the late
1700s. In The Social Contract (1762), he presented the idea of a social contract in which
members of society agree to be governed by the general will.
* Unlike many Enlightenment thinkers, Rousseau believed that emotions, as well as
reason, were important to human development.
Rights of Women
* Mary Wollstonecraft argued that women were as rational as men & as capable of
being responsible free citizens.
* In A Vindication of the Rights of Women, Wollstonecraft argued that, as rational
beings, women should have the same educational, economic, and political rights as men.
Social World of the Enlightenment
* Enlightenment ideas were most known among the urban upper class, and spread
among the literate elite.
* Literacy, the availability of books, magazines for the general public, & daily newspapers
increased and spread during this time.
* Enlightenment ideas also spread at salons (gatherings in the elegant homes of the
wealthy) where guests discussed new philosophical ideas, art, music, literature, etc.
Religion in the Enlightenment
* Most philosophes attacked the Christian churches & adhered to the idea of deism.
* The desire of ordinary Protestants for a greater depth of religious experience led to new
religious movements.
* John Wesley founded Methodism and became a missionary who appealed mostly to the
lower classes in England.
* Methodists played an important role in abolishing the slave trade in the early 1800s.
Chapter 10, Section 3
The Impact of the Enlightenment
The Arts
* The Enlightenment had an impact on European culture. By the 1730s,
the new artistic style of rococo, which emphasized grace, charm, and
gentle action, emerged.
* The 18th century was one of the greatest in history for European music.
* Johann Sebastian Bach & George Frederick Handel were the two
baroque standouts at the beginning of the century. Bach was a great
organist & composer, and Handel is best known for his Messiah.
* Franz Joseph Haydn & Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart were the two
standouts of the classical style in the second half of the 18th century.
Haydn’s The Creation is one of his greatest works. Mozart was a
child prodigy, known for symphonies, concerti, & operas like
The Marriage of Figaro, The Magic Flute, & Don Giovanni.
Enlightenment and Enlightened Absolutism
* The philosophes believed in natural rights for all people, and that enlightened rulers
were to establish & preserve these rights.
* According to enlightened absolutism, monarchs of this time tried to govern by
Enlightenment principles while retaining royal power.
* Frederick the Great (Frederick II) of Prussia, one of Europe’s most cultured kings,
knew & adopted some Enlightenment ideas; but he also enlarged the army to maintain
his absolute control.
* Joseph II of Austria was also influenced by the philosophes, enacting more
Enlightenment ideas & reforms than any other enlightened despot; but his program
largely failed.
* Catherine the Great of Russia ruled from 1762 to 1796 & adopted few Enlightenment
ideas because she needed the support of the Russian nobility. Catherine did, however,
expand serfdom as well as Russia’s territory.
The Seven Years’ War
* In the mid 1700s, a common interest in the Ohio River valley led to tensions between
the French and the British.
* Fighting broke out in 1754, and from 1755 to 1757, the
French & Indian War was fought primarily on the
frontier.
* Fighting between Britain & France spread to Europe in
1756 and became known as the Seven Years’ War.
* The British & French were also fighting to control India
at this time.
* When the fighting finally ended in 1763, the Treaty of Paris gave Great Britain
control of India and all lands east of the Mississippi River in North America, making it
the world’s greatest colonial power.
Chap. 10, Section 4
Colonial Empires & the American Revolution
Colonial Empires in Latin America
* After the Spanish & Portuguese colonized the Americas, a new
civilization arose that we call Latin America.
* Latin America was a multiracial society. Europeans & Native
Americans intermarried, and their offspring were known as
mestizos. The offspring of Europeans & Africans, known as
mulattoes, were also part of the unique society of Latin
America.
* Spain & Portugal gained great wealth from their colonies, and
spread Catholicism throughout the lands that they controlled.
Britain and British North America
* The Glorious Revolution & English Bill of Rights guaranteed limited monarchy in
Britain that carried over into the 18th century.
* In 1714, the Hanoverian dynasty began in Britain. During the
rule of the Hanoverian kings, a cabinet system began to develop
with a chief minister taking on many powers of the executive branch
of government.
* 1721 to 1742, Robert Walpole served as head of cabinet & is
therefore considered to be Britain’s first prime minister.
* 1760, George III succeeded to the throne of England and attempted
to re-exert royal authority over Parliament.
The American Revolution
* After the Seven Years’ War, Britain needed more revenue from the colonies.
* 1765, Parliament imposed the Stamp Act which was eventually repealed due
to strong opposition from the colonists.
* The American colonies & Britain had numerous crises throughout the 1770s.
(Boston Massacre, Gaspee Affair, Boston Tea Party, Intolerable Acts)
* The First Continental Congress met in 1774, and fighting between Britain & the colonists
erupted at Lexington & Concord in 1775.
* The Second Continental Congress approved & signed Thomas
Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.
* 1781, American forces won the
war after defeating Cornwallis
at Yorktown.
* The Treaty of Paris in 1783
recognized the independence of the United States & gave
the Americans control of the western territory from the
Appalachians to the Mississippi River.
The Birth of a New Nation
* The first American constitution was the Articles of Confederation, but under the
Articles the national government had too little power & therefore could not deal with
the new nation’s problems.
* In 1787 delegates met at the Constitutional
Convention to revise the Articles. Instead of revision,
the delegates wrote a plan for a new national government
called the Constitution of the United States which
created a federal system where power is shared
between the national & state governments.
* The federal government is divided into three branches: legislative, executive, & judicial.
* The promise of a Bill of Rights (the first 10 amendments to the Constitution that
guarantee certain freedoms) helped get the Constitution adopted by the states.