UNIT 2 – THE AGE OF REVOLUTIONS – STUDY GUIDE
What are our natural rights? Can they be protected for all?
When is it justifiable to overthrow the government?
Enlightenment Philosophers – types of revolution (Week 1 lecture notes)
Why did Hobbes support the monarchy and how was this different from monarchists of the past?
John Locke
What makes a “natural right” different from any other right?
What is the “social contract” and how can it lead to revolution?
What distinguishes a social revolution? …an imperial revolution? Give examples from revolutions we
have studied and seen in the projects.
Was the American Revolution really a revolution?
American Revolution (Week 2 lecture notes, American Revolution pre-test, handout named for the GQ)
How were the 13 colonies different from Europe and how did this form their society?
What kind of government resulted from this society (and from the neglect of the mother country)?
What was the main cause of the revolution?
How did European Enlightenment ideas inspire the revolution?
What changed politically and socially as a result of the revolution?
How did the French Revolution compare with the American Revolution?
French Revolution Phase I – Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen
(Week 2 lecture notes, Declaration Scavenger Hunt & actual declaration)
How did the American Revolution affect the French Revolution?
How was the Declaration of the Rights of Man different from the Declaration of Independence?
How was the philosophy of Rousseau reflected in the DOROMAC?
What was significant about Olympe de Gouges?
Describe French society at the onset of the revolution.
What did the first phase of the revolution accomplish?
When –if ever—are extreme measures justified in bringing about a revolution?
The Reign of Terror (Week 2 lecture notes, Reign of Terror Mini-Q)
How have revolutions typically reacted to threats against their success?
What are 2 reasons that Robespierre would say the Terror was required?
What are 2 ways the National Convention expanded freedom and democracy in French lands?
Why might one condemn the Terror as unjustified and oppressive?
What were the pivotal points of change in the French Revolution?
What were the effects of the French Revolution?
Napoleon through the 3rd Republic – Summarizing the French Revolutionary period, 1789-1870
(Week 3 lecture notes, sample PERSIA chart found in Notebook section of website, Crash Course video
linked to from website)
How did Napoleon help heal the nation after the insanity of the Terror?
How did French nationalism in the Napoleonic Wars affect the rest of Europe?
(cont. from last page)
What were the various changes in government that France went through in the overall revolutionary
period from 1789 to 1870, and what were the forces causing these changes?
Why was the French Revolution a classic example of a social revolution?
How did religion in France change over the course of the revolution?
How did this compare to the American Revolution and to the Haitian Revolution?
How did Haitian society change as a result of their revolution?
What were the choices that led to the outcome and legacy of the Haitian Revolution?
Haitian Revolution (Week 4 lecture notes including link to Social Class Structure overview)
What part did the afranchi, the slaves/maroons, and the petit blanc play in the Haitian revolution?
What did each expect from the Declaration of the Rights of Man?
How did each contribute to the revolution?
What did each want to happen as a result of the revolution?
Who got their way, and what was the effect on Haiti’s society and their future?
What was the significance of Toussaint l’Overture?
What was Napoleon’s involvement in the Haitian Revolution?
How did the Haitian Revolution fit the category of an imperial revolution? How was it like a social
revolution?
What was so revolutionary about the Industrial Revolution?
Effects and legacy of the Industrial Revolution (Week 5 and Week 7 lecture notes, Two Post-Industrial
Perspectives)
How did the Industrial Revolution change the way we think?
How did our relationship with Nature change?
How did our belief in predetermination change?
How did our new beliefs affect attitudes toward the poor and toward less-developed societies?
How were laborers changed?
What were the very significant political/economic effects of the I.R.?
How was capitalism defined, per Adam Smith?
How was communism defined, per Karl Marx?
What were the very significant social effects of the I.R.?
What were the very significant geographic effects of the I.R.?
Why did the Industrial Revolution begin in England?
Causes of the Industrial Revolution (Week 6 lecture notes)
Why is this such a good question?? (i.e., Why was England such a “long shot” for changing the world?)
What effect did the return of rich planters to England have on the English labor force?
What were the things that made England a good place for business investment?
What were the technologies perfected in England that enabled the I.R.?
What 3 roles did the Dissenters play in bringing all of this about?
Why did Enlightenment-inspired Westerners take away the natural rights of people around the
world in the Age of New Imperialism?
Age of New Imperialism (Week 8 lecture notes, Imperialism: Searching for Answers)
How was capitalism’s fatal flaw of over-production mitigated (made tolerable) by Imperialism?
What are some examples of how the Imperialists treated their colonies?
What were some of the reasons for the hypocrisy of the Imperialists?