You are on page 1of 7

The Enlightenment and Democratic Revolutions

1. Introduction to the Enlightenment and Democratic Revolutions


i. Renaissance had its affect throughout 17
th
century
ii. Focuses of Renaissance:
1. The individual
2. Expanding human potential
iii. Focuses extended the boundaries into what became the Age of
Exploration
2. Enlightenment Thinkers and Ideas
i. 17
th
18
th
century: Development of Enlightenment, an
intellectual movement
ii. Thinkers of this movement rued to apply the principles of science
and the methods of science to all aspects of society
iii. Greece Introduced the idea of natural laws being able to be
understood through careful observation and inquiry
iv. Christianity Equality of all humans
v. Renaissance Main area of thought = worldly concerns;
criticized medieval society for looking at questions that were
unrelated to human conditions
vi. 1500s 1600s: Scientific Revolution furthers Enlightenment
thought
vii. Scientific Revolution:
1. Made people questions society and government and have
new ideas about these two
2. Rational thought > accept traditional beliefs
3. People praised Isaac Newtons discovery of the
mechanical laws that govern the universe and the
scientific method that allowed this discovery to be made
4. People wanted to use scientific method on human affairs
5. Reason used natural laws discovered, just like physical
laws were discovered
b. Hobbes and Locke
i. Thomas Hobbes and John Locke = English Enlightenment
thinkers
ii. Both thought about human nature and the role of government
iii. Leviathan (Hobbes 1651) People were selfish and ambitious
because it was in their nature
1. Needed form of government = absolute monarchy
2. Social contract = agreement among members of society
3. People usually chose to go with an authoritarian rule
when there was chaos
4. Idea of social contract was most important contribution
iv. Two Treatises of Government (Locke 1690) [a year after the
Glorious Revolution] :
1. English people were justified in overthrowing James II
2. Government had failed to perform most important duty
protecting the rights of the people
3. All people have right to life, liberty, and property (these
are known as the natural rights).
4. Governments role is to protect these rights
5. Governments right came from the people, not from God
6. Self-government
v. Voltaire and Rousseau
1. These two admired the democratic nature of English
institutions
2. Lived under absolute monarchy
3. Voltaire = very smart 18
th
century French historian
a. Argued in favor of tolerance, freedom of religion,
and free speech
b. Targets of criticism = Christianity and French
Government
4. Jean-Jacques Rousseau = most freethinking
Enlightenment philosopher
a. Most famous work = The Social Contract (1762)
in which he advocated democracy
b. Called social contract an agreement among free
individuals to create a government that would
respond to peoples wills.
c. Only authentic government came from the consent
of the governed
d. People would choose what is best for their
community
vi. Montesquieu
1. Baron de Montesquieu = another French philosopher who
thought of liberty as a natural right
2. The Spirit of the Laws (1748):
a. Any single person or group in power will try to
increase its/his or her power
3. Liberty could best be safeguarded by the separation of
powers (the government into three powers):
a. A legislature to make laws
b. An executive to enforce them
c. Courts to interpret them
3. The Beginnings of Democracy in America
i. Mid 1700 13 British colonies had been established in North
America
ii. To north and west of these colonies was New France, a French
colony
iii. 1754 France and Britain go to war for North America, The
French and Indian War
iv. France and England fought in Europe, the Seven Years War
b. Americans Protest British Policies
i. 1763 - French and Indian War ended
ii. War had been costly
iii. Britain thought:
1. Colonies should pay some of the cost because they had
some of the benefits
2. This new area needed more British soldiers to protect it
3. They should tax the colonists to raise money
iv. 1756 The Stamp Act is passed, an unfair tax that is one of a
series of tax measures
v. Colonists were not represented in Parliament
1. They protested, no taxation without representation
vi. Furthermore, colonists were unhappy because Britain didnt
allow them to expand westward of the Appalachian Mountains,
after all didnt they win territory from the French to expand their
kingdom
c. Americans Win Independence
i. Colonists opposed each tax measure
ii. Eventually, these Americans armed themselves against British
oppression
iii. April 19, 1775 = First battle for freedom, the Battle of Lexington
and Concord
iv. July 4, 1776 = The Declaration of Independence is released
1. In it, the colonists stated to King George III and the rest
of the world why they should be free of British rule
v. 1781 The British surrender
vi. Several years after the states existed as a union, a loose
federation, under the Articles of Confederation
1. Americans wanted a weak central government and under
the Articles of Confederation they had a weak central
government with only one body, the Congress
a. This was too weak
2. Congress couldnt collect taxes to pay a war debt or even
finance the government
d. Enlightenment Ideas Shape the Constitution
i. Summer of 1787 A group of American leaders met in
Philadelphia to frame, to work out, a better government plan and
they produced the Constitution of the United States (they were
known as the framers)
ii. Main question: Is it possible to establish a government that is
strong and stable, but not tyrannical?
iii. Yes, if there was balance
1. First, a representative government, one in which citizens
elect representatives to make laws and policies for them,
was to be set
i. This ensured power to govern ultimately
was in the hands of the people, as
advocated by Rousseau.
b. They choose an indirect form of government over
Rousseaus direct democracy
i. Similar to the Romans when they
established a republic
2. Second, a federal system, or a system in which the power
of the government was to be divided between the federal
(or central) government and the states (or local)
government.
3. Third, the federal government was to be divided into the
executive, the judicial, and the legislative branches.
a. This was an idea borrowed from Montesquieu
b. It provided a system with checks and balances to
prevent any branch from having too much power
4. James Madison
i. 1751 - 1836
ii. Strongly influenced by the Enlightenment as a young man
iii. When the Constitutional Convention was called, he spend a year
reading the works of Locke, Montesquieu, Voltaire, and other
Enlightenment philosophers
iv. Known as Father of Constitution
v. Designed plan that had the three branches of government
vi. Helped formed the federal government plan
vii. Kept detailed notes on debates
viii. Served as 4
th
president of the United States
5. The French Revolution
i. 1700s Democratic ideas began stirring in France
ii. Louis XIV (ruled from 1643-1715) absolute monarchy at its
excess massive debts, unresolved problems, and growing unrest
were left for his heirs (Louis XV and Louis XVI)
b. Causes of the Revolution
i. 1774 - Louis XVI comes to throne at 19
1. Weak leader that was dominated by his wife, Marie
Antoinette (an Austrian by birth who was very unpopular
with the French people).
ii. The clergy and nobility enjoyed many privileges
iii. Monarchy deeply in debt, but only commoners paid taxes
iv. French Revolution fought to balance the inequality in society
v. 18
th
century Enlightenment ideas caused people to rethink
societys structure
vi. French middle class and some nobility were impressed with the
ideas of social contract and freedom of speech, and by the
American people overpowering an oppressive government in the
1770s.
vii. Also, the peasants were angry, hungry, and felt that neither king
nor nobility cared about their troubles (there had been poor
harvests in late 1780s).
c. Early Reforms of the Revolution
i. 1789 Louis XVIs government is about to go bankrupt
ii. Louis sought to raise taxes
iii. He called the Estates-General into session
iv. Hadnt been called since 1614
1. Commoners felt they werent fairly represented
2. They left and formed the National Assembly
3. Others classes eventually joined them
v. July 14, 1789 People of Paris storm the Bastille (a hated
Parisian prison symbolic of autocratic rule) which fueled several
other peasant uprisings that spread from Paris to other parts of the
country
vi. National Assembly had made reforms
1. Adopted the Declaration of Rights of Man and of the
Citizen
a. This document was influenced by Enlightenment
ideas and the Declaration of Independence
b. Guaranteed the rights of liberty, property,
security, and resistance to oppression to all
people
2. Drafted a constitution that made France a limited
monarchy
a. Reorganized the Catholic Church in France and
redistributed its land
b. Reformed the court systems
vii. This assembly disbanded in 1791 so that a newly elected
Legislative Assembly could take over
d. Democratic Reforms Undone
i. New assembly wasnt accepted by king, the aristocracy, or many
Catholics
ii. European countries under absolute democracy feared the spread
of democratic ideas
iii. They went to war with France in hope of destroying this new
republic
iv. 1792- Royal family was imprisoned and the country was in a
state of crisis
v. A new legislature, even more radical, took charge
vi. Reign of Terror period followed
1. People who were against the revolution were killed
a. This included the king and queen
vii. 1799 Napoleon Bonaparte, a military leader, took control of
France and ruled under a dictatorship
viii. Mid-1800s Democracy develops in France
ix. French Revolution shows that for a democracy to work it is not
enough to promise equality and freedom or to have a
representative government; to have a democracy, a government
must have a society in which rule must be by law, there must be
protection for both civil rights and liberties, tolerance of dissent,
and the acceptance of majority decisions by the minority
6. The Struggle for Democracy Continues
i. Took centuries for democracy to take hold
ii. Democracy is the preferred form of modern government
iii. Some authoritarian governments agree with democracy, but when
the time comes for decisions, their actions are not democratic
b. The United Nations Promotes Democracy
i. 1945 World War II ends
ii. Before 1945, the United Nations was formed
1. Goal = work for world peace and the betterment of
humanity
2. One branch, the General Assembly, is like a democracy
a. Nations discuss problems, hoping to solve them
peacefully
b. Each nation has equal representation
3. Charter is based on traditions of democracy and it
reaffirms basic human rights (need for justice, the rule of
the law, and the desire for social progress).
4. Authority comes from the nations of the world
5. One of their most important contributions = the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (adopted 1948)
a. Draws on democratic ideas
b. Set a worldwide standard for basic social,
political, and economic rights
i. Included the right to life, liberty, and
security
ii. Also stated, are the rights to equal
protection under the law, free movement,
and free association and assembly with
other people
iii. Social and economic rights were added:
rights to work, to rest and leisure, and to
education
c. Purpose is to serve as an international code of
conduct
c. New Movements Toward Democracy
i. Nations are struggling to achieve a democratic government
ii. Difficult to establish democracy where dictatorship has been for
so long
iii. Early 1990s Breakup of Soviet Union allowed
1. Allowed 15 new republics to assert their peoples national
identities and interests
iv. In South Africa, after many years of racial segregation, or
apartheid, a democratic, all-race government was formed
v. 2002 East Timor regained independence with the UNs support
from Indonesia
vi. There is no guarantee that democracy can be achieved in a
particular place or time
vii. Nor can it be guaranteed that once achieved, it will not be lost if
the people are careful
viii. It is an idea where strength comes from the people

You might also like