Period 3 - Modern Era (1750-1900) - Part 1

The Enlightenment

18th century philosophical movement in England and France; focused on the use of reason to understand human behavior (in societies, government, and economics)

Natural Rights

the idea that all humans are born with rights, which include the right to life, liberty, and property (John Locke)

Declaration of Independence (1776)

Drafted by Thomas Jefferson; signed in 1776 by US revolutionaries; declared the 13 colonies as free from British rule (and laid the foundation for a new government based on Enlightenment principles like equality & unalienable rights)

U.S. Constitution (1787)

A document which spells out the principles by which a government runs and the fundamental laws that govern a society; the US Constitution was written in 1787, and established a stronger federal system of government (to replace the Article of Confed.)

U.S. Bill of Rights (1791)

(1791) First ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution giving specific freedoms (civil liberties) to citizens

Popular Sovereignty

Rule by the people

Separation of Powers

Montesquieu's idea that the responsibilities of government should be divided across three branches (legislative, executive, and judicial)

Federalism

A system in which power is divided between the national and state governments

Ancien Regime

Traditional political & social order in France BEFORE the French Revolution; French society was divided into 3 "estates"--1st Estate was the clergy, 2nd Estate was the landed nobility, 3rd Estate was everyone else (bourgeoisie/middle class & poor)

Corvee

unpaid labor to repair roads and bridges; a labor tax (relating back to medieval duties of serfs)

National Assembly (France)

Governing body (legislature) of France that replaced the Estates-General in 1789 during the French Revolution. It was composed of, and defined by, the delegates of the Third Estate.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (1789)

French Revolution document that outlined what the National Assembly considered to be the natural rights of French citizens (liberty, property, security, & resistance to oppression)

Jacobins

Radical republicans during the French Revolution; formed the National Convention & Committee of Public Safety, led by Maximilien Robespierre from 1793 to 1794

National Convention of 1792

declared France a republic and abolished the monarchy; also created a new calendar and attempted to radically force France to be a completely secular society

Guillotine

device invented & used during the "Reign of Terror" phase of the French Revolution, to execute tens of thousands through a "more humane" beheading

Directory (France)

Governed France from 1795-1799; had 5 "directors" (executives) chosen by the legislature, with limiting voting rights

Napoleonic Code (1804)

A comprehensive and uniform system of laws established for France by Emperor Napoleon; abolished the Ancien Regime, promoted equality & a civil service system, BUT revoked some rights gained by women in the earlier French Revolution

liberal

open to new behavior or opinions and willing to discard traditional values in favor of change; "progressive"

radical

Favoring drastic political, economic, or social reforms, even willing to use violent or illegal means to make change

conservative

holding to traditional attitudes and values and cautious about change or innovation, typically in relation to politics or religion

gens de couleur libres

"free men of color"; term used to describe freed slaves and people of mixed racial background in Saint Domingue on the eve of the Haitian Revolution

Peninsulares

Spanish-born, came to Latin America; highest social class in New Spain, & held the highest positions of political power in the colonies

Creoles

Descendents of Spanish-born but born in Latin American colonies; resented the peninsulares for giving them inferior social, political, economic status

Caudillos

By the 1830s, Latin America was mostly ruled by these MILITARY DICTATORS from the creole class (American-born European-descendants)

Congress of Vienna (1814-1815)

Meeting of representatives of European monarchs in Austria, called to reestablish the old order & restore the balance of power after the defeat of Napoleon

Nationalism

A strong feeling of pride in and devotion to one's national group or country

Unification of Germany (1871)

Bismarck used his policy of "blood and iron" to unite the German states under Prussian rule, leading to the coronation of Kaiser Wilhelm

Unification of Italy (1861)

movement led (in different capacities) by Giuseppe Mazzini, Giuseppe Garibaldi, Count Camillo Cavour, & Victor Emmanuel, to unite the Italian states into one country under one constitutional monarchy

Second Reich

Period in German history in which Otto von Bismarck formed a united Germany, ruled by Kaisers Wilhelm I & II

Zionism

A movement (founded in the 1890's) for establishing a national homeland for Jews in Palestine

Industrialization

The development of industries (and a factory system) for the machine production of goods

Corporation

A business owned by stockholders who share in its profits but are not personally responsible for its debts

Monopoly

the exclusive possession or control of the supply or trade in a commodity or service

Capitalism

An economic system based on private ownership of capital and the means of production; free market enterprise

Socialism

a political and economic theory of social organization that advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.

Communism

a political theory derived from Karl Marx, advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and private property is abolished; extreme socialism

Zaibatsu

The large family-controlled banking and industrial groups that owned many companies in Japan, from the Meiji Restoration up to WWII

Suffrage

the legal right to vote

Abolition

The movement to make slavery and the slave trade illegal; begun by Quakers in England in the 1780s

Sectionalism

Loyalty to one's own region of the country, rather than to the nation as a whole

Secession

Formal withdrawal of states or regions from a nation

Manifest Destiny

A notion held by a nineteenth-century Americans that the United States was destined to rule the continent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific

La Reforma (Mexico)

The liberal rebellion of Benito Juarez against the forces of caudillo Santa Anna; called for and end to privileges of the clergy & aristocrats, redistribution of land, and a new constitution/bill of rights