AP World History: Unit 5 Revolutions from 1750-1900

Flashcards on Revolutions from 1750-1900

The Enlightenment

An 18th century intellectual movement that attempted to apply reason, rationality and logic to all phases of life but especially law, government, natural rights, and society.

Philosophe

French word for philosopher and the word used to characterize the most famous of the Enlightenment thinkers.

Logic

A proper or reasonable way of thinking about something.

Reason

The power of the mind to think, understand, and form judgments through a logical process.

Rationality

The quality of being based on or in accordance with reason or logic.

Deism

A philosophe position on religion. Enlightenment thinkers preferred the notion of a 'clockwork god', where God created the universe and just let it run according to the rules.

Social Contract Theory

Deals with the State of Nature/Man, Natural Rights, Role of Government.

Nationalism

A sense of sameness created by shared culture, ethnicity, history, language, religion, etc. Sometimes it is also a product of struggling against the “other”, which is usually some type of foreign control.

Urbanization

The growth of cities caused by the movement of people from rural to urban settings, usually caused by economic forces—people seeking of new jobs or losing their land.

Textiles

Goods made out of cloth.

The Factory System

Because water frames were too big for people’s homes, the first factories were built, and people began to “go” to work.

The Putting-Out System

Before mechanization, merchants would contract with local farm families to produce textiles.

Mercantilism

Economic System that believed four things: 1. There was only a finite amount of wealth in the world. 2. Having more gold and silver than others was important. 3. Maintaining a favorable balance of trade was critical to national power. 4. Colonies existed to provide the mother country with raw materials and to buy finished products.

Laissez-Faire Economics

"Let alone" or "Hands Off." Smith believed gov’t should be there to protect the economy, but not interfere.

Socialism

A new economic theory developed in reaction to the difficult conditions created by the Industrial Revolution. Said all factors of production (land, labor and capital) in an economy should be owned by the people and operated for the benefit of all.

Scientific Socialism (aka Communism)

Marx outlined his theory in the famous Communist Manifesto (1848). Marx believed the whole of human history was defined by conflict between the “haves” and the “have nots.”

Chartism

A political movement in England during the mid 1800s that was focused on obtaining expanded voting rights.

Trade Unions

Organizations of workers that advocated for better pay, conditions (safety), less working hours, etc. The concept is that large numbers of workers together could negotiate with more power than any one worker could alone.

Tenement

Hastily constructed “apartment” buildings that housed hundreds of people packed tightly into small living spaces for rent. Not clean. Poor ventilation and heat. No running water. Sickness spreaders.

Utilitarianism

Social policies should promote the greatest good for the greatest number.

Cult of Domesticity

the idea that women who stayed home and took care of children were important because they were developing the next generation of workers, so, they were to be proud of themselves while taking care of their children and their husbands.