Social Studies 20-1: Understandings, Expressions, and History of Nation and Nationalism

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering fundamental concepts of nation, nation-states, nationalism, expressions of nationalism, and key historical terms, causes, and symbols of the French Revolution.

Nation

A group of people who feel connections to one another in some way; an internal connection found in the feelings and minds of people.

Nation-State

A territory with internationally recognized boundaries and a politically organized body of people under a sovereign government.

Nationalism

The collective, shared sense of belonging of people who identify themselves as a nation.

Patriotism

A love for a nation or nation-state related to pride in its culture, achievements, and symbols, sometimes involving placing national interests above personal or group interests.

Citizenship

The membership and participation of individuals in a political community (usually a nation-state), created in a tangible way through legal documentation such as laws, charters, passports, and birth certificates.

Culture

The unwritten way of knowing, being, and acting among the people of a nation, based on their shared traditions, beliefs, and values.

Expressions

The process of making known one’s thoughts or feelings.

Expressions of Nationalism

When individuals or groups of people communicate or act on their shared sense of belonging as a nation.

Absolutism

A political system where the absolute monarch is given the power to rule the land and the people by the divine right of kings, answerable only to God.

Bourgeoisie

The middle class of French society, often wealthy, working in roles such as financiers, shopkeepers, artisans, lawyers, and bureaucrats.

Coup D’état

A sudden, forcible seizure of power.

Monarchy

A form of government in which a group, generally a family representing a dynasty, embodies the country’s national identity and its head, the monarch, exercises the role of sovereignty.

Philosophes

French philosophers of the 18th century — such as Voltaire, Montesquieu, and Rousseau — who advocated the supremacy of human reason and dedicated themselves to the advancement of science and secular thought.

Divine Right of Kings

The doctrine asserting that the monarch's authority to rule comes directly from God, making kings and queens God's representatives on earth.

The First Estate

The Roman Catholic Clergy in pre-revolutionary France, making up $0.5\%$ of the population, owning over $10\%$ of the land, collecting feudal taxes, and paying no taxes to the government.

The Second Estate

The nobility of pre-revolutionary France, comprising about $1.5\%$ to $2\%$ of the population and owning $20\%$ of the land, characterized by social prestige, special rights, and tax exemptions.

The Third Estate

The social class comprising $98\%$ of pre-revolutionary France's population (including bourgeoisie, urban workers, and peasants who made up $86\%$ of the population), bearing almost the entire tax burden with few rights.

Nobles of the Sword

Nobles in pre-revolutionary France whose status was won during medieval times for military service to the state.

Nobles of the Robe

Nobles in pre-revolutionary France who held royal, judicial, or administrative office.

Edict of Nantes

A 1598 French law granting religious tolerance to Protestants, whose revocation in 1685 made Protestantism illegal and caused an exodus of educated Protestants from France.

Tricolor Cockade

A red, white, and blue circular emblem pinned to hats or coats to demonstrate support for the French Revolution, combining the blue and red of Paris with white added by Lafayette to represent the nation and king.

Phrygian Cap

A brimless, typically red felt cap (also known as the liberty cap) worn by revolutionaries as a symbol of liberty, borrowed from an Ancient Roman tradition of freeing enslaved people.

Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité

The motto of the French Revolution meaning 'Freedom, Equality, Brotherhood,' first used as a revolutionary cry in 1789 and retained as the official motto of the French Republic today.

Le Drapeau Tricolore

The official national flag adopted during the French Revolution, featuring vertical bands of red, white, and blue derived from the revolutionary cockade.

Guillotine

A mechanical execution device consisting of a tall wooden frame and a suspended heavy blade dropped to behead victims; nicknamed 'The National Razor,' 'The Widow,' 'The Machine,' and 'The Woods of Justice.'