chapter 7 vocab

John Locke

Enlightenment thinker who argued that people have natural rights to life, liberty, and property and can overthrow governments that violate these rights.

Social Contract

The idea that governments receive their power from the consent of the people and must protect their rights.

mfecane

a period of intense warfare, state formation, and mass population displacement in southern Africa during the early-to-mid 19th century

Popular sovereignty

Enlightenment-era political idea that a government's legitimacy and moral right to use power are justified and created only by the consent of its people, who are the ultimate source of political authority

American Revolution

The revolution in which the thirteen British colonies fought for independence and established the United States.

Declaration of Independence

The 1776 document declaring the American colonies independent from Britain and asserting that people have natural rights.

Bill of Rights

The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, protecting individual liberties and limiting government power.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

A 1789 French document that proclaimed liberty, equality, and popular sovereignty, challenging the privileges of the monarchy and nobility.

Louis XVI

King of France whose financial problems and resistance to reform contributed to the French Revolution; he was executed in 1793.

Marie Antoinette

Queen of France who became a symbol of royal extravagance and was executed during the French Revolution.

The Bastille

A French prison stormed by revolutionaries on July 14, 1789, symbolizing resistance to royal authority

Robespierre

A radical revolutionary leader associated with the Reign of Terror, during which thousands were executed as enemies of the revolution

Olympe de Gouges

French feminist who wrote the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen, demanding equal rights for women

Women's March on Versailles

A 1789 protest in which women marched to Versailles demanding bread and forcing the royal family to move to Paris

Napoleon Bonaparte

French military leader who seized power in 1799, introduced reforms through the Napoleonic Code, and expanded French control across Europe

Estate system

a traditional form of social stratification—most notably in pre-modern and early modern Europe—where society is divided into rigid, birth-determined legal orders rather than fluid economic classes

Grand Blancs

Wealthy white plantation owners in Saint-Domingue who controlled much of the colony's land and economy

Gens de couleur libres

Free people of color in French colonies, many of whom were of mixed African and European ancestry; they often faced racial discrimination despite their freedom

Toussaint Louverture

Formerly enslaved leader of the Haitian Revolution who organized forces against French rule and helped establish the foundation for Haitian independence

Hidalgo-Morelos Rebellion

Mexican independence movement led initially by Miguel Hidalgo and later José María Morelos, seeking independence from Spain and social reforms.

Tupac Amaru II

Indigenous leader who led a major rebellion against Spanish colonial rule and exploitation in the Andes in 1780.

Simón Bolívar

South American revolutionary leader known as the “Liberator” who helped free Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia from Spanish rule.

José de San Martín

Argentine military leader who helped liberate Argentina, Chile, and Peru from Spanish colonial rule.

Jean-jacques dessalines

a leader of the Haitian Revolution, the first ruler of an independent Haiti, and the first Black head of state in the Americas. [1, 2]