Unit 5 study guide notes

Scientific Revolution

The spread of scientific ideas in Europe during the 18th century through popular press and growing literacy.

Adam Smith

An economist who created laws that accounted for the working economy and believed that following these laws would lead to favorable results for society.

Enlightenment

The long-term outcome of scientific development, characterized by the questioning of traditional beliefs and the emphasis on reason and individualism.

Immanuel Kant

A philosopher who asked the question "What is Enlightenment?" and emphasized the importance of using one's own understanding.

John Locke

A philosopher who gave principles for creating a constitutional government and believed in a social contract created by human ingenuity.

Voltaire

A writer who reflected the outlook of the Scientific Revolution and commented sarcastically on religious intolerance.

Rousseau

A philosopher who minimized the importance of book learning and emphasized the immersion in nature as a way to teach self-reliance and generosity.

Deists

Believers in an abstract and remote Deity, compared to a clockmaker who had created the world.

Pantheists

Believers who saw God and nature as identical.

Parisian women

Women in Paris who hosted gatherings in their salons for male enlightenment figures.

Encyclopedia

A famous publication that included very few essays by women.

Confucianism

A philosophy that encouraged enlightenment thinkers to imagine a future for European civilization.

Charles Darwin

A scientist who argued that all life was in constant change.

Karl Marx

A philosopher who articulated a view of human history that emphasized change and struggle, particularly driven by conflicting social classes.

Sigmund Freud

A psychologist who applied scientific techniques to the operation of the human mind and emotions, casting doubt on Enlightenment conceptions of human rationality.

Atlantic Revolutions

Revolutions that occurred in North America, France, Haiti, and Latin America in the context of expensive wars, weakening states, and destabilizing processes.

Popular sovereignty

The idea that the authority to govern derives from the people rather than from God or established tradition.

North American Revolution

The struggle for independence from oppressive British rule, marked by the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

Haitian Revolution

A violent revolution in Saint Domingue that led to the creation of the independent republic of Haiti.

Latin American Revolutions

Revolutions in Spanish colonies that sought independence from Spanish rule.

Nativism

The belief that those born in the Americas should have more rights and privileges than those born in Spain or Portugal.

Abolitionist movement

A movement that condemned slavery as morally wrong and actively sought to abolish it.

Great Jamaican Revolt

A slave revolt in Jamaica that influenced the abolishment of slavery in Britain.

Economic lives of former slaves

The economic conditions and opportunities for former slaves after the abolition of slavery.

Indentured servants

Individuals from India and China who were brought to the Caribbean, Peru, South Africa, etc., to work as laborers after the end of slavery.