hum212 final

enlightenment: influences

the importance of “reason” → “supreme confidence in the rational mind”

enlightenment: spread

spread through intellectual society

• universities

• academic societies

• journals

• coffeehouses

enlightenment: the importance of reason

• influence of scientific revolution

• traditions questioned by the Enlightenment

enlightenment: influence of scientific revolution

• intellectual movement (not a monolithic movement)

  • influenced by the Scientific Revolution

    • Bacon and Descartes

enlightenment: traditions questioned by the enlightenment

• questioned assumed traditions

  • morality

  • human nature

  • political philosophy

  • religion - especially Christianity

enlightenment: cultural changes

1. population growth

2. agricultural growth

3. colonial trade

4. plagues

5. the “putting out system” → process and impact

6. urbanization

7. growth in wealth

8. urban changes (poor, waste, manufacturing)

9. “middling class” → commercial revolution

enlightenment: population growth

population rose by nearly 60% (190 million)

enlightenment: agricultural growth

• farming innovations

• better infrastructure

enlightenment: colonial trade

• wealth

• new, cheap crops

enlightenment: plagues

fewer plague outbreaks

enlightenment: the “putting out” system

• city merchants purchase raw materials

• raw materials distributed to rural workers

• workers fashioned materials into textiles

• workers paid by what they produced

• rural economy changed:

  • cash

  • no idleness

• frequent interaction with city-dwellers

“putting out” system: process

• city merchants purchase raw materials

• raw materials distributed to rural workers

• workers fashioned materials into textiles

• workers paid by what they produced“

“putting out” system: impact

• rural economy changed:

  • cash

  • no idleness

• frequent interaction with city-dwellers

enlightenment: urbanization

• industrial towns grew significantly

  • Northwestern Europe

  • by 1800: London nearly at 1 million people

• influx of wealth

  • growth of “middle class”

    • education

    • investment income

    • fashionable dress

    • elegant furniture

• urban poor

• waste and garbage

• manufacturing centers

  • apprentices & journeymen

• “commercial revolution”

  • increased demand for luxury goods

  • service industries expanded

enlightenment: growth in wealth

• growth of “middle class”

  • education

  • investment income

  • fashionable dress

  • elegant furniture

enlightenment: urban changes

1. poor

2. waste & garbage

3. manufacturing (apprentices & journeymen)

enlightenment: “middling class”

commercial revolution

men & women who did not work with their hands and had moderate wealth, but who could not be considered wealthy or noble

→ middling class increased in numbers increased the presence of the middling class in society, contributing to urbanization and shifting economic dynamics.

→ merchants, low-ranking gov officials, men.women living off of investment income, professionals (lawyers, architects, doctors, master artisans)

enlightenment: idea of “progress”

a recognition of change

isaac newton years

1642-1727

isaac newton

• Culmination of the Scientific Revolution → Newton gives a universal explanation of gravity 

• Beginning of the Enlightenment 

• Cambridge educated

• Extreme recluse 

  • Secretive about his findings 

  • Not open to criticism 

  • Self-experiment 

    • Pressed his own eyes to change shape and light

isaac newton: 3 areas of expertise

1. optics

2. mathematics (calculus)

3. gravity (universal gravitation, principia mathematica, newton’s three laws)

optics: descartes’ view of light

•  light was white - incorrect 

  • speed impacted color

  • Explanation for prism refraction: the prism adds imperfections causing the rainbow colors 

optics: newton’s experiment and conclusions

• light was made of color 

  • Dual-prism experiment 

  • Proved light was made of color 

newton: calculus

• Invented Calculus 

• Mathematic predictability of the universe 

newton: gravity

1. Synthesized Kepler and Galileo 

2. Theory of “universal gravitation”

   • Mutual gravitation 

3. Principia Mathematica - publication of Newton’s findings

4. three laws of gravity

universal gravitation

mutual gravitation

principia mathematica

publication of Newton’s findings

newton’s three laws of gravity

1. a body remains at rest unless acted upon by an opposing force

2. Acceleration is related to the force used and the body’s mass

3. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction

newton: alchemy

Newton believed in alchemy (mystical sciences)

newton: theological views

• Majority of his writings 

• Bible commentator

• Non-trinitarian → Jesus is not God 

• Viewed God as the Prime Mover

  • Cautioned scientists on over emphasizing the causal power of his three laws 

  • God made the first push of the universe 

john locke

• post-english civil wars

• what is the nature and purpose of government?

  • locke’s view of human nature → government according to “nature”

  • creation of “civil society” (social contract, contractural gov, conditional gov)

• contrast with Hobbes

• separation of powers

• “law of nature” in humans

locke: post-english civil wars

• restoration of monarchy

• response to absolutism

locke’s view of human nature

a relatively mild condition, which humanity evolved away from mostly out of the need to protect and preserve property

locke: creation of “civil society”

1. social contract

2. contractural government

3. conditional government

social contract

• Locke believed people naturally have rights (life, liberty, property) but they agree through a social contract to form a government that protects these rights.

• Key idea: The contract is voluntary and based on mutual agreement.

contractural government

• Locke’s ideal government is contractual: it only has power because the people gave it power through the social contract.

• Key idea: Government must serve the people and protect their natural rights.

conditional government

• For Locke, government is conditional: it must protect people's rights, or else the people can revolt and replace it.

• Key idea: Government's authority is not absolute; it depends on fulfilling its duties.

locke vs. hobbes

Hobbes: described mankind’s natural state as a harsh one that amounted to the “war of all against all.” → establishing social peace required the complete subjection of individuals to the sovereign power of the state, regardless of tyranny

Locke: a relatively mild condition, which humanity evolved away from mostly out of the need to protect and preserve property → people’s right to oppose/depose tyrannical rulers.

locke: separation of powers

Locke believed in separating legislative, executive, and federative powers to protect liberty and prevent abuse of authority

• Legislative Power: Makes the laws (most important branch for Locke).

• Executive Power: Enforces the laws.

• Federative Power: Deals with foreign affairs (like treaties and war).

locke: “law of nature” in humans

Locke’s "law of nature" means all humans, through reason, know they must respect others’ rights to life, liberty, health, and property

treaty of tordesillas: year

1494

treaty of tordesillas

• split the Western Hemisphere

• underestimated North and South America

Spanish Conquest

• Aztecs

  • Hernan Cortes

  • Montezuma II

  • how did the Spanish conquer?

  • tlaxcala

• spread of disease

• colonial wealth

• encomienda

Aztecs

• empire in central Mexico

• advanced urbanization

  • Tenochtitlan

• imperial strength

• Spanish Conquistador = Hernan Cortes

• local animosity towards Aztecs

  • Tlaxcala & Native coalition

Hernan Cortes

Spanish conquistador

Montezuma II

• Aztec leader

• allows meeting with Cortes

• Cortes imprisons Montezuma

• Cortes leaves to help Spaniards

Massacre at the Great Temple

Aztec religious festival

• Aztec nobles massacred by Spanish

• Spanish retreat

• Montezuma killed

• Cortes retrns with Spanish reinforcements

  • Coalition attacks Tenochtitlan

  • city destroyed

• Cortes appointed first governor of New Spain

tlaxcala

• local animosity towards Aztecs

  • Tlaxcala & Native coalition

Spanish conquest: spread of disease

• 70% of native populations died

• only 10% of pre-Columbus population was still alive

• impacted Spanish allies

Spanish Conquest: colonial wealth

gold and silver mines

• labor intensive

Spanish conquest: encomienda

a system used by the Spanish during their colonization of the Americas.
Under it:

• Spanish settlers were given the right to collect tribute (labor, gold, crops) from Indigenous people.

• In return, settlers were supposed to protect them and teach them Christianity.

• In practice, it led to severe exploitation and abuse of Native peoples.

It was basically a form of forced labor that resembled slavery, even though it was legally framed as a kind of "protection."

example of English conquest

barbados

Barbados

• small island in the Caribbean

• small native population

• originally Spanish colony

• early 1600s: English colony

• indentured servants

• Center of sugar cultivation

• triangle trade

Barbadoes: indentured servants

• free Europeans

• repay Transatlantic crossing

• “free laborer”

Barbadoes was the center of _____________ cultivation

sugar

barbados: triangle trade

• trade from Europe to Africa to Americas

• complex web of trading

• immigration

• “encomienda” system

• african slavery

triangle trade: Old World to New World

wheat, bananas, horses

triangle trade: New World to Old World:

corn, potatoes, tobacco

sugar cultivation: impact on the environment

• forests cut down

• rivers polluted with byproducts

• soil erosion

sugar cultivation: impact on the slave trade

• significant labor needs

• indentured servants not cost effective

  • expansion of the slave trade

why was sugar cultivated?

large plantations & English demand for sugar

triangle trade: immigration

• 1500-1700: 1.5 Million European immigrants

• urban and military centers

• expensive and dangerous

triangle trade: encomienda system

• land “entrusted” to Spanish representatives

• owned by indigenous populations

• exploited for elite gain

  • both Spanish and Indigenous

• forced labor

triangle trade: african slavery → labor shortages

1. disease in New World and Europe

2. war in Europe

3. little European migration

triangle trade: african slavery → european markets

demand for sugar

impact of triangle trade

1. goods, guns, and/or rum to Africa

2. African slaves to Americas

3. Molasses to Europe

african slavery: growth of European Private Industry

1. Financiers

2. joint-stock companies

3. insurance

4. creating immense European wealth

mercantilism

Economic policies shaped by the assumption that one country’s commerce could only grow at the expense of another’s because of limits in the world’s economic resources.

impact of mercantilism: african slavery

• Mercantilism fueled the Atlantic Triangle Trade, where African slavery became a key part of the system.
  Under mercantilist thinking, European powers wanted to maximize their wealth by controlling resources and trade. This led to:

  • Europe sending manufactured goods (like guns, cloth, and rum) to Africa.

  • Africa supplying enslaved people, who were forcibly shipped across the Atlantic (the Middle Passage) to the Americas.

  • The Americas using enslaved labor to produce raw goods (like sugar, tobacco, and cotton), which were then sent back to Europe for profit.

  Because mercantilism valued cheap production and maximum exports, enslaving Africans became central to producing profitable goods quickly and cheaply in the colonies.

absolutism

The expansion of royal authority, the dominant political trend among European monarchies of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Absolute monarchies generally reduced the political autonomy of the nobility, limited the role of independent political institutions, and involved the state in broad areas of social and economic life.

impact of absolutism: african slavery

Absolutism is the idea that a monarch holds total, centralized power, often claiming divine right (that their authority comes from God).
Under absolutist rule, kings and queens sought to make their nations as rich and powerful as possible — and the Triangle Trade, fueled by African slavery, became a tool for that.

• Absolutist rulers (like those in France, Spain, and Portugal) sponsored colonial expansion and the slave trade to increase their nation's wealth.

• Enslaved Africans provided the labor needed to produce highly valuable goods (sugar, tobacco, cotton) on colonial plantations.

• These profits strengthened the monarch’s treasury, allowing them to fund armies, palaces (like Versailles), and tighten control over their states.

The Human Cost: the Middle Passage

details of slave trade from Africa to the Americas

• 1540s: Portuguese slaves to Brazil

• captured Africans sold at slave ports (up to 6 month walk)

• africans loaded onto ships

  • shackled below deck

  • no sanitation

  • only space for own body

  • 6-10 week journey

number of slaves captured

100 slaves captured

• 36 die on march to the coast

• 12 die in African prisons

• 6 die on board slave ships

• 11 die in < 2 years in New world

60% mortality rate for African slaves statistic is

probably too low

slave markets in Americas

slave mortality rate from Triangle Trade

Approximate statistics of gross numbers of slaves

1625-1650: 7,000 Africans_/year

by 1700: 28,000 Africans_/year

1650-1800: 7.5 million african slaves (90% to South America and Caribbean)

first Maroon War (1660-1739)

jamaica → significant slave resistance, British were unable to suppress/capture them

maroons (“escaped slaves”) negotiated an agreement that allowed them to remain in their settlements under British supervision as long as they didn’t provide shelter to any other escaped slaves

“black codes”

prevent abuses and encourage the slaves’ conversion to Catholicism;

introduced in French colonies, was widely ignored

French Revolution dates

1700-1815

backgrounds to the French Revolution

• David Hume

• Adam Smith

• Cesare Beccaria

• Voltaire

• War of the Austrian Succession

• 7 Years War

• American Revolution

David Hume

1711-1776

scottish intellectual

David Hume: empiricist

• passions govern behavior

• rationality < feeling

David Hume: morality

experience → Hume believed morality comes from human emotions and experiences, not reason; we become moral by feeling sympathy and approving of good actions.

tabula rasa

“blank slate”

Locke concept → humans are born without innate ideas (all knowledge comes from experience)

Hume agreed with the general idea that exp shapes us, but he focused more on how sensory impressions and feelings shape our understanding and morality.

Adam Smith

scottish intellectual

• mercantilism critique

• laissez-faire la nature

• invisible hand of competition

Adam Smith: critique of mercantilism

issue: high import taxes → too much control;

proposed that countries could increase economic productivity by adopting the division of labor, which organized the production process into particular tasks in which workers specialized

Adam Smith: laissez-faire la nature

free-market capitalism, an economic system in which the state does not regulate or interfere with the workings of the market, and most economic activity is controlled by private individuals and privately owned corporations.

Adam Smith: invisible hand of competition

• individual interests guide the market

• free of state monopolies or laws

• optimistic view of human nature

Cesare Beccaria

• medieval view of punishment → punishment as vengeance

  • protect the social contract

• deterrence

  • punishments deter future criminals

• dignity

  • opposed torture & death penalty

voltaire

french intellectual, exiled from France for his views, 3 years in England

Voltaire: admired English toleration

• 1689: Glorious Revolution

  • removed James II

  • invited WIlliam of Orange (King William III & Mary II)

  • bloodless revolution

• acts of toleration

  • toleration of all Protestant Trinitarians

  • swear oath to new King and Queen

  • doors of churches remain unlocked

  • limited toleration

    • still no Catholics

Voltaire: letters on the English Nation

(French and English Comparisons)

• absolutism v. parliament

• strong v. weak aristocracy

• complicated v. uncomplicated taxation

• singular faith v. toleration

Voltaire’s views on religion

• against religious dogma

• viewed clergy as “tyrannical”

• new religion: deism

war of the Austrian Succession

→ Emerging nation: Prussia

• northeast Germany

• reformed government and army

• 1701: granted “kingdom” status

• by 1740: 4^th largest army in Europe

• increased taxation

• refused luxuries of absolutism

• major competitor to Holy Roman Empire

War of the Austrian succession (1740-1748)

• HRE Charles VI dies with no male heir

  • daughter Maria Theresa inherits the throne

• 1740: Prussia invades Holy Roman Empire

  • contest Maria Theresa’s claim to the throne

• nations take sides

  • Pro-Russia: France and Spain

  • Pro-HRE: England & Dutch Republic

• 1748: Maria Theresa confirmed to throne

7 years war (1756-1763)

• realignment of geopolitics

• france makes secret treaty with HRE

• England allies with Prussia

• 1754: New violence erupts

• “first world war”

  • Europe

  • New World

  • India

7 years war: who will rule the world?

France v. England → battling over colonial possessions

7 years war: American Front

→ French and Indian War

• 1754: war accidentally started by George Washington

• Fort Duquesne (pittsburgh), Pennsylvania

• 1756: war officially declared

7 years war: English advantage

national bank

• loan money at low rates

• cash to build ships and pay soldiers