Unit 5 Revolutions c. 1750-1900

Flashcards generated from lecture notes covering Unit 5: Transoceanic Interconnections 1750-1900, focusing on vocabulary terms.

Enlightenment

An intellectual movement in the 18th century that advocated the use of reason to reconsider the accepted ideas and social institutions of the time.

Empiricism

The idea that reality is discerned through the senses and the only way to know the nature of reality is through the senses

John Locke

Argued that divine right of kings was a deeply flawed organization of the political hierarchy and humans are endowed with natural rights like life, liberty, and property.

Social contract

Humans and government are in social contract together; power to govern is in the hands of the people, but people give up some of their power to a government who protects their natural rights.

Nationalism

A strong identification of a group of people who share an ethnic identity and language

Adam Smith

Argued for laissez-faire economics, stating there should be no limit on wealth and minimal government intervention.

Laissez-faire economics

French for “let alone”, this economic principle promotes no limit on wealth, people should be left alone for supply and demand, minimal government intervention.

Deism

Enlightenment idea that God doesn’t intervene in society, but created all things including natural laws, and then let it be.

Conservatism

A strong belief in tradition and the shunning of ideology in favor of practical ideas.

Seneca Falls Convention

A rally for women’s rights and suffrage in the U.S. that created the American Declaration of Sentiments.

Reign of Terror

The period of the French Revolution led by Maximilien Robespierre where more than 17,000 enemies of the Revolution were executed.

Toussaint L’ouverture

Led the Haitian rebellion against the French, resulting in the first successful revolution of enslaved people and the first black-led independent nation in the western hemisphere

Industrial Revolution

Process of producing goods with machines in order to make labor more efficient.

Interchangeable Parts

Invented by Eli Whitney that said that the parts should be interchangeable between design of a product.

Enclosure movement

Privatization of land which was delayed industrialization in France.

Japan

First country in Asia to industrialize, motivated by self-preservation and preserving values and traditions.

Steam engine

Invented by James Watt that relied on coal to heat up water and produce steam that drove engines.

Bessemer Process

Blasting hot iron with air to remove impurities and creating steel.

Telegraph

Invented by Samuel Morse, it could send pulses of electricity in pulses of long and short bursts along electrical wires at great distances.

Alexander II

Abolished serfdom in Russia in 1861, readying the workforce for industrialization.

Defensive Modernization

Japan used this to keep up with the West to compete and preserve values and traditions.

Corporations

Worked similar to joint-stock companies but introduced limited liability.

Limited liability

Shareholders gained all benefits from company’s success but had limited liability for company’s failures; could only lose the amount of money they invested in the company.

Labor unions

Group of workers who organize themselves into a collective of workers using their combined voice for reform.

Utilitarianism

Idea that every individual action should be carried out for the happiness of the whole rather than the individual.

Karl Marx

Divided society into the Bourgeoisie, the factory owners and the Proletariat, the working class and saw capitalism as a system of trampling for the working class.

Tanzimat

Ottoman legal system that had equality for all before the law and worked hard to root out long standing corruption in government.

Self-Strengthening Movement

Qing Dynasty created this period of reform to protect culture from Western encroachment, by industrializing.

Tenements

Factory owners realized workers needed a place to live so built these which were hastily constructed, poorly ventilated, and overcrowded homes

Cult of domesticity

Bestowed dignity upon women by saying their work at home was valuable for raising children