Chapter 29 Traditions and Encounters APWorld

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Def: Author of The Social Contract (1762) and advocate for political equality.

Cont: Argued that the “general will” of the people is sovereign.

Sig: Promoted direct democracy over elite rule, but held conservative/traditional views on women’s education.

Voltaire

Enlightenment philosopher and champion of civil liberties.

Focused on religious toleration and freedom of expression

Critiqued the censorship of royal and religious authorities; his works were often smuggled into France to bypass government control.

John Locke

English philosopher and author of Second Treatise of Civil Government

Proposed that government is a contract between rulers and the ruled to protect life, liberty, and property.

Replaced “divine right” with popular sovereignty; argued that if a ruler violates rights, the people have a duty to rebel.

Seven Years’ War (1756-1763)

A global conflict for imperial supremacy between Britain and France.

Fought in Europe, India, and North America (French and Indian War)

Britain’s victory ensured global trade dominance but created massive war debt, leading to taxation of the colonies, which then sparked the American Revolution.

Declaration of Independence

Document adopted on July 4, 1776, declaring the 13 colonies free from British rule.

Heavily inspired by John Locke’s “consent of the governed”

Asserted “inalienable rights” (life, liberty, pursuit of happiness) and provided a formal justification for revolution baed on Enlightenment ideals.

U.S. Constitution

The 1787 blueprint for the American federal government

Established a system based on popular sovereignty and individual liberties

While revolutionary, it was limited in scope,initially excluding women, enslaved people, and Native Americans from full participation.

Estates General

A French legislative body representing the three “estates” clergy, nobility, and commoners

Summoned by Louis XVI in 1789 to address financial crisis/taxes

The unfair voting system (one vote per estate) led the third estate to secede and form the national assembly, triggering the French Revolution.

National Assembly

The body formed by representatives of the third estate after leaving the estates general

Claimed to be the true representatives of the French people

Symbolized the shift from monarchial power to popular sovereignty in France; their actions led to the storming of the Bastille

Cult of Reason

A secular, atheistic alternative to Christianity promoted by the radical Jacobins during the French Revolution’s “Campaign of Terror”

It represented the extreme effort to de-Christianize France. This included closing churches, forcing priests to marry, and replacing the 7 day week with a 10 day unit to eliminate religious sundays. It also inaugurated a new “Year 1” (starting 1792) to mark a break from the monarchial and religious past.

Napoleon Bonaparte

A brilliant military leader who overthrew the French Directory on 1799, eventually crowning himself Emperor in 1804.

He brought political stability via the Concordat of 1801 (making peace with the Catholic Church) and the Civil Code of 1804 (protecting private property and legal equality). His empire spanned most of Europe until a disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812 led to his eventual defeat at Waterloo and exile to St. Helena.

Simon Bolivar & the Jamaica Letter

Bolívar was a South American revolutionary (the "Liberator"); the Jamaica Letter (1815) was his famous document outlining his vision for Latin American independence.

Bolívar successfully led movements to liberate Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. In the Jamaica Letter, he argued for republican governments and expressed his dream of a unified South American federation (Gran Colombia), though he feared the region was not yet ready for full democracy.

Caudillos

Charismatic, local military strongmen who rose to power in the newly independent states of Latin America.

They filled the power vacuum left by Spanish rule, often allying with Creole elites to maintain social order. Their rule ensured that independence brought little social change for the lower classes, as they protected the interests of landowners and the Catholic Church while representing the poor.

Zionism

A nationalist political movement asserting that Jewish people constitute a nation and have the right to have their own sovereign homeland.

Sparked by intense European anti-Semitism (notably the Dreyfus Affair in France), journalist Theodor Herzl concluded that Jews would never be safe through assimilation. In 1897, he organized the first Zionist Congress, advocating for a Jewish state as the only defense against persistent persecution.

Giuseppe Garibaldi

A passionate Italian nationalist and soldier who led the “ Red Shirts” in the unification of southern Italy.

He successfully conquered Sicily and Naples, then selflessly handed his conquest over to King Vittore Emmanuele II. This act allowed the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia to absorb the south, officially creating the unified Kingdom of Italy in 1860.

Emancipation Proclamation

An executive order issued by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the American Civil War.

It declared that all persons held as slaves within the rebellious Confederate states “are, and henceforward shall be free.” While it didnt end slavery everywhere immediatly, it shifted the purpose of the war from preserving the Union to abolishing slavery and prevented European powers from intervening on the side of the South.

Ancien Regime (Old Order)

The traditonal political and social system of France before the Revolution, characterized by a rigid three-estate system (Clergy, Nobility, and Commoners).

Revolutionary leaders sought to completely dismantle this “old order” to end the legal privledges of the first two estates. Though the Directory later tried to find a middle ground between the ancien regime and radicalism, the Revolution ultimately succeeded in destroying the hierarchial social structure of France.

King Louis XVI

The King of France (r. 1774-1793) who inability to solve France’s financial crisis led to the outbreak of the French Revolution.

His attempt to tax the nobility forced the summoning of the Estates General, which sparked the revolution. After being accused of conspiring with foreign powers to restore the ancien regime, he and Marie Antoinette were executed by guillotine from treason in 1793.

Maximilien Robespierre

A radical Jacobin lawyer known as “The Incorruptible” who led the Committee of Public Safety during the French Revolution.

He was the architect of the Reign of Terror, a campaign to restructure France by executing “enemies of the revolution.” His radicalism eventually led to his own downfall; he was arrested by his colleagues and executed by guillotine in 1794, ending the most chaotic phase of the revolution.

Olympe de Gouges

A French playwright and journalist who wrote the “Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen” (1791)

She used Enlightenment ideals to challange the male-dominated French Revolution, demanding that women recieve the same rights as men (voting, property, and public office). She was eventualy executed in 1793 for her political views and her defense of Marie Antoinette

Napoleonic Code (Civil Code of 1804)

A comprehensive and uniform system of laws established for France by Napoleon Bonaparte.

It stabilized French society by protecting private property and guaranteeing the legal equality of all adult men. However, it was socially conservative, rolling back rights for women (making them legally dependet on fathers/husbands) and restoring patriarcial authotity.

Toussaint L’Ouverture

A former slave and brilliant military stategist who led the Haitian Revolution in Saint-Domingue.

He organized a disciplined army that defeated French, British, and Spanish forces, creating a constitution that granted equality to all citizen. Though he died in a French prision in 1803, his leadership paved the way for Haiti to become the first independent black republic in 1804

Miguel Hidalgo

A Mexican parish priest who launched the Mexican War of Independence by rallying indigenous and mestizo populations in1810.

Known for the “Grito de Dolores,” he turned the independece movement into a social war against the elites. Although he was executed by Spanish authorities, he remains the primary symbol of Mexican independence, and his revolt date is celebrated as Mexico’s national holiday.

Otto von Bismarck

The Prime Minister of Prussia (appointed 1862) and master of Realpolitik (the “politics of reality”).

He unified Germany through “blood and iron,” intentionally provoking wars in Denmark, Austria, and France to stir German nationalism. His victories lef to the creatiobn of the German Empire in 1871, fundamentally shifting the balance of power in Europe.

Emperor Pedro I

The son of the Portuguese King who became the first Emperor of an independent Brazil (r. 1822-1834).

When the Portuguese royal family returned to Europe after Napoleon’s defeat, Pedro stayed behind and declared Brazil’s independence at the request of Creole elites. This allowed Brazil to achieve independence as a monarchy with relatively little bloodshed compared to its neighbors.

Camillo di Cavour

The Prime Minister of Piemont-Sardinia and a cunning diplomat who orchestrated the unification of Italy.

Unlike the romantic Garibaldi, Cavour was a practical politicin. He allied with France to expel Austrian forces from northern Italy, creating the diplomtic framework that allowed the northern and southern regions to merge into a single kingdom under King Vittore EMmmanuele II.