Liberalism and Expansion of Industrial Society

Primary source

First-hand information, artifacts, or documents created by a direct participant or witness to a historical event (e.g., photographs, letters, official records, or physical artifacts).

Secondary source

Processed information created after an event by experts or researchers who analyze, interpret, and synthesize primary sources (e.g., history textbooks, encyclopedias, or scholarly articles).

Direct vs. indirect historical sources

Direct sources are created with the explicit purpose of providing information, whereas indirect sources were not originally intended to convey historical information but yield insights when evaluated with appropriate analytical questions.

Key guidelines for evaluating academic source reliability

Analyze the author's educational qualifications, prioritize publications from reputable peer-reviewed institutions, and avoid open free-content websites like Wikipedia or Reddit without primary verification.

Absolutism

A political doctrine in early modern Europe in which monarchs held complete control over their state, claiming authority directly from God through the concept of Divine Right.

Heliocentric model

The astronomical model proposed by Nicolaus Copernicus asserting that the Sun is at the center of the solar system, replacing the traditional Geocentric model.

Johannes Kepler's 1609 astronomical contribution

Publication of Astronomia Nova, which proved that planetary orbits are elliptical rather than circular and established the fundamental laws of planetary motion.

Galileo Galilei's telescopic discoveries

Improvements made to the optical telescope that enabled the discovery of Jupiter's four largest moons and detailed observations of the mountainous surface of Earth's Moon.

Law of Universal Gravitation

A physical law introduced by Isaac Newton in 1687 stating that every mass attracts every other mass with a force proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.

The Enlightenment

An 18th-century European intellectual movement centered on reason, scientific analysis, individual liberty, and the systematic critique of traditional political and religious authority.

John Locke's theory of natural rights

The philosophical principle that all individuals are born with innate rights to life, liberty, and property, and that citizens have the right to replace any government that infringes upon these rights.

Montesquieu's separation of powers

The political model proposed in 1748 advocating that governmental power be divided among executive, legislative, and judicial branches to prevent tyranny and maintain checks and balances.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau's social contract concept

The political principle formulated in 1762 stating that individuals agree to surrender certain personal freedoms to the community in exchange for protection, submitting to laws enacted for the common good.

Laissez-faire economic theory

An economic doctrine championed by Adam Smith arguing that government should avoid intervening in the economy, allowing markets to self-regulate through the 'invisible hand' of supply and demand.

Economic causes of American colonial unrest

British taxation policies, such as the Stamp Act and Townshend Acts, introduced to repay debts from the Seven Years' War without colonial consent.

No taxation without representation

A colonial political slogan expressing protest against paying taxes to a British Parliament where the American colonies lacked elected representatives.

Boston Tea Party (1773)

A political protest in Boston where American colonists dumped 342 chests of British tea into the ocean to protest tea duties and monopoly policies.

Thomas Paine's Common Sense (1776)

A widely circulated pamphlet that used accessible Enlightenment reasoning to advocate for American independence from Great Britain.

Treaty of Paris (1783)

The peace agreement that officially concluded the American Revolutionary War and formally recognized the independence of the United States.

Roles of the Declaration of Independence and 1787 Constitution

The Declaration of Independence articulated the principles and justification for separating from Great Britain, whereas the 1787 Constitution established the functional structure of the U.S. federal government.

Social structure of the Ancien Régime

The division of pre-revolutionary French society into three distinct orders: the First Estate (Clergy), the Second Estate (Nobility), and the Third Estate (Commoners, peasantry, and bourgeoisie).

Tax inequality under the Ancien Régime

A system where the wealthy First and Second Estates were exempted from most taxes, while the Third Estate bore the financial burden through heavy taxes such as the taille.

Reason for convening the Estates-General in 1789

King Louis XVI summoned the assembly to seek tax reforms and address severe national financial debt stemming from war expenditures.

Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès' definition of the Third Estate

The assertion that the Third Estate represents the complete political and economic body of the nation, being 'everything' while historically possessing no political power.

Storming of the Bastille (July 14, 1789)

The violent capture of a medieval royal fortress in Paris by revolutionaries seeking arms and ammunition, marking a decisive symbol of revolt against monarchical tyranny.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

A foundational document adopted by the French National Assembly in August 1789 asserting fundamental human rights, equality, liberty, and popular sovereignty.

War of the First Coalition (1792–1797)

A military conflict caused by escalating tensions between Revolutionary France and neighboring European monarchies seeking to suppress the revolution and restore autocratic rule.