Topic 3 Study Guide: The Enlightenment and the American Revolution

Vocabulary practice cards covering key figures, concepts, and dates from the Scientific Revolution, Enlightenment, and American Revolution.

Geocentric Model

A model of the universe developed by Ptolemy stating that Earth was at the center of the universe.

Heliocentric Model

A model proposed by Nicolaus Copernicus in 1543 stating that the Sun was at the center of the universe and planets revolved around it.

Johannes Kepler

Astronomer who used mathematics to show that planets orbit the Sun in elliptical (oval-shaped) paths, known as Kepler's First Law.

Galileo Galilei

First European to use a telescope for space observations, author of Starry Messenger (1610), and supporter of the heliocentric model whose ideas conflicted with the Catholic Church.

Isaac Newton

Scientist born in 1642 who wrote Principia and developed the Three Laws of Motion and the Universal Law of Gravitation.

William Harvey

Physician who advanced the study of the human body through human dissection.

Robert Boyle

Scientist who developed Boyle's Law, establishing that the volume of a gas changes as its pressure changes.

Antoine Lavoisier

Known as the father of modern chemistry, he developed a system for naming chemical elements.

Margaret Cavendish

English aristocrat and author of Observations upon Experimental Philosophy who argued that humans could not completely control nature through science.

Maria Winkelmann

German astronomer who discovered a comet and faced discrimination because she was a woman.

René Descartes

17th-century philosopher famous for 'I think, therefore I am' and considered the father of modern rationalism.

Rationalism

The belief that reason is a major source of knowledge.

Francis Bacon

English thinker who developed the scientific method and advocated for evidence-based science rather than reliance on ancient authorities.

Inductive Reasoning

A reasoning process moving from specific observations to a general conclusion.

Tabula Rasa

John Locke's belief that the human mind is a 'blank slate' at birth and that people are shaped entirely by their experiences.

Philosophes

Enlightenment thinkers who met in French salons to discuss politics, science, and philosophy.

Montesquieu

Enlightenment thinker who advocated for separation of powers and checks and balances across three government branches: Executive, Legislative, and Judicial.

Voltaire

Enlightenment philosopher who challenged church authority and supported Deism.

Deism

An 18th-century religious philosophy based on the belief that God created the world and allowed it to operate according to natural laws.

Denis Diderot

Enlightenment figure who created a 28-volume encyclopedia to spread ideas about society, politics, religion, and science.

Laissez-faire

Economic doctrine meaning little or no government regulation of the economy.

Cesare Beccaria

Enlightenment figure who opposed capital punishment and argued that punishments should not be cruel or disproportionate to the crime.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Philosopher who proposed the Social Contract, stating that government exists by consent of the governed and should follow the general will.

Mary Wollstonecraft

Early advocate for women's equality who argued for equal political, educational, and economic rights.

Enlightened Absolutism

A system where absolute monarchs attempted to govern by Enlightenment principles while keeping their full royal power.

Frederick the Great

Prussian absolute monarch (Frederick II) who abolished torture in most cases and increased religious tolerance while maintaining serfdom.

Catherine the Great

Empress of Russia (Catherine II) who engaged with Enlightenment thinkers like Diderot but enacted little actual reform due to reliance on nobility.

Joseph II

Austrian monarch who abolished serfdom and the death penalty, often considered the only truly enlightened ruler despite many failed reforms.

Baroque

An artistic and architectural style characterized by grandeur, power, scale, and drama.

Rococo

An artistic style developed around the 1730s that emphasized grace, charm, style, happiness, and pleasure.

Stamp Act

A 1765 British law requiring American colonists to pay a tax on legal and published documents, repealed one year later following protests.

First Continental Congress

A 1774 meeting of colonial representatives who urged colonists to form militias and prepare to fight Britain.

Lexington & Concord

Massachusetts locations where the first shots of the American Revolution were fired in April 1775.

Declaration of Independence

Document written by Thomas Jefferson and adopted on July 4, 1776, declaring the American colonies independent from Britain.

Battle of Yorktown

A 1781 battle in which American forces and the French navy defeated the British, marking a major turning point in the war.

Treaty of Paris

1783 peace treaty recognizing American independence and setting U.S. territory from the Appalachian Mountains to the Mississippi River.

Federalism

A government system in which power is divided between the national government and state governments.