Enlightenment and Revolutions Vocabulary

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering Enlightenment thinkers, forms of government, historical thinking skills, and major political revolutions in France, England, and Latin America.

Primary source

An original document or artifact created during the time period being studied, such as letters, diaries, speeches, laws, artifacts, and photographs.

Secondary source

A source created later that analyzes or interprets the past, such as textbooks, biographies, documentaries, or a historian's book.

Sourcing

Evaluating a new document by looking at who wrote it, when, and why before building context or forming an opinion.

Limited government

A government whose powers are restricted by laws or a constitution.

Autocracy

Rule by one person with little or no political opposition.

Oligarchy

Rule by a small group, often wealthy or powerful elites.

Theocracy

Government controlled by religious leaders and based heavily on religious law.

Dictatorship

Government where one leader or small group holds extensive power, often without free elections.

Monarchy

Government system where political power is traditionally held by a king or queen.

Direct democracy

A form of government where citizens vote directly on laws themselves.

Representative democracy

A system where citizens elect representatives who make government decisions on their behalf.

Anarchy

A situation with little or no organized government authority.

Divine right of kings

The belief, held by many European monarchs, that a ruler's authority comes directly from God.

Enlightenment

A period when philosophers questioned traditional authority (like divine-right monarchy) and emphasized reason, natural rights, and consent of the governed.

John Locke

Enlightenment thinker who advocated for natural rights (life, liberty, and property), argued government's main job is to protect these rights, and stated power comes from the consent of the governed.

Thomas Hobbes

Enlightenment thinker who wrote Leviathan, believed people are naturally selfish, and argued that society needs a strong government/ruler to maintain order and prevent chaos.

Baron de Montesquieu

Enlightenment thinker who advocated separation of powers, dividing government into executive, legislative, and judicial branches to prevent any one person or group from becoming too powerful.

Voltaire

Enlightenment thinker who strongly criticized religious intolerance and promoted freedom of speech and religion.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Enlightenment thinker who believed people are born free but society and institutions create inequality, and argued government should reflect the "general will" of the people.

Mary Wollstonecraft

Enlightenment thinker who argued for women's rights, specifically greater access to education and political equality.

Cesare Beccaria

Enlightenment thinker focused on criminal justice reform, believing punishments should be fair, reasonable, and related to the crime.

Consent of the governed

The principle that a government's authority comes from the people.

Natural rights

Rights that people are born with.

Due process

The principle that people have legal rights and fair procedures when accused of a crime.

Rule of law

The principle that laws apply to everyone, including leaders.

First Estate

The clergy in the Ancien Régime of France.

Second Estate

The nobility in the Ancien Régime of France.

Third Estate

The commoners, peasants, and bourgeoisie in France who bore the heaviest tax burden under the Ancien Régime.

Estates-General (1789)

A meeting called to address France's financial and political crisis, where the Third Estate grew frustrated because the voting system unfairly favored the privileged estates.

Tennis Court Oath

Vow made by members of the National Assembly (largely the Third Estate) not to disband until they had written a new constitution.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (1789)

French Revolutionary document heavily influenced by Enlightenment ideas that declared rights applied to every person, not just certain estates.

Reign of Terror

A period of political repression during the French Revolution led by Robespierre in which people considered "enemies of the revolution" were executed, often by guillotine.

Napoleonic Code

Napoleon Bonaparte's standardized legal system, which promoted legal equality for men.

Congress of Vienna

Meeting held after Napoleon's defeat to restore stability and conservative monarchies, rebalance power in Europe, and strip France of territory gained under Napoleon.

Glorious Revolution (1688–1689)

The event in which England overthrew King James II and established a constitutional monarchy.

English Bill of Rights

The first Bill of Rights, created during the Glorious Revolution, which ensured Parliament's superiority over the monarchy and was signed by William of Orange and Mary.

Peninsulares

People born in Spain who held the highest positions in Spanish colonial society.

Creoles

People born in the Americas of full European descent in Spanish colonial social structure.

Mestizos

People of mixed European and Native American ancestry in Spanish colonial social structure.

Mulattoes

People of mixed European and African descent in Spanish colonial social structure.

Haitian Revolution

The only successful large-scale slave revolt to found a nation, led by formerly enslaved people—most famously Toussaint Louverture—leading to Haitian independence.

Mexican War of Independence

Revolution that began on September 16, 1810, with the Grito de Dolores issued by priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla.

Simón Bolívar

Leader known as "the Liberator" who led independence movements across parts of South America with the goal of creating Gran Colombia.

Gran Colombia

A united South American nation envisioned by Simón Bolívar, made up of Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, and Panama.

Brazil (Independence)

A Portuguese colony that declared its independence rather than fighting a war for it, unlike most other Latin American nations.

Miguel Hidalgo & Abbé Sieyès

Clergy members who became key voices for revolutionary change in Mexico and France, respectively.