Unit 3: The Modern Period - Enlightenment, Revolutions, Industrialization, and Imperialism

Vocabulary flashcards based on Unit 3 Modern Period notes, covering key Enlightenment thinkers, revolutionary documents, the French Revolution, the Rise and Fall of Napoleon, Industrialization, and New Imperialism.

Age of Enlightenment

A historical period by the 1700s where European thinkers and intellectuals believed that by using their reasoning powers given by God or nature, they could answer any question and that nothing was beyond the human mind.

Thomas Hobbes

An Enlightenment philosopher who focused on how human beings naturally act in society and described humans as inherently selfish and mean.

John Locke

An Enlightenment philosopher who believed people are basically reasonable and moral, hold natural rights to life, liberty, and property from birth, and have the right to overthrow the government since its power derives from the people.

Montesquieu

An Enlightenment thinker who believed the best way to protect liberty was to separate government powers into three branches—legislative, executive, and judicial—operating under checks and balances.

Rousseau

An Enlightenment philosopher who believed humans in their natural state were basically good but were corrupted by the evils of society, and who advocated the social contract.

Voltaire

An Enlightenment thinker who held that a combination of careful observation and clear-headed reasoning were the two keys to understanding the truth of all things.

Mary Wollstonecraft

An Enlightenment thinker who believed that everyone should have equal education and equal rights.

Declaration of Independence

An American document illustrating Enlightenment ideas by stating all people are created equal and born with natural rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen

A French revolutionary document illustrating Enlightenment ideas by asserting that everybody is born with natural rights and that the government cannot be unjust.

The Committee of Public Safety

A political body that exercised virtual dictatorial control over France during the Reign of Terror, putting royalist supporters on trial and deciding whether to sentence individuals to jail time or execution by guillotine.

The Reign of Terror

A prolonged period of the French Revolution following the execution of King Louis the 16th that aimed to suppress opposition and stop people from siding with the king.

The Ancien Regime

The Old Order of French society divided into Three Estates, in which the burden of paying all taxes fell entirely upon the Third Estate.

First Estate

The estate in pre-revolutionary French society consisting of the clergy and members of the Church.

Second Estate

The social class in the French Old Order comprised of the nobility (notability).

Third Estate

The estate comprising the bourgeoisie (middle class), workers, and peasants, who paid all the taxes and accounted for 85% of those executed during the Reign of Terror.

Maximillien Robespierre

French leader nicknamed 'The Incorruptible' who embraced Rousseau's concept of the general will, argued a 'republic of virtue' could only be attained through terror, and used the guillotine as a humane and quick method to execute 17,000 people.

The Directory

An executive committee of 5 directors elected by the COE from a list presented by the Co500 that functioned as a dictatorship, caused unrest, and lost control of the political situation in 1799.

Napoleonic Code

A uniform set of laws established under Napoleon that abolished serfdom, established legal equality, and provided religious toleration, but restricted individual liberties such as speech and press and revoked privileges from women.

Battle of Trafalgar

A naval battle in which the British navy destroyed the French fleet, ending Napoleon's plans to conquer Britain.

The Continental System

An economic blockade enacted by France to bar Britain from trading with continental Europe, which was circumvented by British smugglers.

Enclosure System

The process of taking over and consolidating land formerly shared by peasant farmers, which increased agricultural output and profits while displacing small farmers into cities as industrial factory labor.

Domestic System

A decentralized textile manufacturing method where merchants supplied raw materials to rural households to spin and clean before paying them and sending the product away to be dyed.

Factory System

A centralized manufacturing system where cloth merchants gathered workers under one roof to supervise labor, replace muscle power with machine power, and utilize new energy sources and technological innovations.

Social Darwinism

An imperialist ideology asserting that European races were superior to all others and that dominating weaker races was a way of improving the human species.