Enlightenment - An intellectual movement that applied new ways of understanding and empiricist approaches to both the natural world and human relationships. It moved human thinking towards the use of reason/logic rather than religious ideas.

Social Contract - The relationship between eh government and the citizens. Thomas Hobbes believed an absolute monarch was needed. John Locke believed the government had to protect the natural rights of the people, and if they didn’t, the people could create a new government.

Natural Rights - The belief that individual humans are born with certain rights that cannot be infringed upon by the government or any other entity. John Locke believed the rights were life, liberty, and property.

Deism - It was popular among Enlightenment thinkers. Deism was the belief that God set the universe in motion, but did not interfere with human affairs or existence.

Liberalism - A term given to John Locke’s philosophy of natural rights. Liberalism is based upon liberty, equality, and consent of the governed. Liberalism influenced The Declaration of Man and the Citizen written by the National Assembly and the U.S. Declaration of Independence.

Empiricism - The belief that observation and experimentation are crucial to human understanding. Without personal observation, any explanations or theories could be fatally flawed and unacceptable. Empiricism is a philosophy that says all concepts originate in experience.

Nationalism - The ideology based on the premise that the individual’s loyalty and devotion to the nation-state surpass other individuals and/or other nation-states. When Napoleon was conquering Europe, the people he conquered had a strong sense of nationalism and were not loyal to France.

Feminism - An ideology and movement pushing for equality for females. Mary Wollstonecraft was one of the first feminists and pushed for equal opportunities (i.e. girls to go to school). One thing feminists pushed for was the right to vote, the right to work, and equal pay once they had jobs.

Mary Wollstonecraft - She was one of the first feminists. Wollstonecraft pushed for women’s equality with men. This included the ability to go to school, the ability to vote, and the ability to work. Wollstonecraft was the major female voice of the Enlightenment.

Suffrage - The right to vote in electing public officials. As time progressed, larger groups of people could vote as new laws were passed.

End of Serfdom - France abolished serfdom in 1789, but as Napolean conquered other places, he established the Napoleonic Law Code which included the end of serfdom. This allowed millions to be freed and helped to get people to like Napolean. It was the most important reform of Russian Czar Alexander II

Declaration of Independence - The U.S. document that announced the separation of the 13 colonies from Great Britain. It was written by the founding fathers (mainly Thomas Jefferson). John Locke of the Enlightenment inspired the Declaration of Independence.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen - The 3rd Estate takes over and calls themselves the National Assembly. Lafayette wrote the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen, and the National Assembly adopted it. It stated basic freedoms, stated the government gets its power from the people and not from the king and made France a Constitutional monarchy.

Jamaica Letter - A letter written by Simon Bolivar in 1815 while in exile in Jamaica in which he states his desire for Latin American unity and his vision of republican government. It was important because it revealed Bolivar’s passionate commitment to independence in Latin America (Bolivar started the Latin American Revolution).

Reign of Terror - A period during the French Revolution where anyone who was suspected of allying with the kings was killed by the guillotine. It’s estimated that over 40,000 people were killed, including Marie Antoinette. The Reign of Terror ended when its starter (Maximilien Robespierre) was beheaded.

Simon Bolivar - A Venezuelan soldier who played a central role in the Latin American Revolution. He was the one who wrote the Jamaica letter. He served as president of Gran, Colombia, and as a dictator of Peru. The country of Bolivia is named after him.

Toussaint L’Overture - A former slave in Hati who led a revolution. When French forces tried to stop the revolt, yellow fever broke out and they could not end it. It was the only successful slave revolt in history. L’Overture was captured and sent to a French Prison to die.

Realpolitik - Politics based on practical objectives rather than on ideals. It suggests a no-nonsense view of life. It was not based on beliefs, doctrines, ethics, or morals. It was utilized by Otto von Bismarck to unify Germany.

Otto von Bismark - He served as prime minister of Prussia and was the first founder of the German empire. He led Prussia to victory against Austria and France in order to create a sense of unity. Once the German empire was established, he actively and skillfully pursued pacific policies in foreign affairs, succeeding in preserving European peace for about two decades.

Peninsulares - Spanish settlers who were born in Spain and moved to settle in Spanish America. Their status gave them the highest social status available,, and they occupied the most important positions of power. Peninsulares were the parents of Creoles.

Creoles - Any person of European descent born in the Americas. Creoles were excluded from having the highest positions of power. Creoles were considered second-class citizens behind the Peninsulares. Creoles were the children of Peninsulares.

Industrial Revolution - The change from an agriculture-based to an industry-based society and from home manufacturing to factory manufacturing. The Industrial Revolution had a significant impact on the economy and society, and it led to the growth of cities and the rise of a new middle class, changing the way people lived and worked.

Cottage Industry - A system of textile manufacturing in which spinners and weavers worked at home in their cottages using raw materials supplied to them. This opened a way for people in rural areas to make a living doing labor-intensive jobs.

Factory System - The Factory System arose during the Industrial Revolution and concentrated manufacturing. It replaced the Cottage Industry and became more efficient through he use of interchangeable parts and the assembly line.

Seed Drill - A machine created by Jethro Tull for planting seeds at a controlled depth and in specified amounts. The seed drill was important because it was much faster and saved farmers hours of labor.

Spinning Jenny - A hand-powered machine by James Hargreaves for spinning up to 128 threads at a time. It was much simpler and faster and a significant factor in the industrialization of the textile industry.

Crop Rotation - The planting and harvesting of different crops on the same fields at different times of the year. This means that since each crop took certain nutrients out of the soil, the soil had a chance to recover before growing that same plant again.

Enclosure Moement - A push during the 18th and 19th centuries to take land that had formerly been public (usually for grazing animals or growing food) and changed it to privately owned land (usually with walls, fences, and hedges around it). One of the causes of the agricultural revolution and a factor behind labor migration from rural areas to gradually industrializing cities.

Steam Engine - A machine that uses steam power to perform mechanical work. They were used to power textile mills, trains, cars, ships, factories, and more by greatly increasing the efficiency and productivity of manufacturing. It made the Industrial Revolution possible.

Second Industrial Revolution - Also known as the Technological Revolution, was a time of great technological advancement. Advances in steel production, electricity, and petroleum led to a series of innovations and changed society.

Telegraph - A device for rapid, long-distance transmission of information over an electric wire. The telegraph helped with the growth of railroads, consolidated financial markets, and reduced information costs between firms.

Meiji Restoration - The Japanese political revolution that brought the Tokugawa Shogunate to an end. Multiple young leaders set Japan on the path of centralization, industrialization, and imperialism, thus paving the way for Japan to become a major international power.

Adam Smith - He was known as the father of modern economics. He was a key Scottish Enlightenment figure. He is best known for his book, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, which included Smith’s description of a system of market-determined wages and free rather than government-constrained enterprise, his system of “perfect liberty.”

Wealth of Nations - It was written by Adam Smith and describes the outline for how a nation becomes wealthy and how the division of labor falls within a wealthy vs. non-wealthy society. It was important because it was a foundational study in economics and is still used today.

Laissez-Faire Economics - A policy of minimum government interference in the economic affairs of individuals and society. Business owners benefit from this practice because they don’t have to worry about workers’ rights, safety, work environment, etc. if there’s no interference from the government. It was the dominant economic practice of the time.

Transnational Business - A commercial enterprise that operates substantial facilities, does business in more than one country and does not consider one country its national home. During the industrial age, transnational businesses played a significant role in driving economic growth and expansion. Factories were established, jobs created, and products sold globally.

Industrial Working Class - The Industrial Revolution brought technological advancements which led to a lesser need for farmers. This made people move to cities to work in factories, thus creating the industrial working class.

Middle Class - Along with the Industrial Revolution, the middle class was formed when factory jobs became available. The middle class allowed for more balance between classes and became known as the “working class.”

Urbanization - The large movement of people from rural areas to more densely populated areas (growth of cities). The Industrial Revolution caused this because people wanted factory jobs, so they moved to the cities.

Karl Marx - A German writer and philosopher, a famous advocate for communism, co-writer of The Communist Manifesto, and creator of Marxism. He was exiled from Prussia and moved to Paris. According to Marx, for the workers to form a classless society, they need to seize control of the means of production.

Communism - A political and economic system that seeks to create a classless society. Major productive resources in society (mines, factories, farms, etc.) are owned by the state, and wealth is divided equally among citizens or according to their needs.

Socialism - A political and economic theory of social organization that says that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.

Tanzimat Reforms - A series of political, legal, and social changes that took place in the Ottoman Empire. They aimed to modernize the empire and protect its territorial integrity from nationalist movements.

Young Turks - Movement of Turkish military and civilian elites, eventually bringing down the Ottoman Empire. It helped to establish the Second Constitution Era and usher in an era of multi-party democracy for the first time in the country’s history.

Self-Strengthening Movement - A reform movement in China (1861-1895) that aimed to modernize the Qing Dynasty by adopting Western methods of technology in military, diplomatic, and educational affairs.

HSBC (Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) - A prominent bank established in Hong Kong in 1865 when Hong Kong was a colony of the British Empire. It was the first locally owned bank to operate according to Scottish banking principles.

Capitalism - An economic system based on open competition in a free market, in which individuals and companies own the means of production and operate for profit.

Labor Union - An association of workers formed to bargain for better working conditions and better wages. Labor strikes were held to obtain this.

Proletariat - A class of people who earn their living through labor. One of the lowest economic and social classes in society. Its existence was largely parasitic on the Roman economy. On occasions, it was quieted by doles of bread from the state and diverted by spectacles (“bread and circuses”).

Bourgeoisie - The social order that is dominated by the middle class. The bourgeoisie were the owners of the factories and businesses that drove industrialization. They were the wealthiest and the most powerful members of the middle class. The bourgeoisie was largely a construct of Karl Marx and of those influenced by him.

Thomas Hobbes - A huge supporter of Charles I in England, argued that people were selfish and self-serving, wrote the book, The Leviathan, during the English Civil War, and his idea of the social contract was that you needed a strong, absolute monarch in control. He believed that without an absolute monarch, there would be war and chaos among the people.

John Locke (England)- He believed that everyone had “natural rights” (life, liberty, property), he believed that people were born with a “blank slate” (Tabula Rosa) and a person’s thoughts are shaped by experience, he inspired the U.S. Declaration of Independence, his idea of the social contract was that the government had a responsibility of protecting the people, and if they didn’t, the people could abolish the government and get a new one.

Jean Jacque Rousseau (France)- He believed that society was corrupt, so the government should protect the “general will” of the people, and that the government should implement policies beneficial to all people by basing decisions based on majority rule.

Baron de Montesquieu (France)- He focused on the organization of government by creating a separation of powers that allowed each branch to check the others’ powers (inspired U.S. three branches of government).

Voltaire (France)-He was concerned about the rights of the citizen— focused on freedom of speech and freedom of religion, advocated for the separation of church and state, and directly influenced the creation of the U.S. Bill of Rights.