Provided the ideological framework for all the revolutions during this period
Definition: An intellectual movement that applied new way of understanding, such as rationalism, and empiricist approaches to both the natural world and human relationships
Rationalism
Argued that reason, rather than emotion or any external authority, is the most reliable source of true knowledge
Empiricism
Idea that true knowledge is gained through the senses, mainly through rigorous experimentation
Empirical and rationalist ways of thinking were developed earlier during the Scientific Revolution in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries
Scientific Revolution
Scientists tossed biblical and religious authority out of the window and used the rigorous process of reason to discover how the world really worked
Experienced scientific breakthroughs in understanding the complexities of:
Cosmos
Internal working of the human body
The Enlightenment is just just an extension of that same kind of scientific and rationalistic thinking,
But Enlightenment philosophers applied these methods to the study of human society
One of the crucial components of the Enlightenment was the questioning and re-examination of the role of religion in public life
Enlightenment began in Europe where most people were Christians and where the Church had been an instrument of state power for a long time
According to Enlightenment thinkers, Christianity is a revealed religion
The words of the Bible along with all its commands was revealed by god and therefore could not be questioned
Enlightenment represented a significant shift of authority, carried over from the Scientific Revolution, from outside a person to inside a person
New ways of relating to the divine were developed
Deism
Exceedingly popular among Enlightenment thinkers
Believed that there was a God that created all things then no longer intervened in the created order
Atheism
Complete rejection of religious belief and any notion of divine beings
Political Ideas
Individualism
Most basic element of society was the individual human and not the collective groups
Progress and expansion of the individual > progress and expansion of the society
Natural Rights
Individual humans are born with certain rights that cannot be infringed upon by government or any other entity
John Locke - argued all humans were born with the natural rights of life, liberty, and property
Social Contract
Human societies, endowed with natural rights, must construct a government of their own will to protect their natural rights
If that government becomes a tyrannical turd, then those people have the right to overthrow that government and establish a new one
Major Revolutions
Enlightenment ideas created the ideological context for these revolutions that occurred in this period, including the American, French, Haitian, and Latin American revolutions
The Enlightenment's emphasis on the rejection of established traditions and new ideas about how political power ought to work played a significant role in each of these great upheavals
Those revolutions in turn created the conditions for the intensification of nationalism
Nationalism: A sense of commonality among a people based on shared language, religion, social customs, and often linked with a desire for territory
Expansion of Suffrage
Suffrage: Right to Vote
After the American Revolution, laws were passed only white males with land could vote
But in the first half of the nineteenth century, laws were passed that recognized the right of all white males to vote
In the second half of the nineteenth century, black males had gained the right to vote
One significant reason was the Enlightenment ideas like liberty and equality were revered in America as part of the cultural heritage beginning with the Declaration of Independence
Abolition of Slavery
Enlightenment thinkers criticize slavery on account of its complete for people’s natural rights, most notably liberty
In response to a powerful abolitionist movement, Great Britain abolished slavery in 1807
Britain was also the wealthiest nation in the world and they gained much of that wealth during the Industrial Revolution by means of paid labor
Abolition was a natural move, but it also made economic sense at the time
Enslaved people themselves also contributed to the abolition of slavery
Great Jamaica Revolt
Massive slave rebellion in British Jamaica
Scale and casualties of that rebellion played a significant role in Britain’s decision to abolish slavery throughout their empire
End of Serfdom
In the midst of the transition from agricultural to industrial economies during the Industrial Revolution, serfs, which were peasants bound in coerced labor, became more and more unnecessary to economic flourishing
Peasant Revolts
Induced state leaders in England, France and Russia to abolish serfdom
Calls for Womens’ Suffrage
Feminist Movement
Women began to advocate for rights in all areas of life, not least voting
Olympe de Gouges
Her work, The Declaration of the Rights of Women and the Female Citizen, harshly criticized the French Constitution for sidelining women in the birth of post-revolutionary France
Seneca Falls Convention in 1848
Women organized themselves in a gathering to call for a constitutional amendment that recognized women's right to vote