Scientific Revolution

Causes

1. Renaissance discovery of new classical manuscripts

   • Scholars questioned accepted knowledge

2. Exploration

   • Europeans were exposed to new ideas and people started to challenge the theory that the world was a sphere, not flat

   • Maps and journals provided additional information

3. The Protestant Reformation

   • The power of the Catholic Church is questioned

   • Martin Luther’s 95 Theses caused debates about the church's doctrine

4. New views of truth

   • People started to gain more knowledge of the universe and the planets as well as human anatomy and disease

   • Discoveries in the medical field

   • The use of the Scientific Method allowed people to use reasoning to make their arguments

5. The moveable type printing press

   • Spread ideas of individualism and new theories

   • One can reason and think for himself through research

6. The challenge of science

   • Nicolaus Copernicus’s discoveries inspired other scientists to challenge accepted thinking

Important People

1. Nicolaus Copernicus

   • Polish astronomer who wrote the heliocentric theory proposing that the sun, rather than the earth, is at the center of the universe

   • Challenged the Church’s geocentric theory and inspired others to test the theory

2. Johannes Kepler

   • Planets revolve around in elliptical orbits

   • Developed mathematical laws regarding the planets

3. Francis Bacon

   • Developed the Scientific Method

   • Urged scientists to draw conclusions about the world based on their observations

4. Vesalius

   • Studied and dissected the human body

5. Sir Isaac Newton

   • English scientist who discovered the force of gravity

6. Rene Descartes

   • Everything should be doubted until proven by reason

7. Galileo Galilei

   • Conflicted with the Church because he recognized the importance of observation over classical authorities

   • Tested the hypothesis of the laws of motion: data supported the heliocentric theory

   • Was placed under house arrest by the Church but still managed to collect data

The Enlightenment

Important Concepts

1. Reason: logic, educated to debate and make decisions

2. Nature: rights are natural to have and basic freedoms exist

3. Happiness: allows people to be happy

4. Progress: allows for change and reform

5. Liberty: the right to be free and have freedoms that protect everyone

Important People

1. John Locke

   • Man has a natural ability to govern themselves

   • Life, liberty, and property are natural rights

2. Jean-Jacques Rousseau

   • Social Contract: governments should be formed with the agreement of free individuals (elections)

   • Basic freedoms: freedom of speech and religion

   • “Man is born free and everywhere he is in chairs”

3. Thomas Hobbes

   • Defined social contract as people needing a strong government to keep order

   • The people can choose to get rid of a monarch if they are corrupt

4. Voltaire

   • Defended the rights of freedom of religion and speech

   • “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend your right to say it”

5. Beccaria

   • Defended the rights of prisoners

   • “Torture should be abolished”

6. Baron de Montesquieu

   • A government should be divided (checks and balances)

   • “Power should be a check to power”

7. Mary Wollstonecraft

   • Argued for women’s equality in marriage and women’s rights

   • “If absolutism be not necessary in a state, how can it be so in a family?”

French Revolution

Causes

1. Poor leadership

   • King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette were unpopular absolute monarchs in France because both loved spending money

   • Louis XVI always raised the taxes so he could spend more money

   • Marie Antoinette was an Austrian princess who loved parties.

     • Marriage was to create peace between France and Austria

     • She was unpopular because she was an Austrian

2. Large government debt

   • France was close to bankruptcy because the king and queen spent too much money

3. Taxes

   • Louis XVI continually collected and raised taxes to “solve” France’s economic problems

   • All social classes were taxed

4. Bourgeoisie

   • The middle class (Third Estate) demanded more political rights and freedoms because of the Enlightenment

5. Large gap between the rich and poor

   • A small percentage of people are privileged and own land

6. Poor harvests and high bread prices due to inflation

   • Poor wheat harvests led to inflation of bread prices

   • Peasants became hungry because many could not afford it

Social Structure of the Old Regime

1. First Estate: Roman Catholic Church

   • Clergy controlled 10% of the land

2. Second Estate: Rich nobles (aristocrats)

   • Owned 20% of the land

3. Third Estate: Everyone else (middle class, lower class, peasants)

   • No political power

Meeting of the Estates-General

1. Louis XVI called a meeting of the Estates-General to deal with the French debt

   • Representatives from each of the 3 estates came to the meeting

     • Third Estate hoped to receive more political rights and representation

   • Louis XVI wanted to collect even MORE taxes through tax reforms

   • EVERYONE AT THE MEETING WAS UPSET WITH THE KING!!

Spark to the Revolution

1. The Third Estate (mainly leaders of the bourgeoisie) demanded more rights and political power

   • A direct challenge to King Louis XVI

2. Representatives from all the estates voted in a National Assembly to end the absolute monarchy (acted on behalf of France)

Tennis Court Oath

1. Louis XVI locked the Third Estate out of their meeting room

   • Decided to meet at an indoor tennis court to defy the king

     • Argued that they had the right to assemble

   • Representatives from all 3 classes created a constitution (written law) to replace the monarchy!

Results

1. July 14, 1789: Storming of the Bastille (French prison)

   • King’s soldiers are overpowered

   • People took weapons (guns/gunpowder) to protect themselves because Austria was rumored to attack

   • People burned the prison down

2. October 1789 (October March / March on Versailles)

   • Angry women marched on the Versailles to demand bread from the king and queen to feed their children

     • Also wanted to force the royal family back to Paris to answer to the people

The National Assembly

1. When the absolute monarchy of Louis XVI was challenged, the National Assembly swept away the privileges of the clergy (First Estate) and the nobility (Second Estate)

2. Question of Religion

   • The state took control of the Catholic Church

     • Devout peasants started to become scared

3. Louis XVI and his family are caught as they try to flee from France to the Austrian Netherlands

Problems within the New Legislative Assembly

1. The New Constitution ended the absolute monarchy of King Louis XV

2. The Legislative Assembly is given the power to create laws

3. Old problems remain and the government splits into 3 groups

   • Radicals

     • Argued that only common people should rule (Rousseau)

     • Create a democracy

   • Moderates

     • Argued for some change in government

     • Constitutional monarchy with a Parliament (like England - Montesquieu)

   • The Conservatives

     • Supported a strong monarchy (Hobbes)

     • Get rid of Louis XVI and replace him with a new monarch

Possible War with Austria and Prussia Creates Problems

1. European monarchs had declared support for Louis XVI because they feared their own positions

   • The French National Assembly declared war on Austria

2. King Louis XVI and his family are imprisoned after a Parisian mob of women invaded the Royal Palace (The March on Versailles)

September Massacres

1. Parisian mobs murdered prisoners and the New Legislative Assembly moved to dethrone Louis XVI but also set aside the constitution

   • No agreement on what to do with the king or what government to have

     • By 1792, mobs were the real rulers

2. The New Legislature is led by the Radicals who voted to execute the King and Queen

   • They were beheaded publicly by the guillotine

Terror Spreads throughout France

1. Maximilien Robespierre

   • Gained control of new revolutionary government

     • He and his supporters tried to wipe out the entire French nobility (Second Estate)

   • Instituted the Reign of Terror

     • A time when thousands will die by the guillotine

     • Claimed that he needed to get rid of the Second Estate to have democracy by the people

End of the Reign of Terror

1. People lived in fear and became tired of the French executions

2. Robespierre and his supporters are publicly executed by the guillotine

Result of the Reign of Terror

1. A new constitution (3rd) gave power to the upper middle class (Bourgeoisie)

2. The government found a popular general

   • Napoleon Bonaparte

     • Led the army to victory defending France against the Prussians

France under Napoleon

1. Economics

   • Napoleon provided solutions to France’s economic problems

     • Created a centralized ban (easier to collect taxes)

     • Stabilized currency

     • Lowered bread prices to slow inflation

     • Income tax created fair tax codes and equal taxation

2. Military Conquest

   • Napoleon successfully expanded the French empire but wanted to control all of Europe

     • Tried to control St. Domingue in the Americas but the slaves were difficult to suppress

       • Sold Louisiana Territory to the U.S. for $15 million to finance European wars

   • Conquered much of mainland Europe (Austria, Prussia) but was defeated by Britain in the Battle of Trafalgar

3. Education

   • Napoleon created lycees: government-run schools for children of both wealthy and common people

   • Dismissed corrupt officials

   • Merit-based jobs in the government were based on skill and education, not land

4. Women

   • Rights were largely ignored

5. Gained Power

   • Napoleon was able to gain power since the Directory was too weak to stabilize the government of France

     • Coup d-etat

       • Forced seizure of power occurred within the government (supported Napoleon)

     • The New Constitution

       • Napoleon received absolute emergency power without divine right

       • French people had chosen a dictator (ruler with total power over the country)

6. Political System and Laws

   • Voters approved and voted for a Fourth Constitution

   • Napoleonic Code

     • A written set of laws that eliminated many of the injustices but took away many individual rights

7. Religion

   • Napoleon promoted religious toleration

     • Established a concordant with the Pope in 1801

       • Created a relationship between the Church and the state

   • Gained support of organized religion

What Happened to France and Napoleon?

1. France and Napoleon

   • Napoleon was upset after the French defeat to the British Navy at the Battle of Trafalgar

     • The Continental System: a strategy that Napoleon used to try to prevent Great Britain from trading with the rest of mainland Europe

       • Napoleon thought that he could starve the British out by forming a naval blockade

       • The British Navy continued to trade with their colonies in the Americas

Napoleon Showed Weakness

1. The Continental System backfired

   • British Navy defeated the French Navy

     • France could not reach its own colonies overseas

     • The British Navy proved the French could be stopped

2. Napoleon tried to conquer Russia

   • Wanted to control all of Europe

     • French gained land and advanced into Moscow

       • Scorched Earth Policy: Russia burned their crops and land as the French troops advanced

         • Prevented the French from feeding their troops as the winter approached

3. The Peninsular War (Iberia)

   • Napoleon tried to conquer Portugal on the Iberian Peninsula

     • Napoleon’s brother, Joseph, was King of Spain but Napoleon still wanted full control of Portugal

     • As French soldiers approached Portugal from the North, they were ambushed by rogue Spanish guerilla fights

4. Napoleon placed relatives as leaders in countries that were conquered

   • Proved to be weak and corrupt like Joseph

     • Native peoples of these countries revolted against them

Europe Strikes Back Against France

1. Seeing his weakness, Europe united against Napoleon

   • Napoleon was exiled to the island of Elba but staged a combat

     • He escaped in 1815 and returned to France from exile and formed an army

       • Waged war with Prussia and Austria to gain land back but Great Britain and Prussia allied with each other and defeated Napoleon in the Battle of Waterloo

Democracy Lost Ground in Mainland Europe after the French Revolution

1. Europe fell to conservatism (traditions and monarchies) until the 20th century

   • Democracy led to the rise of Napoleon and the Napoleonic Wars

     • People wanted to go back to the way things were before the revolution

2. Napoleon was exiled to St. Helena (An island off the coast of Africa)

   • His body was brought back to France after his death

The Haitian Revolution

The French Revolution inspired revolution in the Caribbean

1. Saint Domingue: French colony (Modern day Haiti)

   • France’s primary colony due to significant exports from cash crop plantations

     • 8,000 plantations: one of the wealthiest colonies in the Americas due to its coffee and sugar exports (Columbian Exchange)

     • Produced 40% of the world’s sugar and 50% of the world’s coffee

Result of the Encomienda System = Social Structure in Haiti

1. A colony population of roughly 570,000 people

   • The majority of the population was composed of slave labor

   • White population

     • Grand Blancs: wealthy plantation owners, lawyers, and merchants

     • Petits Blancs: poor whites

   • 30,000 people were free people of color

Haitian Social Structure

1. The structure resembled the Old Regime in France

   • The French Revolution inspired each social group

   • Grand Blancs wanted greater independence for the colony from France

     • Hoped for less trade restrictions and tariffs

2. Petite blancs

   • Wanted political equality

     • Hoped for citizenship and greater economic opportunities

3. Free people of color

   • Wanted political equality and fair treatment for all people regardless of race

4. Slaves

   • Wanted personal freedom and individual rights

Haitian Revolution

1. 1789: French Revolution

2. 1791: Rumors spread to the Caribbean that the French Kind declared an end to slavery

   • Slaves burned 1000 plantations and killed hundreds of white and mixed-race people on the island

Toussaint Louverture and the Revolution

1. Former slave Toussaint Louverture emerged as the leader of the slave revolt

   • As the revolution progressed, slaves gradually gained power

     • Haiti was the only completely successful slave revolt in world history

2. The slaves created a society in which slaves were given political equality and freedom

   • Became immediate citizens

3. Result: renamed their country Haiti

   • Haiti means “mountainous” or “rugged” in the native language of the original Indigenous people

The Enlightenment inspired further Latin American Independence

1. 1801: Napoleonic Wars

   • France invaded Spain and Portugal in the Peninsular War

     • White Creoles were concerned with Spanish and Portuguese political control of the Americas

       • By 1824, Spanish South America declared its independence and established republics

   • Many led to the rise of caudillos rather than democratic republics

     • The remaining Spanish colonies fell to the U.S. after the Spanish-American War of 1898