LEQ Prompts
Analyze the various effects of the expansion of the Atlantic trade on the economy of Western Europe in the period circa 1450-1700.
Claim: The Atlantic trade grew Western Europe’s economy by producing goods for cheap, but it also caused inflation due to the growing population.
Triangle Trade
A three-way transport of goods: Europe provided guns and textiles, Africa traded enslaved Africans, and the colonies shipped colonial goods like cotton, tobacco, and sugar
Transatlantic Slave Trade
The forced migration of Africans across the Atlantic for slave labor on plantations and in other industries
slave labor made the production of goods like sugar and cotton cheaper
Silver
Spanish Silver Inflation:
Spain’s economy couldn’t meet the demands of its growing population
The influx of silver from the New World contributed to inflation
Prices in Europe doubled or quadrupled from 1560-1600
Debts lessened in value, food costs rose, and money bought less
New Global Economy:
China lead in the demand for silver for production and paying imperial taxes
Japan and New Spain were the main supply of silver
England
Colonial monopolies allowed England to receive goods at cheap prices and re-export them to Europe for higher
Analyze the impacts of the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Reformation on the social order of 16th century Europe.
Claim: The Reformation and Counter Reformation led to having power as an individual and the shift from the Catholic Church’s dominance to state and monarchical power.
Protestant
Name given to followers of Luther, which came to mean all non-Catholic Western Christian groups
95 Theses:
Martin Luther’s paper on the faults of the Church that sparked the reformation
Individual able to challenge authority and able to reject the connection with God through the church and instead through the individual; people can interpret Bible and have relationship with God
Catholic Church
Reaction:
Jesuits/Society of Jesus
Made very few reforms
suppressed protestant ideas
Privileges:
Owned much land
Exempt from taxes and military service
England
King Henry IV made himself head of church, cutting off Pope and gathering profit from churches; also influenced religion, not pope
Country had more control of itself, not controlled by far away power
Analyze the reasons for the decline of the Holy Roman Empire as a force in European politics in the period 1517-1648.
Claim: The Reformation or rise in Protestant faith led to the decline in the Holy Roman Empire because more power was given to individual german states instead of the Emperor or Pope.
Peace of Augsburg
Allowed German states to decide their official religion, which gave them more independence from the Church
Reformation
Divided states into Lutheran and Catholics; division
30 Years’ War
Peace of Westphalia
Gave states sovereignty
Shifted power away from Emperor; France a dominant power
Evaluate the most significant effect of the Enlightenment on European society during the period 1688-1815.
Claim: The Enlightenment’s most significant effect was the questioning of rights and traditional institutions or systems because it changed European society drastically.
John Locke
Life, Liberty, and Property
Limited government
Montesquieu
Separation of Powers
Checks and Balances
French Revolution
Liberty Equality and Fraternity
Declaration of the Rights of Man
Freedom of speech and press
Life, liberty, property
Equality
Napoleon
Napoleonic Code:
system of laws
equality under law
meritocracy
Napoleonic Wars:
claimed to wage war to liberate other countries from oppressive monarchies
established republics in occupied territories
power in people
Evaluate the extent to which the political consequences of Britain’s Glorious Revolution differed from the political consequences of the French Revolution.
Claim: The Glorious Revolution modified existing institutions so its political climate stayed relatively stable, while the French Revolution demolished existing institutions, making their politics chaotic and unorganized.
English Bill of Rights
Mary and William of Orange had to accept a constitutional monarchy
Parliament given more power than they had before
English Parliament
A parliamentary body was already established before the glorious revolution
It consisted of representatives of counties and towns as well as nobles and bishops
It was modified to have more power after the absolutist rule of the Stuart dynasty
Committee of Public Safety/Reign of Terror
Executed political enemies
National Convention
Decided to execute monarchs and provoke war with neighboring countries
caused the Reign of Terror by imposing radical reforms
Infighting between Girondists (moderates and wanted King to live) and Jacobins (radicals and wanted King executed)
Directory
A weak and corrupt government
Did not uphold revolutionary ideals
Political in fighting; royalists vs. radicals
Relied on military and was overthrown by them (Napoleon)
Estates General
France’s representative assembly had not been called on in nearly 2 centuries
The 3rd Estates opinion did not matter
Analyze the ways in which the arts of the Renaissance period reflected new conceptions of the individual.
Claim: The portrayal of human achievement and intellect using realistic art styles reflected the Renaissance’s new conception of the individual.
Mona Lisa
Portrait showcasing individualism
Used sfumato technique, allowing the tones and colors to shade gradually into one another to look realistic/natural
Created by Leonardo da Vinci who was patronized by many, celebrating his individual style and maximization of his potential
Humanism
Focusing on human potential and the present instead of the afterlife
Describe and analyze the influence of the Enlightenment on both elite culture and popular culture in the 18th century.
Claim:
Salons
Public Sphere
Coffee Houses
French or American Rev
Evaluate the most significant motivation for the European voyages of discovery and exploration in the period 1450-1600.
Claim: The significant motivations for European exploration were to discover gold, glory, and god, but gold (can replace with glory or god) was the driving motivation for most countries.
Three Gs
Gold:
Mercantilism: countries wealth measured by amount of gold/silver
Fixed amount of gold and silver so countries competing for that resource
Favorable Balance of Goods: More exports than imports to get more money
Glory:
European countries competing to establish Maritime empires
Colonies in the New World
God:
Due to Reformation, Catholic Church trying to establish influence elsewhere
Jesuits
religion to control and subjugate (South America)
forced labor of indigenous
Analyze various ways in which government policies during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic era contributed to a greater sense of French national identity in the period 1789-1815.
Claim:
Coalition Wars
Us vs. them mentality
Other countries’ monarchies trying to take the rights they fought for so they feel more united against them; common enemy
French pride in spreading revolutionary ideals
Napoleon/ic Wars
Bank of France - national unity and identity
National duty
France vs. Europe
weaponized revolutionary spirit
Evaluate the extent to which the development of political ideologies was affected by industrialization during the period from 1815-1914.
Claim: Some political ideologies were created as a direct response to industrialization and the social changes that came with it, but others were affected by the French Revolution and Napoleon’s radical reforms.