Comprehensive Study Guide: The Enlightenment, Atlantic Revolutions, and the Napoleonic Era

The Age of Enlightenment (c. 1700–1900)

• Chronological Scope and Character:

  • The Enlightenment (Panahon ng Kaliwanagan) was an intellectual, cultural, and philosophical movement spanning from the 17th century to the beginning of the 19th century (dating from approximately c. 1700 to 1900).
  • It challenged traditional dogmas, emphasizing human reason, natural rights, governance based on law, and scientific skepticism over absolute authority and ecclesiastical dominance.

• Core Ideological Principles:

  • Human Rights (Karapatang Pantao): The inherent, inalienable moral claims and legal protections possessed by all individuals from birth.
  • Consent of the Governed (Pagpayag): The requirement that state authority, legitimacy, and moral obligation to obey laws stem exclusively from the explicit agreement and consent of the citizens.
  • Separation of Powers (Paghahati ng Kapangyarihan): Division of political governance into three distinct, co-equal branches to prevent autocratic concentration and the abuse of power:
  • Legislative Branch (Tagapagbatas / Lehislatibo): Power is vested in the Congress, divided into an Upper House or Senate (Mataas na Kapulungan o Senado) and a Lower House or House of Representatives (Mababang Kapulungan), as seen in modern democratic frameworks like the Philippine Constitution.
  • Executive Branch (Tagapagpaganap o Ehekutibo): Headed by the President (Pangulo) who is tasked with executing and enforcing laws.
  • Judicial Branch (Tagapaghukom o Hudikatura): Power is vested in a Supreme Court (Kataas-taasang Hukuman) and subordinate lower courts (Mababang Hukuman) tasked with adjudicating legal controversies and interpreting statutes.
  • The Social Contract (Kasunduang Panlipunan):
  • Defined as the mutual compact entered into between citizens and their leaders, establishing reciprocal duties, protections, and institutional legitimacy.

• Major Enlightenment Philosophers and Thinkers:

  • Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet):
  • Vehemently defended religious freedom, free speech, and the institutional separation of church and state.
  • Argued that individual liberty and civil peace require active defense against intolerance, superstition, and state-sponsored religious persecution.

• Jean-Jacques Rousseau:
  • French-Genevan philosopher noted for his influential treatises on education and political theory.
  • Authored fundamental writings on The Social Contract.
  • Posited that humanity in the original state of nature was relatively peaceful, and that legitimate state sovereignty derives directly from the General Will of the collective citizenry.

• Thomas Hobbes:
  • In his masterwork Leviathan, Hobbes argued that humanity's state of nature was solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.
  • Formulated that there is an absolute need for a strong, centralized sovereign authority in order to curb dissension, maintain order, and prevent the destructive evils of civil war.
• John Locke:
  • Posited that all human beings are born naturally equal and free, possessing fundamental natural rights to life, liberty, and property.
  • Formulated the epistemological concept of Tabula Rasa, asserting that the human mind begins as a "blank slate" (malinis na sulatan), shaped entirely through experiential learning, sensory perception, and reflection.

• Mary Wollstonecraft:
  • Pioneering defender of women's rights (Karapatan ng Kababaihan).
  • Established philosophical foundations for the feminist movement (Kilusang Feminism), arguing that women deserve equal moral standing, rigorous education, and civil equality.

• Denis Diderot:
  • Chief organizer and editor of the Encyclopédie.
  • Defined as an exhaustive multi-volume compendium designed to synthesize, organize, and disseminate global human knowledge across multiple fields and arts, systematically structured in alphabetical order.

The Industrial Revolution, Capitalism, and Imperialism

• The Industrial Revolution (Rebolusyong Industriyal):

  • Began in the 18th century, transitioning human labor and manufacturing from artisanal workshops and manual tools to mechanized industrial production powered by new machinery.
  • Chronology of Landmark English Inventions:
  • 1709: Coke-fueled furnace, revolutionizing iron smelting and metallurgy.
  • 1712: Atmospheric steam engine (developed by Thomas Newcomen), providing mechanical pumping power.
  • 1764: Spinning jenny (developed by James Hargreaves), drastically accelerating yarn production in textiles.
  • 1770s: Improvement and refinement of the steam engine by James Watt, creating rotary motion for widespread industrial applications.
  • 1779: Spinning mule (developed by Samuel Crompton), synthesizing yarn-spinning mechanics for high-strength thread.
  • 1780s: Mechanized power loom (developed by Edmund Cartwright), standardizing and speeding automated cloth weaving.
  • 1796: Development of the smallpox vaccine by Edward Jenner, laying foundations for immunology and public health.

• Capitalism (Kapitalismo):

  • Characterized as an economic system known interchangeably as "free enterprise," "private enterprise," or a "free market" economy.
  • An economic organization wherein the essential means of production and distribution (including land, factories, machinery, and railroads) are owned and operated by private individuals and private enterprises rather than by the state.
  • Market mechanisms, supply-demand relationships, and competitive conditions govern manufacturing decisions, resource allocation, price indices, wage rates, and profits.
  • The Bourgeoisie (Burges / Bourgeois):
  • Etymologically derived from the French term for "town or city dweller" (taga bayan o lungsod).
  • The socioeconomic urban merchant and business class whose wealth and social standing derived from commerce, manufacturing, trade, and industrial ownership rather than feudal landholding.

• Colonialism versus Imperialism:

  • Colonialism (Kolonyalismo): The direct acquisition, physical settlement, and political domination of foreign territories by a powerful nation through founding administrative colonies, subjugating indigenous populations, and imposing foreign cultural, religious, and economic structures.
  • Imperialism (Imperyalismo): The overarching ideological concept, state strategy, or foreign policy of projecting national power, coercion, and influence to assert dominance over foreign territories and states. Colonialism acts as a practical mechanism that operates within the broader conceptual umbrella of imperialism.
  • Primary Methods and Expressions of Imperialism:
  1. Use of Military Force (Paggamit ng lakas na militar): Armed conquest, naval bombardments, punitive expeditions, and physical subjugation.
  2. Use of Diplomacy (Paggamit ng diplomasya): Unequal treaties, coerced alliances, spheres of influence, and state negotiations.
  3. Use of Cultural Dominance (Paggamit ng kultura): Linguistic imposition, ideological schooling, religious conversion, and systemic displacement of native traditions.

The American Revolution (1764–1776)

• Core Conflict and Scope:
  • A war waged between Great Britain and the original Thirteen British Colonies established along the Atlantic coast of North America.
  • Rooted in British colonial extraction, unilateral administrative acts, economic restrictions, and ideological demands for political representation and natural rights.

• The Thirteen Original Colonies:

  • Virginia: Established prior to the northern settlements.
  • Massachusetts (1620): Founded by English religious dissenters at Plymouth.
  • New Hampshire (1623)
  • Maryland (1634)
  • Connecticut (1635)
  • Rhode Island (1636)
  • Delaware (1638)
  • North Carolina (1653)
  • South Carolina (1663)
  • New Jersey (1664)
  • New York (1664): Formerly the Dutch colony of New Netherlands.
  • Pennsylvania (1682)
  • Georgia (1732)

• Catalysts and Causes of the Revolution:

  • The Seven Years' War: A costly worldwide war that left the British Empire with enormous public debt, driving parliament to extract direct revenue from the American colonies through systematic statutory taxation.
  • The Sugar Act (1764): Promulgated under British Prime Minister George Grenville; levied duties on foreign sugar, molasses, and associated imported commodities including coffee and wine.

• The Currency Act (1764): Prohibited colonial legislatures from printing and issuing paper money, forcing colonists to pay imperial taxes, duties, and private debts using scarce gold and silver bullion.

• The Quartering Act (1765): Mandated that colonial municipalities and citizens supply adequate housing, food, and basic necessities for British troops garrisoned within the colonies.

• The Stamp Act (1765): Enacted universal direct taxation mandating that all legal contracts, diplomas, newspapers, pamphlets, court documents, and published papers carry an embossed imperial tax stamp purchased with British coin.
• Colonial Outcry and Resistance:
  • The constitutional motto "No taxation without representation" became a unifying cry, popularized by Patrick Henry, arguing that unrepresented colonists could not be legally taxed by a distant Parliament.
  • Patrick Henry also proclaimed the radical revolutionary maxim: "Give me liberty or give me death!"
  • The Sons of Liberty: A clandestine resistance network founded by Samuel Adams in 1765 to actively organize civil resistance, boycotted goods, and oppose imperial tax decrees.

• Escalation: The Boston Tea Party and the Intolerable Acts (1773–1774):

  • Following colonial opposition culminating in the Boston Tea Party, Great Britain imposed punitive retaliatory measures known as the Intolerable Acts or Coercive Acts:
  • Boston Port Act: Closed Boston Harbor to all commercial traffic until the colonists fully repaid the dumped British East India Company tea cargo, an amount evaluated at roughly $\$1{,}000{,}000$ in contemporary currency.
  • Massachusetts Government Act: Dissolved the self-governing colonial charter of Massachusetts, subordinated the Massachusetts council, and placed judicial and executive appointments directly under the British Parliament and military crown governor.
  • Administration of Justice Act: Provided that British royal officers or soldiers accused of crimes and offenses in Massachusetts could have their trials relocated to other colonies or directly to Great Britain.
  • Quartering Act (Expanded): Empowered royal military authorities to billeted British regulars in abandoned properties, commercial buildings, and empty structures across the colonies.

• Outbreak of War and Organized Governance:

  • First Continental Congress (September 5 – October 26, 1774):
  • Convened in Philadelphia under the presidency of Peyton Randolph.
  • Attended by delegates from $12$ colonies; Georgia declined to participate.
  • Drafted appeals and declarations asserting colonial economic and political rights.

• Outbreak of Armed Skirmishes (April 19, 1775): First armed clashes erupted between local colonial militia forces and British regular troops (Redcoats or red coats).

• Second Continental Congress (May 10, 1775):
  • Convened under the presidency of John Hancock with delegates present from all $13$ colonies.
  • Established the Continental Army as a unified revolutionary military force.
  • Appointed General George Washington as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army.

• Battle of Bunker Hill (June 17, 1775): Fought in Massachusetts between colonial forces and British Redcoats; British troops successfully seized the position, but suffered heavy casualties.
• Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776):
  • Formally ratified in Congress by representatives of the United States of America.
  • Asserted natural rights: that all men are created equal, endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights including Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.
  • Established that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, asserting the right and duty of a people to alter, abolish, and replace despotic systems.

The French Revolution (1789–1799)

• Onset of Financial and Political Crisis:
  • Convocation of the Estates-General (May 1789): King Louis XVI summoned the representative body of the three estates (First Estate: Clergy; Second Estate: Nobility; Third Estate: Commoners and Bourgeoisie) at the Palace of Versailles to address France's severe state bankruptcy and fiscal deficits.

• The Constitutional and Popular Revolution:
  • Formation of the National Assembly (June 17, 1789): Confronting procedural deadlocks over per-capita voting, delegates of the Third Estate constituted themselves as the National Assembly, attracting sympathetic reform-minded members from the clergy and nobility.
  • The Tennis Court Oath (June 20, 1789): Barred from their assembly hall, deputies convened on an indoor tennis court, swearing a solemn oath never to separate until they had written a constitution for France.
  • The Palace of Versailles (Palasyo ng Versailles): The opulent royal seat of the Bourbon monarchy, currently a historic state landmark and tourist destination.

• Fall of the Bastille (July 14, 1789): Insurgent Parisian citizens besieged and seized the medieval royal fortress and prison of the Bastille, an armory and symbol of royal despotism.
• Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (August 26, 1789):
  • Proclaimed fundamental rights, civil liberties, and legal equality for all male citizens.
  • Enshrined the triadic revolutionary motto: Liberté, égalité, fraternité.
    • Liberté (Kalayaan): Freedom; the natural right of an individual to act without arbitrary oppression.
    • Égalité (Pagkakapantay-pantay): Equality; uniform status and protection of all persons before the law.
    • Fraternité (Pagkakapatiran): Brotherhood; social solidarity and mutual fellowship across the nation.

• Promulgation of the Constitution of 1791: Established a constitutional monarchy that formally restricted the executive prerogatives and absolute powers of the king.

• Radicalization, the Terror, and Republican Reorganization:
  • Abolition of the Monarchy and Founding of the Republic (1792): The National Convention abolished the Bourbon crown and proclaimed the French First Republic.
  • Execution of Louis XVI (January 21, 1793): Found guilty of high treason against the state, King Louis XVI was executed by guillotine.

• The Reign of Terror / Panahon ng Terror (1793–1794):
  • A phase of severe revolutionary purges, political surveillance, and widespread executions directed at suspected internal enemies and counter-revolutionaries.
  • Led by Maximilien Robespierre through the Committee of Public Safety.
• Fall of Robespierre (1794): Facing rising political fear, the Thermidorian Reaction toppled Robespierre; he was arrested and executed by guillotine.

• The Directory (1795): A moderate five-member executive council established to govern France, struggling against internal corruption, inflation, and external military pressures.

The Napoleonic Era and the Napoleonic Wars (1799–1815)

• Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte:

  • Born in 1769 on the Mediterranean island of Corsica, Italy.
  • Educated in French military schools; advanced through merit to the rank of Lieutenant (tinyente) during the French Revolution.
  • Demonstrated exceptional battlefield strategy, earning promotion to General at the young age of $27$.
  • Coup d'État of 18 Brumaire (1799 / December 1799): Conducted a sudden, illegal military takeover of state power (kudeta), dismantling the Directory and establishing the Consulate with himself as First Consul, marking the formal end of the French Revolution.
  • Coronation as Emperor (1804): Elevated himself and was crowned Emperor of France.

• The Napoleonic Code (Civil Code of 1804):

  • A standardized, unified civil legal code applied across the French Empire.
  • Enshrined principles of the French Revolution, emphasizing universal equality before the law, meritocracy, and religious toleration.
  • Contained significant social restrictions, severely curtailing the legal rights, financial autonomy, and domestic liberties of women.

• Major Campaigns and Military Expeditions:

  • Battle of Austerlitz (1805):
  • Also designated the "Battle of the Three Emperors."
  • Napoleon achieved a decisive tactical victory against the combined armies of the Austrian Empire and the Russian Empire.
  • Dynastic Alliance (March 11, 1810):
  • Napoleon married his second wife, Marie Louise, Archduchess of Austria.
  • The union produced one son and imperial heir: Napoleon Francis Joseph Charles.
  • The Russian Campaign (1812):
  • Napoleon launched a massive invasion of the Russian Empire.
  • Out of an invading army of $600{,}000$ soldiers, only $180{,}000$ managed to survive and return due to scorched-earth tactics, winter cold, and logistics collapse.
  • Battle of Leipzig / Battle of the Nations (1813): A combined coalition of European powers defeated Napoleon's depleted army in Germany.

• Downfall, Restorations, and Final Defeat:

  • Abdication and First Exile (1814): Allied coalition forces captured Paris, forcing Napoleon to abdicate the imperial throne; King Louis XVIII (the uncle of executed King Louis XVI) assumed the restored Bourbon throne; Napoleon was banished to the Mediterranean island of Elba.
  • The Hundred Days (1815): Escaped from Elba, returned to mainland France, rallied military forces, and reclaimed the imperial throne for a brief reign lasting $100$ days.
  • Battle of Waterloo (June 1815): Napoleon's final military defeat against allied coalition armies commanded by the British Duke of Wellington and Prussian Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher.
  • Second Exile and Death (May 5, 1821): Imprisoned on the remote South Atlantic island of Saint Helena, where he remained until his death on May 5, 1821.
  • Strategic Maxim: Famous quote attributed to Napoleon: "Never interrupt your enemy when he is making mistake."
  • The Concert of Europe: Following two decades of warfare across the continent, European powers established a multilateral diplomatic alliance system to maintain monarchical stability, manage the continental balance of power, and suppress revolutionary uprisings.