AP World 18.5
During the first half of the 18th century, several basic changes continued in western Europe. The impact of absolutism and the parliamentary monarchies persisted, although outright political inno- vation slowed. Commercial changes, however, began to have even wider results, with an important expansion of manufacturing; new agricultural developments added an important element. Europe's cultural transformation, at both elite and popular levels, continued as well, with growing implications for political and social life. The Enlightenment, building on the earlier scientific revolution, had par- ticularly important results on Europe and, ultimately, other parts of the world.
Political Patterns
During much of the 18th century, English politics settled into a parliamentary routine in which key political groups competed for influence without major policy differences. Absolute monarchy in France changed little institutionally, but it became less effective. It could not force changes in the tax structure that would give it more solid financial footing because aristocrats refused to surrender their traditional exemptions.
Political developments were far livelier in central Europe. In Prussia, Frederick the Great, build- ing on the military and bureaucratic organization of his predecessors, introduced greater freedom of religion while expanding the economic functions of the state. His government actively encouraged better agricultural methods; for example, it promoted use of the American potato as a staple crop. It also enacted laws promoting greater commercial coordination and greater equity; harsh traditional punishments were cut back. Rulers of this sort claimed to be enlightened despots, wielding great authority but for the good of society at large.
Enlightened or not, the policies of the major Western nation-states produced recurrent warfare. France and Britain squared off in the 1740s and again in the Seven Years War (1756–1763); their conflicts focused on battles for colonial empire. Austria and Prussia also fought, with Prussia gaining new land. Wars in the 18th century were not devastating, but they demonstrated the continued linkage between statecraft and war that was characteristic of the West.
Enlightenment Thought and Popular Culture
In culture, the aftermath of the Scientific Revolution spilled over into a new movement known as the Enlightenment, centered particularly in France but with adherents throughout the Western world. Enlightenment thinkers continued to support scientific advance. Although there were no Newton-like breakthroughs, chemists gained new understanding of major elements, and biologists developed a vital new classification system for the natural species.
The Enlightenment also pioneered in applying scientific methods to the study of human society, sketching the modern social sciences. The basic idea was that rational laws could describe social as well as physical behavior and that knowledge could be used to improve policy. Thus, criminolo- gists wrote that brutal punishments failed to deter crime, whereas a decent society would be able to rehabilitate criminals through education. Political theorists wrote about the importance of carefully planned constitutions and controls over privilege, although they disagreed about what political form was best. A new school of economists developed. In his classic book Wealth of Nations, Scottish phi- losopher Adam Smith set forth a number of principles of economic behavior. He argued that people act according to their self-interest but, through competition, promote general economic advance. Government should avoid regulation in favor of the operation of individual initiative and market forces. This was an important statement of economic policy and an illustration of the growing belief that general models of human behavior could be derived from rational thought.
Single individuals could sum up part of the Enlightenment's impressive range. Denis Diderot (1713-1784) was a multifaceted leader of the French Enlightenment, best known for his editorial work on the Encyclopédie that compiled scientific and social scientific knowledge. Trained initially by the Jesuits, Diderot also wrote widely on philosophy, mathematics, and the psychology of deaf-mutes and also tried his hand at literature. An active friend of other philosophers, Diderot also traveled to foreign courts as advisor and visiting intellectual. He visited Catherine the Great of Russia in 1773-1774, for example, to thank her for generous patronage.
More generally still, the Enlightenment produced a set of basic principles about human affairs: Human beings are good, at least improvable, and they can be educated to be better; reason is the key to truth, and religions that rely on blind faith or refuse to tolerate diversity are wrong. Enlightenment thinkers attacked the Catholic Church with particular vigor, because it seemed to support older super- stitions while wielding political power. Progress was possible, even inevitable, if people could be set free. Society's goals should center on improving material and social life.
Although it was not typical of the Enlightenment's main thrust, a few thinkers applied these gen- eral principles to other areas. A handful of socialists argued that economic equality and the abolition of private property must become important goals. A few feminist thinkers, such as Mary Wollstonecraft (Figure 18.4) in England, argued-against the general male-centered views of most Enlightenment think- ers-that new political rights and freedoms should extend to women. Several journals written by women for women made their first appearance during this extraordinary cultural period. Madame de Beau- mere took over the direction of the French Journal des Dames from a man, and in Germany, Marianne Ehrmann used her journal to suggest that men might be partly to blame for women's lowly position.
The popularization of new ideas encouraged further changes in the habits and beliefs of many ordinary people. Reading clubs and coffeehouses allowed many urban artisans and businessmen to discuss the latest reform ideas. Leading writers and compilations of scientific and philosophical find- ings, such as the Encyclopaedia Britannica, won a wide audience and, for a few people, a substantial fortune from the sale of books.
Other changes in popular outlook paralleled the new intellectual currents, although they had deeper sources than philosophy alone. Attitudes toward children began to shift in many social groups. Older methods of physical discipline were criticized in favor of more restrained behavior that would respect the goodness and innocence of children. Swaddling-wrapping infants in cloth so they could not move or harm themselves-began to decline as parents became interested in freer movement and greater interaction for young children. Among wealthy families, educational toys and books for children reflected the idea that childhood should be a stage for learning and growth.
Family life generally was changed by a growing sense that old hierarchies should be rethought and revised toward greater equality in the treatment of women and children in the home. Love between family members gained new respect, and an emotional bond in marriage became more widely sought. Change affected older children as well: Parents grew more reluctant to force a match on a son or daughter if the emotional vibrations were not right. Here was a link not only with Enlightenment ideas of proper family relations but with novels such as Richardson's Pamela that poured out a sentimental view of life.
Cultural changes during the 18th century were complex. They included continued religious vitality, as new groups like Methodists helped stimulate piety. Three points, however, stand out. First, mainly through the Enlightenment, many popular attitudes, as well as purely intellectual interests, were changing. Beliefs in magic, for example, began to decline. Second, in establishing a culture favor- able to material progress, the Enlightenment helped set up a climate for further change in the West. And third, some Enlightenment ideas, like that notion that all people shared a fundamental rationality and human worth, had implications that spilled beyond Europe. Already in 1750, for example, new agitation began to develop against the institution of slavery, in the name of basic rights.
Ongoing Change in Commerce and Manufacturing Ongoing economic change paralleled changes in popular culture and intellectual life. Commerce continued to spread. Ordinary Westerners began to buy processed products, such as refined sugar and coffee or tea obtained from Indonesia and the West Indies, for daily use. This was a sign of the growing importance of Europe's new colonies for ordinary life and of the beginnings of mass consumerism in Western society. The growing popularity of cotton textiles spread more widely, giving even relatively poor people the chance to express a sense of style. Theft of clothing increased in the 18th century, a clear indication of new consumer priorities. Another sign of change was the growing use of paid professional entertainment as part of popular leisure, even in rural festivals. Circuses, first introduced in France in the 1670s, began to redefine leisure to include spectatorship and a taste for the bizarre.
Agriculture began to change. Until the late 17th century, western Europe had continued to rely largely on the methods and techniques characteristic of the Middle Ages-a severe economic con- straint in an agricultural society. The three-field system still meant that a full third of all farmland was left unplanted each year to restore fertility. First in the Netherlands and then elsewhere, new procedures for draining swamps added available land. Reformers touted nitrogen-fixing crops to reduce the need to leave land idle. Stockbreeding improved, and new techniques such as seed-drills and the use of scythes instead of sickles for harvesting increased productivity. Some changes spread particularly fast on large estates, but other changes affected ordinary peasants as well. Particularly vital in this category was the spread of the potato from the late 17th century onward.
A New World crop, the potato had long been shunned because it was not mentioned in the Bible and was held to be the cause of plagues. Enlightened government leaders, and the peasants' desire to win greater economic security and better nutrition, led to widespread use of this crop. In sum, the West improved its food supply and agricultural efficiency, leaving more labor available for other pursuits.
These changes, along with the steady growth of colonial trade and internal commerce, spurred increased manufacturing. Capitalism-the investment of funds in hopes of larger profits-also spread from big trading ventures to the production of goods. The 18th century witnessed a rapid spread of household production of textiles and metal products, mostly by rural workers who alternated manufac- turing with some agriculture. Here was a key use of labor that was no longer needed for food. Hundreds of thousands of people were drawn into this domestic system, in which capitalist merchants distributed supplies and orders and workers ran the production process for pay. Although manufacturing tools were still operated by hand, the spread of domestic manufacturing spurred important technological innovations designed to improve efficiency. In 1733, John Kay in England introduced the flying shuttle, which permitted automatic crossing of threads on looms; with this, an individual weaver could do the work of two. Improvements in spinning and the mechanized printing of cotton cloth soon followed as the Western economy began to move toward a full-fledged Industrial Revolution (see Chapter 24). Human changes accompanied and sometimes preceded technology. Around 1700, most manufac- turers who made wool cloth in northern England were artisans, doing part of the work themselves. By 1720, a number of loom owners were becoming outright manufacturers with new ideas and behaviors. How were manufacturers different? They spent their time organizing production and sales rather than doing their own work. They moved work out of their homes. They stopped drinking beer with their workers. And they saw their workers as market commodities, to be treated as the conditions of trade demanded. In 1736, one such manufacturer coolly wrote that because of slumping sales, “I have turned off [dismissed] a great many of my makers, and keep turning more off weekly.”
Finally, agricultural changes, commercialism, and manufacturing combined, particularly after about 1730, to produce a rapidly growing population in the West. With better food supplies, more people survived, particularly with the aid of the potato. Furthermore, new manufacturing jobs helped landless people support themselves, promoting earlier marriage and sexual relationships. Population growth, in turn, promoted further economic change, heightening competition and producing a more manipulable labor force. The West's great population revolution, which continued into the 19th century, both caused and reflected the civilization's dynamism, although it also produced great strain and confusion.
Innovation and Instability
By the 18th century, the various strands of change were increasingly intertwined in Western civi- lization. Stronger governments promoted agricultural improvements, which helped prod popula- tion growth. Changes in popular beliefs were fed by new economic structures; both encouraged a reevaluation of the family and the roles of children. New beliefs also raised new political challenges. Enlightenment ideas about liberty and fundamental human equality could be directed against existing regimes. New family practices might have political implications as well. Children, raised with less adult restraint and encouraged to value their individual worth through parental love and careful education, might see traditional political limitations in new ways.
There was no perfect fit, no inevitable match, in the three strands of change that had been trans- forming the West for two centuries or more: the commercial, the cultural, and the political. However, by 1750 all were in place. The combination had already produced an unusual version of an agricultural civilization, and it promised more upheaval in the future.
Summary:
In the first half of the 18th century, Western Europe experienced significant changes characterized by a blend of continued absolutism and parliamentary politics, commercial expansion, agricultural innovations, and a cultural transformation driven by Enlightenment ideals, ultimately laying the groundwork for future upheaval and societal evolution.
Changes in Western Europe (18th Century)
General Overview:
Continued influence of absolutism and parliamentary monarchies.
Commercial changes lead to expansion of manufacturing and new agricultural developments.
Cultural transformation influenced political and social life, particularly through the Enlightenment.
Political Patterns
England:
Political routine established with key groups competing for influence without major policy differences.
France:
Absolute monarchy remains but becomes less effective; aristocracy resists tax reforms.
Central Europe (Prussia):
Frederick the Great: Introduced religious freedom and agricultural advancements, e.g., use of American potato as staple crop.
Enacted laws for commercial coordination and reduced harsh traditional punishments.
Military Conflicts:
Ongoing wars, particularly between France and Britain, and Austria and Prussia, yet not devastating.
Enlightenment Thought and Popular Culture
Enlightenment Movement:
Emerged post-Scientific Revolution, primarily in France, but with global influence.
Advocated for scientific advancement and rational laws in human society.
Notable Figures:
Adam Smith: Economic principles in "Wealth of Nations." Advocated minimal government regulation.
Denis Diderot: Key figure in French Enlightenment known for editing the "Encyclopédie."
Core Principles:
Improvement of humanity through education and reason; critique of the Catholic Church and superstition.
Social goals oriented towards improving material and social life.
Application of Principles:
Rise of feminist thought (Mary Wollstonecraft) advocating for women’s rights.
Increase in women's publications and discussions on gender equality.
Cultural Shifts:
Changes in family dynamics, child-rearing practices, and attitudes towards women.
Growing presence of coffeehouses and reading clubs facilitating dialogue on new ideas.
Economic and Agricultural Changes
Commerce:
Expansion of trade leading to increased consumerism; processed goods become widely available.
Agricultural Development:
Shift from medieval methods to improved techniques (crop rotation, introduction of new crops like the potato).
Improved agricultural productivity facilitating labor shifts toward manufacturing.
Manufacturing Growth:
Rise of domestic production; emergence of capitalism and technological innovations (e.g., flying shuttle by John Kay).
Innovation and Instability
Interconnected Changes:
Population growth spurred by improved food supply and new jobs.
Enlightenment ideas regarding liberty and equality influence political and family structures.
Outcome by 1750:
A complex agricultural civilization that set the stage for future upheaval and transformation.