World_History_Volume_2-WEB_LdwoslB-59

Prévia do material em texto

state, which is then charged with maintaining and protecting those rights
Vodou a mix of Roman Catholic and indigenous West African religious practices popular in Haiti
Section Summary
7.1 The Enlightenment
The eighteenth century marked the beginning of a new spirit of intellectual exchange in Europe known as the
Enlightenment. Inspired by the Scientific Revolution’s spirit of critical thinking, the ideas of the Italian
Renaissance, and the legacy of Muslim, Greek, and Indian scientific foundations, the Enlightenment centered
on the role of reason and generated a newfound optimism in philosophical principles such as liberty, rights,
and the rejection of tyranny. Such ideals inspired many members of the upper and middle classes in western
Europe to question the legitimacy of traditional laws, political systems, and religious teachings.
Although the Enlightenment established important foundations for the defense of human rights, its reach was
limited to a relatively small elite. Despite its emphasis on ideals of freedom and liberty, it coexisted with the
oppressive institutions of slavery and colonialism.
7.2 The Exchange of Ideas in the Public Sphere
Over the course of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the public sphere became an increasingly
important component in the spread and development of Enlightenment ideas. As networks of informal
socialization and intellectual exchange, coffeehouses provided a setting in which people from all social
backgrounds who had the luxury of leisure could share ideas and opinions without fear of punishment from
the state or church. Salons likewise served as important centers of philosophical discussion. They also enabled
the small number of women from the upper and middle classes who hosted them to play leadership roles in
the Enlightenment, though guests from less privileged backgrounds were generally excluded. Along with the
emergence of academies, print shops and a flourishing long-distance community of writers, salons and
coffeehouses ensured the development of a public sphere that stimulated the free and open exchange of
Enlightenment ideas.
7.3 Revolutions: America, France, and Haiti
Over the course of the eighteenth century, a series of famines and economic crises deepened wealth inequality
and narrowed access to political power on both sides of the Atlantic. As the growing influence of the public
sphere and Enlightenment ideas of equality and liberty shaped opposition to colonial and monarchical
privilege, the century concluded with a series of revolutionary movements and the adoption of novel
democratic systems.
The American Revolution, which initiated the revolutionary era, launched the foundation of the newly formed
United States of America but established a paradoxical model of political liberty that coexisted with the
institution of slavery. Inspired by the colonists’ victory over the British monarchy, those who led the French
Revolution established a political model based on principles of democratic rights and equality, but they faced
significant challenges due to political factionalism and ongoing economic crises. The Haitian Revolution
resulted in the most radical break from the past by toppling the French colonial government, successfully
challenging the institution of slavery, and creating the new nation of Haiti. However, Haiti faced long-term
economic challenges after France imposed an independence debt on the fledgling nation in 1825.
Although these revolutions reflected a variety of political aims and consequences, each radically reshaped the
political landscape of the Atlantic world by challenging traditional models of monarchical privilege and calling
into question long-standing disparities in wealth and access to political power.
7.4 Nationalism, Liberalism, Conservatism, and the Political Order
As the revolutionary fervor of the eighteenth century faded, a desire to restore order and stability permeated
the political and intellectual atmosphere of Europe. In particular, the ideologies of conservatism, nationalism,
7 • Section Summary 281
and liberalism represented different approaches to protecting the revolutionary gains of the eighteenth
century and temporarily quieting the turbulence of the revolutionary era. These gains were relatively short-
lived, however, as political upheaval once again irrevocably transformed Europe by the middle of the
nineteenth century. In the case of Italy and Germany, the desire for unification prevailed over the desire for
freedom, resulting in the birth of new states. Although the forces of nationalism and conservatism reversed
some democratic gains rooted in notions of the social contract and individual liberty, liberal principles such as
religious toleration and equality before the law continued to exert a powerful influence on the rise of the
modern nation-state.
Assessments
Review Questions
1. What is the form of reasoning that begins with a general theory and arrives at a specific conclusion after
observing a body of information?
a. deductive reasoning
b. inductive reasoning
c. empirical reasoning
d. conjectural reasoning
2. What premise is the concept of natural rights based on?
a. Rights and freedoms are temporary and can be revoked for any reason by political leaders.
b. Rights come into existence only with the creation of human-made laws that derive from a monarch’s
authority.
c. People have fundamental rights that cannot be revoked by human-made laws or political leaders.
d. Animals living in a state of nature should be granted the same rights and freedoms as their human
counterparts.
3. Which philosopher argued that all people are born free in a state of nature, and the government should
exist only by their consent?
a. Thomas Hobbes
b. John Locke
c. Jeremy Bentham
d. Edmund Burke
4. The belief that individuals must accept certain moral and political obligations as members of society is
part of which philosophical concept?
a. the social contract
b. the general will
c. natural law
d. the Zoroastrian tradition
5. Which of the following was not true of European coffeehouses in the eighteenth century?
a. They served as important outlets for news and information.
b. They enabled people from a variety of social backgrounds to acquire an informal education.
c. They were centers of royal power and tightly controlled by monarchs.
d. They had their origins in the cities of the Islamic world.
6. Elite women typically hosted which influential settings for the exchange of Enlightenment ideas?
a. the salons
b. the coffeehouses
282 7 • Assessments
Access for free at openstax.org
c. the academies
d. the royal societies
7. The Republic of Letters refers to which sphere of information exchange?
a. a long-distance community of writers who corresponded with each other across Europe and the
Atlantic
b. the urban areas of western Europe that housed the printshops of the Enlightenment
c. the debates that occurred in the coffee shops of eighteenth-century France
d. the royal libraries of the English monarch
8. What obstacle or obstacles made it difficult for those at the lower end of the socioeconomic ladder to
actively participate in the print culture of the Enlightenment?
a. lack of interest
b. low levels of literacy and a lack of leisure time
c. a widespread shortage of books and other printed materials
d. royal edicts restricting the practice of reading to all but a small aristocratic elite
9. What was a principal cause of the American Revolution?
a. desire to abolish slavery
b. growing support for the enfranchisement of women
c. British efforts to consolidate control over its colonies
d. refusal of colonists to expand westward beyond Appalachia
10. What was a cause of the French Revolution?
a. an economic crisis
b. decolonization
c. the threat of Spanish invasion
d. the acquisition of equal rights for women
11. What was a similarity among the American, French, and Haitian revolutions?
a. the vision of natural rights
b. the pursuit of racial equality
c. the support of theCatholic Church
d. the pursuit of liberty from tyrannical governments
12. What was a key difference between the Haitian Revolution and those in British North America and
France?
a. The Haitian Revolution directly addressed racial inequality.
b. Haiti did not issue a written constitution.
c. The Haitian Revolution was fought by foreign mercenaries.
d. Only Haiti experienced violent battles during its revolution.
13. What was one of the main causes of the Haitian Revolution?
a. the criminalization of Catholicism
b. the desire of poor Whites to abolish slavery
c. slave rebellion against White planters
d. an outbreak of smallpox
14. What was a goal of the Congress of Vienna?
a. to support Italian unification
7 • Assessments 283
b. to develop policies of free-market capitalism
c. to restore the legitimacy of European monarchs
d. to expand rights and liberties throughout Europe
15. What were the four powers of the Quadruple Alliance?
a. Britain, Prussia, Russia, and Austria
b. Italy, France, Spain, and Poland
c. Britain, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales
d. Russia, Poland, Lithuania, and Sweden
16. What was Metternich’s goal in attempting to restore traditional monarchs?
a. encourage a new wave of revolutions
b. enable Austria to become the most powerful nation in Europe
c. expand the scope of natural rights
d. restore the balance of power in Europe
17. The unification of Italy occurred under which political system?
a. monarchy
b. republic
c. dictatorship
d. theocracy
18. To what does the “invisible hand” refer?
a. Napoléon’s approach to leadership
b. unseen forces that regulate the market and economy
c. increased government intervention intended to promote general welfare
d. the legacy of Italian unification
Check Your Understanding Questions
1. How did the principles of the Scientific Revolution influence the Enlightenment?
2. What were some of the global foundations of the Enlightenment?
3. What did the concept of natural rights mean to John Locke?
4. What was the general will, according to Rousseau, and what role did he believe it should play in
government?
5. How did Burke and Bentham each disagree with Locke and other philosophers about the concept of
natural rights?
6. What was the relationship between social contract theory and natural rights?
7. In what ways did women participate in the Enlightenment?
8. How was the public sphere of the Enlightenment influenced by earlier developments in the Islamic world?
9. What role did coffeehouses play in the exchange of Enlightenment ideas?
10. What role did universities play in fostering public debate?
11. To whom were the principles of natural rights actually extended as a result of the American Revolution,
and who was omitted from the extension of such rights?
12. What was Saint-Domingue’s relationship with France prior to the Haitian Revolution?
284 7 • Assessments
Access for free at openstax.org
13. To whom did the leaders of Haiti’s Revolution intend to extend natural rights?
14. Who achieved full rights of citizenship as a result of the French Revolution, and who did not?
15. How did revolutions inspire nationalism, liberalism, and conservatism?
16. Who attended the Congress of Vienna, and what was its purpose?
17. What are the main tenets of liberalism?
18. What are the main goals of conservatism?
Application and Reflection Questions
1. In your opinion, what should be considered natural rights? Why?
2. What were some of the ways in which the rhetoric about rights and freedoms in the Enlightenment was
contradictory?
3. Did the public debates of the Enlightenment represent the general population? Why or why not?
4. How did the public sphere of the salons and coffeehouses intersect with the print culture of the
Enlightenment era?
5. How did the American Revolution, the French Revolution, and the Haitian Revolution each adapt the
principles of natural rights and social contact theory?
6. In your opinion, which of the American Revolution’s achievements and shortcomings are still apparent
today, and how have they shaped the modern world? How do these historical legacies compare with those
of other revolutions of the eighteenth century?
7. How did eighteenth-century revolutions inspire new approaches to political structures and the balance of
political authority?
8. Compare and contrast the goals and ideals of liberalism, nationalism, and conservatism.
7 • Assessments 285
	Chapter 7 Revolutions in Europe and North America
	Section Summary
	Assessments