The Enlightenment and Its Impact on Europe and on European Colonies

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The Enlightenment and Its Impact on Europe and on
European Colonies
Voltaire
Ben Franklin
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A Cultural Explosion in Europe The Renaissance

• Started in the 1400s A.D.
• Europeans became wealthier, mainly through
  increased trade
• This gave them the ability to spend money on
  culture art, architecture, books, drama,
  science, exploration, etc.
• Europeans increasingly felt that they might be
  able to rebuild advanced civilizations to match
  those of the ancient Greeks and Romans

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(you dont need to take notes on this slide!)
Renaissance Art is Often Studied Because it
Demonstrates the Cultural Explosion
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The New Daring of European Renaissance Thinkers
Led to Amazing Accomplishments

• Perhaps most notably, it led to the discovery of
  both a New World and of a set of scientific
  laws explaining the physical world
• Think about the importance of each
• Europeans discovered two whole continents not
  even known by their Greek and Roman idols the
  size of the world was suddenly twice as large
• The careful use of a scientific method of
  thinking based on reason led scientists to
  rewrite the structure of the universe, solving
  lots of mysteries that had always puzzled
  humanity
• Humans now had a nearly perfect understanding of
  all motion on earth and in the heavens
• Clearly, humans were opening a new era of
  limitless possiblities

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William Blakes Newton, 1795
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Post-Renaissance
Pre-Renaissance
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For Many Europeans, (Impressed by their
Accomplishments), European Social Systems Seemed
Antiquated (old or out-dated)

• These thinkers wanted to find a Newton for the
  social sciences
• In other words, a thinker who might unlock the
  secret natural laws of harmonious government
• This movement was known as the Enlightenment

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European Governments at the Time of the
Enlightenment Were Primarily Absolute Monarchies

• The power of these govs came from Divine Right
• This often seemed random or absurd to thinkers
  familiar with the accomplishments of human reason
  in other fields
• Examples (you dont have to write these down!)
• In England, over the space of two hundred years,
  kings were Catholic, then one became a
  Protestant, then his heir became Catholic, then
  Protestant again, then Catholic, then the people
  killed the king because they didnt like him and
  their was a period of military rule, then another
  king took power who was Protestant, then a
  Catholic took over, and then people got rid of
  their king again (without killing him, this time)
  and got a Protestant again.
• Carlos Hechizado (see pic)
• So, could God not make up his mind about what
  religion he wanted England to be? Doesnt this
  seem like an absurd way to run society,
  especially a society that can cross the oceans
  and describe the cosmos?
• Yes.

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The Most Famous Enlightenment Thinkers Proposed
Alternative Models

• Hobbes and Locke both agreed with the Social
  Contract Theory- the idea that governments get
  their power from the people (popular sovereignty)
  rather than from God
• But they disagreed on the right type of gov.
  under this social contract
• Hobbes still wanted an absolute king
• Remember why?
• Lockes ideas led in the direction of democracy
• He thought people had natural rights that no gov.
  can take away
• People have the right of revolution - to
  overthrow a gov. that is not keeping its end of
  the Social Contract
• Montesquieu was worried that any group given
  power would be likely to abuse it, so he argued
  that power should be divided to provide a check
  on the abuse of power- (checks and balances)
• Voltaire argued that freedom of speech was the
  best way to keep a government on good behavior
• If people had the power to criticize the gov.,
  gov. would eventually reform and behave properly

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Meanwhile, European Colonies Were Developing in
the New World

• In most places, Native Americans have been
  ravaged by small pox
• Thus, Europeans in the New World were essentially
  handed (by God, many of them thought) a vast
  amount of land to inhabit
• Do we see why the Americans were in an
  interesting position to break the traditional
  bonds of European absolutist monarchies?

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The British Colonies in North America

• For much of the early history of the British
  colonies, Britain hadnt taken much interest in
  them
• They did not seem immediately useful- in the
  earliest colonies, it was a struggle just to stay
  alive
• There was little to no gold in the British
  colonies- the biggest money-makers were tobacco
  and sugar
• Slowly, it became clear that in the vastness of
  the new continent, great wealth could be made
• Britain Began to Take an Increasing Interest
• But Keep in Mind How Far Away Britain and America
  were in the 18th Century
• 4-6 week trip by boat
• If the Indians attack or there is a mob uprising
  in a colonial city, do you contact Britain to
  find out what to do about it?

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Does the American Revolution start to seem almost
inevitable at this point?