The Woman Question HUM 2052: Civilization II Spring 2011 Dr. Perdigao February 11-14, 2011

Voltaire’s Raison D’État The dynastic or national state (Perry 371) Shift from absolutist to republican, constitutional states by 1800 With absolutist state, power to collect taxes, over foreign policy, publication of books, regulating dress (Perry 371) Cardinal Richelieu, Louis XIII’s chief minister from 1624-1642: “raison d'état” employed by Louis XIII and Louis XIV (Perry 381) Dynastic state, absolutist principles: “centralized bureaucracy; royal patronage to enforce allegiance; system of taxation universally but inequitably applied; and suppression of political opposition, either through the use of patronage or, if necessary, through force” (Perry 383)—seen as negatives More positive characteristics include cultivation of arts and sciences as a “means of increasing national power and prestige”; leads to political stability in France, a uniform system of law, and channels resources into state (Perry 385)

Redefining the state Flaws in Louis XIV’s system—no check on his power and ideas for international conquest; no limit on “State’s capacity to make war or spend money”; policies turn violently aggressive; underestimates England and the Dutch Republic (Perry 382) War of Spanish Succession leads to balance of power in Europe Death of Louis XIV in 1715; treasury bankrupt England’s national unity achieved earlier than any other major European state (Perry 385) English Parliament and constitution in Middle Ages; constitutional monarchy War of the Roses: Tudors’ success, Henry VII (1485-1509) and Henry VIII (1509-1547) After Henry’s death, Edward VI: daughter Mary (1553-1558), tries to return to Catholicism, brutality; Elizabeth I (1558-1603) brings peace and religious stability

Her Majesty Elizabethan period—national identity—as “golden age” Threat of rebellion by Catholic cousin, Mary Queen of Scots Elizabeth “secures” England for Protestant cause (Perry 387); Shakespeare’s plays during the period English Revolutions 1640-1660, 1688-1689 Glorious Revolution changes “political and constitutional reality” Parliament gains right to assemble and vote on taxation, rights to trial by jury (for men of property and social status), Bill of Rights in 1689, religious toleration to Protestants (Perry 391) Led to parliamentary government and rule of law (Perry 391) English revolutions give freedom to propertied, property issues factor in failure of absolutism in England Models adopted by France and US, alternative to absolutism Property: power, placement of women

On Liberty Notion of sovereignty, state’s authority—ending of Candide? Idea of the “state” Human liberty—as Italian creation, in Middle Ages and Renaissance, not in sovereign states in Europe 16th and 17th centuries, liberty rarely discussed—only in writings by Calvinist opponents of absolutism Mid-seventeenth century in England, political thought that “human liberty can be ensured within the confines of a powerful national state: one governed by mere mortals and not by divinely sanctioned and absolute kings” (Perry 397) Republican ideal as alternative to absolutism during European Enlightenment in eighteenth century Revolutions in late eighteenth century, Europeans and Americans repudiated monarchical systems and opted for republics Human rights (Perry 435) Representation of slavery in Candide; in Diderot’s Encyclopedia (1755)

Instilling Enlightenment? Role of women during Enlightenment Salons (Perry 422-423), women as key organizers Training in self-government, self-education, social criticism, leads to social revolutions (Perry 423) Standards of education for girls and women were poor—calls for reform but only by few With industrialization in 1800, women in work force, need for literacy, changes in education Rousseau’s Sophie to Émile—bears burden of “instilling enlightenment” although limited experience of world and education (Perry 433); Kant: women feel and do not reason (Perry 436)

The Perfect Woman (1975, 2004)

The New Stepford?

Anonymity “Sophia,” eighteenth century “Woman Not Inferior to Man” (1739); “Woman’s Superior Excellence over Man” (1740) “will to reason” (245); “pretended authority” (246) England as model, “how much happier a kingdom is” (255), university culture Theodor Gottlieb Von Hippel (1741-1796), East Prussia, writing in sentimental fiction, poetry, hymns, and moral and social treatises “On Improving the Status of Women” (1792) Published anonymously, like Sophia’s “Liberty, this divine spark by means of which we are what we are” (267) “The female sex was deprived of its human rights by no fault of its own, but merely through the great strides forward taken by all human activity and affairs in their advancement toward civilization” (267)

Revolutionary Ideas American Revolution—Locke’s theory of natural rights—power from consent of the government (Perry 447) July 4, 1776, Declaration of Independence American government—rejeting monarhy and hereditary aristocracy (Perry 448) Limitations of liberty and equality—slavery and women denied vote and equal opportunity French Revolution in 1789—shift from Old Regime: three Estates (clergy, nobility, commoners) Connection between Enlightenment and French Revolution—attack on “the pillars of the established order and their appeals for a freer, more tolerant society” (Perry 461) American Declaration of Independence influenced Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (Perry 461) Third Estate calling itself a National Assembly, calling for constitution Fall of the Bastille

Revolutionary ideas Reforms of the National Assembly in 1789: abolition of special privileges; statement of human rights (Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen); subordination of church to state; constitution for France; administrative and judicial reforms; aid for business (Perry 467) Radical stage—1792-1794 September 21 and 22, 1792, national Convention abolished monarchy and established republic (Perry 469) December 1792, Louis XVI placed on trial, executed Jacobins: new constitution (1793), new Declaration of Rights, all adult males the right to vote, never put in effect because of threat of invasion and revolts (Perry 470), but abolished slavery in French colonies and imprisonment for debt, making plans for free public education

New Regime Rise of nationalism Robespierre (1758-1794), served in National Assembly and Jacobin Ideas of reason, good citizenship, and patriotism; men free, equal, and educated (Perry 471) Republic of Virtue to Reign of Terror “To what extent did the feverish passions and the lust for violence demonstrated in the mass executions in the provinces and in the public spectacles in Paris—with vast crowds watching and applauding the beheadings—indicate a darker side of human nature, beyond the control of reason?” (Perry 474) “Did 1793 mark a change in the direction of Western civilization: a movement away from the ideals of the philosophes and the opening of an age of political coercion and ideological fanaticism, which would culminate in the cataclysms of the twentieth century?” (Perry 474) Robespierre guillotined in 1794; new republican government, the Directory 19th century France: examples of liberalism, socialism, conservatism