THE FOUNDATIONS FOR REVOLUTION Fiscal Crisis in England and France Rivalries among the European powers intensified in the 1600 and 1700’s Dutch attacked Spanish and Portuguese possessions British checked Dutch commercial and colonial ambitions and went on to defeat France in the Seven Years War (1756–1763) and take over French colonial possessions in the Americas and in India.

THE FOUNDATIONS FOR REVOLUTION Fiscal Crisis in England and France The unprecedented costs of the wars of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries drove European governments to seek new sources of revenue…

THE FOUNDATIONS FOR REVOLUTION Contributions of Enlightenment Philosophy The intellectual environment of the Enlightenment inspired people to question and to protest the state’s attempts to introduce new ways of collecting revenue…

THE FOUNDATIONS FOR REVOLUTION Contributions of Enlightenment Philosophy The Enlightenment thinkers sought to apply the methods and questions of the Scientific Revolution to the study of human society. Classify and systematize knowledge; Search for natural laws that underlie human affairs devise scientific techniques of government and social regulation.

THE FOUNDATIONS FOR REVOLUTION Contributions of Enlightenment Philosophy John Locke Governments were created to protect the people Emphasized the importance of individual rights. Life, Liberty and Property.

THE FOUNDATIONS FOR REVOLUTION Contributions of Enlightenment Philosophy Jean Jacques Rousseau Asserted that the will of the people was sacred Believed that people would act collectively on the basis of their shared historical experience. The Social Contract.

THE FOUNDATIONS FOR REVOLUTION Contributions of Enlightenment Philosophy Voltaire Not all Enlightenment thinkers were radicals or atheists…Voltaire believed that monarchs could be agents of change. Toleration – “I may not agree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

THE FOUNDATIONS FOR REVOLUTION Contributions of Enlightenment Philosophy European Nobility (e.g., Catherine the Great, Frederick the Great) Patronized Enlightenment thinkers and used Enlightenment ideas as they reformed their bureaucracies, legal systems, tax systems, and economies. At the same time, these monarchs suppressed or banned radical ideas that promoted republicanism or attacked religion.

THE FOUNDATIONS FOR REVOLUTION Contributions of Enlightenment Philosophy Intellectuals of the Enlightenment Communicated frequently with each other and with political leaders. Women were instrumental in the dissemination of enlightenment ideas; purchasing and discussing the writings of the Enlightenment thinkers.

THE FOUNDATIONS FOR REVOLUTION Contributions of Enlightenment Philosophy Emergence of the Middle Class in Europe/America European intellectuals saw the Americas as a new, uncorrupted place in which material and social progress would come more quickly than in Europe.

THE FOUNDATIONS FOR REVOLUTION Contributions of Enlightenment Philosophy Ben Franklin Came to symbolize the natural genius and the vast potential of America. Franklin’s success in business, his intellectual and scientific accomplishments, and his political career offered proof that in America, where society was free of the chains of inherited privilege, genius could thrive.

THE FOUNDATIONS FOR REVOLUTION Folk Culture vs. Enlightenment Most people opposed enlightenment philosophy…stayed loyal to former cultural precedents Opposed monarch’s reforms as well…attack on identity or accepted way of doing things Revolution’s occur when there is a combination of popular uprisings that coincide with feuds amongst the elites (philosophical)