The Enlightenment and Its Impact on Europe and on European Colonies VoltaireBen Franklin

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

(you don’t need to take notes on this slide!) Renaissance Art is Often Studied Because it Demonstrates the Cultural Explosion

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

William Blake’s Newton, 1795

Pre-Renaissance Post-Renaissance

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

European Governments at the Time of the Enlightenment Were Primarily Absolute Monarchies The power of these gov’s came from Divine Right This often seemed random or absurd to thinkers familiar with the accomplishments of human reason in other fields Examples (you don’t 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 didn’t 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? Doesn’t this seem like an absurd way to run society, especially a society that can cross the oceans and describe the cosmos? –Yes.

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? –Locke’s 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

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?

The British Colonies in North America For much of the early history of the British colonies, Britain hadn’t 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 18 th 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?

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