2.  E.D is a difficult term to define  The fundamental difference between them and absolutists like Louis XIV was they were ‘enlightened’  They didn’t believe in divine right  They justified their authority by usefulness to society  ‘servants of the state’ vs ‘I am the state’

3.  E. D. Was secular – claimed no mandate from heaven  It was also rational and reformist  Reconstruct the state by use of reason

4.  They were very suspicious of custom, which didn’t change anything  They wanted results, and acted quickly

5.  Louis XV- a failure  Ran into difficulty raising revenue  Taille – paid mainly by the peasants – nobility exempted  Church land exempt from taxes  French government chronically poor

6.  The taxes that Louis XIV had created were widely evaded  No class wanted to pay direct taxes – elitist attitude  1740s- new tax created – called vingtieme  5% tax on property  Paid by nobles and bourgeiosie

7.  Government tried to raise them, but resisted by French parlement – cited Montesquieu, unconsitutional  Louis dropped the issue

8.  1768 France strapped after 7 Years War  Louis pushed the issue again  He called Maupeou to Chancellorship  Got rid of old parlements  Limited the rights of members to reject bills  This move was the opposite of enlightened depotism

9.  Louis died in 1774, next in line was his grandson Louis XVI  Not a good leader – didn’t want to offend anyone  Abolished Maupeou parlement, restored the old one

10.  Louis XVI sought to pacify the privilidged classes  He did appoint Turgot as head of his ministry and he was good  Best idea was replacing the corvee, which required peasants to work on public roads, with a tax on all classes  But the parlements opposed him – he resigns

11.  The Parlement of Paris would prevent Louis from making any significant changes in France  This would ultimately lead to revolution and Louis losing his head

12.  Best enlightened despot  “I must enlighten my people, cultivate their manners and morals, and make them as happy as human beings can be.”  He simplified and codified many laws, made law courts cheaper, protected religious freedom, elementary education for all children

14.  His main flaw, he wouldn’t consult with anyone – didn’t entrust anything to anyone less capable than himself  “if Newton had to consult with Descartes he would have never discover the Universal law of gravitation”  He didn’t train a successor, and by 1806, Prussia was basically destroyed by Napoleon

15.  Peter the Great (1682-1725)  Tsar, wanted to Westernize Russia  Prior to him, serfdom in Russia very strict  Strict laws against fugitive serfs (15 years)  If a peasant is killed, just give him another  Peasants couldn’t move  Like slavery

17.  Social revolution  Built a huge army – taxed many things  Hats, leather, cellars, coffins, right to marry, wear a beard  Encouraged mercantilism  Required all gentry to put thier sons in school  Sent many abroad to study  First newspaper  Book of etiuette  Don’t spit on floor, take off hat, outlawed beards

18.  Catherine the Great 1762  She was a reformer  Legal codification, restrictions on the use of torture,  She wouldn’t budge on issue of serfdom

20.  Lives still harsh – punished, sold, families broken up, exiling them to Siberia  1773-Rebellion by Emelian Pugachev  He announced himself as true tsar, now returned from travels  Set up his own imperial family, courtiers  He declared serfdom, taxes, and military conscription illegal

22.  Many serfs flocked to his banner  It spread, priests, landlords killed  Pugachev, betrayed by his men, was brought to Moscow in an iron cage, executed by drawing and quatering

23.  Consequence: one of the most violent uprisings in Euro history  Catherine’s response: gave more power to landlords  Serfdom became more rigid, not much different from American slavery

24.  Advertisement: for sale, two plump coachmen, two girls 18 and 15, quick at manual work, two barbers, one knows how to read and write.

25.  In each case, they all had limitations  After enlightened Despotism, monarchy became backward looking