Impact of Enlightenment and Revolutionary Ideals

The Enlightenment and Its Core Ideals

The Enlightenment included a range of ideas centered on the pursuit of happiness, the sovereignty of reason, and the evidence of the senses as the primary sources of knowledge. It advanced ideals such as liberty, progress, toleration, fraternity, constitutional government, and the separation of church and state.

Political Liberalism and Key Thinkers

Political Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on liberty, the consent of the governed, and equality before the law. Liberals also ended mercantilist policies, royal monopolies, and other barriers to trade, instead promoting free trade and free markets.

Key Authors:

• Montesquieu
• Voltaire
• Rousseau

Enlightened Despotism

Enlightened despotism (or enlightened absolutism) refers to the conduct and policies of European absolute monarchs during the 18th and early 19th centuries who were influenced by the ideas of the Enlightenment, espousing them to enhance their power.

Economic Liberalism

Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology based on strong support for a market economy and private property in the means of production. Economic liberalism is associated with free markets and the private ownership of capital assets.

The American Revolution

The founding of the United States began in the 17th century when groups of European emigrants, mainly from England, had settled on the East Coast of North America. Some had fled political instability and religious persecution in their countries of origin. This was the case of the Pilgrim Fathers, who arrived at the Bay of Massachusetts on board the Mayflower in 1620.

Causes of the French Revolution

1. Social Inequality: France's rigid Estates System.
2. Tax Burden: Heavy taxation placed on the Third Estate.
3. Rise of the Bourgeoisie: The growing influence of the middle class.
4. Enlightenment Ideas: Philosophies put forward by Enlightenment thinkers.
5. Financial Crisis: Debt caused by costly wars.
6. Environmental Factors: Drastic weather and poor harvests in preceding years.
7. Economic Hardship: The sharp rise in the cost of bread.

The Congress of Vienna (1814–1815)

The Congress of Vienna dissolved the Napoleonic world and attempted to restore the monarchies Napoleon had overthrown, ushering in an era of conservatism. During this period:

• Prussia added smaller German states in the west, Swedish Pomerania, and 40% of the Kingdom of Saxony.
• Austria gained Venice and much of northern Italy.