![Page 1: The Enlightenment and Its Impact on Europe and on European Colonies VoltaireBen Franklin](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062720/56649f1b5503460f94c30d6a/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
The Enlightenment and Its Impact on Europe and on European
Colonies
Voltaire Ben Franklin
![Page 2: The Enlightenment and Its Impact on Europe and on European Colonies VoltaireBen Franklin](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062720/56649f1b5503460f94c30d6a/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
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 (re – birth)!
![Page 3: The Enlightenment and Its Impact on Europe and on European Colonies VoltaireBen Franklin](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062720/56649f1b5503460f94c30d6a/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
(you don’t need to take notes on this slide!) Renaissance Art is Often Studied Because
it Demonstrates the Cultural Explosion
![Page 4: The Enlightenment and Its Impact on Europe and on European Colonies VoltaireBen Franklin](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062720/56649f1b5503460f94c30d6a/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
The New Daring of European Renaissance Thinkers Led to Amazing Accomplishments
• Most notably, it led to the discovery of both a ‘New World’ and 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 possibilities
![Page 5: The Enlightenment and Its Impact on Europe and on European Colonies VoltaireBen Franklin](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062720/56649f1b5503460f94c30d6a/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
William Blake’s Newton, 1795
![Page 6: The Enlightenment and Its Impact on Europe and on European Colonies VoltaireBen Franklin](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062720/56649f1b5503460f94c30d6a/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
Pre-Renaissance
Post-Renaissance
![Page 7: The Enlightenment and Its Impact on Europe and on European Colonies VoltaireBen Franklin](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062720/56649f1b5503460f94c30d6a/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
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
![Page 8: The Enlightenment and Its Impact on Europe and on European Colonies VoltaireBen Franklin](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062720/56649f1b5503460f94c30d6a/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
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
– 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.
• 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.
– Carlos Hechizado (see pic)
![Page 10: The Enlightenment and Its Impact on Europe and on European Colonies VoltaireBen Franklin](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062720/56649f1b5503460f94c30d6a/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
The Most Famous Enlightenment Thinkers Proposed Alternative Models
• Hobbes and Locke both agreed with the Social Contract Theory- the idea that governments should 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
• 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, another Enlightenment philosopher, 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
![Page 11: The Enlightenment and Its Impact on Europe and on European Colonies VoltaireBen Franklin](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062720/56649f1b5503460f94c30d6a/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
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?
![Page 12: The Enlightenment and Its Impact on Europe and on European Colonies VoltaireBen Franklin](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062720/56649f1b5503460f94c30d6a/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
![Page 13: The Enlightenment and Its Impact on Europe and on European Colonies VoltaireBen Franklin](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062720/56649f1b5503460f94c30d6a/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
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 18th 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?
![Page 14: The Enlightenment and Its Impact on Europe and on European Colonies VoltaireBen Franklin](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062720/56649f1b5503460f94c30d6a/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
![Page 15: The Enlightenment and Its Impact on Europe and on European Colonies VoltaireBen Franklin](https://reader036.vdocuments.mx/reader036/viewer/2022062720/56649f1b5503460f94c30d6a/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
Does the American Revolution start to seem almost inevitable at this point?