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Chapter 19 Section 2 The Enlightenment
Main Idea: New ideas about government and society were developed during the Enlightenment
The Age of Reason -S.R. got many people thinking about “reason” -Enlightenment (mid-1600s-1700s) -People started discussing/debating new ideas -Salons (French women social gatherings)
New Views on Government -Thomas Hobbes (1650s) -Wrote “Leviathan” -Need a gov’t to impose order -People should give up some rights in exchange for peace, safety, order -Social contract -John Locke -Wrote “Two Treatises on Government” -People have natural rights -Life, liberty, property -Gov’t should protect people’s rights -Leader chosen by consent of people -Limited by laws -If it doesn’t people have right to overthrow it -Jean-Jacques Rousseau -Wrote” The Social Contract” -Gov’t should work for the common good -People give up some freedoms for the good of the whole -All people are equal -Baron de Montesquieu -Wrote “The Spirit of the Laws” -Separation of powers -Checks and balances
New Views on Society -Voltaire -Wrote about injustices (nobility, gov’t, church) -Fought for toleration, liberty -Denis Deiderot (mid-1700s) -Compiled all new knowledge into a single work “Encyclopedia” -Helped spread ideas all over -Mary Wollstonecraft -Demanded equal rights for women (ahead of her time) -Adam Smith -Wrote “The Wealth of Nations” (1776) -Economic book -Business should take place in a free market economy -Laissez-faire economics -Hands off approach by the gov’t
Enlightenment Ideas Spread -Some monarchs created new system of gov’t -Enlightened despots -Prussia -Frederick II established education system, abolished torture, supported religious tolerance -Reforms limited (restricted Jews) -Russia -Catherine II drafted constitution, code of laws -Didn’t come to reality, but was a start -Austria -Joseph II, eliminated torture, death penalty -Provided support for the poor -Religious tolerance -Abolished serfdom -The Enlightenment was not a single event -Series of changes over generations -Reforms, revolutions |