World History: The Enlightenment and Liberalism

• Second Term World History

The Enlightenment

• An 18th-century intellectual movement that championed reason, science, and individual rights against tradition and absolutism.

Influential Enlightenment Thinkers

• John Locke advocated for natural rights like life, liberty, and property.
• Montesquieu proposed the separation of powers in government.
• Voltaire fought against religious intolerance and defended freedom of thought and expression.
• Rousseau argued that sovereignty resides in the people, not in a monarch.

The Enlightenment's Impact on Revolutions

• Inspired the French Revolution, the Independence of the United States, and other revolutions by promoting equality and liberty.

Liberalism

• A political and economic doctrine that upholds individual freedom, limited government, and free markets.

Adam Smith

• Considered the father of economic liberalism.

Adam Smith's Core Capitalist Principle

• The free market self-regulates through supply and demand.

Liberalism's Role in the French Revolution

• Inspired the abolishment of absolutism and the declaration of citizen rights in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.

Main Causes of the French Revolution

• Social and economic inequality
• Economic and financial crisis
• Influence of The Enlightenment
• Political crisis and discontent against the monarchy

Capitalism

• An economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and free markets.

The Industrial Revolution's Impact on Capitalism

• Mass production, capital accumulation, and market expansion were accelerated.

The Relationship Between Capitalism and the Bourgeoisie

• The bourgeoisie propelled capitalism by controlling the means of production and trade.

The Importance of the Enlightenment to the Bourgeoisie

• The bourgeoisie found support for their economic, political, and social interests in the Enlightenment, which championed reason, liberty, equality before the law, and progress. These ideals challenged the Old Regime founded on absolute monarchy and the privileges of the nobility and clergy.

The Bourgeoisie in the Middle Ages vs. the Modern Age

• In the Middle Ages, they were merchants and artisans, but in the Modern Age, they became a dominant class with economic and political power.

Main Feature of the Feudal System

• Social organization was based on vassalage, where feudal lords granted land in exchange for service and loyalty.

Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

• Promulgated in 1789 in France it inspired the French Revolution
• It laid the foundation for changes leading to the French Revolution.

Rights in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

• Liberty, Equality, Popular Sovereignty, and Private Property.

Article 1 of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

• "Men are born and remain free and equal in rights."

Influence of the U.S. Declaration of Independence

• It inspired the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and various democratic constitutions.

Impact of U.S. Independence on Latin American Independence

• It inspired with ideas of freedom, republic, and popular sovereignty, demonstrating that independence was possible.
• The American Revolution was based on Enlightenment principles, such as popular sovereignty, equality, and natural rights.
• These principles influenced Latin American revolutionaries such as Simón Bolívar, José de San Martín, and Miguel Hidalgo.
• The ideas that colonies had the right to govern themselves, independent of Europe, were spread.

United States Declaration of Independence

• The United States declared independence from Great Britain on July 4, 1776.
• Thomas Jefferson was its main author and it was based on Enlightenment ideas.

Main Purpose of the Declaration of Independence

• To justify the separation of the 13 colonies from Great Britain and to proclaim their right to be free and independent nations.