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The Enlightenment and Democratic Revolution |
Specific Objective: Compare the major ideas of philosophers and their effects on the democratic revolutions in England, the United States, France, and Latin America.
The Enlightenment, an intellectual movement that spread from Europe to America in the 1700s, helped inspire democratic revolutions in Europe, the United States, and Latin America. Key enlightenment writers included Locke, Montesquieu, and Rousseau.
John Locke (England)
Influence: Locke’s ideas influenced Thomas Jefferson, the main author of the Declaration of Independence, the basis of the American Revolution. It stated that people have natural “unalienable rights” and that a government derives its power from the people.
Charles-Louis Montesquieu (France)
Influence: Montesquieu’s ideas influenced James Madison, sometimes called the father of the U.S. Constitution because of his many contributions at the 1787 Constitutional Convention. The constitution separates government powers into three branches.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (France)
Influence: The ideas of Locke and Rousseau influenced Latin-American revolutionary leader Simón Bolívar. Bolívar fought to liberate his country, present-day Venezuela, from Spanish rule. He also led movements for independence and democracy in what are now the nations of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, and Peru.
Directions: Choose the letter of the best answer.
1. The European intellectual movement that emphasized the responsibility of government to protect people’s natural rights was called the
2. The phrase “natural rights” is original to and central to the writings of which philosopher?
3. The Declaration of Independence expresses the philosophy that the power of government comes from
4. Which statement best summarizes the role of government in the social contract?
5. What principle is directly reflected in the division of a government into three branches?
6. The ideas of Locke and Rousseau influenced Simón Bolívar in his commitment to
CALIFORNIA CONTENT STANDARD 10.2.2 | Documents of Democracy |
Specific Objective: List the principles of the Magna Carta, the English Bill of Rights (1689), the American Declaration of Independence (1776), the French Declaration of Rights of Man and the Citizen (1789), and the U.S. Bill of Rights (1791).
Because of their traditions as English citizens, American colonists expected to have the rights granted in England by the Magna Carta and the English Bill of Rights. However, they were often denied these rights, and tensions grew in the colonies, leading toward revolution. Many principles of the earlier British documents continued in the American Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution. In Europe, some of the same principles and traditions carried into the French Declaration of Rights of Man and the Citizen.
Magna Carta (1215. , England)
English Bill of Rights (1689)
American Declaration of Independence (1776)
French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (1789)
U.S. Bill of Rights (1791)
Directions: Choose the letter of the best answer.
1. Which of the following rights in the U.S. Bill of Rights comes from a provision in the Magna Carta?
2. Which statement best summarizes the idea of representative government as it was established in the English Bill of Rights?
3. English colonists in America expected to have representative government in the colonies because
4. The idea that governments get their power from the people they govern is called
5. The American Declaration of Independence and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen both
6. The term “unalienable rights” in the American Declaration of Independence refers to rights that
CALIFORNIA CONTENT STANDARD 10.2.3 | The American Revolution |
Specific Objective: Understand the unique character of the American Revolution, its spread to other parts of the world, and its continuing significance to other nations.
Read the summaries and time line to answer the questions on the next page. The American Revolution was rooted in the belief that people possess natural rights and that government has a responsibility to protect those rights. American Patriots believed that the British government had violated their rights. As a result, they declared their independence from British rule and sought to create their own government.
Key Events in the American Revolution
Unique Success The American Revolution occurred during an era of revolutionary movements. Not all revolutions succeeded in creating stable democracy. For example, after the French Revolution in 1789, France descended into chaos, as people rebelled against many traditions. A dictatorship took over in 1799. By contrast, the American colonists rebelled mainly against British rule. After the revolution, they established laws that protected individual rights balanced with representative national and state governments.
Other Revolutionary Movements The American Revolution was the first of a series of wars for independence that shared some common beliefs. Shared ideas included an emphasis on individual rights and the idea that a government’s power comes from the people.
Directions: Choose the letter of the best answer.
1. A key issue that sparked the colonists to declare their independence from England was
2. Which statement best describes the context in which the Declaration of Independence was issued?
3. John Adams, second U.S. president, said that even before the War for Independence began, “The Revolution was in the hearts and minds of the people.” What is the best way to paraphrase Adams’s meaning?
4. Which document was written before all the others?
5. What is one reason that the American Revolution resulted in a stable democracy, while some other revolutions did not?
6. What feature was shared by the major revolutionary movements of the late 1700s and early 1800s?
CALIFORNIA CONTENT STANDARD 10.2.4 | The French Revolution |
Specific Objective: Explain how the ideology of the French Revolution led France to develop from a constitutional monarchy to democratic despotism to the Napoleonic empire.
Like the American Revolution, the French Revolution of 1789 erupted after years of yearning for freedom and justice. Unlike the American Revolution, the revolutionary movement in France ended not in democracy but in dictatorship. Revolutionaries succeeded in overthrowing the French Old Regime that had divided the people into three unequal social classes, or estates. But old problems of poverty and injustice remained.
Revolutionaries could not agree on solutions and fought to keep control of the country. A period in the early 1790s was known as the Reign of Terror for the mass executions carried out by the revolutionary government’s Committee for Public Safety. Meanwhile, poverty and chaos wearied the nation. Stability came only after the military leader Napoleon Bonaparte seized control as dictator in 1799. His powers as dictator led again to instability, however, continuing for generations. France did not adopt a constitution that guaranteed representative government until 1875. .
Cause and Effect in the French Revolution
Directions: Choose the letter of the best answer.
1. Among the causes of the French Revolution was the
2. In pre-Revolutionary France, estates were
3. Who carried out the “Reign of Terror” in France?
4. Which statement best describes the circumstances in which Napoleon Bonaparte took power?
5. What form of government did Napoleon Bonaparte lead?
CALIFORNIA CONTENT STANDARD 10.2.5 | European Nationalism from Napoleon Until the Revolutions of 1848 |
Specific Objective: Discuss how nationalism spread across Europe with Napoleon but as repressed for a generation under the Congress of Vienna and Concert of Europe until the Revolutions of 1848.
After Napoleon Bonaparte seized control of France in 1799, he went on to expand is power across the continent. By 1812, he controlled much of Europe. However, any of the conquered lands rumbled with nationalism—loyalty to their own nations above all. Nationalists rose to throw off Napoleonic rule. As a result, Napoleon suffered series of significant military defeats from 1812 to 1815. , when his empire came to an and at the Battle of Waterloo.
The Congress of Vienna, 1814–1815.
What and why: A series of international meetings to secure peace across Europe
Who: King Frederick William III of Prussia, Czar Alexander I of Russia, Emperor Francis I of Austria; Foreign ministers from Britain and France; and, most importantly, Klemens von Metternich, foreign minister of Austria
Concert of Europe, c. 1820–1853
What and why: An international alliance that met when peacekeeping issues arose
Who: the “Holy Alliance” of the leaders of Russia, Austria, and Prussia, led by
Klemens von Metternich
Revolutions of 1848
What and why: Uprisings for self-government in France, the Austrian Empire, and the German and Italian states
Who: Nationalists who claimed loyalty to their fellow people rather than royal rulers
Directions: Choose the letter of the best answer.
1. Who was the most important European leader at the Congress of Vienna?
2. Which statement is true of the outcome of the Congress of Vienna?
3. What was the primary concern of the Concert of Europe?
4. The Revolutions of 1848 had a lasting impact because they
5. Which statement would an Austrian nationalist in the 1840s be most likely to make?
6. Germany and Italy became two unified nation-states as a result of