Pump-Up• Recently we talked about absolute monarchs having

total control of the power. As time changes, what do you think the relationship of the government and the citizens will be like?

The Enlightenment

Today’s Vocabulary • Enlightenment– A new movement that stressed reason, thought and the

power of individuals to solve problems.

• Social Contract– Hobbes’s idea that people had to hand over their rights

to a strong ruler in exchange for law and order.

Today’s Vocabulary • Natural Rights– Locke’s idea that everybody is born free and has the

right to life, liberty, and property.

• Separation of Powers– Montesquieu’s idea that the gov’t needs 3 different

branches (executive, legislative, and judicial).

Views on Government • Thomas Hobbes– Believed that without gov’t, life

would be chaos. – Need an absolute ruler to

impose order and demand obedience.

– Social contract

• John Locke– The purpose of gov’t is to

protect your natural rights.– If a gov’t fails to do so, citizens

have a right to overthrow it.

Philosophers Advocate Reason • Voltaire

– Fought for freedom of speech and religion.• “I do not agree with a word you say but will defend

to the death your right to say it.”

• Montesquieu – Believed in separation of powers to keep one

group from gaining total control of the gov’t.

• Rousseau – Wanted a direct democracy and since all people

are equal, titles of nobility should be abolished and land should be equally distributed.

• Beccaria – Argued that people have the right to a speedy

trial and punishments should match the crime.

Women and the Enlightenment • Mary Astell – Believed that women needed

educational opportunities and women should have an equal role in marriage. • “If all men are born free, how is it that

all women are born slaves?”

• Mary Wollstonecraft – Argued that women needed

education and should enter the male dominated fields of medicine and politics.

Legacy of the Enlightenment • Progress– Reformers urged for greater social

equality and a more democratic style of gov’t.

• Secular Views– People began to question their religious

beliefs and the teachings of the church.

• Individualism – People used their own ability to reason

in order to judge what was right or wrong.

A World of Ideas • Salons and the Encyclopedia helped

spread Enlightened ideas. – Attracted the middle class

• Led to censorship of printed materials that were spreading Enlightened ideas.

• Painters showed nobles in charming rural settings, surrounded by happy servants and pets.

• Classical music developed.– Bach and Mozart

• Authors wrote about the unknown and the endless possibilities the world held.

Enlightened Despots • Frederick the Great (Prussia)

– Granted religious freedom, reduced censorship, improved education, and abolished the use of torture.• “The first servant of the state.”

– Did nothing to end the use of serfs.

• Joseph II (Austria)– Introduced freedom of the press and

religion and abolished serfdom.

• Catherine the Great (Russia)– Recommended religious toleration,

abolishing torture and capital punishment.– Favored an end to serfdom until a peasant

revolt occurred.

Reflection

• Explain how the Enlightenment will lead people to change their views on the gov’t.