Unit 5: Revolutions

Enlightenment

A 17th–18th century European intellectual movement emphasizing reason and observation to study and improve society; it produced political ideas later used to challenge older regimes.

Divine Right

The belief that monarchs are ordained by God to rule and that subjects have a moral/religious duty to obey them.

Mandate of Heaven

A Chinese legitimizing tradition holding that rulers must govern justly to retain legitimacy; unjust rule can forfeit the mandate.

Natural Rights

Rights believed to belong to all humans by virtue of being human (not granted by governments); governments are expected to protect them.

Social Contract

The idea that government is formed by an agreement among the governed to protect people and maintain order; authority is not based on divine decree.

Popular Sovereignty

The principle that legitimate political authority comes from “the people,” making rulers accountable to the nation/citizenry rather than inheritance.

Separation of Powers

A governmental design that divides power among branches with distinct roles to prevent tyranny by any single institution.

Equality Before the Law

The idea that laws should apply equally to all citizens, undermining legal privileges for estates such as nobles or clergy (not necessarily social/economic equality).

General Will

Rousseau’s concept that legitimate government expresses the collective will of the community while preserving freedom.

Empiricism

An approach emphasizing knowledge based on observation and evidence; associated in the notes with David Hume’s skepticism toward unsupported religious claims.

Religious Toleration

The policy/idea that people should be allowed to practice different religions without persecution; associated with Voltaire.

Invisible Hand

Adam Smith’s argument that markets can regulate economic activity through individuals pursuing self-interest, supporting classical liberal economics.

Laissez-faire

An economic view favoring minimal government interference in the economy; often justified using Adam Smith–style market arguments.

Enlightened Monarch

A ruler who selectively adopted Enlightenment-inspired reforms (e.g., toleration or justice reforms) while maintaining monarchical power.

Atlantic Revolutions

A wave of late 18th–early 19th century upheavals across North America, the Caribbean, Europe, and Latin America shaped by Enlightenment ideas, fiscal crises, inequality, and transatlantic communication.

Revolution (political meaning)

A movement that changes the rules of legitimacy (e.g., toward constitutions, citizenship, rights), not merely replacing one ruler with another.

Constitutionalism

The idea that government authority should be defined and limited by a written constitution and rule-based institutions.

Taxation Without Representation

A colonial American claim that British taxes were illegitimate because colonists lacked representation in Parliament, framed as a rights-based grievance.

Declaration of Independence

A U.S. revolutionary document that justified independence using rights-based arguments drawn from Enlightenment ideas.

United States Constitution

The foundational framework for U.S. government after independence, designed to structure authority and limit power (including checks on tyranny).

Estates-General

A French representative body called by Louis XVI in 1789 to address fiscal crisis; it helped trigger the political breakdown that led to revolution.

National Assembly

The body formed by Third Estate representatives in 1789, asserting that sovereignty resided in the nation rather than the king.

Tennis Court Oath

An early French Revolution moment in which representatives vowed not to disband until a constitution was established, signaling national/popular sovereignty.

Storming of the Bastille

A pivotal popular uprising in 1789 that became a symbol of challenging royal authority in the French Revolution.

Declaration of the Rights of Man

A 1789 French document articulating a rights-based foundation for legitimacy and reshaping political expectations about citizenship and law.

Jacobins

A radical faction during the French Revolution associated with republicanism and more sweeping changes, influential during the revolution’s violent phase.

Committee of Public Safety

A French revolutionary body created by the Convention to enforce revolutionary policy and repress perceived enemies during radicalization.

Reign of Terror

The period of intense political repression and executions during the French Revolution, closely associated with revolutionary “emergency” governance.

Directory

The post-Terror French government (often described as a five-man executive) that relied heavily on the military, helping enable Napoleon’s rise.

Napoleon Bonaparte

The French leader who overthrew the Directory in 1799, preserving some revolutionary reforms while establishing authoritarian rule and pursuing conquest.

Napoleonic Code

A standardized legal code (1804) that recognized equality of men before the law in principle while reinforcing patriarchal authority and state control.

Congress of Vienna

The 1814–1815 diplomatic meeting after Napoleon’s defeat aimed at restoring stability in Europe and containing revolutionary disruption.

Balance of Power

A principle emphasized at the Congress of Vienna to prevent any single European state from dominating the continent.

Haitian Revolution

The 1791–1804 revolution in Saint-Domingue (Haiti) that overthrew racial slavery and created the first independent Black republic in the Atlantic world.

Toussaint Louverture

A key Haitian revolutionary leader noted for navigating military conflict and political strategy during the long struggle for liberation.

Jacques Dessalines

A Haitian revolutionary leader who became a leading figure in the independent state after 1804 (often described as governor-general/emperor early on).

Creole Nationalism

In Latin America, the political identity and resentment among American-born people of European descent (creoles) toward Iberian control and restrictions.

Neocolonialism

The idea that political independence can coexist with continued external economic influence and internal elite control, keeping new nations dependent.

Liberalism (1750–1900 context)

An ideology emphasizing individual rights, equality before the law, representative institutions, and often free-market economics and limits on arbitrary authority.

Nationalism (political ideology)

The belief that people with a shared identity form a nation and should have political self-determination; it shifts legitimacy from dynasties to nations.

Conservatism

An ideology shaped by reaction to revolutionary turmoil, emphasizing order, tradition, stability, and skepticism of rapid change.

Socialism

A set of ideas arguing society should reduce extreme wealth gaps and increase worker protection/power, arising from inequalities and harsh labor conditions under industrialization.

Marxism

Karl Marx’s framework arguing history is driven by class conflict (bourgeoisie vs proletariat) and that workers should take control of the means of production.

Industrial Revolution

The shift from hand production and organic energy to machine production, fossil fuels (especially coal), and factory organization, beginning in Britain and spreading unevenly.

Domestic System (Cottage Industry)

A pre-factory production system in which manufacturing work was done in homes or small shops, often alongside agricultural labor.

Enclosure

The fencing and consolidation of shared lands in Britain that displaced many rural people, helping create a wage-labor workforce and fueling urban migration.

Urbanization

The growth of cities and movement of people from rural areas to urban centers, accelerated by industrial jobs and transportation networks.

Capitalism

An economic system in which investment capital is privately controlled and production is oriented toward profit in competitive markets.

Bourgeoisie

The industrial/commercial middle class that generally owns businesses or capital in industrial societies.

Proletariat

The industrial working class that generally sells labor for wages and faces conflicts over wages, hours, and working conditions.