Enlightenment

Annotations:

• It is a intellectual movement emerged in the 18th century in France with the aim of make dissapear and criticised the way established by the Old Regime and started a new period based on freedom and reason. With that, people started to have faith in the human progress thanks to science and to trust in reason and not in superstitions.

1. Before it...
   1. Old Regime

      Annotations:

      • We called Old Regime at the period between the 15th and 18th centuries, characterised by the absolut monarchy, the stratified society and a regulated economy based on agriculture. It was a period of crisis because there was a high mortality rate due to the wars, epidemics, famines... So, the population decreased dramatically, and, it wasn't very helpful for the situation they were living.
      1. Society

         Annotations:

         • The society in the Old Regime was a stratified society, that is the same to say, the society was divided into states depending what privileges they had. They acquired different privileges depending on which family they were born into.
         1. Third state
            1. Formed by the bourgeoisie and the peasants
               1. Worked and had to pay taxes
         2. Privileged
            1. Formed by the King, nobility and clergy
               1. Didn't work or pay taxes
      2. Economy

         Annotations:

         • The economy was based on the agriculture, cause it is the way they tried to survive, and, despite they used triennial rotation (a rudimentary technique) they didn't obtain so much harvest, and it was one of the causes of the crisis. Moreover, these lands were property of the nobility, so people of the third state was living in very poor condition.
         1. Mercantilism

            Annotations:

            • This way of economy was imposed and controlled by the State and based on make exports but not imports, that means, in sell to other countries our goods so we earn money and luxury goods in exchange for the country, but we don't buy anything from them so we didn't give them money. It created a kind of competition with the other countries in Europe.
            1. Decrease imports
            2. Increase exports
         2. Colonial trade

            Annotations:

            • It was the way countries obtained their wealth, by having colonies in America, and only let them trading their goods (precious metals, cotton,coffee, cocoa...) with their mother country. It was used by some countries like Spain, England, The Netherlands, France and Portugal.
            1. Triangular trade

               Annotations:

               • It consisted that from the countries I've named before, ships went to Africa to buy slaves and to brought them to America, were they were forced to work in order to obtain the goods they wanted to have in the mother countries. And so over and over again.
               1. Black slave trade
      3. Politic
         1. Absolut monarchy

            Annotations:

            • The absolutism was the way some monarchs governed in this period, mainly in Europe. It is characterised because the King had the control of all the powers (Executive, Legislative and Judicial), and its powers were given by the God. Furthermore, he also controlled the economy and the army, and considered the role of the Parliament irrelevant.
            1. Example: Louis XIV, of France
            2. Had the control of the...
               1. Three powers
               2. Economy
               3. Army
2. When?
   1. In the 18th century
3. Who started it?
   1. Philisophers
      1. Rousseau

         Annotations:

         • He supported  that the power resides in the inhabitants and the people who rule have to consider the desires of them.
         1. "The Social Contract"
      2. Voltaire

         Annotations:

         • He wanted the freedom in all the aspects and, also, he wanted a religion based on the reason and not in miracles or divine beliefs. He also supported the idea of a Parliamentary system like the one in England.
         1. "Philosophical letters"
      3. Montesquieu

         Annotations:

         • He wanted to divide the three powers (Executive, Legislative and Judicial) due to it was so unfair that the King had all the powers.
         1. "The Spirit of Laws"
      4. Diderot and D'Alembert

         Annotations:

         • They wrote the Encyclopaedia, a way the enlightenment thought was spread in Europe and in America. In addition, these ideas also were spread through salons and other types of communications media.
      5. John Locke

         Annotations:

         • He helped another philosophers and their theories, for example, he worked with Adam Smith  talking about Liberalism and due to it and his contributions, he is considered "The Father of the Liberalism". He also helped another ones like Rousseau and Voltaire. Without any doubt, he was one of the most important philosophers of that period.
4. What happened from this?
   1. Consequences
      1. Society

         Annotations:

         • People from the third state, started having a higher purchasing power so they could have acces to education, due to it, they started to belief in reason, that means, they started to notice how unfair was their situation and way of living. So, little by little they began to rebel and express their ideas that will end in the French Revolution.
      2. Politic
         1. Parliamentary system

            Annotations:

            • It emerged in England, with the first Parliament limiting the powers of the King, then these ideas were spread thanks to philosophers and other ways, and step by step, this kind of government started to be the most popular.
         2. Enlightened despotism

            Annotations:

            • It consists in that the King have all the power, but started to make reforms in the city for its enrichment and for the "people" in some aspects like education, health...
            1. "All for the people, without the people"
            2. Examples: Charles III of Spain and Catherine II of Russia
      3. Economy

         Annotations:

         • Technology wasn't very developed so only the richest people can afford creating industries, but, the third state developed the cottage industries, a way they can work and earn money by going house to house to work; and manufactures, but they were more specialised.
         1. Liberalism

            Annotations:

            • Supported by Adam Smith, who developed "The Wealth of Nations", it consisted that personal work will obtain a personal benefit, so if each of the individuals are enriching themselves, as a whole, the society will get richer.
            1. Adam Smith
         2. Physiocracy

            Annotations:

            • Supported by Francois Quesnay, it was based in getting the wealth from the basic activities: agriculture and mining. Moreover, it also criticised the control in economy of the State and prefer a freedom way of trade and private property. But it didn't become as popular as liberalism.
            1. Francois Quesnay