Enlightenment
Thinkers
Thinkers
This thinker argued that government should protect people’s natural rights to life, liberty, and property.
John Locke
Known as the Age of Reason, this movement encouraged people to use reason to question authority and improve government and society.
Enlightenment
Beginning in 1789, this challenged France’s absolute monarchy and unequal social system.
French Revolution
These first ten amendments to the Constitution protect freedoms such as speech, religion, and assembly, along with legal rights.
Bill of Rights
This king ruled France when the Revolution began and called the Estates-General in 1789 to address the government’s money problems.
Louis XVI
On July 14, 1789, a Paris crowd attacked a royal fortress and prison to find weapons and gunpowder. Name the event.
Storming of the Bastille
France adopted this system in 1791. It kept a king, but a constitution limited his power and an elected assembly made laws.
Constitutional Monarchy
Born on Corsica, this French general gained fame through military victories and became emperor of the French in 1804.
Napoleon Bonaparte
This strong loyalty to a nation can inspire people to defend its independence. It helped motivate resistance to Napoleon’s rule in Spain.
Nationalism
This thinker feared that life without a strong government would lead to violence and disorder. He supported a powerful ruler to keep peace.
Thomas Hobbes
People have these because they are God-given. John Locke identified life, liberty, and property as examples.
Natural Rights
During this, the thirteen colonies fought for independence from Britain after disputes over issues such as taxation without representation.
American Revolution
This 1776 document announced the colonies’ separation from Britain and claimed rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Declaration of Independence
This queen was married to Louis XVI. Like her husband, she was executed during the French Revolution in 1793.
Marie Antoinette
After finding their usual meeting hall closed, deputies made this pledge to stay together until France had a constitution.
Tennis Court Oath
Created in 1792 after the monarchy was abolished, this government claimed authority through the nation and its representatives rather than a hereditary king.
French Republic
This five-man government ruled France beginning in 1795. Corruption and economic problems weakened it before Napoleon overthrew it.
Directory
At this meeting in 1814–1815, European leaders redrew borders and sought a balance of power after Napoleon’s first defeat.
Congress of Vienna
This thinker defended freedom of speech and religious toleration, arguing against punishing people for their beliefs.
Voltaire
This means allowing people to practice different religions without persecution, an idea Voltaire defended.
religious toleration
In this 1688 event, Parliament replaced King James II. It helped establish that English monarchs had to accept limits on their power.
This English document from 1215 limited the king’s power and established the important idea that even the king was under the law.
Magna Carta
In this system of government, a king or queen holds almost all political power and faces few formal limits.
absolute monarchy
During this wave of rural panic in summer 1789, rumors led peasants to attack manor houses and destroy records of dues owed to nobles.
Great Fear
This radical political club included Robespierre and gained control of the revolutionary government in 1793.
Jacobins
This term means a sudden seizure of government power outside the legal process, like Napoleon’s takeover in 1799.
coup d'etat
This principle favored restoring former ruling families to their thrones, as with the Bourbon monarchy in France.
Principle of Legitimacy
This thinker wanted government power divided among separate branches so that no single person or group could become too powerful.
Montesquieu
This agreement creates government: people accept rules and give up some freedom in exchange for benefits such as protection and security.
social contract
In this system, people choose their leaders and help make their own laws instead of being controlled by an outside power.
self-government
This 1689 document limited the English monarch’s power and protected Parliament’s rights, including free elections and debate.
English Bill of Rights
This name describes France’s three social groups: clergy, nobility, and everyone else. Their privileges and tax burdens were unequal.
Three Estates
Louis XVI called this meeting of representatives from all three estates in May 1789 to discuss France’s financial problems.
Estates-General
This powerful Jacobin leader argued that terror could protect the Revolution. He was later arrested and executed himself.
Robespierre
Introduced in 1804, these unified French civil laws protected property and legal equality for men while limiting married women’s independence.
Napoleonic Code
After 1815, this system of continuing cooperation brought Europe’s major powers together to discuss disputes and preserve peace and political order.
Concert of Europe
This thinker argued that women deserved equal rights and access to education so they could develop their abilities.
Mary Wollstonecraft
This principle says that the people are the source of a government’s authority. A ruler’s power should come from them.
popular sovereignty
his Enlightenment thinker argued that government should reflect the general will, or shared interests of the people, and supported popular sovereignty.
Rousseau
Approved by France’s National Assembly in August 1789, this document declared that people are born free and equal in rights.
Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen
War debts, government spending, and an unequal tax system left France’s government short of money. This term names the budget emergency that helped trigger the Revolution.
financial crisis
Third Estate deputies and their allies formed this body in June 1789, declaring that they represented the French nation.
National Assembly
During this period in 1793–1794, revolutionary leaders used mass arrests and executions against people suspected of being enemies of the Revolution.
Reign of Terror
This 1815 battle ended Napoleon’s return to power. Wellington’s allied army and Blücher’s Prussian forces defeated him.
Battle of Waterloo
Restoring a royal family without asking the people could conflict with this Enlightenment principle: government authority comes from the people.
Popular Sovereignty