Chapter 4 Key Terms and Assessments
Key Terms
Committee of Public Safety the provisional government of revolutionary France from 1793 to 1794
Congress of Vienna an 1814–1815 meeting of Britain, Russia, Prussia, and Austria to restore the balance of power and assert principles of conservatism
conservatism a political ideology that emerged in reaction to the freedoms associated with the revolutions of the eighteenth century and advocated submitting to government authority and giving religious doctrine a central role in maintaining social order and stability
Continental Congresses two assemblies of elected colonial representatives that met in Philadelphia in 1774 and 1775, the second time to adopt the powers of government and approve the Declaration of Independence from Britain
deductive reasoning a form of logical reasoning that begins with a general statement and applies it to specific conclusions
Directory an executive council of five men established by the Convention in France to replace the Committee of Public Safety after the decline of the Reign of Terror
empiricism a philosophical concept based on the belief that all knowledge derives from sensory experience
enlightened despot an absolutist ruler influenced by the principles of the Enlightenment
Estates General a legislative assembly of the three estates, or orders, of French society: the clergy, the nobility, and commoners
general will a concept in political philosophy by which the state can be legitimate only if it is guided by the will of the people as a whole
gens de couleur libres a French term that referred to free people of color in the French colony of Saint-Domingue, now Haiti
Germanic Confederation an alliance of thirty-nine mostly German-speaking states developed to replace the Holy Roman Empire in 1815
Girondins a moderate faction of the Jacobin political club in revolutionary France
inductive reasoning a form of logical reasoning that gathers specific examples and observations to arrive at a broad generalization
Jacobins a radical political club in revolutionary France that supported overthrowing the monarchy
liberalism a political ideology that promotes freedom of expression, popular sovereignty, the protection of civil rights and private property, and representative government
Mountain a radical faction of the Jacobin club in revolutionary France that supported executing the king
nationalism a political ideology that promotes the interests of the nation over international concerns and advocates the uniqueness and inherent superiority of the individual’s own country over others
natural rights universal and inalienable rights that cannot be revoked or rescinded by human laws
popular sovereignty the idea that government should exist only by the consent of the governed
Proclamation Line the boundary of westward settlement that Britain marked out in its thirteen North American colonies
public sphere shared spaces that enabled the exchange of ideas and information outside the control of state and church, like coffeehouses and salons
Reign of Terror a period of the French Revolution during which the revolutionary government adopted repressive measures to prevent dissent
Risorgimento an Italian term that refers to the unification of Italy
salon informal gathering in the homes of wealthy aristocrats, generally hosted by women, that served as a site for the discussion of Enlightenment ideas and philosophies
sans-culottes a French term that referred to radicals from the lower and working classes during the French Revolution
Stamp Act an act of the British Parliament that imposed taxes on legal documents and other printed materials in its North American colonies in 1765
the social contract an implicit agreement among members of a society to surrender their natural rights to the state, which is then charged with maintaining and protecting those rights
Vodou a mix of Roman Catholic and indigenous West African religious practices popular in Haiti
Assessments
Review Questions
1. What is the form of reasoning that begins with a general theory and arrives at a specific conclusion after observing a body of information?
a. deductive reasoning
b. inductive reasoning
c. empirical reasoning
d. conjectural reasoning
2. What premise is the concept of natural rights based on?
a. Rights and freedoms are temporary and can be revoked for any reason by political leaders.
b. Rights come into existence only with the creation of human-made laws that derive from a monarch’s authority.
c. People have fundamental rights that cannot be revoked by human-made laws or political leaders.
d. Animals living in a state of nature should be granted the same rights and freedoms as their human counterparts.
3. Which philosopher argued that all people are born free in a state of nature, and the government should exist only by their consent?
a. Thomas Hobbes
b. John Locke
c. Jeremy Bentham
d. Edmund Burke
4. The belief that individuals must accept certain moral and political obligations as members of society is part of which philosophical concept?
a. the social contract
b. the general will
c. natural law
d. the Zoroastrian tradition
5. Which of the following was not true of European coffeehouses in the eighteenth century?
a. They served as important outlets for news and information.
b. They enabled people from a variety of social backgrounds to acquire an informal education.
c. They were centers of royal power and tightly controlled by monarchs.
d. They had their origins in the cities of the Islamic world.
6. Elite women typically hosted which influential settings for the exchange of Enlightenment ideas?
a. the salons
b. the coffeehouses
c. the academies
d. the royal societies
7. The Republic of Letters refers to which sphere of information exchange?
a. a long-distance community of writers who corresponded with each other across Europe and the Atlantic
b. the urban areas of western Europe that housed the print shops of the Enlightenment
c. the debates that occurred in the coffee shops of eighteenth-century France
d. the royal libraries of the English monarch
8. What obstacle or obstacles made it difficult for those at the lower end of the socioeconomic ladder to actively participate in the print culture of the Enlightenment?
a. lack of interest
b. low levels of literacy and a lack of leisure time
c. a widespread shortage of books and other printed materials
d. royal edicts restricting the practice of reading to all but a small aristocratic elite
9. What was a principal cause of the American Revolution?
a. desire to abolish slavery
b. growing support for the enfranchisement of women
c. British efforts to consolidate control over its colonies
d. refusal of colonists to expand westward beyond Appalachia
10. What was a cause of the French Revolution?
a. an economic crisis
b. decolonization
c. the threat of Spanish invasion
d. the acquisition of equal rights for women
11. What was a similarity among the American, French, and Haitian revolutions?
a. the vision of natural rights
b. the pursuit of racial equality
c. the support of the Catholic Church
d. the pursuit of liberty from tyrannical governments
12. What was a key difference between the Haitian Revolution and those in British North America and France?
a. The Haitian Revolution directly addressed racial inequality.
b. Haiti did not issue a written constitution.
c. The Haitian Revolution was fought by foreign mercenaries.
d. Only Haiti experienced violent battles during its revolution.
13. What was one of the main causes of the Haitian Revolution?
a. the criminalization of Catholicism
b. the desire of poor Whites to abolish slavery
c. slave rebellion against White planters
d. an outbreak of smallpox
14. What was a goal of the Congress of Vienna?
a. to support Italian unification
b. to develop policies of free-market capitalism
c. to restore the legitimacy of European monarchs
d. to expand rights and liberties throughout Europe
15. What were the four powers of the Quadruple Alliance?
a. Britain, Prussia, Russia, and Austria
b. Italy, France, Spain, and Poland
c. Britain, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales
d. Russia, Poland, Lithuania, and Sweden
16. What was Metternich’s goal in attempting to restore traditional monarchs?
a. encourage a new wave of revolutions
b. enable Austria to become the most powerful nation in Europe
c. expand the scope of natural rights
d. restore the balance of power in Europe
17. The unification of Italy occurred under which political system?
a. monarchy
b. republic
c. dictatorship
d. theocracy
18. To what does the “invisible hand” refer?
a. Napoléon’s approach to leadership
b. unseen forces that regulate the market and economy
c. increased government intervention intended to promote general welfare
d. the legacy of Italian unification
Check Your Understanding Questions
- How did the principles of the Scientific Revolution influence the Enlightenment?
- What were some of the global foundations of the Enlightenment?
- What did the concept of natural rights mean to John Locke?
- What was the general will, according to Rousseau, and what role did he believe it should play in government?
- How did Burke and Bentham each disagree with Locke and other philosophers about the concept of natural rights?
- What was the relationship between social contract theory and natural rights?
- In what ways did women participate in the Enlightenment?
- How was the public sphere of the Enlightenment influenced by earlier developments in the Islamic world?
- What role did coffeehouses play in the exchange of Enlightenment ideas?
- What role did universities play in fostering public debate?
- To whom were the principles of natural rights actually extended as a result of the American Revolution, and who was omitted from the extension of such rights?
- What was Saint-Domingue’s relationship with France prior to the Haitian Revolution?
- To whom did the leaders of Haiti’s Revolution intend to extend natural rights?
- Who achieved full rights of citizenship as a result of the French Revolution, and who did not?
- How did revolutions inspire nationalism, liberalism, and conservatism?
- Who attended the Congress of Vienna, and what was its purpose?
- What are the main tenets of liberalism?
- What are the main goals of conservatism?
Application and Reflection Questions
- In your opinion, what should be considered natural rights? Why?
- What were some of the ways in which the rhetoric about rights and freedoms in the Enlightenment was contradictory?
- Did the public debates of the Enlightenment represent the general population? Why or why not?
- How did the public sphere of the salons and coffeehouses intersect with the print culture of the Enlightenment era?
- How did the American Revolution, the French Revolution, and the Haitian Revolution each adapt the principles of natural rights and social contact theory?
- In your opinion, which of the American Revolution’s achievements and shortcomings are still apparent today, and how have they shaped the modern world?
- How do these historical legacies compare with those of other revolutions of the eighteenth century?
- How did eighteenth-century revolutions inspire new approaches to political structures and the balance of political authority?
- Compare and contrast the goals and ideals of liberalism, nationalism, and conservatism.