CHAPTER 20: Enlightenment and Revolution in England and America

 

Civil War and Revolution

A. Charles I and Parliament

            1. Charles I, less politically astute, more stubborn than father

                        a. Reluctantly accepted Parliament’s Petition of Right

                        b. Tried to rule without Parliament

                        c. Archbishop Laud forced religious conformity

                        d. Scots rebelled, invaded England, forced humiliating peace

                        e. Charles left London

                        f. (Long) Parliament claimed authority over military

                        g. Charles raised troops, fighting broke out

            2. Civil war lasted until 1649

                        a. Cavaliers, royalists fought for king

                        b. Parliament’s forces led by Oliver Cromwell

                        c. Parliament made alliance with Scots

                        d. Parliament’s army defeated royalists at Marston Moor (1644), Naseby (1645)

                        e. Scots captured king, turned him over to Parliament

                        f. King escaped, defeated again

                        g. “Rump Parliament” voted to execute king, set up republic

            3. Oliver Cromwell headed government during interregnum

                        a. Crushed resistance in Scotland, Ireland

                        b. Instrument of Government, written constitution

                        c. Contention among republican factions

                        d. Cromwell dismissed Parliament, ruled as military dictator

Constitutional Monarchy in England

A. The Restoration and “Glorious” Revolution

            1. Charles II recalled from exile, restored to throne, welcomed back

                        a. Clever, sly, worked with Parliament, but sought more royal independence

                        b. Later provoked clashes with Parliaments

            2. James II frightened Parliament

                        a. Catholic, absolutist, admired Louis XIV, suspended laws passed by Parliament

            3. Glorious Revolution (1688)

                        a. Leaders of Parliament offered throne to Mary and husband William of Orange

                        b. William and Mary accepted Parliament’s conditions

                        c. Laid basis for limited monarchy, ended possibility of absolutism

                        d. Bill of Rights had strong influence on constitutional government elsewhere

                        e. Mutiny Act, Toleration Act, Act of Settlement supplemented Bill of Rights

B. Whigs and Tories

            1. England after 1688 remained basically undemocratic

                        a. Landed gentry dominated House of Commons, English institutions

                        b. Whigs dominated

            2. Cabinet system developed

                        a. Robert Walpole dominated first two Hanoverians (George I, George II)

                        b. Established principle of ministerial responsibility

                        c. Provided constitutional machinery to apply principles of Glorious Revolution w/o conflicting with royal authority

           

English Colonial Expansion

A. The English Empire

            1. Pre-1650, English expansion not large

                        a. Suffered from internal political conflicts

                        b. Later growth came from population growth, religious persecution, entrepreneurs’ work

            2. In 1500s, British seamen explored, fished, smuggled, plundered

                        a. British looked for Northwest trade route to Russia

                        b. Built on voyages of Cabot, Drake, Hawkins

            3. Jamestown, first permanent settlement in North American colonies, 1607

            4. English Protestants, Dissenters determined to stay

                        a. Founded colonies: Plymouth (1620), Massachusetts Bay (1629), Maryland (1632)

            5. Anglo-American colonial women faced hardships

                        a. Showed endurance, independent spirit

                        b. Anne Hutchinson founded Rhode Island; Anne Bradstreet wrote poetry

B. The British in India

            1. Indian commerce brought Portuguese, Dutch, French, English traders

            2. British East India Company operated since 1601

                        a. Gained right from Mughul Emperor to trade, collect taxes

            3. Company grew stronger in Bengal, aroused wrath of local ruler

            a. Suraj ud-Dawla seized, plundered Calcutta

                        b. Company sent army under Robert Clive, crushed Suraj ud-Dawla’s forces at Plassey, 1756

                        c. Company later defeated French, Dutch in Bengal

            4. Company’s involvement in India deepened; profits continued to grow

                        a. Mughul emperor granted Company administrative control of Bengal, 1765

                        b. Managed lucrative trade: sold Indian opium to China for tea, shipped to England for silver, exchanged for Indian silk

The Enlightenment

A. The French Philosophes and the Radical Enlightenment

            1. Philosophes popularized Newtonian sciences, the use of reason in society

            2. Baron de Montesquieu important philosophe

                        a. Proposed system of checks and balances to safeguard liberty in The Spirit of Laws

            3. Voltaire personified spirit of Enlightenment

                        a. Promoted reason, tolerance, reform of abuses

            4. Denis Diderot edited Encyclopédie, spread ideas of science, technology, reform,progress, human freedom

            5. Jean-Jacques Rousseau believed in general objectives of Enlightenment, but championed popular sovereignty

 

B. Enlightenment Thought and Women

            1. Enlightenment thinkers disagreed on role of women

                        a. Rousseau view women as housekeepers, mothers, under direction of husband

                        b. Hobbes, Locke questioned subordination of women

                        c. D’Alembert blamed society for degrading women, Montesquieu blamed absolute monarchy

            2. Mary Astell depicted women as rational, called for their legal equality

            3. Mary Montague, Catherine Macauley, Mary Wollstonecraft also championed women