DAILY
LECTURE AND DISCUSSION
NOTES 18-3

The Enlightenment (pages 680–689)

Did you know?

Because of
Voltaire’s outspokenness against the Catholic Church, he was refused
burial on church grounds after his death. He was buried in an abbey, but later
his remains were moved to the Panthéon, a
burial site in Paris.

I.
New Ideas About Politics (pages
681–682)

A.
In the 1700s, Europeans believed that reason could explain laws
that governed humans and that reason was better than faith, that it was the
light that would reveal truth. This era was known as the Age of Enlightenment.

B.
Natural law is a law that applies to
everyone and can be understood by reason. Political thinkers during the
Enlightenment felt that natural law was the key to understanding government.

C.
Thomas Hobbes wrote Leviathan,
which argued that natural law made absolute monarchy the best
form of government because people, left on their own, could not be trusted to
make decisions for themselves.

D.
John Locke wrote Two
Treatises of Government, in which he stated that government
should be based on natural law. He wrote that all people were born with certain
natural rights. These rights included the right to life, liberty, and the
ownership of property.

E.
Locke believed that all governments were based on social
contracts, or agreements between rulers and their
people.

F.
Montesquieu wrote The
Spirit of Laws, in which he claimed that the best
government included a separation of powers. This
means that the power of government is divided among several branches.

Discussion
Question:

Why
might the idea of a social contract be popular with poor people?

II.
The French Philosophes (pages 684–686)

A.
During the Enlightenment, thinkers became known by the French word
philosophe, which
means philosopher.

B.
The philosophers of the Enlightenment used reason to try to
change society.

C.
Voltaire is considered the greatest
thinker of the Enlightenment.

He
disliked the Catholic Church and opposed governments that supported one
religion. Voltaire supported deism, a
religious belief based on reason.

D.
Denis Diderot published a 28-volume encyclopedia.

E.
During the Enlightenment, women began calling for their rights.

One
of the most powerful supporters of women’s rights was

Mary
Wollstonecraft.

F.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau believed people relied too much on reason
and should rely more on their feelings. He believed people were naturally good
but were corrupted by civilized life.

Discussion
Question:

What
was the “social contract” Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote about?

III.
The Age of
Absolutism (pages 686–689)

A.
In the system known as absolutism, monarchs
hold absolute power over their subjects and answer only to God, not the people.
During the Enlightenment, absolute rulers began turning to philosophers for help
with their governments.

B.
Louis XIV was an absolute monarch of France
who conducted wars constantly to expand France’s territory.

C.
Austria
and Prussia
were German states that became great European powers.

D.
Frederick
the Great was a Prussian ruler who tried to be an enlightened despot.

E.
The
Hapsburgs ruled Austria.
Maria Theresa and Joseph II, two

Hapsburg
rulers, admired Enlightenment ideas.

F.
Peter the Great was a powerful Russian czar who worked to
reform

Russian
government and improve the military. He founded the city of St. Petersburg
near the Baltic Sea.

G.
Catherine the Great studied Enlightenment ideas. Russia’s
power increased during her rule.

Discussion
Question:

What
changes for the serfs did Catherine the Great attempt?