Enlightenment and Revolution
Driving Question: How did Enlightenment ideas help spark revolution?
The Enlightenment was an intellectual and cultural movement that emerged in Europe during the late seventeenth century. It was characterized by a focus on reason, science, individualism, and skepticism toward traditional authority. Enlightenment thinkers sought to apply principles of reason and empirical evidence to all aspects of human life, including government, philosophy, science, and religion. In this lesson, we’ll explore how their philosophies helped lay the foundations for the Age of Revolutions that began in the Atlantic world during the late eighteenth century. Revolutionaries were inspired by concepts like equality, reason, and freedom. Yet, material conditions also played a role. When kings imposed taxes or food prices rose, people often took to the streets.
- Evaluate the influence of Enlightenment ideas on political revolutions.
- Use close-reading skills to see how ideas like sovereignty combined with economic factors to spark revolutionary movements across the Atlantic.
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Guiding Questions
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Note: For more detailed directions on completing the three close reads below, refer to the Three Close Reads – Introduction activity.
Skim
Before you read, you should quickly skim the article, by looking at the headings of each section and the charts. Read the questions below as well, so you know what to look for when you read!
Key Ideas
- How did the Dutch and British influence Enlightenment thought?
- What opinion did Enlightenment thinkers have about slavery?
- What views did Enlightenment thinkers have about progress? How did that affect their views of different societies?
- How did Enlightenment thought impact production and distribution?
- How did the Enlightenment help or hurt working-class people?
Evaluate
- Was the Enlightenment revolutionary? What does the author think? What do you think?
- How might the idea of “progress” have been used to motivate or justify colonial expansion?
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Guiding Questions
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Note: For more detailed directions on completing the three close reads below, refer to the Three Close Reads – Introduction activity.
Skim
Before you read, you should quickly skim the article, by looking at the headings of each section and the charts. Read the questions below as well, so you know what to look for when you read!
Key Ideas
- What first sparked the American Revolution?
- What was the Third Estate?
- What did the American Declaration of Independence and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man have in common? How did they differ?
- How did the French Revolution impact Saint Domingue? What were some other sources of the Haitian revolution?
- What classes took power in South America, and how was this different from the class that took power in Saint Domingue?
Evaluate
- What factors do the revolutions covered in this article share in common? What sets each apart?
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Guiding Questions
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Note: For more detailed directions on completing the three close reads below, refer to the Three Close Reads – Introduction activity.
Skim
Before you read, you should quickly skim the article, by looking at the headings of each section and the charts. Read the questions below as well, so you know what to look for when you read!
Key Ideas
- What were the key economic and social changes associated with the rise of capitalism in Western Europe and the Americas during the late eighteenth century?
- Why were taxes and control over the products of labor significant material causes of the American Revolution, and how did these factors contribute to the push for independence?
- In the context of the French Revolution, what social tensions and economic factors led to widespread discontent, including the roles played by the working poor, bourgeoisie, and issues like bad harvests and rising bread prices?
- What were the economic and social conditions in Haiti that led to the Haitian Revolution, and how did class divisions contribute to the revolt?
- How did the American, French, and Haitian revolutions address Enlightenment ideas, specifically in relation to popular sovereignty and property rights?
Evaluate
- Considering the global interconnectedness highlighted in the article, how do you think the economic and material causes of the American, French, and Haitian revolutions might have influenced or been influenced by other events or uprisings around the world?
Extension Materials
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Guiding Questions
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Note: For more detailed directions on completing the three close reads below, refer to the Three Close Reads – Introduction activity.
Skim
Before you read, you should quickly skim the article, by looking at the headings of each section and the charts. Read the questions below as well, so you know what to look for when you read!
Key Ideas
- What was the Magna Carta?
- What were the two sides of the English Civil War and who won?
- What elements of the English Bill of Rights are also found in American democratic thought and documents?
- Were the Magna Carta, the English Civil War, and the Glorious Revolution actually revolutionary?
- Why were English and Scottish political philosophers more popular in America than in England?
Evaluate
- Do you think the American Revolution was more influenced by British events (such as the Magna Carta and the Glorious Revolution), or were unique factors within the American colonies more significant? Explain your view with examples from the article?
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Guiding Questions
-
Note: For more detailed directions on completing the three close reads below, refer to the Three Close Reads – Introduction activity.
Skim
Before you read, you should quickly skim the article, by looking at the headings of each section and the charts. Read the questions below as well, so you know what to look for when you read!
Key Ideas
- What is sovereignty? How did it affect how people thought about their governments?
- What were some of the limitations of the idea of sovereignty?
- What does the American Three-Fifths Compromise tell us about sovereignty?
- How did ideas about sovereignty affect the lives of some children?
- How did ideas about motherhood change as a result of ideas about sovereignty becoming influential?
Evaluate
- In what ways might the idea of sovereignty impact the way that a political community works?