1. Enlightenment
• The Age of Enlightenment is the era in Western philosophy and
intellectual, scientific, and cultural life, centered upon the 18th century
• The Enlightenment is held to be the source of critical ideas, such as the
centrality of freedom, democracy, and reason as primary values of society.
This view argues that the establishment of a contractual basis of rights
would lead to the market mechanism and capitalism, the scientific method,
religious tolerance, and the organization of states into self-governing
republics through democratic means. In this view, the tendency of the
philosophes in particular to apply rationality to every problem is considered
the essential change.

2. John Locke (The promoter)
John Locke (1632-1704)
• Two Treatises of Government (1690)
– Mankind naturally in state of
anarchy (no government)
– Individuals left to own device
would act with self-interest
– Mankind must enter into a political
society to ensure stability
– Government therefore necessary,
but only if it acts in the interest of
the people- Social Contract Theory
– People have right to rebel in such
cases
• Glorious Revolution (1688)

3. Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)
The Social Contract (1762)
• Humans are good, but the society
in which they live is corrupt and
bad
• Society will eventually deteriorate
into chaos unless humans come
together and adopt government
• S33ubmission to the authority of
the will of the people as a whole
guarantees individuals against being
subordinated to the wills of others
• He defends “Social contract”

4. Montesquieu
Montesquieu: (1689-1755)
• Believed a republic was the
best form of government
• He claims the separation of
powers
example of government:
• king (enforced laws),
Parliament (elected,
made laws), and
the judges of the
English courts
(interpreted laws)

5. Voltaire
• He is against Catholist
Church
• Defends religious
tolerance
• He said”I do not agree
with what you say but I
will defend to the death
your right to say”
• He defends a Taxes
System

6. Diderot
• He was a prominent
figure during the
Enlightenment and is
best-known for serving as
co-founder and chief
editor of and contributor
to the Encyclopédie.
• He rejected the Idea of
Progress. In his opinion,
the aim of progressing
through technology was
doomed to fail.

7. Thanks to the Freedom of Speech
Popular Print Culture:
• Newspapers, magazines,
pamphlets, broadsides,
miscellaneous ephemra
• “Textualize” protest to create
a uniformed and united
response
• Help to draw interests of
diverse colonies together
• Not just propaganda
• Articulated a coherent and
unified popular political
ideology

8. Independence War
The American Revolution:
• Organized, popular
opposition to an unjust
government
• British government not
acting in the interest of the
people
• Protests, riots, crowd action
used to defend an emerging
common interest
– English in origin, but adopted
by American colonists

9. Military Strategies
• The Americans • The British
• Attrition [the Brits had a • Break the colonies in half by
long supply line]. getting between the No. &
• Guerilla tactics [fight an the So.
insurgent war  you don’t • Blockade the ports to
have to win a battle, just prevent the flow of goods
wear the British down] and supplies from an ally.
• Make an alliance with one of • “Divide and Conquer”  use
Britain’s enemies. the Loyalists.

10. No Taxation without Representation!
• Colonists were not
represented in Parliament,
therefore shouldn’t be taxed
• Riots and protests as
popular forms of social
contract theory
• Spread via newspapers,
pamphlets and broadsides
• Created an organized,
slowly unified popular
movement

11. State Constitutions
• Republicanism.
• Most had strong governors
with veto power.
• Most had bicameral
legislatures.
• Property required for voting.
• Some had universal white
male suffrage.
• Most had bills of rights.
• Many had a continuation of
state-established religions
while others disestablished
religion.

12. Failure of Revolution:
• Counter-revolutionary in many
ways
• A device for establishing a virtuous
republican government over a
population of less than virtuous
people.
• The voice of the people replaced
by representative democracy
• Right to vote guaranteed to select
few
• African slaves, women, native
Americans and some poor whites
failed to secure the freedoms and
liberties that they had fought and
died for.

13. State Claims to Western Lands

14. WAR OF SUCCESION
• In 1700, Charles II, the last Spanish
monarch of the House of Habsburg, died
without issue
• He bequeaths his possessions to Philip,
grandson of his half-sisterand King Louis
XIV of France.
• The war was centered in Spain and West-
Central Europe
• The war was concluded by the
treaties of Utrecht
(1713) and Rastatt (1714). As a
result, Philip V remained King of
Spain but was removed from the
French line of succession,
averting a union of the two
kingdoms. The Austrians gained
most of the Spanish territories in
Italy and the Netherlands

15. Nueva Planta decrees
• These acts constituted
the first realization of
Spain as a centralized
country.
• Court cases could only be
presented and argued in
Castilian .
• Abolishing the Parliament
• The viceroy is replaced
by a General Master.
• A new territorial
organitation appear

16. The Spanish eighteenth century
• Spain is below average.
• Population grows
• Market and Industry increase
• Big problem: Low demand and there isn´t agrary reform.