Unit 6 Links
Unity of the Republic
Liberty, Equality, Brotherhood or Death Liberté, égalité, fraternité was the slogan of the French Revolution. |
Unit IntroductionThe Renaissance and Reformation led to an increased questioning of traditional authority while the Age of Exploration brought a wealth of new knowledge to scholars. A curiosity to understand natural forces in the world led to a Scientific Revolution. Political and social philosophers attempted to discover laws governing human nature, and offered solutions to the problems of establishing a just social order in a civil society.
By the end of the 1600s, England, through civil war, would shift power away from a tyrannical king to a parliamentary body. By the late 1700s, the British Empire suffered another civil war which gave birth to the republic of the United States of America giving power to the people. In 1789, the French Revolution was born out of the same liberal Enlightenment ideals that helped spark the American Revolution a few years before. As the French fought for “liberty, equality, and brotherhood” they swept away the last vestiges of the Middle Ages, beheading their king and moving political power away from the aristocracy to the common citizen. Fearing the fever pitch of the Revolution would spill across their borders, the other kingdoms of Europe moved against France and one of history’s great geniuses arose out of the turmoil: Napoleon Bonaparte. By 1810, Napoleon, as the new Emperor of France, was the master of Europe and spread the Revolution’s notions of liberty throughout the continent. Meanwhile, the nations of Latin America took advantage of the European Napoleonic wars to fight for independence. Despite Napoleon’s eventual defeat, the stage was set for a series of liberal revolutions throughout Europe in the mid-19th century. |
Unit Objectives
- Explain how new ideas and theories of the universe altered political thought and affected economic and social conditions.
- Analyze political revolutions in terms of their causes and impact on independence, governing bodies and church-state relations.