Enlightenment Ideas That Sparked Global Revolutions (1750-1900)

hey you ready to get enlightened I knew you would be and so welcome to unit 5 and that puts us in the time period 1750

to 1900 which as far as historical time periods go is pretty juicy so if you're ready to get them brain cows milked

let's get to it okay now before I tell you exactly what the enlightenment is I should tell you that we're not just

talking about this development for funsies no this unit is really about various kinds of revolutions that

occurred throughout the world during this period And the reason we're talking about the enlightenment is because it

provided the ideological framework for all of these upheavals so tuck that into your brain folds and we'll get back to

it so by definition the enlightenment describes an intellectual movement that applied new ways of understanding such

as rationalism and empiricist approaches both to the natural world and to human relationship and there's a whole mess of

complicated words in that definition that are going to need further defining if you're going to understand this first

the enlightenment majored in rationalism which argued that reason rather than emotion or any external Authority is the

most reliable source of true knowledge in other words to get Noy knowy you got to get thinky thinky and not Fey Fey

second empiricism describes the idea that true knowledge gained through the senses mainly through rigorous

experimentation now I should tell you that all these new ways of pursuing knowledge didn't just drop down on

Humanity fully formed during the Enlightenment no empirical and rationalist ways of thinking were

developed earlier during the Scientific Revolution that occurred in Europe in the 16th and 17th century during that

juy Revolution scientists toss biblical and religious Authority out the window and used the rigorous process of reason

to discover how the world really works and thus using their prodigiously developed thinky thinky Parts they

experienced scientific breakthroughs and understanding the complexities of the Cosmos the internal workings of the

human body Etc so the enlightenment is really just an extension of that same kind of scientific and rationalistic

thinking but enlightenment philosophers applied those methods to the study of human society oh and I should mention

that if you likewise want to develop your thinky thinky parts and get all enlightened so that you can get an A in

your class and a five on your exam in May you might want to check out my AP World heimler review guide it is the

fastest way to study everything you need to know for your classwork and that National exam in May so get that clicky

finger out and check the link in the description anyway I hope it's obvious by now but one of the crucial component

to the enlightenment was the questioning and reexamination of the role of religion in public life now remember

that the enlightenment began in Europe where most people were Christians and where the church had been an instrument

of state power for a long dang time and here was the problem with a religion like Christianity according to

Enlightenment thinkers Christianity is a revealed religion which means that the words of the Bible along with all its

commands was revealed by God and therefore could not be questioned like suppose someone slaps you on the cheek

your first reaction might be to get all Slappy right back well sorry Jesus himself says that you can't retaliate

and who's going to question the dang ancient of dat so the enlightenment represented a significant shift of

authority carried over from the Scientific Revolution from outside a person to inside a person God ain't

going to tell us what to do anymore I do what I want and so to that end new ways of relating to the Divine were developed

and I'm going to mention two first was deism which was exceedingly popular among Enlightenment thinkers deists

believ that there was a God but a God that created all things and then no longer intervened in the created order

so God made all the stars and the planets and everything and then threw in a healthy dose of the laws of physics

and then just wound it up like a clock and he's just going to let that thing tick until all the ticks run out second

was atheism which was a complete rejection of religious belief and any notion of divine being okay so you've

got a broad overview of the Enlightenment and now there are a few specific ideas that grew out of this

movement that you need to know and we'll concern ourselves with the new political ideas emerging during this period first

Enlightenment thinkers emphasized individualism which describes the phenomenon that the most basic element

of society was the individual human and not Collective groups therefore the progress and EXP expion of the

individual over against the society was a key tenant second Enlightenment thinkers emphasized the concept of

natural rights which means that individual humans are born with certain rights that cannot be infringed upon by

governments or any other entity for example John Lock argued that each human being was born with the natural rights

of life liberty and property and that those rights were endowed by God and if those rights were given by God then and

you know here's the big reveal those rights can not be taken away by a monarch what I know okay third

Enlightenment thinkers also develop the idea of the social contract which is the idea that human societies endowed with

natural rights must construct governments of their own will and the main purpose of that government is to

protect their natural rights and by consequence if that government becomes a tyrannical turd trampling on the rights

of the people then those people have the right to overthrow that government and establish a new one okay and finally we

need to consider the effects of these Enlightenment ideas and I've got five for you first Enlightenment ideas

created the ideological context for the major revolutions that occurred during this period including the American

French Haitian and Latin American Revolutions now we'll get into more detail on each of those in the next

video but here you just need to understand that the enlightenment's emphasis on the rejection of established

traditions and new ideas about how political power ought to work played a significant role in each of these great

upheavals and then those Revolutions in turn created the conditions for the intensification of nationalism across

the world now by definition nationalism describes a sense of commonality among a People based on a shared language and

religion social customs and it's often linked with a desire for territory and again we'll talk a lot more about the

details of that in the next video okay second Enlightenment IDE has led to the expansion of suffrage in some places and

suffrage in case you don't know just means the right to vote so for example after the American Revolution only

landed white males could vote but in the first half of the 19th century laws were passed that recognized the right of all

white males to vote and then in the second half of the 19th century black males had gained the right to vote and

look while there are many reasons for that expansion one significant reason is that Enlightenment ideas like Liberty

and equality were revered in America as part of the cultural heritage beginning with a declaration of independence okay

third Enlightenment ideas also led to the abolition of slavery in some places I mean it's not that surprising that

Enlightenment thinkers criticize slavery on account of its complete disregard for People's Natural Rights most notably

Liberty and so in response to a powerful Abolitionist Movement Great Britain abolished slavery in 1807 and hey look

credit where credit is due they abolish slavery but Britain was also the wealthiest nation in the world and they

gained much of that wealth during the Industrial Revolution by means of paid labor so you know abolition was a

natural move but it was also making economic sense at the time but enslave people themselves also contributed to

the abolition of slavery as well for example in 1831 a massive slave rebellion known as the great Jamaica

Revolt occurred in British Jamaica the scale and the casualties of that Rebellion played a significant role in

Britain's decision to abolish slavery throughout their empire fourth Enlightenment ideas contributed to the

end of serfdom in some places so in the midst of the transition from agricultural to Industrial economies

during the Industrial Revolution surfs which were peasants Bound in coerced labor became more and more unnecessary

to economic flourishing even so peasant revolts in various places induced State leaders in England and France and Russia

to AB Surf and finally fifth Enlightenment ideas led to increasing calls for women suffering like despite

revolutionary movements and their basis in Enlightenment ideas of equality women in Europe and the United States did not

share in the Harvest of Liberty especially in terms of voting rights and it's during this period that a

burgeoning feminist movement arose and women began to demand equality in all areas of life not least voting for

example French activist ol de got all kinds of sassy in the face of this persistent gender inequality and her

major work the Declaration of the rights of woman and the female citizen harshly critic Iz the French Constitution for

sidelining women in the birth of post-revolutionary France and then over in the United States women organized

themselves at a gathering at The senica Falls convention in 1848 to call for a constitutional amendment that recognized

women's right to vote Okay click here to keep reviewing for unit 5 and click here to get your hands on the gateway to

Enlightenment namely my AP World himler review guide I appreciate you hanging out with me and I'll catch you on the

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