History of the Modern World, 10th Edition (Palmer)

Chapter 8: The Age of Enlightenment

Chapter Overview

In the eighteenth century, the Age of Enlightenment, the principles of progress and scientific advance first elucidated the century before became widely accepted. Paris shone as the center of Enlightenment thinking. Its salons provided a venue for the mingling of people and ideas. The French philosophes, especially Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Rousseau, critiqued contemporary modes of governance and suggested how society could be improved. The new political economists attacked mercantilist policies, favoring instead free market policies driven by the self-interest of individuals. Under the mantle of enlightened despotism, monarchs pursued policies intended to increase their revenues, centralize their governments, and limit the power of representative institutions. However, these attempts at reform from above proved limited in scope and provoked resistance from religious and aristocratic powers. The partitions of Poland unsettled the recently established system of sovereign states and shifted the balance of power among European states. In Britain, parliamentary politics underwent the shock of a reform movement aimed at stamping out corruption and increasing representation. The American colonists likewise resisted the lack of representation in Parliament, adding the issue to their grievances over taxation. The American Revolution vindicated many Enlightenment ideals, however limited it was in providing true democracy, liberty, and equality to the new citizens of the American states.