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UNIT 02: Revolution and the Restoration of Absolutism, image, image, image…
UNIT 02: Revolution and the Restoration of Absolutism
02.Political and Economic Liberalism
criticism of the old regime
Political theories developed that advocated reforms to
guarantee individual rights
and moderate the power of the king
Enlightenment thinkers such as
Voltaire
Rousseau
Montesquieu
formulated more radical criticisms that led to liberalism
Based on elightenment thought, the liberals developed a radical opposition to the Old Regime
This term was used to describe the feudal system of their time
It was characterised by
political absolutism
the estate system
and a mainly agricultural economy based on the primary sector
The liberals criticised different aspects
2.The survival of a feudal economy
Althought there wasgreat commercial and marketing growth during previous centuries the liberals criticised obstacles to developments caused by
fiefdoms
priviledged corporations such as
guilds
goods that could not be sold or bought
and trade restrictions
and price controls established by the authority during emergencies like poor harvests
3.The power of absolute monarchs and the Church
The power of monarchies and their privileges of the Church
limited individual rights
freedom of expression
Monarchs and Clerics censored
criticism
and the development of new ideas
The legal inequality of the estate system
This is the absence of equality between all people before the law
Society was divided into
priviledged social groups
Nobles
and clerics
and the rest of the population
peasants
artisans
shopkeepers
merchants
professionals such as
notaries
and doctors
Ideas of political liberalism
The old Regime was heavily criticised, so a group of ideas formed around political liberalism
Equality of people before the law
This meant the abolation of all
manoralism
and the whole estate system
fiefdoms
privileges
Everyone including the king should follow the same laws regardless of their social origin
The existence of unalienable individual rights
These rights cannot be taken away
This ideas was inspired by the work of John Locke
and meant that human beings naturally possesed the right
to life
liberty
and poperty
It also implied the establishment of freedoms regarding
issues and areas such as
press
printing
education
assembly
The division of powers
Following Montesquieu's theories the liberals argued that power had to be moderated by
individual rights
and by division into three powers
the legislative, exercised by the parliament
the judicial, exercised by the courts
the executive, exercised by the governtment
there should be a separation between the Church and the state to prevent religious interference
Sovereignty resides in the nation
Based on
the parliamentary political tradition
and the teachings of Rousseau
the liberals advocated that the people should govern themselves
through their representatives in Parliament
The American revolution: War and independence
Since the 17th century groups of European Emigrants mainly from England
had settled on the east coast of North America
Some had fled
political instability
and religious persecution in their countries of origin
The British monarchy organised the colonists into 13 demarcations or colonies
the had to pay a series of taxes to the British Crown
A governor as the kings representative held the highest authority in each colony
After the seven years war between great britain and France
the bristh greated a large permanent army in America
They forced the colonists to fund it with new taxes but they rebelled
their slogan was "No taxation without representation
A revolutionary process began
delegates from the thirteen Colonies met in Philadelphia and declared
independence from Great Britain
and from George II's rule
The colonies became known as statesand the new country was called The United States of America
The British were opposed to this changes and the war of Independence began
After the battles of Saratoga and Yorktown, won by the colonists
Great Britain formally accepted the Independence of the new country
The political regime of the United States
The delegates from the new states met again in Philadelphia and drafted Constitution
which was approved in 1787
For the first time political libel principles as well as ideas of thinkers such as
Montesquieu
Rousseau
Locke
were incorporated into a county's fundamental law
The Constitution of the United States of America
Popular sovereignty
The United States citizens hold the power
The United States is a federal republic
in which governtment functions are divided between
the capital Washington DC
and the different federated states
The separation powers
The executive consists of the president
The legislative of the
Congress
Senate
and the judicial of the supreme court
The head of the state
is the president chosen by the House of Representatives every 4 years
Suffrage
is in place to elect the members of the House of Representatives
