(5)
The Age of Enlightenment
The main goal of the wide-ranging intellectual movement called the Enlightenment was to understand
the natural world and humankind’s place in it solely on the basis of reason. The movement claimed the
allegiance of a majority of thinkers in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries, a period that Thomas Paine
called the Age of Reason. German philosopher Immanuel Kant saw the essential characteristic of the
Enlightenment as a freeing from superstition and ignorance. At its heart the movement became a conflict
between established religion and the inquiring mind that wanted to know and understand through reason based
on evidence and proof.
The Enlightenment was inspired by a common faith in the possibility of a better world. Enlightenment
thinkers wanted to reform society. They celebrated reason not only as the power by which human beings
understand the universe but also as the means by which they improve the human condition. The goals of rational
humans were considered to be knowledge, freedom, and happiness. The movement led to revolutionary
developments in art, philosophy, and politics.
Important Enlightenment figures
1) John Locke (1632-1704): English intellectual and philosopher known as the Father of Modern Empiricism
and as the Father of Liberalism. Known as the main influence on Thomas Jefferson and The Founding
Fathers’ United States Declaration of Independence, particularly regarding the notion of “life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness.”
2) Voltaire (1694-1778) (Francois-Marie Arouet): French philosopher, writer, playwright, and deist, famous
for his wit and criticism. His ideas influenced the French Revolution. Many people considered the 18th
century to be le siecle de Voltaire or, the “Century of Voltaire.”
3) Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778): Swiss-born French philosopher, writer, and educator. His criticisms of
the French State were one of the most powerful of his time. In his book Emile, or On Education he stated
many of his opinions on education.
4) Immanuel Kant (1724-1804): Prussian (German) philosopher, writer, and physicist. He was one of the key
figures of the German Enlightenment.
5) David Hume (1711–1776): Scottish. Historian, philosopher and economist. Influenced Kant and Adam
Smith.
6) Thomas Paine (1737–1809) English. Pamphleteer, Deist, radical republican, and polemicist, most famous
for Common Sense attacking England’s domination of the colonies in America. Also wrote The Age of
Reason, a critique of the Bible, and The Rights of Man in defense of the French Revolution.
7) Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826): American statesman, political philosopher, and deist. Patriot during
American Revolution and took part in the writing of the United States Declaration of Independence (1776)
and the United States Constitution (1787). The founder of the University of Virginia.⇒Jefferson’s grave
1
http://pbase.com/image/126108230
8) Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790): American statesman, author, scientist, poet, and civil servant. Patriot
during American Revolution and took part in the writing of the United States Declaration of Independence
(1776) and the United States Constitution (1787). Discovered the nature of lightning and contributed as a
civil servant to Philadelphia’s public service.
9) Adam Smith (1723–1790): Scottish economist and philosopher. He wrote The Wealth of Nations, in which
he argued that wealth was not money in itself, but wealth came from the value added to things by capital and
labour. He is sometimes considered to be the founding father of the laissez-faire economic theory.
Georgian Britain
Timeline of the Georgian Era http://www.softschools.com/timelines/georgian_era_timeline/342/
Georgian Britain
In 1714 the British throne passed to a
German family, the Hanoverians.
1714
George of Hanover,
1721
Sir Robert Walpole becomes the first Prime Minister
1746
Bonnie Prince Charlie is defeated at the Battle of Culloden
1757
First canal in Britain is completed
1776
America declares independence from Britain
1780's
Industrial Revolution Begins
1783
Steam powered cotton mill invented by Sir Richard Arkwright
1788
First convict ships are sent to Australia
1796
Edward Jenner invented a vaccination against small pox
1800
Act of Union with
1801
The first census. Population of Britain 8 million
Germany succeeds Queen Anne to the Throne
Ireland
Ireland made part of the United Kingdom
1804
Richard Trevithick built the first steam locomotive
1805
Lord Nelson defeats Napoleon at the Battle of Trafalgar
1807
Abolition of Slave Trade
2
1815
Duke of Wellington defeats Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo
1825
World's first railway opens between Stockton and Darlington
1829
Robert Peel set up the Metropolitan Police force
1834
The Poor Law set up workhouses, where people without homes or jobs could live in return for
doing unpaid work.
After the amorphous turmoil of the previous century, with its civil war, Regicide and Reformation, the
Georgian era was a magical time for Britain. British society was dragged into modernity as agriculture and
industry were revolutionized, and the iron foundations of Empire were erected.
The Westminster Model of
parliament (parliamentary government⇒government by a body of cabinet ministers who are chosen from and
responsible to the legislature and act as advisers to a nominal chief of state. Also called cabinet government 議院
内閣制. Origin: 1855–60) took shape, with Sir Robert Walpole holding office as the first prime minister – he
didnn’t officially hold that title, but the job description was the equal of it. Britain’s social fabric became more
progressive. The slave trade was abolished. But Georgian Britain was not without crisis. War and economic
nightmares amplified tensions throughout the period. From King George I’s coronation in 1714, to the death of
King George IV in the summer of 1830, wars with Napoleon Bonaparte’s France and rebellion at home added a
fraught backdrop for this bold period of change.
(1) The Canals of England
The Canals were the “motorways” of the 18th Century. In the days when roads were un-surfaced – and
especially when they quickly deteriorated in the winter to pot-holed muddy tracks – a method was sought by
which large heavy cargoes of such commodities as coal, iron ore, grain, china clay, limestone and other building
materials and agricultural cargoes such as grain could be transported from the regions of the UK in which they
were produced to the docks in London, Liverpool, Bristol and so on. Some clever person came up with “the
canal system”, by which boats with cargoes could be moved easily and relatively cheaply on water across
country, by one or two people in a canal boat plus a reliable heavy horse to act as the force which propelled the
canal boat along. Canal map⇒
http://people.tribe.net/revo101/photos/df05ce9b-f3e3-4995-a45d-da53397c9cf9
3