The Modern World, Part One: Global History from 1760 to 1910 -- Week 2 Video Lecture Summary

Video 1: The Diffusion of Authority

Diffusion of authority = the factors that affect authority. Knowledge, (military) force, and money are factors that create authority. Power used to be in the hands of kings and armies, knowledge was the domain of the Church (I guess we're talking about Europe and the West) and money was divided up between the two.

Knowledge: The printing presses enabled knowledge to be more widely disseminated. The first encyclopedia containing practical knowledge was compiled and disseminated. Spiritual knowledge was disseminated as well (although Islam preceded Christianity as a religion that saw spiritual knowledge as a common right). Universities were also being created and growing, and they contributed to the formation and distribution of knowledge.

Military force and war: to have bigger battles, armies grew and non-nobles became soldiers.

Money: There was a need for many banks and companies because of the trade boom. Trade allowed for the creation of the middle classes: property owners who suddenly had access to wealth which previously only spiritual leaders and nobility/royalty had.

All of this led to many more people having more authority.

Rousseau: "Authority comes from you [the everyperson]" (quoted by the professor, not by Rousseau).

Video 2: Democratic Revolutions

This talk focuses on beliefs in Europe. Europeans believed that their countries had a "constitution" or "The Constituted Order". This means "the accumulations of privileges, liberties, and customary protections in which everybody in society has their place". It is the complicated scheme of traditions and customs (as opposed to a formalized, written constitution of America). Constitution = what it's made up of. 

This is contrasted with "despotism" or "tyranny". These words described a country with a ruler whose subjects were unprotected. 

In the 1760s and 1770s, constitutions had intermediaries which were charged with protecting the subjects, such as courts, municipalities, and parliaments. These intermediaries were made up of nobles (whose positions as intermediaries were conferred by inherited birthright), priests, and few wealthy people (who might become nobility after a few generations).

Kings were responsible for the general welfare of their state; some kings were even "enlightened reformers". Often the kings clashed with the parliaments which were comprised of nobles/aristocrats and priests and were concerned with protecting their "liberties" -- that is, their birthright (or god-right). These democratic revolutions are what battles in the late 1700s were about. These revolutions were happening in France, Sweden, Geneva, and the United States; these ideas were going back and forth across the Atlantic ocean

(1950s) Godechof and R.R Palmer popularized the historical perspective referred to as the Atlantic World's Democratic Revolutions. There were some objectors to this concept of the Democratic Revolutions: that it was too narrow a point of view. And Professor agrees: other perspectives are necessary to complement Palmer's views.

"Democratic" in this context is not about voting like it is in more recent times, but rather about "a discomfort with older forms of social stratification and formal rank" (Palmer). Essentially, it is a revolution against the aristocracy: "possession of any public power, by any established, privileged, closed, or self-recruiting groups of men" (Palmer). The revolutionaries balked against power systematically granted by birthright and exclusion. Instead, they wanted to change the groups of authority so that people from outside the groups could be included in them, thus changing the nature, or constitution, of the state itself.

Before the democratic revolutions, only aristocrats held privileges. These included citizen privileges like living in cities, and being exempt from taxes.

In 1770-1774 France, Louis XV fought against the nobility. He came out of a long war with Britain and needed money, so he wanted to tax the nobility. They fought back, claiming that they had rights/privileges like not being taxed. Louis XV died and Louis XVI took over and was hailed as the savior of liberty because he returned the privileges of the nobility.

At the same time, a revolution was stirring up on the other side of the Atlantic, in the British colony in North America.

Video 3: These United States

Ideas from Europe started spreading to British North America. Skirmishes started breaking out because the colonists were unhappy.

The British had a major hold over the East Coast of North America. There were thirteen colonies, and all their efforts were oriented toward British England.

Colonial rights

The colonists felt like they had rights. These rights were customary and traditional rights that British subjects had (nothing was formally written). They expected local councils and assemblies to represent them and stand for their rights. Their main objection wasn't the rate of the taxes, but rather the fact that they weren't represented properly and had no voice. Some also objected to the monopoly imposed on trade (the Boston Tea Party).

Tyranny

North American Englishmen objected to tyranny, or the absence of checks on royal power. Assemblies and councils in North America weren't quite democratic as we know democracy today. They were comprised of a selection of white propertied men who were supposed to speak on behalf of similar people. But when the king just imposed actions on these territories without consulting the assemblies and councils, they termed this "tyranny".

Common causes

When the revolution breaks out, most of North America gets together to object to tyranny. British Canada remained loyal to the crown. Also the West Indies who relied on British armed forces to keep the slaves there in check. But the rest of them form a new intermediary body: the Continental Congress. Its members were appointed by various assemblies and councils. In 1775 these colonies declare themselves independent of the crown. They didn't view themselves as the United States yet.

The British had the advantage of a strong navy. Their disadvantage was that they weren't able to occupy large land territories. The British were able to capture several big Continental cities. At some point, France allied itself with the colonists against the British.

Lucky Americans

Several peace treaties were signed, with the final one signed in 1783. The colonies differed in their terms for a peace treaty. The British ended up giving up Florida to the Spanish and they get all the colonies and a lot of inland North America up to the Mississipi.

Florida was Spanish-controlled, which was a problem because they needed to use water transportation (rivers and oceans), and Spain controlled the southern part of the Mississippi River. They managed to cut a deal with the Spanish for trade purposes.

The American Union (1787)

In the late 1780s, they decided to form a union for safety and security purposes. They worded a Constitution that lay down the terms for this union.

The compromises of the compound republic

The different states had to make lots of compromises in order to reach a common agreement. Slavery and representation were two big major of contention.

Separated powers -- pluralism by design

The writers of the Constitution anticipated future contention and created two bodies of congress. One body of congress was stable with less turnover and comprised of council and assembly representatives. The other was directly elected (by white propertied men). This ensured that power was divided to prevent tyranny in the future.

Video 4: Liberty and Common Sense

Liberty

This concept was often used in the 1770s. Liberty = free thinking. This is contrasted with dogma (a principle or set of principles laid down by an authority as incontrovertibly true), specifically church dogma.

Liberty was often contrasted with tyranny, or unchecked royal power. Liberty involved a rule of law, in which all entities in the system were committed to the system and did not pass rules without going the proper route (coordinating laws with the representative bodies).

Liberty was not associated with democracy, broad representation, or the right to vote.

Common sense

This term was popularised by a pamphlet of the same name written by Thomas Paine and distributed in the Atlantic World. It was intended for readers of Rousseau. Paine argued that people were born with a natural nobility and acquired wisdom from experience. The wisdom of the many was another notion he propagated: if lots of people think a certain thing it is likely to be appropriate. This was common sense as Paine lay it out.

Common sense was problematic philosophically because it wasn't scientifically solid. Just because many people believed something didn't necessarily mean it was true. So this concept was controversial.

Video 5: The French Revolution

The Estates-General was convened by Louis 16th in 1788 and 1789 to help levy some new taxes. This was a French intermediary body comprised of three estates: clergy, nobility, and "others". The "others" included lawyers.The French state was very poor because they'd just fought a war.

Simultaneously, ideas from the North American revolution made themselves known in France. Abbé Sieyès wrote an essay titled "What is the third estate"? That argued that everyone wanted to become a part of the new order that was starting to form.

The emerging new classes (lawyers, businessmen) took to the streets and overthrew the old order. A new order, a constitutional monarchy, was attempted to be created where everyone was properly represented. Louis 16 was made to leave Versailles for Paris to rule from there alongside a new National Constituent Assembly. This NCA prepares a Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen with the help of Thomas Jefferson. American influences are evident. In turn, the American Bill of Rights in the 1790s was influenced by the French declaration.

The French Declaration introduced the idea of a nation which is an entity with a unified national will. They invented a symbol for the French nation: the tricolor flag.

Only men of property were considered citizens in France. It was more inclusive than the prior nobility-dominant order, but still only 20% of Frenchmen were considered citizens. Mirabeau was a spokesman for this new type of citizen. Another spokesman was Lafayette, who fought by George Washington in the American Revolution.

In spite of how promising this new order seems to be, in August 1792 this new order was overthrown. The new order made a few mistakes:

1. They replaced hard money with lots of paper money, causing inflation and difficulty buying food, which caused social unrest

2. Nationalization of the Catholic Church: All of the members of the church were forced to become a state official. Not all of the church leaders agreed to this arrangement. This posed a dilemma for all of the church staff who had to decide whether to follow their dissenting leaders or join the new order.

3. Louis 16 was a relatively weak monarch. He was nice and decent but over his head. He was ambivalent about the revolution. There was no strong leadership during these disturbed times.

4. Foreign powers took advantage of the internal unrest in France and attacked France.

So these factors contributed to the mob overtaking the new order. The mob represented all the people in France who weren't represented by the NCA.

Video 6: The French Republic

Right now France is the fifth republic!

The French got rid of the NCA and created a National Convention that represented the common people.

The birth of political terror

At this time, members of the Church who dissented against the old order as well as members of the nobility were being held in impromptu prisons across Paris. They have field trials and 1,400 people who didn't give satisfactory answers were executed violently. This massacre is an exceptional occurrence in terms of violence. It was a shock to the nation.

Monism vs. pluralism

Monism = the discouragement of multiple voices and the encouragement of a single national voice. This is what was happening in France.

Pluralism is what's going on in North America.

Marie Antoinette is executed in 1792.

A powerful committee named "The Committee of Public Safety" is formed that decides in France who is an enemy and who is a friend of the Republic. Robespierre is a powerful figure on the Revolutionary side.

A nation in arms = France is heavily armed. The revolutionaries have to contend with external attacks and internal attacks = counter-revolutionary attacks. This period was termed as "the reign of terror".

Robespierre is overthrown and executed in 1794. Some historians regard Robespierre as a "man of necessity", who was responding to the circumstances and doing what he thought was right. Others view him as a tyrant.

The Bourgeois Republic

1794 -- 1799

Bourgeoisie = the middle class.

This republic was trying to represent this middle class. Napoleon led their cause. He won lots of battles: he invaded Egypt and replaced the Republic with:

The First Consulate

Napoleon acted as the First Consul. Many Frenchmen saw Napoleon as the savior of France. They saw him as a "citizen sovereign" who would lead a new kind of aristocracy. An aristocracy of merit, where merit is defined as usefulness to the Consulate.

Video 7: The World's Revolution

The world was affected greatly by the goings-on in France. France at that time was the most powerful country in the world. French was the lingua franca of the world at the time.

Choosing sides

This caused people around the world to sympathize with France: either pro-revolution or anti-revolution. There was a rift between traditionalists and revolutionaries. A powerful counterrevolutionary force in Europe was born. British liberty was contrasted with French liberty: the British version was, by some, perceived as benevolent and egalitarian, and the French as violent and horrific.

During the 1790s the Atlantic world discourse was dominated by the French Revolution. In America, people who supported the revolution were Republicans, and those against it were called Jacobins, Federalists, or Democrats. In that time the term democrat meant "one who favors mob rule". It became a conversation about favoring the stratified social status quo versus favoring mobility.

In 1798 Napoleon brought the revolution to Egypt in the name of enlightenment. Soon forces in Mysore, Southern India, proclaimed fealty to the Revolution. The Spanish began following the goings-on of revolution.

Total war threatened and whole communities were destroyed in France and in French colonies. Slaves revolted in 1791 in Saint Domingo and killed whites.

The following is the state of affairs in the 1790s:

• France is the most powerful force is the world
• The Republic, headed by Napoleon, has survived
• The French revolutionary cause has become a global cause
• Commercial, democratic, military revolutions converge to sweep the globe
• New kinds of wars are being waged in Europe, leading to improved military techniques
• The French feel they represent the future of the globe. The Europeans project a cultural confidence to the world.