The west on the eve of a new world order - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... The philosophes were the intellectuals of the Enlightenment who believed that philosophy can change the world. Montesquieu argued that separation of powers promoted checks and balances in the government. Jean-Jacques Rousseau asserted that the concept of the social contract happens when people use general will to create a government system. Mary Wollstonecraft argued that all human beings, including women, have innate reason.
Economic changes affected the social order. By the eighteenth century, Britain and France eclipsed old world monopolies (i.e. Spain, Portugal, and the Dutch Republic) through its largely profitable colonial empires and cottage industries. Peasants in Europe were generally free compared to serfs in Eastern Europe and Russia. Patrician oligarchies dominated towns and cities across Europe.
The colonial empires in the Americas had different rulers. British North American used colonization effectively because the English were motivated by the desire for religious and economic independence. These colonies were made to balance trade that favored the mother country, however, which fueled ideas for independence. French North America was managed autocratically. They did not succeed as well as the English because of lack of money and people. The thirteen British colonies in America soon declared war against their mother land and demanded independence from Britain. After winning the American Revolution, America created a new Constitution, and afterwards, a Bill of Rights in 1789.
Enlightened absolutism refers to ruling through equality of all before the law, religious toleration, freedom of speech and the press, and the rights of private property. Frederick II of Prussia developed a Prussian army that upheld duty, obedience, and sacrifice, but he also limited basic freedoms and did not change serfdom. Joseph II portrayed enlightened absolutism more than Frederick II because he abolished serfdom and ...Download file to see next pagesRead More