THE AGE OF REASON

Liberty in England sprang from the quarrels of tyrants.

- Voltaire Philosophical Letters on the English 1778

The Man Who Would Be King… …except that no one really wanted him

James II r. 1685-88

Limits of Absolutism…origins of Liberalism & theEnlightenment

Why did the Stuarts become so unpopular?

We Are Family

Henry VIII “Bloody Mary” Elizabeth I r. 1553-58 r. 1558-1603

Catholic v. ProtestantProtestant v. Protestant Anglicans v. Puritans

Roundheads in a Square World

1. Calvinists

- anti-hierarchical

- “middle” class

Stuart Kings

1. James I (& VI) 1603-1625 “Divine Right” / Absolutism

King James Bible (1611)

2. Charles I 1625-49

Short Parliament 1640

English Civil War 1642-1651

1. Culture WarsKing v. Parliament

Absolutism v. Magna Carta

Nobility v. bourgeoisie Oliver CromwellAnglican (Catholic) v. Puritan

2. Commonwealth (1648-60)

Burgermeister Meisterburger

Which brings us back to James

1. The RestorationCharles II

James II 1685

2. Glorious Revolution 1688-89

3. Dual Monarchy 1688

- William & Mary

4. Checks & Balances

Rise of Parliament

Toleration Act 1688

Declaration of Rights 1689

Mad dogs and EnglishmenAny single man must judge for himself whether circumstances warrant obedience or resistance to the commands of the civil magistrate; we are all qualified, entitled, and morally obliged to evaluate the conduct of our rulers.

- John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, 1689

Remembering Hobbes

In the wake of the English Revolution

How do we justify revolution...

without risking anarchy?

John Locke

Natural Law = Natural “Rights”

Two Treatises of Government 1689

- natural rights

An Essay Concerning Human Understanding 1690

- tabula rasa

Liberalism

Limited Government

Personal Liberty

Positive Humanism

The Magna Carta 1215

*Sapere aude!

Natural Rights

Legitimacy non-inherent

Society of secular/rational values

*Dare to know!

II. THE ENLIGHTENMENT

My mind is my own church. - Thomas Paine

A. What Is Enlightenment?

1. Freedom from the past…look forward, not back

Reform of:

political institutionsprisons / criminal codeseducationeconomic developmentreligious toleration

2. The Philosophes 1700s

progress:

- understanding “natural laws”

- overcoming religious “ignorance”

- social / political reform

RATIONALISM, CRITICISM, ACTIVISM

3. Reason and Order

Denis Diderot - Encyclopédie 1766

“All things must be examined, debated, investigated without exception and without regard for anyone’s feelings…”

- Summarize & promote knowledge

- “Natural Science”

B. The German view

1. Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)

Critique of Pure Reason 1781

Sapere aude the “subjective”

C. Anti-authoritarian

Voltaire - Philosophical Letters Concerning the English Nation 1734

- Talent vs. tradition

Candide 1759cynicism

2. David Hume 1711-1776

An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding 1748

extreme skepticism

“religion grows out of hope or fear”

Voltaire, Candide

D. Rational Government

1. Locke - Two Treatises…

2. Montesquieu - The Spirit of the Laws

1748

- govt. & civic virtue

- checks / balances- enlightened despots

E. Democratic rationalism

1. Jean-Jacques RousseauThe Social Contract 1763

- justice and order

Sovereignty rests with the people

“general will”

2. Thomas Jefferson Declaration of Independence 1776

Contract nationalism

Right to Revolution

F. Critique of Religion

1. Thomas Paine

- religion as social control

- radical politics

Age of Reason 1794

“My own mind is my own church”

Baron D’Holbach - “castles in the air”

III. Empire of Reason

The Spirit of ’76

The Great Paradox of American Slavery

“How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty from the drivers of Negroes?” - Dr. Samuel Johnson

A. Extensive Revolution

1. Benign neglect

B. Intensive Revolution

1. Rights of Englishmen - political / economic stress

2. Liberty or Equality?

“The spirit of Liberty has spread where it was not intended to go…”

C. The Counter-revolution

1. Constitutional Convention 1787

2. Compromise- slavery approved

- the Bill of Rights

James Madison

The New Republic

Experimentliberty = right of free, (white) men to control their economic, political destiny in lieu of social equality

"How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty from the drivers of Negroes?"

        - Samuel Johnson

Paradox

Liberty for some by denying it to others

- radicalism contained

Paradox…

Absolute rulers promoted rationalism (science)…

…but that same rationalism would be a source of anti-Absolutism.