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Key Concept 5.3. Nationalism, Revolution, and Reform
Big Picture: The eighteenth century marked the beginning of an intense period of revolution and rebellion
against existing governments, and the establishment of new nation-states around the world. Enlightenment
thought and the resistance of colonized peoples (mostly in the Americas) to imperial centers shaped this
revolutionary activity. These rebellions sometimes resulted in the formation of new states and stimulated the
development of new ideologies. These new ideas in turn further stimulated the revolutionary and anti- imperial
tendencies of this period. In other words, new revolutions would use the ideas of previous revolutions to justify and
bolster their claim for change/revolution/decolonization.
I. The rise and diffusion of Enlightenment thought that questioned established traditions in all areas
of life often preceded the revolutions and rebellions against existing governments. The Enlightenment came
out of the philosophical history of Europe dating back to the Renaissance. The application of humanism and the use of
reason to religious, scientific, and political problems was the story of the Early Modern Period. Renaissance thinkers and
artists sought to champion the individual in society. The Protestant Reformation sought to put the interpretation of the
Christian texts into the hands of the individual, not a church. The Scientific Revolution set out to create a process by
which humans could attain and understand knowledge. Finally, the Enlightenment set to apply these humanist qualities to
ideas of governance. Thinkers and philosophes set out to use reason instead of revelation to making decisions and
deciding what is right or best. In other words, authority was to come from human reason and understanding, not through
religious texts or traditional social hierarchies. Most importantly, the Enlightenment thinkers attacked the centralized and
absolute governments that had consolidated power in the Early Modern Period. These thinkers (called philosophes) began
to question traditionally accepted ideas of legitimacy such as divine right, church sanction, blood line or any other
arbitrary notion of power and leadership.
A. Enlightenment philosophers applied new ways of understanding to natural world to human relationships,
encouraging observation and inference in all spheres of life; they also critiqued the role that religion played in
public life, insisting on the importance of reason as opposed to revelation. Other Enlightenment philosophers
developed new political ideas about the individual, natural rights, and the social contract: This is a restatement of
the Enlightenment as a whole. According to Enlightenment thinkers, knowledge was something that people could come to
understand through reason and the scientific method. Historically, particularly in Europe, the only “knowledge” was that
which was contained in religious texts. The Bible and the Catholic Church had a monopoly on teaching how the world
worked; the understanding of human relationships and political and social authority. The Enlightenment as a movement
turned knowledge into something that can be attained by people through reason, not revelation. Revelation in this sense
refers to knowledge that is revealed by divine powers, not something that is discovered. Enlightenment ideas played out
most importantly in their influence in social hierarchies and political authority. People questioned existing hierarchies
(though most questioned hierarchies remained in place) and questioned notions of legitimacy of government. Some of this
will be a review of the ideas of above:
Required examples of Enlightenment philosophers:
• Voltaire – Voltaire was a French philosopher/thinker in the 18th century. His most important contributions came in
the form of attacks on organized religious (the Catholic Church particularly), and he advocated freedom of
religion, freedom of expression, and the separation of church and state. All of these were “dangerous” ideas at the
time, because tolerance was something looked down on in European society. Probably his most notable writing
was Candide, or Optimism.
• Rousseau – Jean-Jacques Rousseau was also a Swiss/French philosopher/thinker whose most important
contribution to political thought was the further development of the notion of the social contract, an idea initially
promoted by John Locke. According to Rousseau, a government’s legitimacy should be derived from the will of
the people, not religious or any other authority. He argued the importance of the trade-off in the social contract. He
said in the state of nature, all men are free. However, to achieve civil governance, individuals must give up some
of that freedom in order to attain security. This is the social contract and Rousseau believed that governments
should provide that security without overstepping the freedom of the general will. If/when the government
violated the “contract,” government officials could be removed from office through democratic and republican
methods.
• Locke – John Locke was one of the most significant English political thinkers of the time. His ideas are most
important in the discussion of individual’s natural rights and political philosophy. John Locke’s idea of natural
rights says that all individuals are entitled to life, liberty and property and governments should be only large
enough to protect those natural rights. Locke also promoted the idea that if a government violated the social
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contract (in this case, failed to protect the natural rights of men), then the people had the responsibility to
overthrow the government and establish a new one. His ideas will be incredibly influential in the political
revolutions of the 19th and 20th century. Additionally, his ideas would be influential in the abolition of slavery
movement that began in England and spread throughout the Atlantic world.
• Montesquieu – Baron de Montesquieu was a French political thinker and his most important contributions to
political philosophy came in the form of separation of powers. Montesquieu argued that despotism and
authoritarianism, as seen in absolute monarchs, came about because someone was able to accumulate too much
power. By separating powers, say in an executive, legislative and judicial branch, the separate powers could
balance one another out and prevent one group from become too powerful. Many Constitutions around the world,
including the United States, used this philosophy in its creation.
B. The ideas of Enlightenment thinkers influenced resistance to existing political authority, as reflected in
revolutionary documents. These are essentially the only specific primary sources (beside Hammurabi’s Code) listed in
the course description. Therefore, at some point, you should read through them to familiarize yourself with them (read the
original and the Wikipedia “essence” of them. Below is a brief summary of their contents and their importance.
Required examples of revolutionary documents:
• The American Declaration of Independence - Written and signed on July 4th 1776, 13 British colonies in North
America declared their independence from Great Britain. This document essentially explains to King George III
and the British Parliament why the colonists were declaring their independence. This document is an
Enlightenment Manifesto that describes people’s natural (unalienable) rights and the role of the social contract
(“deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed”). Most of the Declaration of Independence was
written by Thomas Jefferson.
• The French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen – The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen
is the underlying document of the French Revolution that broke out in 1789. Like the US Declaration of
Independence, it uses Enlightenment philosophical ideas of natural rights, separation of powers and the social
contract to denounce the monarchy and the three estates system/social hierarchy. This document, even more so
than the US Declaration of Independence, would serve as one of the most important pieces of Enlightenment
governance in history, on which many other revolutionary pieces of literature were written. One further point to
make here is in the name: “of the Rights of Man and Citizen:” Enlightenment ideas and the ensuing revolutions
was designed to turn people from the subjects of their monarch to citizens of a state of their own creation.
• Bolivar’s Jamaica Letter – Simon Bolivar is seen as the “George Washington” of Latin American independence
movements because of his military and philosophical background. His Jamaica Letter lays out his and other
Creoles complaints with ongoing Spanish rule, largely its mercantilist policies. The Letter was written to get help
from the British in Latin American independence, although it never came. The letter became a rallying point for
Latin American elites (Creoles) in resisting Spanish rule in the Americas.
E. These ideas influenced many people to challenge existing notions of social relations, which led to the
expansion of rights as seen in expanded suffrage, the abolition of slavery and the end of serfdom. Democratic
countries began to allow greater numbers of voters by ending property requirements for voters. However, most of these
voting rights (suffrage) remained in the hands of white males. By the end of the 19th century, most forms of chattel slavery
and Russian serfdom had ended, although inequality among agricultural workers continued. However, Enlightenment
ideas continued to play a role in breaking down inequality throughout the 20th century by expanding rights, voting and
civil, to more people.
II. Beginning in the eighteenth century, peoples around the world developed a new sense of
commonality based on language, religion, social customs and territory, the main forces of nationalism. These
newly imagined national communities linked this identity with the borders of the state, while
governments used this idea to unite diverse populations. Nationalism is one of the most important unifying (and
dividing) forces for people and nations in the 19th and 20th century. As stated earlier, the 19th century is really the first time
we see the development of the idea of “countries.” Many of those countries grew out of a sense of nationalism.
Nationalism can come about through many different forces. Many times it is an ethnic nationalism, in which people of
similar culture, language and ethnicity band together to claim their own nation, which then deserves its own states. This is
by far the most common form. However, there are other ways in which nationalism can come about. Sometimes it is a
shared past or a common enemy that unites people under a nation. This can be in the form of anti-colonialism (like the
decolonization of the Americas). Furthermore, there is civic nationalism, which is when a group of people within a given
Key Concept 5.3. Nationalism, Revolution, and Reform
Big Picture: The eighteenth century marked the beginning of an intense period of revolution and rebellion
against existing governments, and the establishment of new nation-states around the world. Enlightenment
thought and the resistance of colonized peoples (mostly in the Americas) to imperial centers shaped this
revolutionary activity. These rebellions sometimes resulted in the formation of new states and stimulated the
development of new ideologies. These new ideas in turn further stimulated the revolutionary and anti- imperial
tendencies of this period. In other words, new revolutions would use the ideas of previous revolutions to justify and
bolster their claim for change/revolution/decolonization.
I. The rise and diffusion of Enlightenment thought that questioned established traditions in all areas
of life often preceded the revolutions and rebellions against existing governments. The Enlightenment came
out of the philosophical history of Europe dating back to the Renaissance. The application of humanism and the use of
reason to religious, scientific, and political problems was the story of the Early Modern Period. Renaissance thinkers and
artists sought to champion the individual in society. The Protestant Reformation sought to put the interpretation of the
Christian texts into the hands of the individual, not a church. The Scientific Revolution set out to create a process by
which humans could attain and understand knowledge. Finally, the Enlightenment set to apply these humanist qualities to
ideas of governance. Thinkers and philosophes set out to use reason instead of revelation to making decisions and
deciding what is right or best. In other words, authority was to come from human reason and understanding, not through
religious texts or traditional social hierarchies. Most importantly, the Enlightenment thinkers attacked the centralized and
absolute governments that had consolidated power in the Early Modern Period. These thinkers (called philosophes) began
to question traditionally accepted ideas of legitimacy such as divine right, church sanction, blood line or any other
arbitrary notion of power and leadership.
A. Enlightenment philosophers applied new ways of understanding to natural world to human relationships,
encouraging observation and inference in all spheres of life; they also critiqued the role that religion played in
public life, insisting on the importance of reason as opposed to revelation. Other Enlightenment philosophers
developed new political ideas about the individual, natural rights, and the social contract: This is a restatement of
the Enlightenment as a whole. According to Enlightenment thinkers, knowledge was something that people could come to
understand through reason and the scientific method. Historically, particularly in Europe, the only “knowledge” was that
which was contained in religious texts. The Bible and the Catholic Church had a monopoly on teaching how the world
worked; the understanding of human relationships and political and social authority. The Enlightenment as a movement
turned knowledge into something that can be attained by people through reason, not revelation. Revelation in this sense
refers to knowledge that is revealed by divine powers, not something that is discovered. Enlightenment ideas played out
most importantly in their influence in social hierarchies and political authority. People questioned existing hierarchies
(though most questioned hierarchies remained in place) and questioned notions of legitimacy of government. Some of this
will be a review of the ideas of above:
Required examples of Enlightenment philosophers:
• Voltaire – Voltaire was a French philosopher/thinker in the 18th century. His most important contributions came in
the form of attacks on organized religious (the Catholic Church particularly), and he advocated freedom of
religion, freedom of expression, and the separation of church and state. All of these were “dangerous” ideas at the
time, because tolerance was something looked down on in European society. Probably his most notable writing
was Candide, or Optimism.
• Rousseau – Jean-Jacques Rousseau was also a Swiss/French philosopher/thinker whose most important
contribution to political thought was the further development of the notion of the social contract, an idea initially
promoted by John Locke. According to Rousseau, a government’s legitimacy should be derived from the will of
the people, not religious or any other authority. He argued the importance of the trade-off in the social contract. He
said in the state of nature, all men are free. However, to achieve civil governance, individuals must give up some
of that freedom in order to attain security. This is the social contract and Rousseau believed that governments
should provide that security without overstepping the freedom of the general will. If/when the government
violated the “contract,” government officials could be removed from office through democratic and republican
methods.
• Locke – John Locke was one of the most significant English political thinkers of the time. His ideas are most
important in the discussion of individual’s natural rights and political philosophy. John Locke’s idea of natural
rights says that all individuals are entitled to life, liberty and property and governments should be only large
enough to protect those natural rights. Locke also promoted the idea that if a government violated the social
, 2
contract (in this case, failed to protect the natural rights of men), then the people had the responsibility to
overthrow the government and establish a new one. His ideas will be incredibly influential in the political
revolutions of the 19th and 20th century. Additionally, his ideas would be influential in the abolition of slavery
movement that began in England and spread throughout the Atlantic world.
• Montesquieu – Baron de Montesquieu was a French political thinker and his most important contributions to
political philosophy came in the form of separation of powers. Montesquieu argued that despotism and
authoritarianism, as seen in absolute monarchs, came about because someone was able to accumulate too much
power. By separating powers, say in an executive, legislative and judicial branch, the separate powers could
balance one another out and prevent one group from become too powerful. Many Constitutions around the world,
including the United States, used this philosophy in its creation.
B. The ideas of Enlightenment thinkers influenced resistance to existing political authority, as reflected in
revolutionary documents. These are essentially the only specific primary sources (beside Hammurabi’s Code) listed in
the course description. Therefore, at some point, you should read through them to familiarize yourself with them (read the
original and the Wikipedia “essence” of them. Below is a brief summary of their contents and their importance.
Required examples of revolutionary documents:
• The American Declaration of Independence - Written and signed on July 4th 1776, 13 British colonies in North
America declared their independence from Great Britain. This document essentially explains to King George III
and the British Parliament why the colonists were declaring their independence. This document is an
Enlightenment Manifesto that describes people’s natural (unalienable) rights and the role of the social contract
(“deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed”). Most of the Declaration of Independence was
written by Thomas Jefferson.
• The French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen – The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen
is the underlying document of the French Revolution that broke out in 1789. Like the US Declaration of
Independence, it uses Enlightenment philosophical ideas of natural rights, separation of powers and the social
contract to denounce the monarchy and the three estates system/social hierarchy. This document, even more so
than the US Declaration of Independence, would serve as one of the most important pieces of Enlightenment
governance in history, on which many other revolutionary pieces of literature were written. One further point to
make here is in the name: “of the Rights of Man and Citizen:” Enlightenment ideas and the ensuing revolutions
was designed to turn people from the subjects of their monarch to citizens of a state of their own creation.
• Bolivar’s Jamaica Letter – Simon Bolivar is seen as the “George Washington” of Latin American independence
movements because of his military and philosophical background. His Jamaica Letter lays out his and other
Creoles complaints with ongoing Spanish rule, largely its mercantilist policies. The Letter was written to get help
from the British in Latin American independence, although it never came. The letter became a rallying point for
Latin American elites (Creoles) in resisting Spanish rule in the Americas.
E. These ideas influenced many people to challenge existing notions of social relations, which led to the
expansion of rights as seen in expanded suffrage, the abolition of slavery and the end of serfdom. Democratic
countries began to allow greater numbers of voters by ending property requirements for voters. However, most of these
voting rights (suffrage) remained in the hands of white males. By the end of the 19th century, most forms of chattel slavery
and Russian serfdom had ended, although inequality among agricultural workers continued. However, Enlightenment
ideas continued to play a role in breaking down inequality throughout the 20th century by expanding rights, voting and
civil, to more people.
II. Beginning in the eighteenth century, peoples around the world developed a new sense of
commonality based on language, religion, social customs and territory, the main forces of nationalism. These
newly imagined national communities linked this identity with the borders of the state, while
governments used this idea to unite diverse populations. Nationalism is one of the most important unifying (and
dividing) forces for people and nations in the 19th and 20th century. As stated earlier, the 19th century is really the first time
we see the development of the idea of “countries.” Many of those countries grew out of a sense of nationalism.
Nationalism can come about through many different forces. Many times it is an ethnic nationalism, in which people of
similar culture, language and ethnicity band together to claim their own nation, which then deserves its own states. This is
by far the most common form. However, there are other ways in which nationalism can come about. Sometimes it is a
shared past or a common enemy that unites people under a nation. This can be in the form of anti-colonialism (like the
decolonization of the Americas). Furthermore, there is civic nationalism, which is when a group of people within a given
