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APEC Chapter 19 - Vocabulary

Terms in this set (60)

July 4, 1776
on this date, the Second Continental Congress approved a declaration of independence which affirmed the Enlightenment's natural rights of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" and declared the colonies to be "free and independent" from British control.
natural rights
certain inalienable rights to which all people are entitled, including the right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness", as well as speech, religion, and equality before the law.
Yorktown
pivotal battle in the War for American Independence; the British forces under General Cornwallis were forced to surrender to a combined American and French army; the Treaty of Paris was later signed, granting America's independence.
the Constitution of 1789
America's "supreme law of the land", which replaced the 1781 Articles of Confederation; created a national government with three separate branches and a system of checks and balances.
the American Bill of Rights
the first twelve amendments to the US Constitution; guaranteed freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, speech, and other rights, many of which were derived from the natural rights philosophies of the Enlightenment.
The First Estate
the French clergy; radically divided, as they came from both the nobility and the common people.
The Second Estate
the French nobility; held important government, church, and military positions and controlled much of the trade in France; sought to expand their privileges at the expense of the monarchy; exempt from the taille.
The Third Estate
French commoners; constituted the overwhelming majority of the French population; divided by vast differences in occupation, education, and wealth; included peasants, skilled laborers and artisans, and the bourgeoisie.
The Three Estates
legal categories that made up French society before the Revolution; these orders were grounded in the idea of privilege and an inequality of rights.
the bourgeoisie
the French middle class; comprised 8% of the population and included merchants, industrialists, bankers, and professionals; sought security and status through the purchase of land; excluded from the social and political privileges enjoyed by the nobles, leading to resentment.
French Parlements
French law courts who held the power to block royal decrees; pushed their own interests, especially by blocking taxes.
the Estates-General
French parliamentary body consisting of representatives from the three orders; called in 1787, for the first time since 1614, to raise to taxes in order to avoid a financial crisis; became divided over the question of whether voting should be by order or by head, as advocated by the Third Estate.
"vote by order or by head?"
decision dividing the Estates General; the nobility supported voting by order, guaranteeing aristocratic control, while the Third Estate advocated voting by head, thus allowing it to gain control and establish reforms.
Abbe Sieyes' "What is the Third Estate?"
Member of the Third Estate and representative in the Estates-General; issued a pamphlet asking, "What is the Third Estate? Everything. What has it been thus far in the political order? Nothing. What does it demand? To become something."
the National Assembly
the Third Estate established this body in response to the First Estate's declaration in favor of voting by order; proceeded drawing up a constitution; since they had no legal right to act in this manner, this constituted the first step in the French Revolution; Louis XVI prepared to use force against them.
the Tennis Court Oath
when the members of the newly formed National Assembly arrived at their meeting place and found it locked, they moved to a nearby tennis court and swore that they would continue to meet until they had produced a French constitution.
the Bastille - July 14, 1789
uprising in which French commoners attacked a royal armory and prison in Paris; Paris was abandoned to the insurgents and its fall saved the National Assembly; signaled the collapse of royal authority in Paris and became a popular symbol of triumph over despotism; one of many urban and rural uprisings during this period led by the common people.
the Great Fear
panic that spread through France between July 20 and August 9, 1789, during a period of peasants rebellions; citizens' militias and committees were formed as fear of invasion by foreign troops, aided by a supposed aristocratic plot, grew.
Olympe de Gouges
French playwright and pamphleteer who wrote a "Declaration of the Rights of Women and the Female Citizen" in response to the adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen by the National Assembly; insisted that women should have the same rights as men; ignored by the National Assembly; executed during the Reign of Terror.
Civil Constitution of the Clergy, 1790
passed by the National Assembly as part of the secularization of the church; declared that bishops and priests of the Catholic church were to be elected by the people and paid by the state and that all clergy were to swear allegiance; aroused the opposition of the church and made the church, an important institution in the life of the French people, an enemy of the French Revolution.
the Jacobins
radical political clubs that served primarily as discussion groups throughout France; part of the growing opposition to the acts of the National Assembly.
escape to Varennes
Louis XVI's attempt to flee France in June 1791; captured and returned to Paris, radicals called for him to be deposed, but the National Assembly, fearful of the popular forces calling for a republic, chose to ignore the king's flight.
Declaration of Pillnitz
fearful that revolution would spread to their countries, Emperor Leopold II of Austria and King Frederick William II of Prussia issued this declaration, inviting the monarchs of Europe to support the king of France; too suspicious of one another, the European monarchs declined and France declared war on Austria.
Paris Commune
an assembly of radical Parisian political groups who organized a mob attack on the royal palace, took the king captive, and assumed power during this new, more radical phase of the French Revolution; comprised of the "sans culottes" who favored radical change and put constant pressure on the National Convention.
sans-culottes
"without breeches"; the common people who did not wear the fine clothes of the upper classes and played an important role in the radical phase of the Revolution.
Georges Danton
newly appointed minister of justice in the Paris Commune, he led the sans-culottes to seek revenge on those who had aided the king and resisted the popular will; thousands were arrested and executed.
National Convention
legislative body that followed the National Assembly; its first major step was to abolish the monarchy, but split into factions over the fate of the king.
Girondins
faction of the National Convention that primarily represented the provinces and favored keeping the king alive; fearful of the radical mobs in Paris; outvoted by members of the Mountain, who represented the interests of the city of Paris, and called for the execution of Louis XIV; in 1793, the Paris Commune invaded the National Convention and arrested and executed these members, leaving the Mountain in control.
the Vendee
region of France that opposed the authority of the National Convention; a peasant revolt against the new military draft escalated into a counterrevolutionary uprising.
Committee of Public Safety
executive committee of twelve members established by the National Convention in response to crises caused by anarchy, counterrevolution, and impending invasion by an anti-French coalition of European states; decreed a universal mobilization and established a "Reign of Terror".
Maximilien Robespierre
important leader in the Committee of Public Safety; had a dominant role in the Reign of Terror and was later sent to the guillotine by the National Convention.
Reign of Terror
instigated by the Committee of Public Safety; revolutionary courts were organized and those who had opposed the radical activities of the sans-culottes were brought to the guillotine; victims numbered close to fifty thousand, most coming from areas that had been in open rebellion against the authority of the National Convention, such as the Vendee.
the guillotine
quick and efficient method of execution employed during the Reign of Terror.
"Republic of Virtue"
new republican order that would be established after the bloodletting of the Reign of Terror, when the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen would be fully established.
Law of General Maximum
price controls on goods declared of first necessity, ranging from food and drink to fuel and clothing; established by the Committee of Public Safety, but failed to work well, as the government lacked the machinery to enforce them.
the taille
France's chief tax; the First and Second Estates were exempt from its payment.
cahiers de doleances
statements of local grievances; drafted by activists and reformers throughout the elections to the Estates-General, advocating a regular constitutional government and the abolishment of the fiscal privileges of the church and nobility in order to regenerate the country.
Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen
charter of basic liberties adopted by the National Assembly; reflected the ideas of the major philosophes of the French Enlightenment and the American state constitutions; affirmed the destruction of aristocratic privilege, access to public office based on talent, restriction of the monarchy, and freedom of speech and press.
"Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite" (Liberty, Equality, Fraternity)
motto of the French Revolution.
the Thermidorean Reaction
during this period, following the execution of Robespierre, revolutionary fervor gave way to moderation and stability; the National Convention curtailed the power of the Committee of Public Safety, shut down the Jacobin clubs, and attempted to provide better security for the church; a new, more conservative constitution was written, featuring a legislative assembly with two chambers and the establishment of the Directory.
the Directory
the executive authority over the Council of 500 and Council of Elders that had been established by the constitution of 1795 during the Thermodorean Reaction; consisted of five directors chosen by the Council of Elders; the period of their rule was an era of stagnation, corruption, and materialism -- a response to the suffering and sacrifice of the Reign of Terror; forced to rely on the military to maintain control.
Napoleon Bonaparte
French general and war hero who participated in a 1799 coup d'état that ultimately led to his virtual dictatorship; made consul for life in 1802 and crowned emperor in 1804.
Italian and Egyptian campaigns
military campaigns led by Napoleon; the first culminated in a stunning victory, allowing him to return home as a war hero; he abandoned the second campaign when British naval ships blocked supplies, assuring defeat for his troops; he returned to Paris where he participated in a coup d'état that brought him to power over France.
First Consul and Emperor
titles bestowed on Napoleon, as his power grew and the influence he held over all branches of government grew; the French Revolutionary era ended with a government far more autocratic than the monarchy of the old regime.
the Concordat of 1801
Napoleon's agreement with Pope Pius VII, reestablishing the Catholic church in France; gave the pope the right to depose bishops and hold processions, while the pope acknowledged the accomplishments of the Revolution and agreed not to question the church lands that had been confiscated; Catholicism would be a majority religion, but not an official state religion.
the Civil Code (Code Napoleon)
codification of laws by Napoleon for the entire French nation; preserved most of the revolutionary gains: a uniform legal system, legal equality, and protection of property and individuals, but undid many of the rights granted to women during the radical phase of the revolution.
the Grand Empire
established after Napoleon won a series of victories against Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia that gave him full or partial control over much of Europe by 1807; although he demanded obedience, he also sought acceptance everywhere for certain revolutionary principles and attempted to destroy the old order.
battle of Austerlitz
decisive French victory; Napoleon's forces attacked and devastated Austrian and Russian troops in 1803.
battles of Trafalgar
decisive British naval victory; Britain's navy defeated a combined French-Spanish fleet in 1805; determined to defeat Britain, Napoleon then turned to his ultimately unsuccessful Continental System.
the Grand Army
Napoleon's army.
Continental System
Napoleon's effort to bar British goods from the Continent in the hope of weakening Britain's economy and destroying its capacity to wage war; this plan ultimately failed and British exports reached record highs by 1810.
nationalism
a sense of national consciousness based on awareness of being part of a community -- a "nation" -- that has common institutions, traditions, language, and customs and that become the focus of the individual's primary political loyalty; developed in France during the revolutionary era; spread to other nations in Napoleon's "Grand Empire", playing a part in his defeat.
the invasion of Russia
this act marked the beginning of Napoleon's downfall; a calculated risk, as Russia had defected from the Continental System and Napoleon feared other countries would follow.
Russian "scorched-earth" policy
Russian strategic defense against Napoleon's invading army; rather than engaging in battle, as Napoleon had hoped, the Russians retreated for hundreds of miles and torched their own villages and countryside to prevent Napoleon's army from finding food or supplies; Napoleon was forced to retreat from Moscow in terrible winter conditions, a military disaster that ultimately led to his defeat in 1814.
Elba
island off the coast of Tuscany where Napoleon was exiled after his 1814 defeat; the Bourbon monarchy was restored with Louis XVIII, brother of Louis XVI; Napoleon soon became bored, however, and returned to France where he gained the support of the military and raised a new army to attack the allied forces.
the 100 days
period of time between Napoleon's triumphant return to Paris and his defeat at Waterloo.
battle of Waterloo
Bloody defeat of Napoleon's forces by a combined Prussian and British army, following his return from exile.
Saint Helena
small and forsaken island in the South Atlantic where Napoleon was sent by the allied forces for his second exile, following his defeat at Waterloo.
coup d'etat
overthrow of the government, such as when Napoleon seized power from the Directory.
plebiscite
the direct vote of all the members of an electorate on an important public question; used to crown Napoleon first consul and, later, emperor and to affirm his constitution.
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