The American Revolution

Preview of Events

Guide to Reading

Section PreviewInspired by a belief in natural rights the-ory, American colonists rebelled againstBritain to found a new nation.

• In theory, the colonies were governedby the British, but in practice coloniallegislatures often acted independently.(p. 191)

• After the French and Indian War, theBritish angered colonists by imposingnew taxes to help pay for the war. (p. 191)

• Drawing on natural rights theory andthe ideas of John Locke, the Declarationof Independence declared the coloniesto be independent of the British Crown.(p. 192)

• Americans won their independencefrom Britain in 1783 and later ratified aconstitution that clearly spelled out therights of individuals and the limits ofgovernment. (p. 194)

• Americans struggled to find a balancebetween individual freedom and a uni-fied central government. (p. 196)

Content Vocabularycolony, Stamp Act, Declaration of Inde-pendence, Articles of Confederation, fed-eral system, Bill of Rights

Academic Vocabularytension, correspondence, amendments,assembly

People to IdentifyWilliam Pitt the Elder, King George III,George Washington, Thomas Jefferson

Places to LocateYorktown

Reading Objectives1. Identify the causes of the American

Revolution.2. Describe the short-term and long-term

impact of the American Revolution.

Reading StrategySummarizing Information Use a chartlike the one below to identify key aspectsof the government created by the Ameri-can colonists.

California Standards in This SectionReading this section will help you master these California History–Social Science standards.

10.1.3: Consider the influence of the U.S. Constitutionon political systems in the contemporary world.

10.2: Students compare and contrast the Glorious Revo-lution of England, the American Revolution, andthe French Revolution and their enduring effectsworldwide on the political expectations for self-government and individual liberty.

10.2.2: List the principles of the Magna Carta, the Eng-lish Bill of Rights (1689), the American Declara-tion of Independence (1776), the FrenchDeclaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen(1789), and the U.S. Bill of Rights (1791).

10.2.3: Understand the unique character of the Ameri-can Revolution, its spread to other parts of theworld, and its continuing significance to othernations.

1721Robert Walpole becomes cabinet head in Britain

1776American Revolution begins

1783Treaty of Paris recognizes Americanindependence

1757William Pitt the Elderbecomes cabinet head

✦1715 ✦1730 ✦1745 ✦1760 ✦1775 ✦1790

CHAPTER 2 Revolution and Enlightenment190

NewAmerican Government

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How the Colonies Learned Self-Government

In theory, the colonies were governed by theBritish, but in practice colonial legislatures often actedindependently.

Reading Connection What issues might make you wantto declare independence from your parents, teachers, andfriends? Read to discover why colonists took their first steps topolitical independence.

By 1750, more than one million people lived in thethirteen British colonies in North America. Locatedon the eastern coast of the present United States, theyattracted many settlers and became prosperous.

The colonies were established to supply raw mate-rials to Britain and to be a market for British goods.In theory, the British Board of Trade, and ultimatelythe Parliament, were in charge of them, but thecolonies had set up their own legislatures. Fordecades, these legislatures operated with little inter-ference from Britain.

Each of the 13 legislatures functioned like a minia-ture Parliament and made its own laws. White malecitizens who owned land elected the representatives.There were also county and local government insti-tutions which passed laws for towns and villages.

Comparing How did American andBritish views of their legislatures differ?

British and French Rivalry in NorthAmerica

After the French and Indian War, the Britishangered colonists by imposing new taxes to help pay forthe war.

Reading Connection Think about the various kinds oftaxes that may affect your life. Read this section to see howcolonists reacted to taxes they felt were unjust.

The French and British colonies in North Americawere set up differently. French North America, con-sisting of Canada and Louisiana, was run by theFrench government as a vast trading area. TheFrench state was unable to get people to move toNorth America, so its colonies were thinly populated,in contrast to those of Britain.

Between 1756 and 1763, Britain and France foughtone another in the Seven Years’ War. The Americanphase of the war is known as the French and IndianWar. The British and the French were fighting for con-trol of North America, especially for control of theOhio River valley. British settlers wanted to expandinto this vast area, and French forts stood in their way.

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191CHAPTER 2 Revolution and Enlightenment

On July 2, 1776, the Second Continental Congressadopted a resolution declaring the independence ofthe American colonies. It read:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, thatall men are created equal, that they are endowedby their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuitof Happiness. That to secure these rights, Govern-ments are instituted among Men, deriving theirjust powers from the consent of the governed.That whenever any Form of Government becomesdestructive of these ends, it is the Right of thePeople to alter or to abolish it and to institute newGovernment.”

The ideas of the Enlightenment had clearly madean impact on the colonies in North America. Despitetheir close ties to their European mother countries,the colonies of Latin America and British NorthAmerica were developing in ways that sometimesdiffered significantly from those of Europe.

Thomas Jefferson

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At first, the French, with the help of their Indianallies, scored some victories. British fortunes wererevived by William Pitt the Elder, Britain’s primeminister. Pitt was convinced that the French colonialempire would have to be destroyed for Britain to haveits own empire. He used the British navy to defeat theweaker French fleet. The British had the advantage—the French now had a hard time reinforcing theirtroops in America.

In 1759, British forces defeated the French on thePlains of Abraham, outside Quebec. The French wereforced to make peace. By the Treaty of Paris, theytransferred Canada and the lands east of the Missis-sippi to Great Britain. Their ally Spain transferredSpanish Florida to British control. In return, theFrench gave their Louisiana territory to the Spanish.By 1763, Great Britain had become the world’s great-est colonial power.

After achieving victory in the Seven Years’ War,British leaders wanted to get new revenues from thecolonies. These revenues would be used to cover warcosts, as well as to pay for the expenses of maintain-ing an army to defend the colonies.

In 1765, Parliament imposed the Stamp Act on thecolonies. This act required that certain printed mate-rials, such as legal documents and newspapers, carrya stamp showing that a tax had been paid to Britain.

Opposition was widespread and often violent, andthe act was repealed in 1766. The crisis was over, butthe cause of the dispute was not resolved.

Why did British leaders impose theStamp Act on colonists, and what response did it elicit?

The American Revolution

Drawing on natural rights theory and theideas of John Locke, the Declaration of Independencedeclared the colonies to be independent of the BritishCrown.

Reading Connection What comes to mind when you celebrate the Fourth of July? Read to learn how and why the colonists took the bold and risky step of declaringindependence.

The tension between Great Britain and thecolonies had started before the Stamp Act waspassed. The British expected the colonies to importmostly British goods. Parliament passed taxes onnon-British goods to make them more expensive. Toavoid these tariffs, the colonists had been smugglingthem. The British then clamped down on smugglers,

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192 CHAPTER 2 Revolution and Enlightenment

The Battle of Quebec in 1759 was a great British victory over the French in the French and Indian War.

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even searching private homes for illegal goods. Thecolonists were angry because they thought of them-selves as English citizens protected by English laws.

On the same day that Parliament repealed theStamp Act, it passed the Declaratory Act. TheDeclaratory Act said that Parliament had the right totax and make decisions for the colonies “in all cases.”New taxes on basic goods were passed. The newtaxes—and the undermining of the colonial legisla-tures—enraged the colonists. “No taxation withoutrepresentation!” became the rallying cry behind anti-British demonstrations, boycotts, and even destruc-tion of property.

As a result of the colonists’ actions, the British sentmore troops to the colonies. Clashes between theBritish soldiers and the colonists grew more volatile.One clash, the Boston Massacre, left five colonistsdead and led to the spread of anti-British propa-ganda. In order to restore the peace and reestablishtrade relations, the British repealed all taxes exceptfor the tea tax, and the colonists put an end to boy-cotts on British goods. However, the push for eco-nomic independence was growing stronger.

After two years of relative calm, tension mountedwhen Parliament passed the Tea Act of 1773. This actallowed the struggling British East India Company tobypass American merchants and sell their tea directly to colonial shopkeepers. This made British tea cheaper than all other tea, gave the British a monopoly, and decreased profits for American merchants.

The Colonists Unite in Protest The colonists hadhad enough. Previously, at Thomas Jefferson’s urging,the colonies had formed committees of correspon-dence to allow them to communicate with each otherabout the British. They used these committees to keepEast India Company tea out of America. At BostonHarbor, two ships carrying the tea were forced to turnaround and another had its cargo seized. In December1773, colonists boarded one ship and dumped 342chests of tea into the harbor, an event that becameknown as the Boston Tea Party. Despite this radical act, most colonists were still not ready to throw offBritish rule.

When King George III heard about the Boston TeaParty, he ordered Parliament to pass the CoerciveActs to punish Massachusetts and put an end to colo-nial rebellion. The acts—renamed the IntolerableActs by the colonists—violated several traditionalEnglish rights, including the right to a trial by juryand the right to not be forced to quarter, or house,troops in one’s own home.

The Continental Congresses To counteract Britishactions, the colonies organized the First ContinentalCongress, which met in Philadelphia in September1774. The mood of many colonists could be summedup by the words of Patrick Henry, who said, “Thedistinctions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians,New Yorkers, and New Englanders are no more. . . . Iam not a Virginian, but an American.”

This Continental Congress called for the repeal ofthe 13 Parliament acts passed since 1763, the boycottof British goods, and the formation of colonial mili-tias. It sent the king a Declaration of Rights andGrievances that stated their loyalty but condemnedthe Coercive Acts. The delegates agreed to meetagain in 1775 if the crisis had not been resolved.

The reaction of King George III and Parliamentdid not calm the colonists. When colonial militiaswere formed, the king sent more British troops to thecolonies. In the spring of 1775, British troops inBoston were sent to seize the arms and supplies ofmilitias stored in Concord, Massachusetts. On theirway, the British ran into colonial militias in Lexing-ton. By the time the British got to Concord, they facedmore militias and found that the supplies had beenremoved. The British were harassed all the way backto Boston, with 99 killed and 174 wounded. News ofthe fighting spread to other colonies. In Boston, the

A British cartoonist’s image of the Boston Tea Party

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colonial militia began to stream in and soon theBritish were surrounded.

The Second Continental Congress Because ofhow the British reacted, the Second Continental Con-gress was called and met in May 1775. The first issuewas the formation of an organized army, the Conti-nental Army, which was to be commanded byGeorge Washington. Before the Continental Armyhad a chance to organize, the British sent more sol-diers to Boston to suppress revolt. The colonial mili-tia found out about the plan and met the British at theBattle of Bunker Hill. Desperately short on supplies,the colonists managed to kill or wound 1,000 Britishsoldiers. A military stalemate resumed in Boston, butAmerican confidence was rising.

Still, the colonists did not rush headlong into war.After the fighting in Lexington and Concord, morethan a year passed before the decision was made todeclare independence from the British Empire.

In July 1775, the Second Continental Congress sentthe Olive Branch Petition to assure King George III oftheir desire for peace. The colonists asked the king toprotect their rights as English citizens, which they feltParliament had been taking away. King Georgerefused to look at the petition. Instead, he sent 30,000hired German troops to the colonies to fight the rebel-lious colonists.

Although some colonists, called Loyalists, wantedto remain loyal English citizens, others, called Patri-ots, began calling for independence. Beginning inJanuary 1776, Patriot Thomas Paine’s pamphlets,called Common Sense, began circulating throughoutthe colonies. Paine’s writings began to convince peo-ple that both Parliament and King George III wereacting like tyrants, and complete independence fromGreat Britain was necessary if Americans were tosecure their rights.

The Birth of a New Nation

Americans won their independence fromBritain in 1783 and later ratified a constitution that clearlyspelled out the rights of individuals and the limits of government.

Reading Connection Can you think of a time when agoal you had finally became a reality? Read to learn about thesteps colonists took when they finally won independence.

On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congressapproved a declaration of independence written byThomas Jefferson. Based in large part on the ideas ofJohn Locke, the Declaration of Independencedeclared the colonies to be “free and independent

194 CHAPTER 2 Revolution and Enlightenment

At the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, Patriot leaders called for a Continental army.

Courtesy of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania Collection, Atwater Kent Museum of Philadelphia

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states absolved from all allegiance to the BritishCrown.” Like Locke, Jefferson stated that life, liberty,and property are natural rights and it is the govern-ment’s duty to protect those rights. When govern-ments do not, they can be rightfully overthrown. Thepeople of the American colonies reacted with cele-bration to the Declaration of Independence. TheAmerican Revolution had formally begun.

The Declaration of Independence amounted to adeclaration of war against Great Britain. Such a dec-laration was an enormous gamble. The ContinentalArmy was a brand-new creation. The soldiers were amotley group of ordinary citizens—small farmers,artisans, and merchants. They had no regular mili-tary training and usually agreed to serve for only ashort time. These so-called Patriots faced the world’sbest military force, one supported by a rich nationwith a healthy economy.

The Patriots had some important advantages,though. The British had to ship soldiers and suppliesacross the Atlantic, while the Patriots were fightingon home ground.

One of the most important advantages that thePatriots had was their motivation to fight. Most ofthe British and German soldiers were fighting as partof a job or for money. For the Patriots, it was a battlefor their freedom.

A critical factor for the American victory was thefinancial support from other countries, especially

France. The French, eager to inflict damage on theBritish in any way possible, gave arms and money tothe Americans from early in the war. French officersand soldiers served under General Washington. Onefamous Frenchman, the Marquis de Lafayette, wrotethis about the American Revolution: “The future ofAmerica is closely bound up with the future of allmankind.” Spain and the Dutch Republic, otherBritish rivals, were also eager to fight against GreatBritain. The British had their hands full.

Both sides expected the war to be short, but itdragged on for about seven years, from 1776 to 1783.When the army of General Cornwallis was finallyforced to surrender to combined American andFrench forces under Washington at Yorktown in1781, the British decided to end the war.

The Treaty of Paris, signed in 1783, recognized theindependence of the American colonies and grantedthe Americans control of the western territory fromthe Appalachians to the Mississippi River.

Explaining Why did foreign coun-tries support the American cause?

Reading Check

195CHAPTER 2 Revolution and Enlightenment

History through Art

The March to Valley Forge, 1883 was painted byWilliam B.T. Trego. It conveyed the suffering GeneralWashington and his Continental Army endured duringthe brutal winter of 1777 at their headquarters in Pennsylvania. How do you think the public felt aboutthis event in the year it was painted?

The Valley Forge Historical Society

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Ruling a New Nation

Americans struggled to find a balancebetween individual freedom and a unified central government.

Reading Connection Have you heard the phrase cost-benefit analysis? Read to learn how Americans balanced thecosts and benefits of government.

The thirteen American colonies had gained theirindependence. The former colonies were now stateswhich had to come together to form a country.Because they had just fought a war to free themselvesfrom a king, the states feared the potential for con-centrated power. Also, each state was primarily con-cerned for its own interests. For these reasons, thestates had little enthusiasm for creating a unitednation with a strong central government.

The Articles of Confederation, the nation’s firstconstitution, thus did little to provide for a strongcentral government. It soon became clear that thegovernment under the Articles lacked the power todeal with many problems. A movement for a differ-ent form of national government arose.

The Articles of Confederation had been approvedin 1781. In the summer of 1787, 55 delegates met inPhiladelphia to revise the Articles. The convention’s

delegates decided to throw out the Articles of Con-federation and write a plan for an entirely newnational government. That meeting became knownas the Constitutional Convention.

The Constitution The proposed Constitution cre-ated a federal system in which power would beshared between the national government and thestate governments. The national, or federal, govern-ment was given the power to levy taxes, raise anarmy, regulate trade, and create a national currency.

The Framers, or writers, of the Constitution usedMontesquieu’s ideas and divided the federal govern-ment into three branches, each with some power tocheck the workings of the others. The first branchwas the executive branch, with a president serving asthe chief executive. The president had the power toexecute laws, veto the legislature’s acts, superviseforeign affairs, and direct military forces.

Like the British Parliament, the second, or legisla-tive, branch of government had two houses, a Senateand a House. State legislatures elected the Senate,while the people voted directly for the House of Rep-resentatives. Here, too, the Framers built in a systemof checks and balances.

The Supreme Court and other courts deemed nec-essary by Congress made up the judiciary, or thirdbranch of government. The courts would enforce theConstitution as the “supreme law of the land.”

196 CHAPTER 2 Revolution and Enlightenment

This 1867 painting depicts the signing in Philadelphia of a new plan of government for the former British colonies—the United States Constitution.

Fraunces Tavern Museum, New York, (inset)Picture Research Consultants

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The Bill of Rights To take effect, the Constitutionhad to be ratified by nine states. The Constitutionwas finally approved, but in several states, the votingmargin was slim. It was the promise that a bill ofrights would be added to the Constitution that wonsufficient supporters.

Why did many colonists insist on a bill of rights?Americans had just gone through a terrible war fight-ing the tyranny of the British king and Parliament.They wanted to be sure that there were written guar-antees defining the limits of the government and therights of the individual.

In 1789 the new Congress proposed 12 amend-ments. The 10 amendments the states approvedbecame the Bill of Rights. They guaranteed freedomof religion, speech, press, petition, and assembly. TheBill of Rights clearly laid out a number of other rightsthat Americans considered absolute: the right againstunreasonable searches and arrests, the right to beararms, and the right to trial by jury. One of the mostwell-known of these rights is the right to due process.

A long history lies behind the Bill of Rights,including the Magna Carta set before King John in1215. The natural rights theory of the Enlightenmentwas, however, the most direct influence on this doc-ument. Even at the time, American and Europeanintellectuals felt that the U.S. Constitution embodiedthe ideas of the Enlightenment. The price of achiev-ing equality and freedom had been high, but now theway was open to build a better society.

A Model for Democracy The American Revolutiontook place when Enlightenment ideas were gaining

ground everywhere in the West. In France, the homeof the Enlightenment, educated people wanted asociety based on reason, not simply on outdated tra-ditions from medieval times. There were other causesfor the French Revolution, too—famine, a financialcrisis, and nobles’ discontent with the king. Yet thenew American republic was a great inspiration to theFrench. In 1789, the same year the American Bill ofRights was proposed, the French Revolution brokeout. It, too, created a new government, one based onrepresentative institutions and individual rights.

The American experience inspired Latin America,too. Between 1807 and 1825, while Europe was in tur-moil, landowners and middle-class merchants carriedout revolts against Spain in Mexico, Argentina, Peru,Chile, Venezuela, and Bolivia.

In the twentieth century, the American legacy con-tinued to inspire independence movements. National-ist leaders in Africa and Southeast Asia looked to theUnited States for political principles and a model forconstitutional government. The same was true forEastern Europeans and Russians. Even in China,where there is still no representative government, theAmerican Revolution has provided a stirring examplefor citizens who want a free and open society.

Contrasting What was the main differ-ence between the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution?

Reading Check

197CHAPTER 2 Revolution and Enlightenment

Checking for Understanding1. Vocabulary Define: colony, Stamp Act,

tension, correspondence, Declaration ofIndependence, Articles of Confedera-tion, federal system, amendments, Bill of Rights, assembly.

2. People Identify: William Pitt the Elder,King George III, George Washington,Thomas Jefferson.

3. Places Locate: Yorktown.

Reviewing Big Ideas4. List the freedoms guaranteed under

the American Bill of Rights.

Critical Thinking5. Analyzing

Cause and Effect Why did the Ameri-can colonies declare their independencefrom the British Empire?

6. Summarizing Information Use a chartlike the one below to identify the signif-icant events and conflicts that led to theAmerican Revolution.

Analyzing Visuals7. Examine the painting The March to

Valley Forge on page 195. Use detailsfrom the painting to explain whetherthis artist sympathizes with the Patriotsor Loyalists.

CA HI 2

8. Expository Writing Do furtherresearch on how the French sup-ported the colonies during theAmerican Revolution. Then write anessay analyzing the importance ofFrench assistance.

CA 10WA2.3a,bCA 10WS1.3

Conflicts Between British and Colonists

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Study CentralHISTORY

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Three influential Enlightenment authors wrote about how they thought progress should be recorded andmaintained. Read about their eighteenth-century views on the triumphs of civilization.

SOURCE 1: The Progress of ManEdward Gibbon (1737–1794) published the first volumeof The History of the Decline and Fall of the RomanEmpire in 1776. Here, he celebrates how far mankindhas progressed and his belief in future progress.

. . . [A] philosopher may be permitted . . . to con-sider Europe as one great republic, whose variousinhabitants have attained almost the same level ofpoliteness and cultivation. . . . The savage nations ofthe globe are the common enemies of civilized soci-ety; and we may inquire with anxious curiosity,whether Europe is still threatened with a repetition ofthose calamities1 which formerly oppressed the armsand institutions of Rome. . . .

. . . [From an] abject condition, perhaps the primitiveand universal state of man, he has gradually arisen tocommand the animals, to fertilise the earth, to tra-verse the ocean, and to measure the heavens. His

progress in the improvement and exercise of his men-tal and corporeal2 faculties has been irregular andvarious, infinitely slow in the beginning, and increasingby degrees with redoubled velocity. . . . Yet the experi-ence of four thousand years should enlarge our hopes,and diminish our apprehensions; we cannot deter-mine to what height the human species may aspire intheir advances towards perfection; but it may safely bepresumed that no people, unless the face of nature ischanged, will relapse into their original barbarism. . . .

Since the first discovery of the arts, war, commerce,and religious zeal have diffused, among the savages ofthe Old and New World, those inestimable gifts: theyhave been successfully propagated3; they can never belost. We may therefore acquiesce4 in the pleasing con-clusion that every age of the world has increased, andstill increases, the real wealth, the happiness, theknowledge, and perhaps the virtue, of the human race.

SOURCE 2: EncyclopédieThe Encyclopédie was published under the direction ofDenis Diderot (1713–1784) in 28 volumes. More than140 writers contributed articles. In defining ency-clopédie, Diderot focuses on why sharing knowledge isimportant to progress.

ENCYCLOPÉDIE, f. n. (Philosophy). Thisword means the interrelation of all knowl-edge. . . . [T]he aim of an encyclopédie is tocollect all the knowledge scattered over theface of the earth, to present its general out-lines and structure to the men with whomwe live, and to transmit this to those who willcome after us, so that the work of past cen-turies may be useful to the following cen-turies, that our children, by becoming moreeducated, may at the same time become

1calamities: disasters; misfortunes➤

2corporeal: physical; material3propagated: reproduced; spread4acquiesce: accept; be satisfied

The Enlightenment love of knowledge as seen in a 1766painting by Joseph Wright of Derby

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Res

ourc

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more virtuous and happier, and that we may not diewithout having deserved well of the human race. . . .

It would be desirable for the government to author-ize people to go into the factories and shops, to seethe craftsmen at their work, to question them, to drawthe tools, the machines, and even the premises. . . .

. . . What is the good of divulging the knowledge anation possesses, its private transactions, its inventions,its industrial processes, its resources, its trade secrets, itsenlightenment, its arts, and all its wisdom? This is whatthey [narrow minds] say; and this is what they mightadd: would it not be desirable if, instead of enlighteningthe foreigner, we could spread darkness over him oreven plunge all the rest of the world into barbarism sothat we could dominate more securely over everyone?These people do not realize that they occupy only a sin-gle point on our globe and that they will endure only amoment in its existence. To this point and to thismoment they would sacrifice the happiness of futureages and that of the entire human race.

SOURCE 3: The Social ContractThe Social Contract, published in 1762, is one of the mostfamous works of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778). Itargues that each person must enter into a contract witheveryone in the community to secure freedom. In thisexcerpt, Rousseau explains the difference between the gen-eral will and the individual will.

. . . [T]he act of association consists of a reciprocalcommitment between society and the individual, sothat each person, in making a contract, as it were withhimself, finds himself doubly committed, first as amember of the sovereign5 body in relation to individ-uals, and secondly as a member of the state in rela-tion to the sovereign. . . .

As soon as the multitude is united thus in a singlebody, no one can injure any one of the memberswithout attacking the whole, still less injure the wholewithout each member feeling it. Duty and self-interestthus equally oblige the two contracting parties to giveeach other mutual aid; and the same men should

seek to bring together in this dual relationship, all theadvantages that flow from it. . . .

For every individual as a man may have a private willcontrary to, or different from, the general will that hehas as a citizen. His private interest may speak with avery different voice from that of a public interest. . . .

There is often a great difference between the will ofall [what all individuals want] and the general will; thegeneral will studies only the common interest whilethe will of all studies private interest, and is indeed nomore than the sum of individual desires. But if wetake away from these same wills, the pluses andminuses which cancel each other out, the sum of thedifference is the general will.

From the deliberations of a people properlyinformed, and provided its members do not have anycommunication among themselves, the great numberof small differences will always produce a general willand the decision will always be good.

Source 1: According to Gibbon, in what ways has“primitive man” progressed over time? What assuresthe author that this progress will continue?

Source 2: Why does Diderot believe that knowledgeshould be collected and shared among all people?Which group does he think will especially benefitfrom this shared knowledge?

Source 3: What is the difference between “generalwill” and “individual will”? Why does Rousseau claimthe general will is always good?

Comparing and Contrasting Sources1. What do both Gibbon and Diderot agree is a neces-

sary duty of man to contribute to the happiness ofthe human race?

2. Would Gibbon view Diderot as a philosopher? Howwould he view Rousseau? Explain.

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5sovereign: supreme; principal➤

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1. In the __________, power is shared between the nationalgovernment and the state government.

2. The intellects, or thinkers, of the Enlightenment were gener-ally called __________.

3. The doctrine that maintains that the state should not inter-vene in economics is called __________.

4. The belief that the monarch receives power directly fromGod is called __________.

5. John Locke believed people had certain __________ to life,liberty, and property.

6. Montesquieu believed that the government functionedthrough a __________, which allowed the branches of gov-ernment to limit and control each other.

7. The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, added tosecure its ratification, are called the __________.

8. At the Constitutional Convention, the ineffective__________ were scrapped in order to create a newgovernment.

9. According to Rousseau, through a __________ an entiresociety agrees to be governed by the general will.

10. Parliament abolished the monarchy and declared England arepublic or __________.

Reviewing Content Vocabulary Reviewing Academic VocabularyOn a sheet of paper, use each of these terms in a sentence thatreflects the term’s meaning in the chapter.

Glorious Revolution

Enlightenment

American Revolution

Divine rights of kings v. nobles’ representation

tradition v. reason

constitutional monarchy v. rights of colonialassemblies

constitutional monarchy (also known as limitedmonarchy)

end of absolutism;sovereignty lies with the people

American Revolutionand new AmericanRepublic

expansion of natural rights and social contracttheories of government

growth of new socialsciences, education,literacy

spread of democraticideals

English Bill of Rights

John Locke’s SecondTreatise; Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations

Declaration ofIndependence;United StatesConstitution

Movement PoliticalOutcome

Long-TermOutcomes

RelatedDocuments

Conflict

200 CHAPTER 2 Revolution and Enlightenment

Reviewing the Main IdeasSection 123. What was the basic reason behind the Glorious Revolution?24. Explain why Elizabeth demonstrated moderation in her reli-

gious policy.Section 225. What was the Enlightenment?26. List the primary occupations of the philosophes.Section 327. What was the major accomplishment of the Second Conti-

nental Congress?28. Explain the difference between French and British colonies.

11. attribute12. restraint13. consensus 14. hypothetical

15. mutual 16. evidence 17. affect 18. concept

19. tension 20. correspondence 21. amendments 22. assembly

Standards 10.1.3, 10.2, 10.2.1, 10.2.2, 10.2.3

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Self-Check QuizVisit the Glencoe World History—Modern Times Website at and click on Chapter 2–Self-Check Quiz to prepare for the Chapter Test.

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HISTORY

Analyzing Maps and ChartsStudy the map above to answer the following questions.36. After the Revolutionary War, what were the borders for the

United States on the north? On the south? On the west?37. What natural borders helped define the United States during

this period?38. How does the extent of the United States in 1783 compare to

the extent of the United States today?

Critical Thinking29. Synthesizing Describe the connec-

tion between the principles of a limited monarchy, the U.S. Constitution, and the Enlightenment.

30. Summarizing Explain how separation of powers works inthe American government today and give specific examples.

Writing About History31. Understanding Chronology

Writing a separate paragraph for each example, trace howthe relationships between the English Parliament and rulerschanged, covering Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, Charles I, OliverCromwell, and James II.

32. Although Enlightenment thinkers disagreed over certainissues, they all focused on the themes of reason, naturallaw, and progress. Explain the influence of any of thesethemes on the Enlightenment.

33. Expository Writing Analyze how John Locke, Montesquieu,Rousseau, and Voltaire influenced the United States Consti-tution. Which thinker(s) had the most impact on the writersof the Constitution?

Analyzing Sources Read the following quote from John Locke’sEssay Concerning Human Understanding:

“Let us then suppose the mind to be, as we say,white paper, void of all character, without any ideas.How comes it to be furnished? Whence has it all thematerials of reason and knowledge? To this I answer, inone word, from experience. . . . Our observation,employed either about external sensible objects orabout the internal operations of our minds perceivedand reflected on by ourselves, is that which suppliesour understanding with all the materials of thinking.”

34. According to Locke, how did the blank mind become knowledgeable?

35. How did one gain the experience necessary to nurture themind? CA 10WA2.3b

CA 10WA2.3b

CA 10WA2.3a,b

CA CS 1

Directions: Choose the best answer to thefollowing question.

In England, the Glorious Revolution of 1688 led toA the end of the Tudor reign.B the end of Anglican influence in English political life.C the dominance of Parliament in lawmaking.D the restoration of the divine right of kings.

CA Standard 10.2.2 List the principles of the Magna Carta,the English Bill of Rights (1689), the American Declarationof Independence (1776), the French Declaration of theRights of Man and the Citizen (1789), and the U.S. Bill ofRights (1791).

39.

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Land Claims in North America, 1783

Standards Practice

CHAPTER 2 Revolution and Enlightenment 201

Spanish

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202 World Languages

anguage not only allows us to communi-cate, it affects the way we think and even

how we may view ourselves. It creates an identity for a community of people and shapestheir experiences.

Today about 6,500 languages are spokenaround the world. Hundreds of these will disap-pear in this century because younger genera-tions no longer speak them. Others will be over-powered by the influence of English, a languagethat has spread through technology, global com-merce, telecommunications, and tourism.

L

Source: World Almanac and Book of Facts, 2004.

Language(s)Chinese languages SpanishEnglishHindi/UrduBengaliArabic languages PortugueseRussianJapaneseGermanFrench

Native Speakers 1,198,000,000

322,000,000341,000,000426,000,000207,000,000204,000,000176,000,000167,000,000125,000,000100,000,000

77,000,000

World Languages

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Major World Languages

ArabicBengali, Hindi,UrduChineseEnglishFrenchGermanJapanesePortugueseRussianSpanishOther

Official or principal language spoken:

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203World Languages

English Spoken HereI

Middle Englishevolved when theNormans conqueredEngland, bringing theirlanguage, French, withthem. Many differentdialects of English werespoken, but the dialectspoken in Londonbecame dominant.Geoffrey Chaucer’sCanterbury Tales (1390)is an example.

In this viage shal telle tales tweyeTo Caunterbury-ward I mene it so,And homward he shal tellen othere two,Of aventures that whilom han bifalle.

On this trip [you each] shall tell two talesOn the way to Canterbury, And homeward [you] shall tell another two,Of adventures that once had happened.—From the Prologue of Canterbury Tales

Old English (5th–11th Centuries)

Although you might findShakespeare difficult tounderstand, his English isessentially the languagethat evolved into the waywe speak and read today.

JULIET: How camest thou hither, tell me, and wherefore?

The orchard walls are high and hard to climb,

And the place death, considering who thou art,

If any of my kinsmen find thee here.

ROMEO: With love’s light wings did I o’er perch these walls,

For stony limits cannot hold love out,And what love can do, that dares

love attempt,Therefore thy kinsmen are no stop to me.—From Romeo and Juliet

Modern English (15th Century–Present)

Middle English (11th–15th Centuries)

If you were to travel back in time to visitRobin Hood, you would not be able tounderstand him. Even though you wouldboth be speaking English, the language youspeak has changed a great deal since thedays of Robin and his merry men. Can you recognize any words from this oldEnglish conversation?

“Hast thu hafoc?” Do you have a hawk?

“Ic habbe.”I have.

“Canst thu temian hig?”Do you know how to tame them?

“Gea, ic cann. Hwat sceoldon hig me buton ic cuthe temian hig?”

Yes, I do. What use would they be to me if I could not tame them?

—From a tenth-century lesson

World Languages 203(t)PhotoDisc/Getty Images, (c)The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, CA/SuperStock, (b)Bettmann/CORBIS

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ow did writing begin? Early writing systems were derivedfrom pictures. Every word would correspond to one ormore symbols. For example, the word house might be

written as a symbol that looked like a simplified house. AncientEgyptian and Mayan hieroglyphics are examples.

The Phoenicians were among the first to develop an alphabetwith characters that could be combined to make different sounds.The Greeks adapted it and passed it on to the Romans. The Romanalphabet is the alphabet most Western languages, such as English,use today.

How would you write “How are you?” to the people you meet around the world through the Internet?

Languages written from left to rightDanish Hvordan gaar det?

GreekHindiRussianSpanishSwahili Hujambo?

Tagalog (Philippines) Kumusta po kayo?

ThaiVietnamese Anh (Chi) có khoe không?

Languages written from right to leftArabicHebrewPersian

Languages written from top to bottom

Chinese Japanese Korean¿Cómo está usted?

“How Are You?”

Reading Chinese CharactersChinese characters are combined inthousands of ways to make new words.In this example, when the character fortree is inserted into the character for box,you have a tree growing in a box, whichis the character for “be in trouble.”

Here are some other Chinese wordsdivided into their elements. See if you canfigure out what these characters mean.

fire + mountain = ___________

1.

tree + box = be in trouble

E X A M P L E

tree + tree + tree = ___________

2.

Answers: 1. volcano 2. forest

World Languages204

HThe ABCs of LanguageI

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Mahesh is an Indian who lives in Trinidad. His wife isfrom Venezuela. To communicate they speak English. Heworks for an international oil company where he conductsbusiness worldwide in English. On TV he watches CNNnews, and he enjoys going to American movies.

English was first spread through colonization. Thoughusually unwelcome, English eventually became a way of communicating between ethnic groups who shared acountry but not a common language. In the late twentiethcentury, English became even more dominant as Americanlanguage and culture spread through global business(think Coca-Cola and McDonald’s), media, and technol-ogy. The Israeli sign with English translations at left is an example of how English is being used worldwide.

Today, English is spoken in 115 countries as either theofficial language or as an important minority language.Although many people do not like it, the globalization of English has made communication and interactionbetween peoples easier. On the other hand, many smallerlanguages and cultures are being lost as the worldbecomes more homogeneous.

English As an International LanguageI

Before World War II, it is estimated thatover 11 million Jews spoke Yiddish, a lan-guage based on German, Hebrew, and otherlanguages. Many Yiddish speakers were killed in the Holocaust. Children ofHolocaust survivors often forgot the lan-guage or chose not to use it in their newhomelands. Today, the number of Yiddishspeakers is approximately 2 million, most ofwhom are elderly. When these people die,there will be few people left who speak thelanguage, even though it’s preserved in liter-ature and oral records.

Many minority cultures around the worldface the same problem. Often, these peoplelive in areas that were once subjugated orconquered by other countries. The newrulers forced native peoples to adopt a newculture, often by prohibiting the use of thelocal language. In the United States, NativeAmerican children were frequently sent toboarding schools where they were forced tospeak English and were punished if theyspoke their own language. Not surprisingly,

Disappearing LanguagesIwhere there had once been hundreds ofNative American languages, today there areonly 175, and many of those will soon beextinct.

Fortunately, many struggling languagesare making a comeback. In places likeIreland, northern Spain, and even Hawaii,schools are teaching traditional languages,and their usage is becomingwidely accepted. NativeAmericans are also takingsteps to revive their lan-guages, as demonstratedby the Navajo newspaperat right. With languagecomes renewed interest inculture, and many ethnicgroups who revive theirlanguage also find thatthey revive hope andself-worth within their people.

205World Languages(t)Getty Images, (b)Robert Holmes/CORBIS

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