| A | B |
|---|
| Natural Law | rule or law that governs human nature. |
| Thomas Hobbs | argued that people were naturally cruel, greedy, and selfish; people entered a social contract in which they gave up the state of nature for an organized society. |
| John Locke | believed people were basically reasonable and moral; people had certain natural rights, which included the right to life, liberty, and property. |
| Social Contract | agreement by which people give up their freedom in exchange for an organized society. |
| Natural Right | right that belongs to all people by birth. |
| Philosophe | member of a group of Enlightenment thinkers who tried to apply the methods of science to the improvement of society. |
| Montesquieu | philosophe who advocated separation of powers in government; author of The Spirit of the Laws. |
| Voltaire | used wit to explore the abuses of his day; targeted corrupt officials and idle aristocrats; battled inequality, injustice, and superstition. |
| Diderot | produced a 28-volume encyclopedia; changed people's ideas and attitudes by including articles by the world's leading thinkers. |
| Rousseau | believed society corrupted the natural innocence of people, especially the unequal distribution of property; felt society placed too many limitations of people. |
| Laissez Faire | policy allowing business to operate with little or no government interference. |
| Adam Smith | British economist; argued that free market should be allowed to regulate business activity. |
| Censorship | restricted on access to ideas and information. |
| Salons | informal social gatherings at which writers, artists, philosophes, and others exchanged ideas. |
| Baroque | ornate style of art and architecture popular in the 1600s and 1700s. |
| Rococo | personal, elegant style or art and architecture made popular during the mid-1700s and featuring fancy design in the shape of leaves, shells, and scrolls. |
| Enlightenment Despot | absolute ruler who uses his or her power to bring about political and social change. |
| Frederick the Great | king of Prussia; used Voltaire's ideas in developing an academy of science, bettering conditions for the peasants, and making the government more efficient. |
| Catherine the Great | educated herself in Enlightenment ideas; expanded the Russian empire rather than reforming it. |
| Joseph II | Hapsburg emperor who was a radical student of the Enlightenment; traveled in disguise among his subjects to learn of their problems; nicknamed the "peasant emperor". |
| George III | king of England; focused on reasserting royal power; wanted to end Whig domination, choose his ministers, dissolved cabinet system, and make Parliament follow his will. |
| Stamp Act | law passed in 1765 by the British parliament; imposed taxes on items such as newspapers and pamphlets in the American colonies; repealed in 1766 after American protests. |
| George Washington | first president of the United States. |
| Thomas Jefferson | principal author of the U.S. Declaration of Independence; President of the United States who purchased the Louisiana Territory from Napoleon. |
| Popular Sovereignty | principle that asserts that all government power comes from the people. |
| Yorktown, Virginia | location of the British army's French national anthem, "La Marseillaise". |
| Treaty of Paris | signed by American, French, and British diplomats to end the American Revolution. |
| James Madison | leader of new American republic; one of the framers of the U.S. Constitution. |
| Benjamin Franklin | leader of new American republic; one of the framers of the U.S. Constitution. |
| Federal Republic | government in which power is divided between the national, or federal, government and the individual states that make up the national, or federal, entity. |
