| A | B |
|---|
| The Enlightenment | The period where scholars used reason and natural laws to study culture and society |
| literate | ability to read and write |
| publications | books, magazines, and other materials that are printed for the public to read |
| philosophes | name for French writers, scientists, and thinkers during the Enlightenment |
| salons | social gatherings held by French upper-class women where people could share their ideas, writings, and works of art |
| John Locke | English Enlightenment philosopher that believed that people were rational and had natural rights |
| natural rights | rights that belong to all people from birth, including life, liberty, and property |
| rational | reasonable |
| right to revolution | idea proposed by Locke that if government doesn't protect natural rights the people have the right to rebel |
| Baron de Montesquieu | criticized absolute monarchs and advocated the separation of powers |
| separation of powers | divide the power of government into three branches; legislative, executive, and judicial |
| legislative branch | make laws |
| executive branch | carry out the laws |
| judicial branch | interprets the laws |
| checks and balances | idea that each branch of government should limit the power of the other branches |
| Jean-Jacques Rousseau | French philosopher that believed in a social contract |
| social contract | an unwritten agreement between people and their government that gives rights and duties to each |
| Voltaire | French Enlightenment philosopher who wrote about the need for religious tolerance |
| tolerance | allowing others to hold beliefs that are different from one's own |
| Mary Wollstonecraft | English writer that challenged the superiority of men in her book A Vindication of the Rights of Women |
| feminism | idea that women should enjoy the same rights as men |
| mercantilism | economic policy where governments limited trade with other countries and sought to accumulate gold and silver |
| Adam Smith | criticized mercantilism and argued that the best way to increase wealth was through free trade |
| free market | companies compete and goods are bought and sold freely |
