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3-1
Lesson 3-1 - The Age of Transition
1. The Divine Right of Kings is a theory which argued that certain
kings ruled because they were chosen by God to do so and that these
kings were accountable to no person except God (Richard Hooker). This
theory was made by Jacques-Benigne Bossuet (1627-1704), and reinforced
medieval notions of kingship. A king who claimed this right was James
1, King of England from 1603-1625. He also wrote works that supported
this theory. The following is an excerpt from those works. “The state
of monarchy is the supremest thing upon earth; for kings are not only
God's lieutenants upon earth, and sit upon God's throne, but even by
God himself are called gods. There be three principal similitudes that
illustrate the state of monarchy: one taken out of the word of God; and
the two other out of the grounds of policy and philosophy. In the
Scriptures kings are called gods, and so their power after a certain
relation compared to the divine power. Kings are also compared to
fathers of families: for a king is truly Parens patriae, the politique
father of his people. And lastly, kings are compared to the head of
this microcosm of the body of man.” -James 1, 1609
As you can see, James 1 fully supported the divine right of kings. He
believed that he held the divine right because his mother, Mary Queen
of Scots, had taught it to him since childhood (John Butler). The
church also supported the divine right of kings because it meant that
they could control who ruled. If god chose who should be king and the
clergy was god’s messenger, then the church would be the one who chose
the next king according to god’s word (Schmitz lecture). 2. Three
factors that strengthened royal power were wars and crusades, the
emergence of the middle merchant class, and the new spirit of
nationalism. Wars and crusades strengthened royal power by
strengthening the economy. Crusades helped establish trade routes with
the Islamic world to trade for perfumes, silks, and spices (Schmitz
lecture). The emergence of the middle class strengthened royal power by
creating a large amount of people ready to farm, build, carpenter, or
do any other job. This strengthened royal power by strengthening the
economy as well. The nationalist spirit was new, but relates to our
modern day patriotism. Just as today, George Bush can say, “The war
against terrorism is patriotic!” and get support for the war instantly,
this new nationalism gave the monarchy power over the common people.
These factors were the main reason absolute monarchy was possible. 3.
The evolution of the nation state was different for every country, but
you can split the main countries of that era into two groups. These
groups are England, France, and Spain compared to Austria, Prussia, and
Russia. The development of the nation state was very different for each
group. Nationality played a factor in each group, but its part was
different. Nationality is a people having common origins or traditions
and often constituting a nation (dictionary.com). All the countries
were originally pagan, but eventually converted to Catholicism
(wikipedia.com). Russia, Prussia, and Austria have origins as Pagan
Slavs, while England, France, and Spain were Germanic and Anglo-Saxon.
The two groups were in different Geographical regions as well. England,
France, and Spain are on the west coast of Europe, while Prussia
(located in present day Germany), Austria, and Russia are in the
northeastern portion of Europe. The geography of group one means that
those countries were much more heavily influenced by the Roman Empire,
and more swiftly became Roman Catholic when the Roman Empire fell. The
countries influenced more heavily by the Pagan Slavs were converted to
the catholic religion much later. England, France, and Spain also
developed into nation states more quickly than Austria, Prussia, and
Russia did. This is because of the Crusades helping the economy of the
catholic regions and not the pagan regions. Overall, the nationality of
all the countries played a large
part in the development of the nation state. 4. The Development of
Absolute Monarchy in Spain
-1100 Portugal gains its independence from Castile (one of the two main
kingdoms of Spain)
-1200 Muslim territories in Spain reduced to Grenada in the south
(worldbookonline.com)
-1479 The kingdoms of Aragon and Castile united; bringing almost all of
what is now Spain under one rule. -1492 Spanish forces conquered
Granada, the last center of Muslim control in Spain. Christopher
Columbus sailed to America and claimed it for Spain. -1512 King
Ferdinand V seized the Kingdom of Navarre, completing the unification
of what is now Spain. -1556-1598 The Spanish Empire reached its height
during the reign of Philip II. (worldbookonline.com)
-1588 The English navy defeated the Spanish Armada. -1808 Napoleon's
armies seized Madrid. -1808-1814 Spanish, Portuguese, and English
forces drove the French from Spain during the Peninsular War.
-1810-1825 All Spain's American colonies except Cuba and Puerto Rico
revolted and declared their independence. By this time, Spain had lost
almost all its empire. -1898 Spain lost Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the
Philippines in the Spanish-American War. -1931 King Alfonso XIII fled
the country and Spain became a democratic republic. 5. The term
“benevolent despot” is truly an oxymoron. Benevolent comes from the
Latin root “bene” which means good. A despot is a person who wields
power oppressively or is a tyrant. Therefore a “benevolent despot” is
really a “good tyrant”. This is obviously an oxymoron, which makes the
term hard to define. My definition of a benevolent despot is an
undemocratic ruler who exercises his or her political power for the
benefit of the people rather than exclusively for his or her own
benefit (wikipedia.com). This is the best definition for the term
because it shows that the ruler would be opressive or “undemocratic”,
but would still be good or generous. An example of a benevolent despot
in Spain is Charles the Third (wikipedia.com). Charles was an
oppressive ruler who did little for the armies he sent to war, but his
internal government was on the whole beneficial to Spain. One example
of a reform he made was to compell the people in Madrid to stop
emptying their slops out the window. This lessened the amount of
diseases in the city. Charles the Third was a perfect example of a
“benevolent despot”. Bibliography
http://www.worldbookonline.com/ar?/na/ar/co/ar522760.htm.
(Worldbookonline.com)
www.Encyclopedia.com/despotism (encyclopedia.com)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictator (wikipedia.com)
www.wsu.edu/~dee/glossary/divright.htm
( Richard Hooker) c.1996 updated 1999
www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/studivine.htm
www.wwnorton.com/college/history/ralph/workbook/ralprs20.htm (king
james works)
http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/james/jamesbio.htm
(John Butler)
The Divine Right of Kings (John Figgis) c. 1965 G.R.Elton
annnnnd 3-3
Lesson 3-3 -English Colonies to United States
1. The British established many trade triangles in the Americas. One of
these trade triangles was the Newfoundland triangle, with England and
southern Europe, which was dominated by traders rather than fishermen.
New England traded lumber, grain, rum and meat for fish and contraband
in Newfoundland. Newfoundland traded grain, meat, lumber and fish for
sugar, molasses and fruit in the West Indies. The West Indies carried
sugar, molasses and fruit to Britain and manufactured goods from
Britain back to New England (Mercantilism, 2-22-04). Another trade
triangle carried rum and other products to Africa, and returned with
slaves for the West Indies and the southern plantations. The southern
plantations, in part through New England, sent tobacco, rice and indigo
to Britain in return for manufactured goods (Gordon, 682). New England
also traded fish and other products to southern Europe for wine, silk,
and other Mediterranean products such as olives and dates
(Mercantilism, 2-22-04). Trade triangles helped everyone involved
because by trading
their goods people could make money, and gain goods they really needed.
The trade triangles were very successful, and were responsible for New
England’s successful economy. 2. The Maryland Toleration Act was a law
passed in 1649 by the colonial assembly of Maryland. It mandates
religious toleration of all Christian religions. Since it was the first
law of this kind it is often seen as a precursor to the First Amendment
(Maryland, 2-22-04). The Maryland Toleration Act was written by Lord
Baltimore, the proprietor of Maryland. Lord Baltimore originally
founded the county to be a haven for Christens, but the colony also
attracted many Protestans (Gordon, 682). To protect the colony from
religious strife Lord Baltimore passed the Maryland Toleration Act. It
granted freedom of religion to all Christion faiths. 3. William Penn
and Roger Williams had their similarities and differences. Both were
colonial leaders, Penn was the proprietor and founder of Pennsylvania
in 1681, and Williams was the govorner and founder of Rhode Island
in1644 (Gordon, 682). Penn is similar to Williams because he has the
same ideas about religious tolerence. They both believe That people
should be allowed to worship in peace. Penn is different from Williams
because he was given the charter for his colony as payoff of a debt,
while Williams went and created the Rhode Island colony and didn’t
apply for a royal charter until afterwards. Williams was also different
then Penn because he believed it was wrong to take the Indians land
(Gordon, 682). Williams and Penn both lead their colonies to prosperity
because of their open ideas about religios freedom. 4. The three major
steps taken toward religious tolerence in the English colonies took
place in Rhode Island, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. The first step that
was taken was in Rhode Island, 1636, when Roger Williams led his
followers to Rhode Island to get away from the strict Puritan Religion.
They founded the Rhode Island colony as a colony that was open to any
religion and seperated church and state for the first time(Gordon,682).
The second step was taken in Maryland with the Maryland Toleration Act.
The Maryland Toleration Act was a law passed in 1649 by the colonial
assembly of Maryland. It mandates religious toleration of all Christian
religions (Maryland, 2-22-04). The Maryland Toleration Act was written
by Lord Baltimore, the proprietor of Maryland. Lord Baltimore
originally founded the county to be a haven for Christens, but the
colony also attracted many Protestans. To protect the colony from
religious strife Lord Baltimore passed the Maryland Toleration Act
(Gordon, 682). The third major step was in Pennsylvania. William Penn
founded the colony to be a haven for quakers, but refused to designate
a church. In 1682 Penn granted religious freedom in Pennsylvania to
anyone that worshipped god (Gordon ,682). These three major steps
helped to grant freedom of religion to America today. Bibliography ,
“Maryland Toleration Act,” Google Search, Wikipedia the Online
Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryland_toleration_act ,
2-22-04. , “Mercantilism, Settlement, Newfoundland,” Google Search, The
University of Prince Edward,
http://www.upei.ca/~rneill/canechist/topic_5.html , 2-22-04.
Gordon, Irving L., Review Text in American History, AMSCO School
Publications, Inc., New York: 1986. 682 pages. , “The Constitution of
the United States of America,” Google Search, Legal Information
Institute,
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.overview.html ,
2-22-04.
those are really bad but w/e