The Most Important Thing—Chapter 17

AP European History—2nd Period

Mr. Cicerchi

There are many important things in Chapter 17, but the most important thing according to…

Dan is important. The most important thing in chapter 17 is philosophes. The philosophes worked towards freedom of expression, rational criticism of religion and politics, and other progressive ideas. The philosophes led many people, especially nobles in salons, to question the current practices of society.

Marissa isfrom this chapter and time period overall is when Mary Astell said, "excuse me, if I be as impartial to my own sex as men are" (524). Thank you Mary for finally calling them out. Now, for the most important part of this chapter I am going to go with something that we never talk about in class, with the exception of the Renaissance, and it really bothers me that we don't; the cultural contributions of this time are definitely important as well as more interesting than anything else during the period. To begin with, the artistic style of Rococo began to influence the architecture and decoration all around Europe. This style moved away from the geometrical patterns that scientists and mathematicians of the time loved so much. And to bring something in from last chapter that remained unmentioned is the fact that without the advances of Renaissance artists, many aspects of the Scientific Revolution may not have been possible, specifically the anatomical drawings of Vesalius. (Teacher’s note: We did talk about Vesalius, just not in lecture form.) So yes, art is VERY important. Music finally became important during this period now that it was more secularized. The piano was created (yay!) and musicians such as Bach, Handel, and Mozart composed some of the best musical pieces still to this day. This is becoming really long, so to sum up the rest of these cultural changes, fiction writing began to gain popularity and public libraries were invented. Overall, the Enlightenment period saw the creation of the piano, public libraries, and popularizing of fictional books, three of the most important things in my life and thus, the most important parts of this chapter. (Teacher’s note: Part two…I don’t think culture is unimportant—it is however relatively less important than political, religious, economic, and social matters as it relates to the AP Test. That’s why we talk about art, music, and culture in general less than some of the other motivations.)

Jimmy is Despite the growing secularism caused by the scientific revolution, the skepticism created by the European expansion, And the constant attack by philosophes, Religion manages to persevere and it is still a thing.

Jimmy diaz

Moira is the emergence of popular culture, and the distribution of religious and secular brochures. The lower class was finally exposed to literature besides the Bible, renewing interest in reading and increasing literacy rates in the late 17th century.

Christal is the ideas of the philosiphers such as Montesquieu, Voltaire, Diderot, ext. They all talk about toleration of religions, seperation of powers, political freedom and freedom of the press in some way. Their strive for social changes during the enlightenment has impacted the society and government today through our more open acceptance of differeces, through the freedoms we posses and through the accountability of our government.

Maria is Jean-Jacques Rousseau and his development of The Social Contract, harmonizing individual liberty with governmental authority. He believed that government was an evil, but a necessary evil. His ideas sparked the intellectual movement of Romanticism and had a profound impact on the mindset of Europe in the 19th century. It was most important because of his beliefs that true freedom is adhering to laws that one has imposed onto oneself, a new philosophy that led to the ultimate goal of a participatory democracy.

Nathan is the work of Montesquieu. His idea on the importance of checks and balances and the separation of powers providing the greatest freedom and security for a state is what has influenced modern governments and especially influenced the U.S constitution. The translation of his work into English gave American philosophes the opportunity to incorporate Montesquieu's principles into the U.S constitution. We still use checks and balances today due to Montesquieu's work "the spirit of the laws" where he popularized the separation of powers and checks and balances.

Jarod isthe work of Voltaire. He was one of the key people in the Enlightenment. He wrote many works, in which he criticized the French Absolute Monarchy, favoring governments with more freedom. Also, he made many attacks against many "modern" religions of the time. He also supported many individual freedoms, such as the freedom of the press and freedom religion. This would be important, as these to rights go on to inspire other countries to adapt a system of government with more freedoms. In addition, he stresses the importance of religious tolerance, which has not really been heard of at this time.

Jason is the doctrine of laissez-faire. Laissez-faire's principles of non-interference with the economy would finally put an end to the restrictive policies of mercantilism. This would see the development of world trade and capitalism, which is collectively economic liberalism. Economic liberalism is the foundation of the Western world today still, and can be seen as especially relevant simply by looking at America, the world's number one economy, and its capitalist finances.

Ben is Montesquieu's idea of checks and balances. The concept of having a government that provided the most freedom by limiting itself spread so far that even American philosophes adopted the idea. His work has influenced dozens of countries and is still very present today.

Lindsey isMontesquieu’s political theory on the separation of powers as it was method for ensuring the freedom and security of a state legislatively, executively, and judicially through checks and balances,and wouldalsoinfluence several political systems in the future.

Audrey is

Elisabeth is the development of music. As a violist, I know that many of the works of Haydn, Bach, and Mozart are still considered standard repertoire today. For example, in all of my college auditions, I am required to play two movements of Bach's Cello Suites, along with other repertoire that I choose myself.

(I like the personalization…and violist is a cool-looking word)

Michael is

Andrew is The salons. Haha not really... The taverns, definitely! Haha still not really. Fooled ya twice. Anyhoo, Rousseau is most important, because of the idea of a social contract, which was incredibly influential to the understanding of how government functions with the governed, playing into new French and American nations set up after the revolutions. Being governed based on the general will of the governed; what a great idea! And he also set up an emphasis on heart and sentiment that would become Romanticism, and thats nifty as well.
(Sent seven times.)
(Not really.)

(Teacher’s Note: I hate you.)

Nick is Enlightenment leaders such as Voltaire and Montesquieu. Montesquieu had the idea of separation of powers which will be used in the American government, the idea of separation of powers was against the idea of a absolute monarchy and promoted the ideal of a constitutional monarchy and democracy. Voltaire wanted other countries, like France, to switch from their intolerance of religion to being open to all religions like in England. Overall, these philosophers will enlighten the world and set a baseline for today's idealism.

-Nick Hackman

James R.

Reilly is the travel reports. Many people that had taken voyages around the world wrote about them and this caused many Europeans to realize that there were many other peoplesand cultures other than them. Manybegan to classify people as races and Europeansrealized that the Catholic God wasn't the only God people believe in. These travel reports effected many essential parts of European society in the 18th century.

Quincy is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the child prodigy. Mozart created master pieces that brought a new era of music.

And I guess the separation of powers is important aswell. The whole checks and balance system, one banch checks the power of another banch, yeah that's gucci.

(Teacher’s Note: I fail to see how that would be considered “gucci”…or know what a “banch” is)

The Most Important Thing—Chapter 17

AP European History—6th Period

Mr. Cicerchi

There are many important things in Chapter 17, but the most important thing according to…

Marty is

Mamdouh is that Africans were disliked so much that they were categorized as the lowest form or "new species" of humans

Andjela is The work: The Spirit of the Laws. Baron de Montesquieu saw despotism as a standing danger for any government not already despotic, and argued that it could best be prevented by a system in which different bodies exercised legislative, executive, and judicial power, and in which all those bodies were bound by the rule of law. This theory of the separation of powers had an enormous impact on liberal political theory, and on the framers of the constitution of the United States of America.

Dean is montesquieu's ideas leading to the development of checks and balances and desperation of powers. He did died government into three sections and these ideas are still used today.
Sent from my iPhone (autocorrect wins again)

Adam is Hi… The um… Most uh… Important erm… Thing I guess… is the English system of Government. The English Government was the exemplum of many important Enlightenment thinkers.

Adam Fader

Becky is the rejection of Christianity as "absolute reason" which was really brought on by the new ways of thinking (humanism, Scientific Revolution). Because so many now detested religious wars that had plagued their previous lifetimes and also noticeable authoritative religious rules, they sought to reject the Christian mindset of mere acceptance. For them, it was not enough to say "because some god says it so" instead they wished to rationalize their own beliefs and truths while also urging secularism and freedoms for the new era of man. Politically, this idea expanded to include the separation of powers and with the questioning of a "god" also the questioning of a monarch and the authority he/she has over all men (this would later lead to the idea of the unalienable rights of man which is a founding principle in many countries today).
---Beckaaay

Miranda is philosophes such as Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Rousseau who applied ideas like the rejection and criticism of traditional religion, religious toleration, the value of education, and the idea of the separation of powers. In these ways, they formed the key ideas of the Enlightenment while bringing their ideas to an understanding on the world scale.

Haleah is The most important thing is the enlightenment movement because the ideas like seperation of church and state, checks and balances, and natural rights which has shaped many governments like ours
Sent from my iPhone

Callie is the concept of cultural relativism. People realizing that even non-European groups were civilized and developed was ground-breaking. They had never realized that other groups who were not Christian could have proper morals and different but quality ways of living. This would eventually lead to some form of general tolerance.


Libby is Montesquieu's ideas, because in The Spirit of Laws he published the concept of using the scientific method to ascertain natural laws of human beings and contributed the idea of the importance of checks and balances byway of the separation of powers to gain security for the state. This was used by American philosophers in developing the United States Constitution and is still very relevant in modern day politics.

Libby Worthington

Ellen is the idea of desperation of powers and Montesquieu and other political theories. These ideas he believed would give states more freedom. These ideas would be used by philosophers and political systems to form new governments and remains a fixture of politics through today. He also classified states into different areas based on size.
-Ellen DeWitt

Matt is the idea of separation of power set forth by Montesquieu. Because it led to the ideas of the US constitution and our style of government. This has also been an idea that has survive many years and has been added to many governments across the world.

Jeremy is religion. Although the chapter is titled "An Age of Enlightenment," I think that the fact that life became even more secularized was was very important. To me, the most important thing about this most important thing (see what I did there?--UNFORTUNATELY) is that this new feeling towards religion led to toleration of many religious minorities, including the Jews, which I feel is very important because everyone deserves to be equal.
--Jeremy Foust

Michael is Montesquieu’s idea of separation of powers because it has led to the creation of many nation’s forms of government, including the United States. This idea has helped change how the world is today.

L

Megan is Montesquieu's ideals of the separation of powers and a system of checks and balance system. He believed balance of power would lead to a less corrupt system. This eventually lead to the inspiration of the American Constitution.

Jared is the philosophes. They were mainly French intellectuals of the nobility and middle class who believed in applying a spirit of rationalism to all things and focused on improving the world. They managed to spread Enlightenment ideas across the Western world. Their main ideal was to devote themselves to the study of society in order to make humankind better and happier.

Devin is The ideas of Voltaire because they led to the idea of separation of church and state. This solidified the position of the church as a religious organization with no place in politics.

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