• textbook --> 634 - 649.
• atlas --> pp. 50 - 51.

1. What were some of the natural rights which the Enlightenment philosophes believed were the inalienable rights of every individual that should be protected by all types of governments?
2. How did the various philosophes argue that these natural rights should be established and preserved?
3. What conditions prevailed in France after 1715 under Cardinal Fleury and Louis XV?  What role did Madame Pompadour play in French politics and court life?
4. Identify the growing problems which began to plague the French throne my the mid-18c.
5. Why were Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette the wrong leaders for France at the end of the 18c?  [refer to the doc. on pg. 637 of your textbk. for additional info.]
6. How "democratic" was Britain under the Hanoverian "Georges"?
7. Who really had the political as well as the social power in 18c England?
8. Why do some historians feel that the modern British cabinet system have its origins here in the 18c?
9. How did Frederick William of Prussia build strength and efficiency in the Prussian state?
10. How did Frederick the Great's concept of the role of the monarch differ from that expressed by other 17c kings?  Why did he stress the need to protect and support the Prussian Junker class?
11. How did the development of central authority in Prussia differ from that in other European states during this period?  How was it similar?
12. How did the character and approach to reform of Maria Theresa differ from those of her son, Joseph II?
13. Why was Joseph II considered to be the only real "enlightened" absolute monarch of the 18c?
14. What reforms did Catherine the Great attempt to initiate in Russia?  Why did she change her attitude toward reform later on in her reign?
15. How did Catherine the Great deal with the Pugachev Rebellion?
16. What was Poland's major political problem in the 18c?  What lesson did it serve for the other monarchies of Europe?
17. The notion of "enlightened absolutism" was subscribed to by both philosophes and monarchs themselves in the 18c.  To what degree was this more than simple political propaganda?  Is there any evidence that the ideas of the Enlightenment had any real influence on the policies of 18c European rulers?  Give specific examples.
18. What were the limits to what these supposedly absolute rulers could do?

                          ASSIGNMENT 2:

• textbook --> pp. 649 - 654;  657 - 663.
• atlas --> 50 - 51.
• The South Sea Bubble

1. What was the 18c concept of a "balance of power"?  What new diplomatic mechanisms had developed in Europe since the Renaissance?
2. What role did "reasons of state" and dynastic interests play in the War of the Austrian Succession?  Who were the combatants?  How were they allied?  What were their motivations in creating the alliances that were made?
3. How and why did those alliances shift during the Seven Years' War and its North American component, the French and Indian War?  What major political/military rivalries emerged by the middle of the 18c?
4. What were the immediate and long-term results of the Seven Years' War?  Why was this war considered to be one of the first truly global wars?
5. Compare the nature of warfare during the 18c with that of the 17c?  How did the conduct and diplomacy of warfare change by the end of the 18c?
6. Why did the Agricultural Revolution occur in the 18c?  Who were some of the pioneers involved in the development of new agricultural methods?
7. Why and how did credit expand in Western Europe during the 18c?  What were the results of this expansion?
8. What were some of the effects of agricultural changes on peasant/village society?
9. How were the British and French colonies structured differently in the 18c?
10. What was the role of slavery in the success of 18c European colonial ventures?
11. Why was sugar such an important international trade commodity in the 18c?  Where was it mainly cultivated?
12. In spite of its small size, smaller population, and relative isolation as an island country, why did Britain become a world power in the 18c?

                         ASSIGNMENT 3:

• textbook --> pp. 654 - 657;  663 - 670.
• film --> the opening scene from "Dangerous Liaisons".
• DBQ --> Changes in Child-Rearing.

1. What were some of the causes for the population growth which Europeans experienced in the 18c?
2. What were the consequences of this growth?
3. What important changes occurred in the structure of the family, in birthrate changes, and new marriage patterns in the 18c?
4. How did the ideas of the Enlightenment change the nature of child-rearing and the concept of childhood among the upper classes in 18c European society?
5. Why was the treatment of poor children so horrendous during the 18c?
6. What were the major differences between the status of peasants in Eastern and in Western Europe during the 18c?
7. What obligations did West European peasants still have in the 18c to the upper classes?
8. Why was change difficult in 18c European village life?
9. Describe the 18c aristocracy and identify its variations in wealth and power in different parts of Europe.
10. What were some of the characteristics of the Georgian "country house"?  What new innovations could be found in this type of aristocratic home?
11. Why did aristocratic, young men, especially from England, take the "Grand Tour" of Europe in the 18c?
12. Why was there such social tension between the towns and the people living in the countryside?
13. Create a CHART illustrating the social hierarchy of the various social classes, or estates, of 18c Europe.
14. How did the view of poverty and what should be done to alleviate it change in the 18c?
15. Why was the 18c called "The Age of Aristocracy"?
16. What social, economic, and political problems continued to brew just below the surface of seemed to be a century of order and social stability?