Absolutism and Constitutionalism

Absolutism - France

S New art is created called Baroque and is commissioned by the absolutist French kings, the press and art are highly censored, women had less rights and society as a whole was upset that they had to work so hard but yet had no say in the government. Great change occurs in 17^th century, European climate changes= less food, Bread Riots cause uprisings in the peasants, Power of the nobles reduced, abolished many feudal liberties and freedoms, use of wars and expansion changes attention from domestic problems,  

P The government is very stable and centralized, not very much political opposition to the ruling family, a large bureaucracy is created to deal with new centralized kingdom, influences other areas of Europe that absolutism is great, politics are seen more important then anything including religion, weakened the power of the nobles and other local governments. Start of Divine Right Absolutism, Absolutist Governments controlled: Churches, courts, maintained permanent armies, Secret Police invented, Bureaucracies formed to get money and info to the king, not TOTAL rule but close, limited resources, political inbreeding occurs
R There is religious tolerance at first, for example the Edict of Nantes was issued by Henry IV that gave rights to Huguenots, then rulers eventually started to limit religious rights, for example Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes, Eventually even Catholics rights are limited which led to Paris's disconnection from Rome and the Papacy
I During this absolutist period in France intellects were quite frustrated and began thinking of new forms of governments because they were experiencing hardships at the hand of their divine-right ruler, it led to the Enlightenment. Mercantilism, Absolutism, Colonization
T Intellects also were thinking about ways to make their lives easier because the absolutist king made them do very strenuous work, which led to the Scientific Revolution, these inventors created many new technological advances especially in agriculture
E The economy was stable because the government was stable, trade was up, the economic mercantile policy was created because the king was greedy and wanted more resources for his kingdom, which boosted the economy at first, then kings started to spent lots of money on wars and the economy went down the drain. Permanent army reduces economy a ton. Salt tax, bread tax and palette tax all really irritate the peasants

Absolutism in Russia

Social- Russia became modernized; people no longer wore beards and reorganized social groups, Russia becomes a part of western Europe
Political- Great Northern War w/ Sweden helped Russia acquire Baltic coastal areas, Russia divided into 10 states, gains large military, St.Petersburg
Religious- Russians unified in Russian Orthodox Church which was reorganized in a more secular manner and called the “Holy Synod”, Old Believers mostly quieted
Ideas- many western ideas (including better organization), mandatory civil service, “careers open to talent”
Technology- many inventions from the western world introduced to Russia, simplified Cyrillic alphabet
Economic- huge taxation, St. Petersburg changes economy and channels country’s funds toward itself, hurts Russian peasants, many large factories and mining industries controlled by government but more people have job

Absolutism - England
S Led to society being overall upset that their rights were not being recognized, which eventually led to the overthrow of the absolutist monarchy and the creation of a constitutional monarch, women had less rights, people were worked harder
P Led to England having centralized government that was very controlling and forceful, which eventually led to the overthrow of the government and the creation of a constitutional one, the government attempted to control most aspects of people's lives including regarding religion, led to a strong parliament that felt it had power of the king which was important in setting the stage for a constitutional government
R Calvinists and Anglicanism were generally persecuted under absolutist rule and Catholics were generally favored, England attempted to restore its ties with Rome so that Catholicism could become the dominant religion, religion is a main issue that made the people and parliament angry at the king
I Intellects were thinking of better ways people could be ruled and looked back on their own English history to find a limited monarch is the way to go, led to the Enlightenment and probably the creation of liberal ideology
T Scientists began thinking that the universe can be predicted and controlled through rationalism and empiricism because they probably felt rebellious towards their Catholic kings and wanted to shake up their faith by proving some of the Catholic Church's doctrine was incorrect through science
E The economy was stable because of the centralized and stable government but some of the kings were wasting money wars and various other things so the economy was not great either, new colonies had been found in the new world but the resources there had not yet been fully tapped into so the economy was not boosted that much

Constitutionalism in England

S- Constitutionalism changed England socially because it gave everyone the same rights and everyone had a vote whether they be peasants or upper classmen. A social contract is created as a foundation for society. Magna Carta English Bill of Rights, House of commons: people could vote, House of Lords: nobles could vote, The state creates laws that all must follow and penalties are set by the state as well more freedom for the people; freedom of speech, freedom of religion, better flow of ideas lends itself to development of culture, Constitutionalism also limited the power of the pope

P- The type of government was a parliament instead of only the king such as in France. It gave everyone a voice in the Governmen. Monarch is subject to laws. Government’s power is somewhat limited, to some extent by the subjects rights. Political- gentry and others have more influence in the government, the kings no longer have more power than Parliament, alliance w/ Dutch (no more competing over trade and sea), broken alliance w/ France

R- It was partly made because of all the different types of religions which made people of different religions want different laws so it gave an equal amount of power to each religion because they all had a voice. Religious- the Test Act is still enforced (in order to hold public office on must be Anglican) but freedom of religion is granted and people can worship however the choose, monarch must be a protestant

I- Rule By Law, The Social Contract. people can have more power, freedom, progress; Constitutionalism was the idea of ruling by law and everyone was subject to the law.

T- Technology- the increasingly stable and uncensored environment led to a more free flow of ideas which allowed technology to be made and improved upon better than almost any other country

E- Parliament took away money from king to run country because king didn’t really have much say since they were a Constitutionalist country. Economics- Parliament has financial control, Bank of England helps government to have more money and the country is richer without monarchs wasting huge amount of money on parties and wars, The fact that Parliament controlled the spending helped England save money and become a world power in the 1700s