World History / Unit 7: Absolutism, the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment
7.6 The Spread of the Enlightenment
Notes
Enlightenment ideas spread through books, conversation and some rulers' reforms.
- Denis Diderot's Encyclopedia collected knowledge and Enlightenment ideas; French officials and the Church tried to ban it.
- Salons, social gatherings often hosted by wealthy women in Paris, allowed thinkers to share ideas.
- Cesare Beccaria opposed torture and the death penalty and argued that punishments should fit the crime.
- Enlightened despots were absolute rulers who adopted some reforms while keeping their power: Frederick the Great of Prussia allowed religious tolerance; Catherine the Great of Russia corresponded with Voltaire but later strengthened serfdom; Joseph II of Austria abolished serfdom (his reforms were later reversed).
- Enlightenment ideas inspired the American Revolution (1775), whose Declaration of Independence (1776) echoes Locke's natural rights.
Practice
An enlightened despot was a ruler who:
They used reason to improve government without giving up power.
How did salons help spread the Enlightenment?
Salons were centers of conversation and debate.
Beccaria's ideas would most likely support which modern practice?
Beccaria argued for fair, humane criminal justice.
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