The Rise of Liberalism: From Old Regime to Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution

Posted on May 17, 2024 in Geography

Definitions

Old Regime

The Old Regime encompasses the political, economic, social, and cultural characteristics prevalent in 18th-century Europe. It succeeded feudalism as an economic system and maintained an estamental society, with the king holding social power and the church exerting significant control.

Three Estates System

This system, prevalent in the 18th century, divided society into two groups: privileged and non-privileged. The privileged comprised the nobility and clergy, while the non-privileged included the bourgeoisie and peasantry.

Enlightenment

An intellectual movement originating in 18th-century France, the Enlightenment emphasized reason, progress, and happiness. It challenged traditional authority and advocated for individual liberty and human rights.

Absolutism

A political system where the king holds absolute power, justified by divine right. Absolutist monarchs maintained permanent armies, centralized power, and utilized treasuries to control administration and military forces. Their power was largely unchecked.

Enlightened Despotism

Emerging in the latter half of the 18th century in Europe, enlightened despotism combined absolutism with Enlightenment principles. Monarchs sought to improve the state through rational and efficient governance, focusing on economic growth and administrative reforms.

Economic Liberalism

An economic theory advocating for free markets, limited government intervention, and individual economic freedom. It emphasizes private property rights, free trade, and the law of supply and demand.

Industrial Revolution

A period of significant economic transformation beginning in the mid-18th century, marked by a shift from agriculture to industry. Machines gained prominence, fossil fuels became essential, and new social groups, the working class and industrial bourgeoisie, emerged.

Steam Engine

Invented in the late 18th century in England, the steam engine revolutionized transportation and industry. It utilized coal to heat water, generating steam pressure that powered a lever connected to wheels, creating motion.

Federal Republic

A system of government where power is divided between a central (federal) government and regional (state) governments. The United States adopted this system in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Old Regime in Detail

The Old Regime’s characteristics can be further elaborated as follows:

Economy

• Agriculture: Land formed the basis of the system, with most land under feudal ownership by a privileged minority. Rents collected were rarely reinvested, leading to stagnation. The growing population demanded increased agricultural output.
• Craftsmen: Guilds controlled production, limiting innovation and competition.
• Foreign Trade: The state monopolized and controlled trade routes, hindering free trade.

Innovations like the domestic system and agricultural revolution emerged to address these challenges.

Society

The Three Estates System created significant legal and social disparities between the privileged and non-privileged. The privileged enjoyed exemptions from taxes and held significant political influence.

Politics

The transition from the modern state to absolutism saw the king’s power increase significantly. Decisions were centralized in the royal court, limiting the influence of other institutions.

Culture

Religious ideas justified the social and political hierarchy. The king’s authority was often portrayed as divinely ordained.

Population Growth

Population growth remained slow until the 18th century, with high birth and death rates resulting in low life expectancy. As mortality rates declined, population growth accelerated, necessitating increased production that the feudal system and guilds struggled to meet.

Enlightenment

The Enlightenment challenged the prevailing worldview, asserting that humans were not the center of the universe. The church’s control over knowledge dissemination contributed to widespread illiteracy. Prominent Enlightenment thinkers like Galileo, Giordano Bruno, Locke, Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Rousseau, primarily from France and America, advocated for reason, progress, and individual happiness. They believed that reason was essential for advancing knowledge and improving society. Progress was seen as the development of knowledge that would enable humanity to control nature and create wealth and well-being. Happiness was considered an individual right and a social aspiration that rulers were obligated to promote.

Industrial Revolution

Features

• Transition from an agrarian to an industrial economy.
• Uneven development between industrialized and developing nations.

Industrialized Societies

• Machinery replaced human labor in production, leading to the rise of factories.
• Energy sources shifted from natural sources to coal.
• Focus shifted from self-sufficiency and quality to mass production.
• Population growth and wealth increased.
• Two new social groups emerged: the working class and the industrial bourgeoisie.

First Industrial Revolution

Beginning in mid-18th century England, the First Industrial Revolution was driven by:

• Technical Advances: Mechanization of production and factory concentration led to cheaper and more abundant goods.
• Agricultural Revolution: Increased agricultural productivity enabled the urban population’s growth, while surplus farm profits were invested in factories. Rural exodus occurred as fewer agricultural workers were needed.
• British Empire: Control over sea routes, access to foreign territories, and British urban growth fueled demand for manufactured goods.

Key Industries

• Textile Industry: Transitioned from wool to cotton as raw material, adopted technological advancements like the steam-powered loom.
• Steel Industry: Increased iron demand led to production improvements, focusing on efficiency and quality. Coal became essential for smelting.

Political Liberalism

Drawing upon Enlightenment ideals of individual rights and limited monarchy, liberalism emerged as a new political ideology challenging the Old Regime. Its core principles included:

• Legal Equality: Abolition of privileges and the Three Estates System.
• Inalienable Rights: Recognition of natural rights and liberties, enshrined in a constitution.
• Division of Power: Separation of powers with checks and balances between branches of government.
• Separation of Church and State: Limiting the church’s political influence.
• Popular Sovereignty: The nation’s sovereignty vested in a representative parliament.

Moderate vs. Radical Liberals

• Moderate Liberals: Favored constitutional monarchy, incomplete division of powers, limited suffrage, and an official religion.
• Radical Liberals: Advocated for republicanism, full division of powers, universal suffrage, and reduced religious influence.

Economic Liberalism

Applying Enlightenment principles to economics, economic liberalism originated in late 18th-century England with Adam Smith. It emphasized:

• Property Rights: Guaranteeing private property ownership.
• Free Trade: Removing restrictions on trade and commerce.
• Individual Choice: Allowing individuals to produce and consume according to their preferences.
• Limited Government Intervention: The state should not interfere in the market, allowing the law of supply and demand to regulate the economy.

Parliamentarism

Unique to England, parliamentarism established parliamentary institutions and laws, like the Bill of Rights, to control the monarchy. This system emerged from the English Civil War, where parliamentarians triumphed over absolutist monarchy.

Enlightened Despotism

Combining absolutism with Enlightenment ideas in the late 18th century, enlightened despots implemented reforms to make their monarchies more rational and efficient. They focused on economic growth, administrative reorganization, and limited religious reforms while maintaining absolute power.

American War of Independence

First European Settlements

English settlers, including religious refugees, established colonies along the eastern coast of North America.

Colonial Organization

Thirteen colonies paid taxes to England and were governed by colonial assemblies.

Breaking Point

The Seven Years’ War between France and England, in which the colonies participated, led to increased taxes to maintain a standing army. This strained relations between the colonies and England.

Declaration of Independence

Frustrated by England’s disregard for their grievances, the colonies declared independence.

Conclusion

The American Revolutionary War ended with the Treaty of Paris, recognizing the United States’ independence.

USA Political System

The newly formed United States drafted the first written constitution, establishing:

• Popular Sovereignty: Government derives its power from the people.
• Federal Republic: Power is divided between federal and state governments.
• Division of Powers: Separation of powers with checks and balances.
• Individual Rights and Liberties: Protection of fundamental rights.
• Censitary Suffrage: Voting rights limited by property ownership.

Differences Between Absolutism and Liberalism