5.1 The Enlightenment

Thematic Focus (CDI): Cultural Developments and Interactions — The development of ideas, beliefs, and religions illustrates how groups in society view themselves, and the interactions of societies and their beliefs often have political, social, and cultural implications.

Thematic Focus (SIO): Social Interactions and Organization — The process by which societies group their members and the norms that govern the interactions between these groups and between individuals influence political, economic, and cultural institutions and organization.

Learning Objective Unit 5.A: Explain the intellectual and ideological context in which revolutions swept the Atlantic world from 1750 to 1900.

• KC-5.3.I.A Enlightenment philosophies applied new ways of understanding and empiricist approaches to both the natural world and human relationships; they also reexamined the role that religion played in public life and emphasized the importance of reason. Philosophers developed new political ideas about the individual, natural rights, and the social contract.
• KC-5.3.I The rise and diffusion of Enlightenment thought that questioned established traditions in all areas of life often preceded revolutions and rebellions against existing governments.
• KC-5.3.II.i Nationalism also became a major force shaping the historical development of states and empires.

Learning Objective Unit 5.B: Explain how the Enlightenment affected societies over time.

• KC-5.3.I.C Enlightenment ideas and religious ideals influenced various reform movements. These reform movements contributed to the expansion of rights, as seen in expanded suffrage, the abolition of slavery, and the end of serfdom.
• KC-5.3.IV.B Demands for women’s suffrage and an emergent feminism challenged political and gender hierarchies.

Illustrative examples:

• Demands:
  • Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
  • Olympe de Gouges’s Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen
  • Seneca Falls Conference (1848) organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott

5.2 Nationalism and Revolutions in the Period from 1750 to 1900

Thematic Focus (GOV): Governance — A variety of internal and external factors contribute to state formation, expansion, and decline. Governments maintain order through a variety of administrative institutions, policies, and procedures, and governments obtain, retain, and exercise power in different ways and for different purposes.

Learning Objective Unit 5.C: Explain causes and effects of the various revolutions in the period from 1750 to 1900.

• KC-5.3.II.ii People around the world developed a new sense of commonality based on language, religion, social customs, and territory. This was sometimes harnessed by governments to foster a sense of unity.
• KC-5.3 The 18th century marked the beginning of an intense period of revolution and rebellion against existing governments, leading to the establishment of new nation-states around the world.
• KC-5.3.IV.A.i Discontent with monarchist and imperial rule encouraged the development of systems of government and various ideologies, including democracy and 19th-century liberalism.
• KC-5.3.III.B Colonial subjects in the Americas led a series of rebellions inspired by democratic ideals. The American Revolution, and its successful establishment of a republic, the United States of America, was a model and inspiration for a number of the revolutions that followed. The American Revolution, the Haitian Revolution, and the Latin American independence movements facilitated the emergence of independent states in the Americas.
• KC-5.3.I.B The ideas of Enlightenment philosophers, as reflected in revolutionary documents— including the American Declaration of Independence during the American Revolution, the French “Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen” during the French Revolution, and Bolívar’s “Letter from Jamaica” on the eve of the Latin American revolutions— influenced resistance to existing political authority, often in pursuit of independence and democratic ideals.
• KC-5.3.II.iii Newly imagined national communities often linked this new national identity with borders of the state, and in some cases, nationalists challenged boundaries or sought unification of fragmented regions.

Illustrative examples:

• Call for national unification or liberation:
  • Propaganda Movement in the Philippines
  • Maori nationalism and the New Zealand wars in New Zealand
  • Puerto Rico—writings of Lola Rodríguez de Tió
  • German and Italian unifications
  • Balkan nationalisms
  • Ottomanism

5.3 Industrial Revolution Begins

Thematic Focus (ENV): Humans and the Environments — The environment shapes human societies, and as populations grow and change, these populations in turn shape their environments.

Learning Objective Unit 5.D: Explain how environmental factors contributed to industrialization from 1750 to 1900.

• KC-5.1.I.A A variety of factors contributed to the growth of industrial production and eventually resulted in the Industrial Revolution, including: Bullet Proximity to waterways; access to rivers and canals Bullet Geographical distribution of coal, iron, and timber Bullet Urbanization Bullet Improved agricultural productivity Bullet Legal protection of private property Bullet Access to foreign resources Bullet Accumulation of capital
• KC-5.1.I.C The development of the factory system concentrated production in a single location and led to an increasing degree of specialization of labor.

5.4 Industrialization Spreads in the Period from 1750 to 1900

Thematic Focus (TEC): Technology and Innovation — Human adaptation and innovation have resulted in increased efficiency, comfort, and security, and technological advances have shaped human development and interactions with both intended and unintended consequences.

Learning Objective Unit 5.E: Explain how different modes and locations of production have developed and changed over time.

• KC-5.1.II.B The rapid development of steam-powered industrial production in European countries and the U.S. contributed to the increase in these regions’ share of global manufacturing during the first Industrial Revolution. While Middle Eastern and Asian countries continued to produce manufactured goods, these regions’ share in global manufacturing declined.
• KC-5.1.I.D As new methods of industrial production became more common in parts of northwestern Europe, they spread to other parts of Europe and the United States, Russia, and Japan.

Illustrative examples:

• Decline of Middle Eastern and Asian share in global manufacturing:
  • Shipbuilding in India and Southeast Asia
  • Iron works in India
  • Textile production in India and Egypt

5.5 Technology of the Industrial Age

Thematic Focus (TEC): Technology and Innovation — Human adaptation and innovation have resulted in increased efficiency, comfort, and security, and technological advances have shaped human development and interactions with both intended and unintended consequences.

Learning Objective Unit 5.F: Explain how technology shaped economic production over time.

• KC-5.1.I.B The development of machines, including steam engines and the internal combustion engine, made it possible to take advantage of both existing and vast newly discovered resources of energy stored in fossil fuels, specifically coal and oil. The fossil fuels revolution greatly increased the energy available to human societies.
• KC-5.1.I.E The “second industrial revolution” led to new methods in the production of steel, chemicals, electricity, and precision machinery during the second half of the 19th century.
• KC-5.1.IV Railroads, steamships, and the telegraph made exploration, development, and communication possible in interior regions globally, which led to increased trade and migration.

5.6 Industrialization: Government’s Role from 1750 to 1900

Thematic Focus (GOV): Governance — A variety of internal and external factors contribute to state formation, expansion, and decline. Governments maintain order through a variety of administrative institutions, policies, and procedures, and governments obtain, retain, and exercise power in different ways and for different purposes.

Learning Objective Unit 5.G: Explain the causes and effects of economic strategies of different states and empires.

• KC-5.1.V.C As the influence of the Industrial Revolution grew, a small number of states and governments promoted their own state-sponsored visions of industrialization.
• KC-5.2.II.A The expansion of U.S. and European influence in Asia led to internal reform in Japan that supported industrialization and led to the growing regional power of Japan in the Meiji Era.

Illustrative examples:

• State-sponsored visions of industrialization:
  • Muhammad Ali’s development of a cotton textile industry in Egypt

5.7 Economic Developments and Innovations in the Industrial Age

Thematic Focus (ECN): Economics Systems — As societies develop, they affect and are affected by the ways that they produce, exchange, and consume goods and services.

Learning Objective Unit 5.H: Explain the development of economic systems, ideologies, and institutions and how they contributed to change in the period from 1750 to 1900.

• KC-5.1.III.A Western European countries began abandoning mercantilism and adopting free trade policies, partly in response to the growing acceptance of Adam Smith’s theories of laissez-faire capitalism and free markets.
• KC-5.1.III.B The global nature of trade and production contributed to the proliferation of large-scale transnational businesses that relied on new practices in banking and finance.
• KC-5.1 The development of industrial capitalism led to increased standards of living for some, and to continued improvement in manufacturing methods that increased the availability, affordability, and variety of consumer goods.

Illustrative examples:

• Transnational businesses:
  • Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC)
  • Unilever based in England and the Netherlands and operating in British West Africa and the Belgian Congo
• Financial instruments:
  • Stock markets
  • Limited-liability corporations

5.8 Reactions to the Industrial Economy from 1750 to 1900

Thematic Focus (SIO): Social Interactions and Organization — The process by which societies group their members and the norms that govern the interactions between these groups and between individuals influence political, economic, and cultural institutions and organization.

Learning Objective Unit 5.I: Explain the causes and effects of calls for changes in industrial societies from 1750 to 1900.

• KC-5.1.V.D In response to the social and economic changes brought about by industrial capitalism, some governments, organizations, and individuals promoted various types of political, social, educational, and urban reforms.
• KC-5.1.V.A In industrialized states, many workers organized themselves, often in labor unions, to improve working conditions, limit hours, and gain higher wages. Workers’ movements and political parties emerged in different areas, promoting alternative visions of society.
• KC-5.3.IV.A.ii Discontent with established power structures encouraged the development of various ideologies, including those espoused by Karl Marx, and the ideas of socialism and communism.
• KC-5.1.V.B In response to the expansion of industrializing states, some governments in Asia and Africa, including the Ottoman Empire and Qing China, sought to reform and modernize their economies and militaries. Reform efforts were often resisted by some members of government or established elite groups.

5.9 Society and the Industrial Age

Thematic Focus (SIO): Social Interactions and Organization — The process by which societies group their members and the norms that govern the interactions between these groups and between individuals influence political, economic, and cultural institutions and organization.

Learning Objective Unit 5.J: Explain how industrialization caused change in existing social hierarchies and standards of living.

• KC-5.1.VI.A New social classes, including the middle class and the industrial working class, developed.
• KC-5.1.VI.B While women and often children in working class families typically held wage-earning jobs to supplement their families’ income, middle-class women who did not have the same economic demands to satisfy were increasingly limited to roles in the household or roles focused on child development.
• KC-5.1.VI.C The rapid urbanization that accompanied global capitalism at times led to a variety of challenges, including pollution, poverty, increased crime, public health crises, housing shortages, and insufficient infrastructure to accommodate urban growth.

5.10 Continuity and Change in the Industrial Age

Learning Objective Unit 5.K: Explain the extent to which industrialization brought change from 1750 to 1900.

• KC-5.1 The development of industrial capitalism led to increased standards of living for some, and to continued improvement in manufacturing methods that increased the availability, affordability, and variety of consumer goods.
  • KC-5.1.IV Railroads, steamships, and the telegraph made exploration, development, and communication possible in interior regions globally, which led to increased trade and migration.
• KC-5.3 The 18th century marked the beginning of an intense period of revolution and rebellion against existing governments, leading to the establishment of new nation-states around the world.
  • KC-5.3.I.A Enlightenment philosophies applied new ways of understanding and empiricist approaches to both the natural world and human relationships; they also reexamined the role that religion played in public life and emphasized the importance of reason. Philosophers developed new political ideas about the individual, natural rights, and the social contract.
  • KC-5.3.I The rise and diffusion of Enlightenment thought that questioned established traditions in all areas of life often preceded revolutions and rebellions against existing governments.
  • KC-5.3.II.i Nationalism also became a major force shaping the historical development of states and empires