And America in the 17-18 centuries

1. Brief content of the lecture

1.State

By the early 17 century, Europeans had developed the concept of a state

The essential ingredient was the motion of sovereignty- this is the supremacy of the state within its borders.

Common features of a state:

-There is a centralized political structure and a central bureaucracy that runs the state

-There is a rigid social stratification that concentrated power in the hands of a privileged elite at the head of the social pyramid.

Modern times were characterized by stable absolute states with distinct national borders, one dominant religion (monarch’s religion), one nation. It was time of national consciousness and national character formation.

2. Absolutism

Absolutism was motivated by the crises of the 16^th and 17^th centuries- Reformation and religious wars. Absolute monarchies were originally proposed as a solution to these violent disorders. In order to achieve stability, supporters of strong power proposed concentration of some key elements of power in the hands of a monarch:

- the military (the army)

- tax collection

- judicial system.

These powers normally were in the hands of aristocracy, opposed forces were: the nobility, the church, representative legislative bodies ( parliaments), heads of regions. In order to centralize the administration of the state, the central government had to take political power out of the hands of the nobility and others opposed groups.

3. Absolutism of Louis XIV.

The Sun King (1643-1715)

Louis XIV is considered as a founder of absolute state in France, the model of which was taken by other European monarchs. The characteristic features of the Louis state:

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Central Authority. Louis and his ministers systematically destroyed the power of any institution that had a claim to any autonomy- provincial estates, the parliaments, town governments.

The king broke regional independence by dividing the country into 36

“generalites”: each “generalite” was administrated by an intendant – a super official

appointed from the upper middle classes rather than the nobility. No intendant was ever appointed to a region that he lived in ?______________________________________

*Legislation.

Military. Until Louis, the military in France had been largely a private affair. Regions paid for their own armies, when the king required military help, the army came from these regions. Louis began to build a state army of professional soldiers, these new army owe allegiance only to the king and subjugated only to the king. The danger of separatism and rebellions in regions declined.

Taxation. Until Louis, taxes throughout Europe were collected largely by individual nobility on a region. Nobles were free to collect whatever they pleased and keep the excess. When Louis assumed power, only 30 % of the taxes went to the crown. Louis set up a bureaucracy to collect taxes directly from the peasantry. This money went not only to the king and his court, Louis and his finance minister Colbert used taxes to build and improve roads and to invest in national industry.

Royal revenue during Louis and Colbert

**Religion. Catholicism

2. Questions for test

Louis XIV founded the army that consisted of :

A. professional soldiers

B. hired soldiers

C. foreigners

D. knights

Before Louis XIV taxation was in the hands of:

A. heads of regions

B. soldiers

C. peasants

D. king

3. Tasks for office hours - Minister Colbert’s activities

4. Tasks for IWS - Absolute states in Europe in the 18 century

5. Reference

http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/ENLIGHT/PRE.HTM

Date: 2015-01-02; view: 1024