Concepts and Terms

Heliocentric: sun-centered model of the solar system (Copernicus, Galileo)

Geocentric: Earth-centered model (older Ptolemaic view)

Inductive method: building knowledge from observation (Bacon)

Deductive method: reasoning from first principles (Descartes)

Natural rights: rights all people are born with (life, liberty, property)

Social contract: agreement between rulers and ruled that legitimizes government

Popular sovereignty: the people are the ultimate source of political authority

Separation of powers: dividing government authority among branches

Checks and balances: each branch limits the others

General will: Rousseau's concept of the collective good

Enlightened despotism: absolute monarchs who adopted selected Enlightenment reforms

Estates-General: French representative assembly of the three estates

Tennis Court Oath: Third Estate's pledge to write a constitution (June 1789)

Storming of the Bastille: July 14, 1789, symbolic start of the French Revolution

Declaration of the Rights of Man: August 1789 document of French revolutionary principles

Sans-culottes: urban working-class supporters of the radical French Revolution

Jacobins: radical political club led by Robespierre

Reign of Terror: 1793-1794 period of mass executions in France

Guillotine: execution device that became the symbol of the Terror

Thermidorian Reaction: July 1794 overthrow of Robespierre

Directory: five-man executive that ruled France 1795-1799

Napoleonic Code: Napoleon's legal code that spread across Europe

Continental System: Napoleon's blockade against British trade

Concordat of 1801: Napoleon's agreement with the Catholic Church

Congress of Vienna: 1814-1815 conference to restore pre-revolutionary Europe

Balance of power: diplomatic principle of preventing any one state from dominating

Conservatism: ideology favoring tradition, hierarchy, and gradual change

Liberalism (19th century): ideology favoring constitutional government, individual rights, and free markets

Nationalism: belief that nations defined by shared culture deserve political self-determination

Risorgimento: Italian unification movement, literally "resurgence"

Realpolitik: politics based on power rather than ideology (Bismarck)

Blood and Iron: Bismarck's phrase for unification through war

Caudillo: Latin American strongman political leader

Peninsulares: Spanish-born colonial elite

Creoles: American-born of Spanish descent

Mestizos: mixed European-indigenous ancestry

Gens de couleur libres: free people of color in Saint-Domingue