The giant ehap review outline

Europe from 1815 to 1848

*The Definition of Romanticism*

- Romanticism was a major movement in the early nineteenth century. Although it was more an attitude towards life than it was a philosophy, it did have some defining characteristics.

- Romanticism was almost a counterpoint to the ideals of the Enlightenment, which were then associated with liberalism and the middle class.

- Romanticism could coexist w/other political philosophies, for example nationalism or socialism.

- Actually, conservatives and radicals both drew on romantic philosophy, for conservatives claimed that stability was only possible through tradition and respect of customs while radicals claimed that a new era required the shattering of old institutions just as artistic change required new creativity.

- Romanticism was also an artistic movement.

*Romanticism (Rousseau and French Revolution) vs. Liberalism (Enlightenment)*

- Romanticism was a movement that idealized the countryside, liberalism thrived in the cities.

- Romanticism emphasized emotion, the heart, and poetry (often illogical and emotional) while liberalism emphasized reason, the mind, and prose (logical and unemotional).

- Romanticism stressed intuition, and the concept of genius (often misunderstood) while liberalism stressed reason and scholarship (you must study and work to improve yourself).

- Romanticism viewed nature as untamable, irrational, and out of control. They felt that nature controlled humans, not visa versa. Liberalism felt nature could be controlled, and, most importantly, understood through mathematical laws – it stressed progress.

- Romanticism stressed the uniqueness of the individual (sometime nations nationalists) while liberalism stressed the fact that humans control own destiny, that perfection can be reached through education, progress and science and that there are universal human laws.

- Romanticism idealized the Middle Ages (knights in shining armor) while liberalism despised it.

*Romantic Philosophy and Literature*

- Although romantic thought flourished with the revival of religion, the increased interest in history and rising nationalism, it was mainly philosophical.

- Romantic thinkers wrote about metaphysics, aesthetics, the philosophy of nature, and even (in Germany and Scandinavia) a romantic philosophy of science.

- Romantics tended to express themselves through poetry, aphorisms, and autobiographical accounts.

- Friedrich Schiegelà was a very influential romantic thinker from Germany.

- Samuel Taylor Coleridgeà was an English romantic poet who wrote the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, a tale of guilt, redemption, and the supernatural.

- William Wordsworthà another romantic poet whose poems contrasted the beauty of nature with urban corruption and denounced the materialism of his age.

- In general, novelists and dramatists began to set their tales in the past, favor vivid description and attempt to describe the larger picture of human existence (like Shakespeare and Cervantes).

*Romantic Art and Music*

- In art, the romantic painters began to emphasize color over line, scenes of nature (especially wild nature), exotic scenes, movement, action, dark backgrounds, turmoil, and an appeal to emotion.

- The romantic style was almost the opposite of the last great style, neoclassicism.

- Romantic portraits (which were out anyhow) were blurry and tried to show inner personality.

- Big guys were Delacroix (French painter who did Greece Expiring and Liberty Leading the People), Goya (Spanish painter) and Turner (English painter who did The Slave Ship).

- At the same time a competing school of painting, realism, emphasized ordinary, common people and scenes from everyday life.

- Neoclassicism was not completely gone either, for Delacroix’s artistic enemy was Ingres (a student of david who emphasized detail, crisp focus and blended neoclassicism with romantic influence).

- In music romantic composers appealed directly to the heart, stressing melodies and using freer harmonies. Big romantic composers were Schubert and Schumann.

*Political Ideologies*

- Almost all the “isms” of the nineteenth century (Romanticism, Liberalism, Nationalism, Socialism, Conservatism, and Radicalism) came from either the Enlightenment or the French Revolution (or as a reaction to the French Revolutions).

- Conservatism à conservatives tended to justify the status quo, defend tradition and hierarchy, and stress the limitations of human understanding. Conservatism arose mainly from Edmund Burke, and Englishman who stated that society exists through a continuity of the traditions that have developed over the years. Although Burke allowed for gradual change in theory, he mainly supported established institutions. Other conservatives, Joseph de Maistre and Louis de Bonald stated that society, in order to preserve itself, had to keep close control on dangerous ideas of reform. 

- Liberalism à political liberalism, which originated with Locke and Enlightenment, was associated with ideas of social progress, economic development and the middle class. Liberals hoped to achieve a free society governed by a constitution that valued individual rights. John Stuart Mill was the most important liberal spokesman of the nineteenth century – he supported freedom of thought, universal suffrage and collective action by workers.

- Economic Liberalism à although many liberals were also economic liberals, the two groups were not necessarily equivalent. Economic liberals always supported laissez-faire. David Ricardo, an Englishman who wrote the Principle of Political Economy and Taxation (1817), extended Smith’s ideology. He stated that a product’s value results from the labor required to make it, and emphasized labor saving as the source of profit. Also, he said that economic laws governed prices, such as the iron law of wages (which applied the law of supply and demand to labor).

- Utilitarianism à the call for social reform led to utilitarianism, which stressed the role of the state in society. One influential utilitarian was Jeremy Benthan, and Englishman who dismissed the doctrine of natural rights as a meaningless abstraction and, instead, proposed that utility should guide public policy. With good being that which give the most people pleasure and the bad being than which gives the most people pain, Benthan stated that self-interest could also guide public policy. 

- Socialism à socialist despised the competitive spirit of capitalism and advocated a society in which people could live harmoniously and could be truly free. The early socialists – Saint-Simon, Fourier, and Owen – were late called utopian socialists by Marx b/c they attempted to found ideal communities in which everyone cooperated for the public benefit.

*The Structure of Society*

- By the beginning of the nineteenth century, the original social pyramid structure of society was being transformed into different, more fluid, classes – and social relationships were becoming matters of contact between individuals. The classes were as follows:

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  Aristocracy à although the aristocrats did lost much of their influence, they remained a potent force throughout Europe. The aristocracy continued to control most of the wealth of the country and still dominated the administration and the military. The aristocrats held on to more power in the south and east, though, for, there, they in effect had control over the peasant masses.  
  
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  Peasants à most Europeans were peasants. The peasants felt the effects of change as agriculture became more commercial (profits increased) and technology changed, but the big change for most peasants was the emancipation of the peasants from feudal obligations, which encouraged peasants to enter the commercial market. But, on the other hand, the decline of local industries (putting-out system) made the peasants even more dependent on small plots of land. In general, peasants stuck by tradition, although they could also become major political forces in some cases.
  
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  Workersà a new class, the industrial workers lived dependent on their employers and often made barely enough to keep alive. They often lived in dirty slums, with special restrictions on their rights, etc. Workers were clearly an emerging political force in society, one the upper classes (rightly) feared. But, although there were attempts to make organized labor movements, for the most part, the vast majority of the working class remained defenseless without the skills to organize well.
  
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  Artisans/Skilled Workers à the most independent workers, the artisans continued to live by a hierarchy of masters and apprentices. They did benefit from industrialization, and, unlike the factory workers, did have the organization and education to organize effectively to improve conditions.
  
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  Middle Classà the most confident and assertive class, the middle class ranged from the great bankers to the petit bourgeoisie (clerks, shopkeepers, etc.) and was held together by shared ideals and common interests 97 all were opposed to special privileges and saw themselves as the beneficiaries of careers open to talent. Essentially an urban class, they liked to see themselves as self-made. They were associated with the liberal ideology of the time, and pushed for moderation.
  

- During this time, the population also increased (due to fewer diseases, increased food supply and a lower of the age at which people married) and cities grew greatly.

- This in turn led to terrible conditions in the cities, and efforts to improve them through charities and government laws concerning public welfare.

- Charity was mainly conducted by the middle class and the very religious, and mostly by women.

Although the charities helped a few, they were not sufficient, and government intervention was required to fix the situation. By mid-century, housing and sanitary codes regulated most cities.

- Later, governments also began to regulate child labor and stop vagrancy. Education became a matter of national policy as well, and most countries established compulsory public schooling.

*The Spread of Liberal Government*

- As liberal social programs spread throughout Europe, England became the model for many aspiring liberal nations. But England itself had passed through a time of reform and change.

- Between 1688 and 1832 there was no reform at all in England b/c the English were afraid reform might open the gates for a revolution like in France.

- By the late eighteenth century England desperately needed reform, but would-be reformers like Tom

Paine, John Wilkes, Price and Priestly were not permitted to reform.

- England had an archaic system of government: only 500 people were elected to the House of Commons through the Burrows (which were totally corrupt – “pocket burrows”), there was total misrepresentation (new cities like Manchester had no reps) and it was all in all really unfair.

- Finally, in 1832 the Reform Bill was passed, which extended the franchise from 500,000 to 800,000 votes (which allowed upper MC to vote), and redistricted (more proportional representation). This was a big deal b/c it signaled the beginning of the end for the gentry 97 now the middle class was taking over and gaining control of the government.

- After 1832 new reforms such as the Factory Act (limiting hours of child labor) and the Poor Law were passed, and finally a law granting all resident taxpayers the right to vote in municipal elections.

- Still, more reforms were pushed for by the masses. One big issue was the Corn Laws (tariff on agricultural goods), which the landowners liked (can raise prices, more $) but middle class and working class despised (food prices up). So middle and working classes joined against gentry. In 1846 the laws were repealed (a final proof of the switch in power to the middle class). The Test Act was also repealed around this time.

- The radicals in England, known as the Charterists, wanted universal male suffrage, annual elections, secret ballots, and salaries for parliament members. But this movement, unlike the one against the Corn Laws, ended up in failure.

*The Revolutions of 1830*

- In 1830, revolution swept across Europe, beginning with the abdication of Charles X in France, which sparked off minor revolts in central Italy, Spain, Portugal, some German states, and Poland. But Austria and Russia once again crushed most of the revolutions.

- Franceà of course it started with France. First, Charles X didn’t like the elections, so he passed the July Ordinances (which cancelled elections, upped censorship, and called for new elections), which resulted in the people taking to the streets in revolution, Charles running away, and Lafayette bringing Louis Philippe from Orleans as the new king. The new reign, known as the July Monarchy, emphasized moderation – the regime began w/a new constitution presented as a contract that guaranteed individual rights, etc. The July Monarchy attempted to identify w/the middle class, and Louis called himself the citizen king. But the monarchy didn’t please anyone b/c it attempted to please everyone, so, naturally, nobody was satisfied. Anyhow, during this time Guizot (a moderate liberal who spoke of liberty and progress but did nothing) skillfully dominated the government.

- Belgiumà the Belgians (Catholics) followed the French revolted against the Dutch Protestants. They established a liberal constitutional monarchy and became a prosperous small country.

- Spainà in Spain, the monarchy supported the liberals. In 1833, however, the monarchy was threatened by a conservative uprising (the Carlists). So, to win support more support from the liberals, the monarchy granted a constitution in 1834.