The Ancien Regime and Struggles of the 18th Century

The Ancien Regime – Ch 15

The structure of life in Europe from M.A. to the French Revolution, most people are born into their role

Political Structure:

* N-S or small principality * religion

* monarchy vs. nobility * rising pressure from Bourgeoisie

The Nobility (1-5% of pop.):

* inherited privileges & legal status * Set apart by diet, clothes, etc.
* wealth from land * aristocratic resurgence
* above manual labor * Country House-Hunting Rights
* vary from country to country

Bourgeoisie:

Increasingly complex: 2 basic types:

* C=trade, banking, insurance, investments
* P=lawyer, doctor, gov’t official
* some very wealthy, resent nobility

Urban Workers:

* Guild members to street thugs

* Guilds remain influential (reduce competition, training, marketing) & slowed progress
* Political force

Peasants (75-90%):

* heavily taxed, tithed and fee’d, forced labor * diet of bread and soup, famine & disease
* village was center of social life * worse in E. Europe (serfs in Russia)

Families:

* NW Europe: "Nuclear", older marriage after training

* SE Europe: Extended, early marriage, family laws focused on production
* Everyone works, ex.: if Dad makes it Mom sells it & kids help
* death of Father disastrous
* role of women is to establish & maintain household (parents then own)
* leave home - collect dowry - get married
* wet nurse when necessary
* many occupations closed to women
* child = blessing/curse
* foundlings in times of crisis

The Agricultural Revolution

Pre-Enclosure

* Peasants work their land + lord’s

* goal: stable food supply
* 1 of 3 fields left fallow
* Crops: wheat, barley, beans, oats

Ancien Regime & Struggles 1

Impetus for change

* pop. jumps
* bread prices up
* trad. production slows growth
* landlords see benefits, gov’t wants taxes
* peasants resist

Enclosure Movement

* landlords fence common lands

* Par. passes laws backing them (squirearchy)
* Prod. needed to support growing urban population
* more food made by fewer workers

New Crops & Methods

* corn & potatoes

* clover & turnips renew land & feed livestock
* reclaimed land (Dutch)
* Tull’s iron plow & seed drill
* Townshend’s new rotation

Population Explosion

* 3/4 of billion in 1750, 5 bil now

* plague gone, less war (1st 1/2 18thC), better health
* Explosion forces change in way we live (migration, etc.)

Increased Consumption

* more disposable income

* more people
* improved marketing
* goods = prosperity

Growth of "New" Cities

* 1500-1700 growth in established cities, after 1750 it’s new cities

* enclosure, growth of industry lead to migration
* around factories, mines, road hubs, sea ports

Poverty

* infrastructure not ready

* crowding, disease, slums, etc.
* prostitution, crime, begging
* coal soot

Wealth

* entertainment, opportunity, new inventions, etc.

* new houses & shops for nouveaux riche
* new gov’t buildings, museums, cathedrals, etc.
* wealthy control city gov’t

Caught in the Middle (bourg.)

* income not from land

* force behind consumption & industry

Ancien Regime & Struggles 2

 * new sources wealth = social mobility
* resent nobles, fear poor
* want reform for own benefit

Artisans

* stable upper lower class, single largest group in any city

* grocers, carpenters, wage earners
* try to advanced through guilds
* guilds = protections, benefits
* conservative, yet sense of social/economic justice
* Bread riots & selling at comunity’s “just” price = a check on merchant greed
* MC might support vs. nobility

Life for European Jews

* most in Eastern Eur.

* legally excluded, deprived of rights, separate group
* villages (rural) or ghettos (urban)
* fate at whim of ruler

On to Colonies – CH 16

* ability to dominate comes from superior technology, not culture

4 stages of European involvement:

1) "Discovery" (1450-1600)
2) Trade Rivalry (this one)
3) Africa/Asia (1875-1940)
4) Decolonization (post WWII)

Mercantile Empires

* desire for influence --> intense rivalries

* time of great trade expansion
* sugar, cotton, tobacco, spices
Britain: N. Atlantic Seaboard
France: St. Lawrence, Ohio & Mississippi River Valleys
Spain: S. America & Southern N. Amer.
Dutch: Surinam & trade stations in Asia

Relationship with Colonies

* supply markets & materials to home country

* get protection & "gov’t"
* strict regulation of trade (only with home country)
* national economy = ruling principle
* home economy grows at colonies’ expense

Colonial Problems

* Home falls short in providing goods

* golden age of smugglers
* French & English Colonists clash in NA
* French & English Trading companies clash in India

Spanish Colonial System

* monarch appt Council of Indies appt viceroys

* viceroyalties  audencias  corregidores
Ancien Regime & Struggles 3
 * trade monopoly controlled by Casa de Contatacion (Sevilla)
* all authorization from the Casa (i.e. flota system)
* Bourbon reforms stimulate decaying imperial trade sys
* but creoles’ resentment of peninsulares and total benefit to Spain leads to later wars of independence

Plantation System & Slavery

* 16th & 17th C’s = native American labor wiped out

* Brazil, Carribbean, & N. America = sugar, rice, tobacco, coffee, &cotton plantations (small landowners could not afford
major investments)
*  large, integrated trans-Atlantic economy
* Sp, Port., Dutch, Eng., & Fr. Forcibly transp. 9 mill+ slaves - more than free European settlers
* Slave conditions varied colony to colony
* slave revolts feared – all laws favored slave owners
* most = hard agric labor, poor diet, inadequate housing
* non-Euro cultural values separated, transformed, crushed
* race = powerful element in keeping black slaves in subserience, it fit Euro prejudices & negative connotations
“The plantations that strectched middle Atlantic colonies of N. America through the W. Indies and into Brazil constituted a vast
corridor of slave societies in which social and economic subordination was based on both involuntary servitude and race.”

Mid-18th Century Wars

* trade & territory (colonial & in Cent. Europe)

* Reshape traditional alliances
* Lead to new power structure

War of Jenkins’ Ear

* British abuse asiento - Spain fights back

* Jenkins’ ear used to inflame Par. (trade interests want war)
* War between GB & Spain is first in a series of conflicts

War of Austrian Succession

* Frederick II takes Silesia, M-T maintains kingdom vs. threat

* France + Prussia vs. GB + Austria, France helps Spain abroad

Treaty of Aix-La-Chappelle
* Silesia (rich in resources) to Prussia
* asiento for GB
* M-T Keeps throne (Bohe. & Hungary)

Major Outcomes
* Prussia recognized power
* Austria solidifies claims
* France falls behind GB
* Spain continues to fade

Diplomatic Revolution-1756

* Prussia & GB form an alliance

* Kaunitz (Aus.) negotiates with France (Frenchy + Hapsy)
* New alliances

Seven Years’ War (1756-63)

On the Continent:
* Frederick II launches pre-emptive strike vs. Saxony
* Sweden & Russia join Aus. & Fr. --> Freddy’s surrounded but fights brilliantly with aid from GB
* 1762- Russia drops out
Ancien Regime & Struggles 4
Overseas:
* Pitt’s goal: All of NA east of Miss.
* big resources to NA, colonists help
* GB defeats French in NA & India
* 1755-1760: French col. trade drops 80%

Treaty of 1763

* GB gets NA, true world power

* Prussia holds Silesia, HRE’s done
* France needs reform
* Lots of war debt for all

Meanwhile in GB

* George III turns to Tories

* Wilkes challenges George, accuses of tyranny, supported by Whigs
* Wilkes exiled, returns & gets elected to commons (4X)
* Not seated --> demonstrations
* Calls for reform of Par.
* Tory Par. decides to tax colonies

Back in the Colonies

* question tyranny & tax authority of GB

* Appeal beyond political body to public opinion
* assemblies’ power from consent of governed (you can revolt against the Ancien Regime)
* defend "rights of Englishmen", wind up with…

Brand new government

* No King necessary
* No nobility or classes by birth
* Equality for white males
* Gov’t based on liberty can work

Ancien Regime & Struggles 5