Enlightenment and the 18th Century

When looking at the Enlightenment, we very much focused on the English and the French during the eighteenth-century movement, called the Enlightenment. Immanuel Kant asked the question in a 1784 article, What Is Enlightenment? -- the below video clip on You Tube does an excellent job of capturing the main ideas of this intellectual and political movement.

What this clip fails to mention is the concept of social contract. Remember, although Rousseau authors The Social Contract, it is not the first social contract. Authors had written of the relationship between a ruler and the citizens before, Hobbes and Locke come to mind almost immediately.

The application of Enlightenment ideas is captured in the form of some eighteenth-century rulers, referred to as Enlightened Absolutists (or less favorably, Enlightened Despots). Who are some of these rulers? It is helpful to remember the rule of two: Frederick II (Prussia), Joseph II (Austria), and Catherine II (Russia) were the three enlightened monarchs studied in class. How did they apply Enlightenment thought to their rule? What were some policies of these rulers? Limitations? Negative characteristics? 

One ruler who was not discussed on the power point, but was discussed in class, was George III. George III was the third king of England from the Hanover Dynasty. Hanover was one of the states in the Holy Roman Empire; thus, the Hanover kings (George I, II, and to a lesser extent III) were German. George I and II only spoke German and were unaware of the English customs and the English language. Sound familiar? Perhaps like the Stuarts from Scotland? George III was the King of England during the American Revolution. The BBC, with their series of Horrible Histories, plays with the Georges I-IV in the following video.