Chapter 18: Revolutions of Industrialization

The industrial revolution became a great impact for all societies with an increase of goods and services for the people. The industrial revolution did have its' consequences but this is what helped people become more aware and understanding of what they were expected to go through. The industrial revolution first began in Britain and it helped in an influential way. Britain's political life encouraged commercialization and economic change. Britain already had a good amount of coal and iron and became an easier reach of major industrial centers. The revolution changed the country completely such as their city life, social class structure, and Britain's power amongst other countries as well as their production of machinery.  The industrial revolution was a positive era to have occurred in Britain. Although in the beginning it appeared to bring no benefits at all for the country as time went by the negative effects of the revolution helped them improve day by day. In the end Britain grew to become the most powerful manufacturing nation and economically they were the strongest country in all Europe.

Chapter 17- Atlantic Revolutions and Their Echoes

This chapter mainly focuses on the Atlantic Revolutions. What was interesting to know was that the Atlantic Revolutionaries shared a set of common ideas. As we know the atlantic became a useful resource for cultural exchange but the ideas that were going across the ocean were in newspapers, books, and pamphlets. Ideas weren't only sent through these sources but there were also new ideas of liberty, equality, free trade, religious tolerance, republicanism, and human rationality. As we can see a little bit of everything was shared during the time. Many of these ideas seem to generate controversial amongst the people. Throughout the chapter we learn about the American Revolution, the French Revolution, the Haitian Revolution, and lastly about the Spanish American Revolutions and what were the causes of them. As we read through the book we are able to see that the American Revolution as a conflict between the united thirteen colonies and Great Britain. The French Revolution had conflicts within their own society and offended many of them and it lead into being a more violent than the American Revolution. The Haitian revolution was a conflict with the French colony of Saint Domingue and lastly the Spanish American Revolutions which took place in spanish and portuguese colonies and their revolutions took place in events in North America. Overall, by the end of the chapter we learn that these revolutions benefited from them and supported themselves as well especially because in the end it was a representation to the new world.

What is Enlightenment?

I personally thought this reading was extremely difficult to understand but once you start reading the confusing parts, you start understanding some of the ideas Kant portrays. Overall I thought this reading was very interesting especially because what is said throughout the reading does relate to many people and what they go through. The passage that really caught my attention was the one we did in class and it said, "for himself(only for a short time) a man may postpone enlightenment in what he ought  to know, but to renounce it for posterity is to injure and trample on the rights of mankind. And what people may not decree for itself can even less be decreed for them by a monarch, for his lawgiving authority rests on his uniting the civl order, he can leave it to his subjects to do what they find necessary for their spiritual welfare".(Kant) I believed that Kant was referring to here is that we should always follow what we want to do and not what others would want us to do. Follow our own enlightenment especially because in the end it'll benefit ourselves and not those around us. There will be people who want to hold us back but it is our decision to move on and learn from our own mistakes and experiences.

Chapter 16- Religion and Science

In this chapter it mainly focuses on the globalization of Christianity and also the start of the Protestant Reformation which began in 1517. Christianity was limited to Europe in the beginning of the early modern era. But as years went by during the fifteen hundreds it started spreading to Spain and England in the wet to Russia in the east, with small communities in Egypt, Ethiopia, southern India, and lastly Central Asia. Christianity was seen as the center of trouble for these countries but following christianity came along the Protestant Reformation. The Protestant Reformation began when Martin Luther declared a debate about abuses within the Roman Catholic Church by posting up a document, know as Ninety-five theses on the door of a church. This document wasn't really knew to anybody because people were already aware of the corruption of clergy men and church life during the time. Martin Luther's protest became revolutionary during the time but it did lead a challenge for the church authority which questioned the postion of a clergy and also the pope. This protest not only challenged the Catholic church but also the world of Catholic Christendom especially because it created tensions politically, economically, and lastly religious differences. Overall, Christianity motivated Europe politically and economically by expanding and became beneficial for them too. Christianity became a religion which many countries around the world somehow had to adapt too even through the revolutionary problems that occurred.