-
Prime Minister Lord North
He was favored and chosen by George III. Some said he was too loyal to the king. North stabilized parliament after the negative effects of previous inadequate Prime ministers. Looked to generate revenue for indebted GB by establishing a lottery so as not to raise colonial or local taxes. It was successful but then he passed the Tea Act, and supported the War on America. Upon his resignation in 1782 the peace treaties that ended the American revolution began. -
Louis XVI married to Marie Antoinette
15 & 14 years old -
Hegel, Wordsworth, Beethoven are born
Three prominent Romanticist figures in philosophy, poetry, and music. -
James Somerset
James Somerset was a run away slave, who converted and was baptized. His Godparents fought for his freedom. Lord Mansfield ruled that there was no law supporting the ownership of slaves. -
Coleridge is born
Prominent Romanticist poet. -
Oliver Goldsmith - She Stoops the Conquer
A drawing room comedy of intrigue that satirizes the manners of upper class society. Goldsmith creates very memorable and well drawn characters. He was a very popular writer in his own time. He was a poet, essayist, dramatist, and novelist. He sought to “purify the early novel of its brutal and indecent tendencies.” -
John Wesley - Thoughts Upon Slavery
Notable preacher and Founder of Methodism (a Christian denomination that emphasizes methodical study, personal decision / testimony, and religious experience) publishes abolitionist literature. “I absolutely deny all slave-holding to be consistent with any degree of natural justice.” -
Edmund Burke - On American Taxation
Irish parliamentarian (prominent for 30 years) prophet of American Revolution - urges British to concede American demands for independence. -
Louis XV died = Louis XVI crowned
At 20 Louis XVI inherits a financially and socially unstable France. Due to his youth and inability the French Revolution tears the country in two. Numerous British authors record and coment on the event. -
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - The Sorrows of Young Werther
Sturm und Drang - expresses and promotes Romanticism - denounced for its apparent praise of suicide. -
George III - A Proclamation of the King
The British king tells colonies not to rebel against the monarchy. -
Edward Gibbon - The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire
A six volume History published from 1776 to 1788. Enormous scope coupled with prolific research, skeptical of Christianity in his history of western civilization. -
Adam Smith - The Wealth of Nations
Scottish political philosopher, publishes the "Bible of capitalism," in which he suggests that a nation's wealth lies in commerce not stockpiling goods. The best means to wealth is encouraging free trade and allowing the “invisible hand” of natural law to correct the market while the state takes a lassiez-faire approach to the economy. Human self-interest serves to work for everyone’s best interest. -
Jeremy Bentham - A Fragment on Government
"the greatest happiness of the greatest number"
It is mainly a criticism of Blackstone, which scorns tradition worship, and what was new. Good government distributes power & revolution is less harmful than tyranny. Mill names his theory of the greatest happiness, utilitarianism which should be the standard of all political decisions. He also wrote A Short Review of the Declaration in which he attacks the American declaration of independence. -
Frances Burney - Evelina
or A Young Lady’s Entrance to the World - an epistolary sentimental novel with elements of sensibility and romanticism - originally published anonymously. -
Jean Jacques Reasseau & Voltaire die
Icons of the Enlightenment
may 30th
