Eighteenth Century Society Timeline 1660 Restoration 1688 Glorious Revolution 1685 1689 Rebellions 1701 Act of Settlement 1707 Act of Union with Scotland 1715 1745 Jacobite Rebellion England in this time Creation of stability Establishment of relationship between Crown and Parliament England and Scotland Parliament can intervene has power over succession Act of Settlement Protestant cannot marry a Catholic and have power Creation of Great Britain construction of British ness Rebellions calm down don t want James as king anymore no one supports them Series of informal compromises that create British ness Calm self control cooperation Lords and Commons only represent some towns Church of England is broadly Protestant Beliefs don t inquire about private things Slightly ritualistic some remnants of Catholic mass Enormous employment system for lower gentry like law school Some threats to stability but established as unified power governed from the center prominent in shipping and associated in trade Loosely divided politics Tories and Whigs based on wealth Tory is wealth and land Whig is wealth and business sometimes distinguished by familial ties High literacy rates King James Bible 40 of men 20 in women higher in Scotland church insists that literacy is necessary development of soul lower in Ireland no schools Explosion of print culture newspapers Novel periodical writing volumes of letters travel writing Ability to make a living as a writer Valorizes British stability defining it through science and history partly true fantasies Classical education think of themselves as heirs to Rome and Greece Calm stoic prose as model for society Idealization of British compromise Addison and Steele The Spectator Writing daily see their role as having civilizing humanizing influence Topical essays not necessarily politics anyone can enjoy it Addison Neutral observer onlooker detached from what is going on Modeling manners for society Banish vice and ignorance from the territories of Great Britain Print culture is unifying read by all classes modern education Self education that crosses gender divide The Spectator s Club Cross section of literary educated society Different kinds of men socializing on common ground at coffee shop Idealized men getting together Sir Roger de Coverly idealized Tory takes part in urban life and goes to estates deeply involved Lawyer amateur scholar Sir Andrew Freeport idealized Whig English trading figure Captain British manliness heir of de Coverly Tory in training Honeycomb Journalist humorist not rich In context of coffee house all these people can convene and discuss Imagining audience for the periodical essay also created the audience in turn Aims of the Spectator Deliberate educational role Being a well regulated family is reading The Spectator family reading no moral harming Not addressed to people in power Female world recognizes that women have been excluded from masculine sphere At least women talking about the same thing as men Assumes intellectual equality Women writing plays easy way to make money Roxana Daniel Defoe Man proposes marriage not based on love necessarily conveyance of property wants assurance of heir financial security for woman Redefining marriage Woman negotiating treating herself as a free agent acting like a man Market capitalism and feminism Letters of Lady Montague Women encouraged to write letters condoned Post is expensive receiver pays postage Letters are not ephemeral written skillfully Not necessarily private Turkish Bath Female Coffee House Unexpected equality everyone naked together no distinctions of rank Claims of wealth in fashion Women without restraints of patriarchal culture Britain thinks it has nothing to learn from Turks but they are ahead in medicine Britain in reverse The Merchant Empire England is still a medium sized country Doesn t become a powerful nation until after the last rebellion British Empire happens in late 18c Taken from rival powers Primarily naval empire Military rivals Spain and France Spain has huge colonial empire rich in gold and silver Trade rivals Holland large network of trading posts mercantile fleets Denmark and Sweden Resources agriculture wool textiles made from wool and linen Coal is unused Portugal Spain Holland Sweden all unite under central power For Britain trade comes before empire colonies were settled as companies or proprietary colonies Profit trade from British ships even if goods aren t British London is center of capitalism Trade travel and discovery tolerance migration slavery or indentured servitude The Royal Exchange Addison Describes globalization appears like model UN peace and tolerance created by money Armenians and Jews are limit of European Expands notion of what British is Citizen of the world World trade is natural nature wants them to mix products o The English make world trade an English thing as if they invented it o Kind of alchemy Trade is a kind of empire without actually acquiring more land empire of contact Mercantilism Make profit by having monopoly on everything Colonies for natural resources market for finished goods Economy based on slavery every country has slave post Most valuable commodities sugar tobacco cotton indigo dye Triangular trade o British ships capture buy slaves in Africa using European finished goods o Slaves taken to west Indies sugar taken to England or North America to make rum Sugar islands are most valuable Financial Revolution No regulation Company pretends to have investments in south seas Pacific Oceans but trades in slaves o Creates economic crash Military Wars for territories no real end just changing of sides Britain has massive naval power no one can really invade o France needed army and navy Britain doesn t need army o Britain defeats France and gets India and western US Government King spends less time in England German Cabinet is important creation of Prime Minister Wars are Whig wars more interested in foreign sources of trade Government is responsible for giving out jobs that pay well and don t require work Jonathan Swift product of colonization educated in Ireland Ordained Protestant priest in Ireland climbs rungs through networking Dean ship at Cathedral in Dublin respectable but has to stay in Ireland made enemies o Irish title not in House of Lords and A Modest Proposal Swift Gulliver s Travels Tory critique of society money rules society breaks down people should play by the rules Doesn t want to change class
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