AP World History:: Unit 5

The Enlightenment, a significant European intellectual movement of the 17th and 18th centuries emphasizing reason, natural rights, and skepticism toward traditional authority, is historically significant primarily for:

- **A)** Providing a very significant intellectual foundation for the significant political revolutions covered throughout this unit, by articulating significant new political concepts (such as natural rights, popular sovereignty, and the social contract) that directly challenged the traditional absolutist and religious justifications for political authority already discussed in an earlier unit's coverage of significant land-based empires - the Enlightenment's own significant intellectual influence illustrates a further significant example of how new political philosophy could directly generate considerable practical political consequence, connecting to this unit's broader coverage of significant revolutions already discussed at multiple points throughout this unit
- **B)** The Enlightenment having no meaningful, describable relationship to significant revolutionary political philosophy, or the broader significant intellectual origins of revolution already discussed at multiple points throughout this unit
- **C)** A movement that significantly reinforced, rather than challenged, traditional absolutist political authority, a characterization that directly contradicts the Enlightenment's own actual, well-documented significant challenge to traditional political authority
- **D)** A movement confined exclusively to religious, rather than political, philosophy, a characterization that does not accurately reflect the Enlightenment's own actual, well-documented significant political philosophical content

John Locke, a significant English Enlightenment philosopher (already implicit in this unit's coverage of the Enlightenment above), is historically notable primarily for developing the significant political concept that:

- **A)** Locke's own significant political philosophy having no meaningful, describable relationship to significant natural rights theory, or the broader significant Enlightenment intellectual foundation already discussed above
- **B)** Individuals possess certain significant natural rights (including life, liberty, and property) that exist independently of government, and that legitimate government authority derives from the consent of the governed, with individuals retaining a significant right to resist or replace a government that fails to protect these natural rights - Locke's own significant political philosophy provided a very significant intellectual foundation for several of the significant revolutions covered throughout this unit, particularly the American Revolution covered further below in this unit
- **C)** Political authority derives exclusively from religious or divine sanction, with no meaningful basis in natural rights or popular consent of any kind, a characterization that directly contradicts Locke's own actual, well-documented emphasis on natural rights and popular consent, rather than divine sanction
- **D)** Government authority should be considerably strengthened and made less accountable to the governed, a characterization that directly reverses Locke's own actual, well-documented emphasis on limiting government authority and government accountability to the governed

The American Revolution (1775-1783), resulting in the significant political independence of the thirteen British North American colonies (already discussed in an earlier unit's coverage of colonial development), is historically notable primarily for:

- **A)** The American Revolution having no meaningful, describable relationship to significant Enlightenment political philosophy, or the broader significant revolutionary movements already discussed at multiple points throughout this unit
- **B)** Resulting in a significant restoration of British colonial political authority, a characterization that directly contradicts the American Revolution's own actual, well-documented result of considerable political independence, rather than restored British authority
- **C)** Applying significant Enlightenment political concepts (particularly natural rights and popular sovereignty, already discussed above in this unit's coverage of Locke) to justify significant political independence from British colonial rule, articulated substantially through the American Declaration of Independence - the American Revolution's own significant application of Enlightenment political philosophy illustrates a further significant example of how new political ideas could directly generate considerable practical revolutionary political consequence, providing an important further significant precedent for the additional significant revolutions covered throughout this unit, particularly the French Revolution covered further below in this unit
- **D)** Occurring with no meaningful application of Enlightenment political concepts of any kind, a characterization that significantly understates the genuinely significant, well-documented application of Enlightenment concepts (particularly Locke's own natural rights theory already discussed above) within American revolutionary political rhetoric, particularly the Declaration of Independence

The French Revolution (beginning in 1789), a very significant political upheaval that fundamentally transformed French government and society, is generally attributed by historians to a combination of significant causal factors, most significantly including:

- **A)** The French Revolution's own significant causes having no meaningful, describable relationship to significant fiscal crisis, social inequality, or the broader significant Enlightenment intellectual influence already discussed at multiple points throughout this unit
- **B)** A single, isolated cause with no meaningful contribution from any other significant factor of any kind, a characterization that significantly oversimplifies the genuinely complex, multi-causal origins of the French Revolution already discussed at multiple points throughout this unit
- **C)** A complete absence of any significant social or economic grievance of any kind among the French population prior to 1789, a characterization that directly contradicts the very significant, well-documented social and economic grievances already discussed at multiple points throughout this unit's broader coverage
- **D)** Significant French royal fiscal crisis (worsened considerably by French financial support for the American Revolution already discussed above), pronounced social inequality under France's own significant Estates system (which granted the privileged First and Second Estates considerable exemption from taxation, placing a very significant tax burden on the comparatively less privileged Third Estate), and significant Enlightenment intellectual influence already discussed at multiple points throughout this unit - this combination of factors illustrates a further significant example of the genuinely complex, multi-causal nature of the significant revolutions covered throughout this unit

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, adopted by the French National Assembly in 1789 during the early French Revolution (already discussed above), is historically notable primarily for:

- **A)** Articulating significant Enlightenment political principles (already discussed at multiple points throughout this unit), including natural rights, popular sovereignty, and legal equality, as the foundational principles for a new, revolutionary French political order - the Declaration's own significant articulation of these principles illustrates a further significant example of how the American Declaration of Independence's own earlier significant precedent (already discussed above) directly influenced subsequent revolutionary political documents, connecting to this unit's broader comparative coverage of significant revolutionary political philosophy already discussed at multiple points throughout this unit
- **B)** The Declaration having no meaningful, describable relationship to significant Enlightenment political principles, or the broader significant revolutionary political philosophy already discussed at multiple points throughout this unit
- **C)** Explicitly reaffirming France's own traditional absolutist monarchy and rigid Estates system, a characterization that directly contradicts the Declaration's own actual, well-documented significant challenge to traditional absolutist and hierarchical political authority
- **D)** A document adopted considerably before the French Revolution itself began, a characterization that inaccurately misplaces this specific significant historical document's own actual, well-documented 1789 adoption during the early French Revolution

Olympe de Gouges, a significant French writer and political activist during the French Revolution (already discussed above), is historically notable primarily for:

- **A)** Olympe de Gouges having no meaningful, describable relationship to significant women's rights advocacy, or the broader significant limitations of French revolutionary political change already discussed at multiple points throughout this unit
- **B)** Authoring the significant Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen (1791), directly challenging the significant gender limitations of the earlier Declaration of the Rights of Man (already discussed above), which had not extended full significant political rights to women - de Gouges's own significant advocacy illustrates a further significant example of how the French Revolution's own significant proclaimed universal principles nonetheless left considerable gender-based exclusion largely unaddressed, prompting significant contemporary critique already discussed at multiple points throughout this unit's broader coverage of the genuinely uneven application of revolutionary principles
- **C)** A political figure who significantly opposed any extension of political rights to women, a characterization that directly contradicts de Gouges's own actual, well-documented significant advocacy for women's political rights
- **D)** A significant American, rather than French, revolutionary figure, a characterization that inaccurately misidentifies de Gouges's own actual, well-documented French revolutionary context

The Reign of Terror (1793-1794), a significant, extremely violent phase of the French Revolution (already discussed at multiple points throughout this unit) led substantially by Maximilien Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety, is historically notable primarily for:

- **A)** The Reign of Terror having no meaningful, describable relationship to significant revolutionary political violence, or the broader significant radicalization of the French Revolution already discussed at multiple points throughout this unit
- **B)** A comparatively peaceful, non-violent phase of the French Revolution, a characterization that directly contradicts the Reign of Terror's own actual, well-documented extremely violent character
- **C)** Very significant political violence, including considerable use of the guillotine to execute individuals perceived as enemies of the Revolution, reflecting a significant radicalization of French revolutionary politics as internal and external pressures (including foreign military threats and internal political division) considerably intensified - the Reign of Terror's own extremely violent character illustrates a further significant example of how a significant political revolution could develop increasingly radical and violent phases, a pattern with broader significance for this unit's comparative coverage of significant revolutions already discussed at multiple points throughout this unit
- **D)** A phase that occurred considerably before the French Revolution itself began, a characterization that inaccurately misplaces this specific significant historical phase's own actual, well-documented 1793-1794 timing during, rather than before, the French Revolution

Napoleon Bonaparte's own rise to power in France, culminating in his significant 1804 self-coronation as Emperor, following the earlier, more radical phases of the French Revolution (already discussed above), illustrates:

- **A)** Napoleon's own rise to power having no meaningful, describable relationship to significant post-revolutionary French political instability, or the broader significant later trajectory of the French Revolution already discussed at multiple points throughout this unit
- **B)** A complete restoration of France's own pre-revolutionary absolutist monarchy with no meaningful change of any kind, a characterization that does not accurately reflect Napoleon's own actual, well-documented distinct political position as Emperor, rather than a restored pre-revolutionary monarch, and his own retention of certain significant revolutionary legal reforms (such as the Napoleonic Code, covered further below in this unit)
- **C)** A rise to power that occurred with no meaningful military component of any kind, a characterization that does not accurately reflect Napoleon's own actual, well-documented significant military career and reputation preceding his own political rise
- **D)** A further significant example of how significant, prolonged political instability and radical upheaval (already discussed at multiple points throughout this unit's coverage of the French Revolution) could ultimately generate conditions favorable to the rise of a significant, comparatively more centralized and authoritarian individual leader - Napoleon's own significant rise illustrates a further significant example of the genuinely complex, at times contradictory later trajectories significant political revolutions could take, connecting to this unit's broader comparative coverage of significant revolutions already discussed at multiple points throughout this unit