10.4: Politics and Society

The political implications of the Enlightenment were surprisingly muted. Almost every society in Europe exercised official censorship. Thus, many philosophes had to publish their more provocative works using pseudonyms. Or at times resorting to illegal publishing operations and book smugglers in order to evade that censorship and avoid personal arrest. Philosophes tended to openly attack the most egregious injustices they perceived in royal governments and organized churches. However, at the same time, skepticism about the intellectual abilities of the common people was such that almost no one advocated for a political system besides a better, more rational version of a monarchy.

In turn, various monarchs and nobles were attracted to Enlightenment thought. They came to believe in the essential justice of the arguments of the philosophes and did not see anything contradictory between the exercise of their power and enlightenment ideas. That said, monarchs tended to see “enlightened reforms” in terms of making their governments more efficient. Kings and queens certainly did not renounce their actual power. Although some did at least ease the burdens on the serfs who toiled on royal lands.

The Enlightenment had an unquestionable impact on European (and early American) politics in the realm of justice. A Milanese, Cesare Bonesana, wrote On Crimes and Punishment (1764) arguing that the state’s essential duty was the protection of the life and dignity of its citizens, which included those accused of crimes. He argued that

• the rich and poor should be held accountable before the same laws
• the aim of the justice system should be as much to prevent future crimes as to punish past ones
• torture was both barbarous and counter-productive.

By the end of the 18th Century, several monarchs had banned torture in their realms, and "rationalized" justice systems had slowly evolved in many kingdoms.

The notable “enlightened monarch” was Frederick II (the Great) of Prussia (r. 1740 – 1786). A great lover of French literature and philosophy, he insisted only on speaking French whenever possible, and redecorated the Prussian royal palace in the French style, in which he avidly hosted Enlightenment salons. Indeed, Voltaire came to live at his palace for two years. Inspired by Enlightenment ideas, he freed the serfs on royal lands and banned the more onerous feudal duties owed by serfs to his nobles. He also rationalized the royal bureaucracy, making all applicants pass a formal exam, which provided a limited path of social mobility for non-nobles.

Tsarina Catherine the Great (r. 1762 - 1796) was a correspondent of French philosophes and actively cultivated Enlightenment-inspired art and learning in Russia. Hoping to increase the efficiency of the Russian state, she expanded the bureaucracy, reorganized the Russian Empire’s administrative divisions, and introduced a more rigorous and broad education for future officers of the military. She also created the first educational institution for girls in Russia, the Smolny Institute, admitting the daughters of nobles and, eventually, well-off commoners. Her enthusiasm for the Enlightenment was dampened considerably when the French Revolution began in 1789. While Russian nobles found their own privileges expanded, the vast majority of Russian subjects remained serfs. Like Frederick of Prussia, Catherine’s appreciation for “reason” had nothing to do with democratic impulses.

One major political theme to emerge from the Enlightenment that did not require the goodwill of monarchs was the idea of human rights (or “the rights of man” as they were generally known at the time). Emerging from a combination of rationalistic philosophy and new “sensibilities” - the recognition of the shared humanity of different categories of people -the concepts of human rights spread rapidly in the second half of the eighteenth century. In turn, they fueled demands for political reform and helped to inspire vigorous abolitionist (anti-slavery) movements. The idea of human rights would inspire the American and French Revolutions. Britain would ban the slave trade in 1807 and slavery itself in 1833, although it would take the American Civil War in the 1860s to end slavery in the United States.

Political borders in Europe between 1783 and 1792

Found in Wikipedia, this European map shows the westward expansion of Russia after the Russo-Turkish Wars of 1768–1774 and 1787–1792. The red line marks the borders of the Holy Roman Empire.

Source: Wikipedia