This document summarizes major political, social, and intellectual developments in England from the 1600s to late 1700s. Key events include the restoration of the monarchy under Charles II and James II, the Glorious Revolution, the establishment of the Whig and Tory parties, England's growth as a colonial power under Walpole and Pitt, and tensions between the rich and poor. Intellectually, the period saw advances in science, the emergence of deism, and debates around empiricism, the limits of reason, and women's rights. Literacy increased and the publishing industry boomed, though books remained expensive and out of reach for many.

2.  Return of Charles II (Stuart) after “Interregnum” of
Cromwell family, during which country run by
puritans or “dissenters”
 Anglican bishops -> not tolerant of dissent
 Test ACT
 Anti-catholicism

3.  James II – catholic - ousted
 Bloodless Revolution (William of Orange, Mary)
 Jacobites – esp. in Scotland
 Succession settled on German Sophia, Electress of Hanover
and her descendents (granddaughter of James I)

4.  War of Spanish Succession (1702)
 Rivals weakened
 Tensions between old and new money

5.  Continuous fight
 Whigs,
 tolerated dissenters;
 supported new moneyed interests (bankers, etc.);
 centralized government
 Tories,
 supported monarchy,
 established church,
 affirmed land ownership as proper basis of wealth,
 suspicious of centralized government that rewarded
followers with wealth

6.  First prime ministers (Walpole and Pitt) expand
British power and commerce overseas
 Britain becomes colonial power, ruling Canada and
India, though they lose American colonies.
 Slave trade enriches nation; opposition to slavery
widespread by both Anglicans and Methodists

7.  Great wealth does not spread to poor; women
remain disenfranchised
 1780 London riots turn the poor (Catholic and
Protestant) against each other
 Popular king George has 60-year rule, but inherited
madness increasingly harms rule
 Fear of radicals who call for new democracy
contributes to British reaction against French
revolution

8.  All anxious to avoid strife of 1640-60
 All dogma unpopular: puritan enthusiasm, papal
infallibility, divine right of kings, modern Cartesian
philosophy
 Pursuit of absolute certainty is “vain, mad, and
socially calamitous.”
 For religious people and cynics, faith can take up
where reason and sensory evidence fails

9.  New theories: Hobbes supports absolute
government because of scientific theory of matter
in motion: human desire for power leads to “state of
war”
 Atomic theory
 Advancement of empirical study by careful,
systematic observation is the great contribution of
18th
c. England to the world

10.  Natural history (collection & description of natural
facts) & Natural philosophy (study of those facts)
 Microscope and telescope expand complexity of
universe
 Aphra Behn translates Fontenelle’s “Conversation
on the Plurality of Worlds” suggesting alternate
universes
 Exploration and colonization increase apetite for
“wondrous facts” about new flora

11.  Discovery of electricity led to fashionable
experiments with electrocution
 Matthew Boulton creates first factories
powered by steam engines
 Chemistry allowed new market by
Wedgewood in domestic porcelain

12.  Newton’s discoveries suggest “universal order in
creation” created by God like watchmaker and
watch
 Encounter with other non-Christian peoples led
to “universal” religious tenets that could be
embraced by rational beings
 Deism: Reason recognizes goodness and
wisdom of God and natural law; no need for
mystery or bible
 Deism’s God winds world like a watch and then
withdraws. American Founders like Ben Franklin
embraced Deism, which seemed like a better
foundation for new nation than religious division

13.  Berkeley: we know the world only through our
senses; we cannot prove that material things exist;
reliance on faith
 Hume: causes and effects are discernable by
experience, not reason
 Locke examines “limits of human understanding” to
help us avoid wasting time with things that exceed
our comprehension

14.  Mary Astell argued for women’s educational
institutions and criticized marital violence;
mocks Locke’s insistence on political rights
for men only.
 Richard Steele and others advocates
improvement in women’s education and
“sociability.”

15.  Methodism—evangelical sect promoted by
John Wesley et al, preached salvation
through faith, not works (unlike Anglicans)
 New emphasis on individual and personal
God: diary keeping, letter writing, and novel
“all testify to importance of private,
individual life”

16.  Government licensing relaxed and replaced by laws
against sedition, libel, obscenity, and treason
 Stage licensing remained; all but two royal theatres
closed down
 Copyright vested with publishers and authors begin
to profit by subscription; Pope earns 5000 pounds
for Iliad translation
 Stamp acts allowed taxation of newspapers; put
some out of business but others thrived

17.  Market also appealed to literary elite; few now
wrote without pay
 Subscription allowed new wealth but also helped
women’s writing, which otherwise had trouble
finding publishers
 Mostly wealthy or middle class, but some poor
authors made it into print, e.g. Mary Collier’s “The
Woman’s Labor”

18.  Increase in literacy (male literacy as much as 75% by end
of period, perhaps 25% for women; literacy mostly
urban and surrounded the bible)
 Women were barred from universities; all were self-
educated
 Aristocratic women published widely, especially poems
 Some “scandalous” writers of popular stories of sex,
satire, seduction were denounced by men as immoral
Pope’s Dunciad depicts pissing contest of “scurrilous
male booksellers” won by Eliza Haywood
 Bluestockings: intellectual women who favored moral
literature, esp novels about young women approaching
marriage

19.  Books were still too expensive for laborers, as were
lending libraries
 Poor sometimes taught to read as a religious
activity by aristocratic masters
 Patrons interested in letters, travel literature, and
novels
 Change of printing: capitalization reserved for
proper names instead of nouns; fewer italics for
emphasis suggests more sophisticated reading
public

20.  New interest in “nature”—external nature of
landscapes; human nature’s “enduring, universal
truths”
 Study of the ancients seemed synonymous with
study of nature: combine method with wit, and
judgment with fancy