Write the response to the following post. please refrain from saying i agree with you.... etc. 100 words per response.

Number 1 Lindsey

Hello Everyone,

This week we learned that Absolutism is a type of government that, in theory, gives power to one individual to control all church and state matters. Even though an absolutist monarch held supreme over all things regarding the region, he or she still relied on the support of the aristocracy to accept and carry out his or her policies. After reading about Louis XIV, I truly think Louis's reign can be considered that of a quintessential absolutist monarchy. According to the textbook, he "[used] a systematic policy of bestowing pensions, offices, honors, gifts, and the threat of disfavor or punishment, Louis induced the nobles to cooperate with him and made himself the center of French power and culture" (Hunt., et. al., 518). This was quite an ingenious tactic of Louis' to manipulate the aristocracy by playing into their own vanity to conform to his policies and edicts. By buying the ‘love' of the nobility, Louis XIV gained their support and favor which allowed him to solidify his rule across the region. Besides the fact that Louis "believed that he reigned by divine right" (Hunt., et.al., 521), I believe one of the most important absolutist characteristics of his regime was his insatiable desire to extend his power and influence to territories surrounding his lands. His greed to expand his reign beyond French boundaries fueled his hostilities towards neighboring countries and gained him many new enemies of the state. Louis would spend most of his reign at war with the Holy Roman Empire, Dutch Republic, England, Spain, Sweden, and Prussia. Without the temporary alignment of these powerhouses, Louis would probably have succeeded in expanding his territory and power further.

-Lindsey

Lynn Hunt, Thomas R. Martin, Barbara H. Rosenwein and Bonnie G. Smith, The Making of the West: Peoples and Cultures, Vol. 2: Since 1500, 4th edition (Boston: Bedford / St. Martin's, 2012).

Number 2 Kyle

Louis XIV can be sen as the quintessential absolute monarch due to his centralization of power, expansion of territory, and pursuit of personal glory.

He centralized his power by 5 different methods: The first was reigning in of the Nobility. For centuries, nobles had unchecked power. So Louis XIV replaced the Nobles with Intendants that were loyal to him. Second he eliminated freedom of religion and put limits on the power of the Catholic church in turn limited the Pope's power in France. Third he centralized the military, this was second order effects from reigning in the nobles and replacing them with Administrators. Fourthly he arrested the old finance minister and gave the post to a trusted ally. Lastly he changed the law from a system that used several different codes of law and instituting the "Code Louis." (Ashley, 1946)

Louis XIV monarch was known for its vast expansion. One front was the Wars in Europe (Franco-Dutch War, War of the Grand Alliance, and War of Spanish Succession). He then Expanded into the Americas one of the biggest land grabs was the French claimed the entire Mississippi River Basin. (Ashley, 1946)

Last Louis XIV monarch was known for its pursuit of Glory and showed this by its lavish lifestyle and spending. The most notable could be the Palace of Versailles. The Palace of Versailles took 20 years to construct, and is widely regarded as the most magnificent palace in Europe. (Nolan, 2008)

With the previously stated characteristic it clearly shows why this regime is regarded as the absolute monarch. I believe that the one characteristic that really stands out is the reigning in of the Nobles. During this time period Nobles ran territories France was the first to take the power away and centralize it.

Sources:

Ashley, Maurice Percy. Louis XIV and the Greatness of France. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1946.

Nolan, Cathal J. Wars of the Age of Louis, 1650-1715: An Encyclopedia of Global Warfare and Civilization. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2008.

Number 3 Dustin

A large portion of Rousseau's political ideology was derived from his philosophy of the development of human society. Rousseau extensively uses the state of nature, or, the concept of what human lives would be like before the establishment of society. In many ways, Rousseau believed that the progression of society was the root cause the growth of immorality, because progression induced greed, envy, and so on with the divisions of labor and property. As a result of this, Rousseau developed an ideology of government that placed the power of laws into the people's hands, equally across all men themselves. This balancing of power in society Rousseau defined as the general will of the people. Rousseau believed that there was not natural rights of men to power or property, and those liberties should be divided equally based on needs. Rousseau also had a vision for how the laws should be established and regulated. The power of the sovereign, or, the government of a nation, was only to fill the role of enforcing laws, but not establishing them itself. The establishment of the laws belonged to the general will. It is also worth mentioning that the general will of the people is established through mass consensus, much like a modern democracy. All of these tenants of Rousseau's political ideology have many parallels with democracy. As for Rousseau's religion, he was a Calvinist that broke from the earlier dedication of Roman Catholicism. He had a strong sense of religious tolerance, however, that resulted in many to refute his ideologies on the basis of indifferentism, which is basically the idea that no religion is better than the other. This led somewhat of a discrediting of Rousseau's religious philosophy among the Calvinist population. Because of Rousseau's philosophy on the development of human society, he opposed the doctrine of original sin, asserting that men develop sin as we materially and scientifically progress.

Reference:

Halverson, W. H. (1981). Concise readings in philosophy. New York: Random House.